About Jason
Jason Wiener moved to Missoula in 2003 in pursuit of a Master’s degree in philosophy and Rocky Mountain powder. He has stayed because Missoula’s vibrant community never gave him an opportunity to leave. And he is running for City Council to keep Missoula the sort of place he doesn’t ever want to leave.
Jason grew up in Concord, New Hampshire, in one half of a duplex just blocks from the State Capitol and City Hall, both buildings which were stops on his childhood paper route. Supported by a National Merit Scholarship, Jason studied at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana, and earned degrees in economics and philosophy, graduating summa cum laude.
Work and curiosity took Jason, basically a small town kid, to New York City at the age of 21. There, he worked as an analyst at the investment banking firm Shattuck Hammond Partners before moving to eSpeed, a technology spin-off of the brokerage firm Cantor Fitzgerald. Unsatisfied with the non-monetary payoff of finance, Jason left New York with the aim of learning to snowboard.
He landed in Indianapolis, Indiana, though, and spent two years working in a pizza restaurant and never getting higher than 800 feet above sea level. But the period was fruitful as Jason learned what was important through volunteer work and a program of self-improvement. The joy of teaching he experienced while instructing a Lego Mindstorms program at the Indianapolis Public Library led him to seek teaching jobs in other parts of the country. When the choice came down to Bowling Green, Ohio, or Missoula, Montana, there wasn’t really much debate about which direction to head.
In Missoula, Jason earned his Master’s degree in philosophy—concentrating on issues in philosophy of law—while teaching English composition at the University of Montana, eventually earning an award for excellence in instruction and graduating with a 4.0 GPA. In the winter of 2003-04, Jason also fulfilled his ambition to become a snowboarder—an activity which remains a sustaining passion.
Jason joined the staff of the Missoula Independent in June 2005 as calendar editor, serving as interim arts and entertainment editor in early 2007 and continuing to freelance for the paper through the present. He particularly enjoys floating the Rattlesnake Creek during the brief window in June when the water is high enough and the air is warm enough. His other hobbies include reading and writing as well as gardening, preserving food for winter, hunting and cooking the fruits of all three.
The lower Rattlesnake’s Jackson Street has been Jason’s home for all but three months of his time in Missoula. It’s a great street, part of a neighborhood Jason hopes to live the rest of his life in.