Writer’s Room Q-U

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The Superstars: Q-U

Rachel Wills is a senior at DePaul University, majoring in Catholic Studies and minoring in Women’s and Gender Studies. She is passionate about theology, particularly how faith and sexuality intersect. She’s also Secretary of Spectrum DePaul. Rachel is a student of life, never going anywhere without a book and loves all things quirky.
Raechel T is a PhD Candidate in Communication Studies at the University of Minnesota. Her research interests include: critical media studies, queer studies, rhetoric, critical pedagogy, and the labor movement. She’s a long-time labor activist and a full-time cat lady. You can read more of Raechel’s thoughts at rebelgrrlacademy.wordpress.com, and you can follow her adventures with vegan food and healthy living at rebelgrrlkitchen.wordpress.com.
Randall Jenson is the Executive Director of SocialScope Productions, a Chicago-based non-profit production company creating LGBTQ and gender-related documentaries. SocialScope’s primary project is  the 50Faggots online series, which began in 2005 as Jensen’s first documentary. The series debuted in May 2010 and has already traveled to over 14 U.S. cities, including headlining the 2011 MBLGTACC Conference. Since seventeen years old, Jenson has received national awards for leadership and his work with young LGBTQ people, homeless and at-risk youth, addressing the juvenile legal system and media’s impact on queer lives. He was featured as a speaker at the National ACLU Membership Conference in Washington D.C. in 2003, on The Oprah Show’s “Growing Up Gay” episode in 2006, and awarded the “Youth Impact Award” by the National Youth Advocacy Coalition in 2007. His research creating 50Faggots was recognized by the Association for Queer Anthropology as “outstanding anthropological work.”
Rebecca Kling is a Chicago-based transgender artist interested in exploring the performance of identity. She has performed her material around the Midwest where it has received praise from numerous publications including The Chicago Tribune and TimeOut Chicago.  Rebecca regularly speaks at high schools and universities, conducting educational workshops on gender and identity. Rebecca’s writing has been published at Jezebel, in Chicago, Bodies of Work, the Center for Classic Theatre Review, and elsewhere. For upcoming performances and appearances, visit www.rebeccakling.com. For a behind-the-scenes look at her writing process, check out her blog at http://fridaythang.com/blog
Richard Reinhardt is in Chicago most of the time and can be contacted at richness1988@gmail.com or on Facebook.

Riley Thomas is a New York City-based playwright/composer.  A volunteer with the HRC and otherwise subtle activist, Thomas hopes to use words and music to make the world a better place.
Robert Chlala is currently a Contributing Scholar to State of Formation and to Jadaliyya, a journal of the Arab Studies Institute. Chlala spent last year working with college and university faculty, staff and students to reshape interfaith education with Interfaith Youth Core, as well as with several foundation-led research efforts around youth and community civic engagement. Prior to this, Chlala helped lead programming, training and organizational development efforts for both youth-led organizations such as the California Fund for Youth Organizing or Southern Californians for Youth or immigrant rights projects such as Survivors International.
Rohan Lewis is soldiering their way through his third year at Northwestern University. An ethnomusicology major with a minor in dance, Rohan invests their time in performance and creation. A choreographer, dancer, trumpeter, playwright, composer, poet and fantasy writer, Lewis is inspired by Yo-Yo Ma and Lin Hwai Min to continut to explore intersectionality of art to express identity. Rohan is also inspired by J. K. Rowling, Isabelle Allende and J. R. R. Tolkien for radical feminist figures. Lewis also loves Shakespeare, whose words still apply to contemporary society.
Rosie lives in Toronto these days.  She enjoys the movie Up, convincing Canadians they have never really eaten Mexican food, and drinking gin and sodas on her balcony with her beau.  She likes thinking and writing about radical politics, queer things, and childhood
Ryne Poelker is an undergraduate student of History and Gender Women Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Ryne has found himself at the forefront of many struggles from defending abortion clinics to getting arrested with OccupyChicago. Ryne is a socialist organizer who was worked with a queer rights front group called Join The impact, the Illinois Abortion Clinic Defense Team, Gender Just and the Campaign Against Police Sexual Assault. He aspires to someday write social justice history and queer novels.
Samantha Irby is a writer and performer who mostly makes jokes about hot dudes, diarrhea, kittens, and magical tacos on the internet at bitchesgottaeat.com. Seriously. Go read it. In addition to co-hosting The Sunday Night Sex Show, a sex-positive live lit show, she has performed at Essay Fiesta, Write Club, This Much is True, Grown Folks Stories, The Paper Machete, and Story Club, among others. She opened for Baratunde Thurston during his “How to Be Black” tour. She has been profiled in the Chicago Sun-Times as well as in Time Out Chicago, and her work has appeared on The Rumpus and Jezebel. Samantha and partner Ian Belknap write a comedy advice blog atirbyandian.com.
Sarah Baran is currently a senior at DePaul University. Her major is in Art History with a concentration in Latin American Art and her accompanying minor is in Spanish. She is passionate about Latin American cultures, good tequila, learning, smush-faced animals, and the TV show Community because she and her sister are Abed and Troy, respectively. In her spare time she can be found reading various books that have no similarities in theme, wandering the city like a lost child, and watching funny videos on the internet.
Sarah Estime is an aspiring writer and student in New York City. She has been published by Canadian literary magazine What If?, the African American Review, online literary magazine Xenith.net, and literary/photography magazine Burnermag. She also write reviews for Blogcritics and Examiner.com.
Sarah Hollenbeck, an MFA student at Northwestern, has studied nonfiction writing at Hampshire College and the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. She previously worked for Chicago magazine and is now an editor forTriQuarterly Online. Her creative nonfiction work has been published in the CAF Review and TriQuarterly.  She is currently working on an essay collection exploring physical disability and the division of self. A week ago, Sarah was told about a man who cannot remember a time in his life when he did not have the song “Private Eyes” by Hall & Oates stuck in his head. This is the most frightening thing Sarah has ever heard.
Sarah Jackson is a Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow at Northeastern University in Boston, MA. Her research and teaching focus on how media discourses of race, class, and gender reinforce and/or challenge concepts of national belonging. Outside her academic life, Sarah volunteers with youth in educational equity programs, does a lot of yoga, and fantasizes about being an artist. Read more of her writing on Wandering In Love and follow her on Twitter @sjjphd.
Sean Madigan is a DePaul graduate and a Chicago-based writer.
Shelby Mongan is an undergrad student of Catholic Studies and Philosophy at DePaul University, a freelance writer and photographer, and an adopted Chicagoian. She is a staff writer and photographer at Sock Monkey Sound, a music and culture blog based out of Rockford, IL, and has also been featured on HEAVEmedia. She has a tendency towards obsession (which she chalks up to being passionate), speaks nerd fluently, and loves sloths more than she loves most humans. Her day to day life can be found at feelingphiloslothical.tumblr.com.
Shelly Phillips is an Ohioan who doesn’t really care about the Buckeyes, but is just a little too obsessed with all things British.  She also enjoys traveling, reading, Chai tea lattes, and late-afternoon naps.
Sidney Stokes came to Chicago from his home in Alabama. In Chicago he discovered his knack for GLBTQQI activism and has had the good fortune to have participated in planning and the execution of several major rallies and protests throughout Chicago. In addition to being a proud gay man and southerner, Sidney is also a proud Jew. Translation: He’s in film and has an honors degree from Columbia College Chicago and reel to prove it.  He has been working on movies and television for the last five years and has been blessed enough to work on projects he truly believes in.
Tania Zaparaniuk  is a graduate of DePaul University’s International Studies and Economics programs. When not writing or climbing, she’s usually just trying to fulfill her new mantra, to live a life full of purpose, good people, and positive change. Check out her blog at whosewordsarethese.wordpress.com . Cheers!
Thaddeus Grabowy is a fledgling Internet writer which puts him somewhere above Tumblr rebloggers and below inane Justin Bieber Twitter followers. He has plans for the future but until then he’s content to stay at the Jersey Shore. You can find his work at Queerty which is not a site for gay computer geeks.
Thomas Borg is a student at Illinois Institute of Technology. He’s majoring in Humanities with a specialization in Literature and has a minor in Architecture. He is openly gay and would love to chat with you about it. He directs the Crown Joules, IIT’s all-male a cappella extravaganza and takes passion in writing, editing and singing. Check him out on Twitter @OhHeyTom or follow his Tumblr (ohheytom.tumblr.com) to take a peek into his life.
Tim Jones-Yelvington is a Chicago-based writer and gender-bending multimedia performance artist. He is the author of “Evan’s House and the Other Boys who Live There” (in “They Could No Longer Contain Themselves,” Rose Metal Press) and “This is a Dance Movie!” (Tiny Hardcore Press, forthcoming). He works at Crossroads Fund, a public foundation that supports grassroots organizers and activists working on social, racial and economic justice issues in the Chicago area.
Timothy Elliot Lalowski is a student at the Illinois Institute of Technology where he studies Architectural Engineering and Civil Engineering with a minor in Architecture. Timothy is a founder of ItGetsMoreGay.tumblr.com, a G focused LGBTQ help blog. Timothy has also recently founded New Velocity, the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Performance Dance Troupe and serves as president and major choreographer. Interested in the Social Progressive Movement, Timothy continues to work towards his goal of founding the Progressive Design and Engineering Movements.
Timothy is a teacher of writing  He is an occasional Twitter user and obsessive FaceBook checker. When he grows up he wants to be Barney Frank during the 1980s or Rachel Maddow at any point in her life.
Tobi Hill-Meyer is a trans activist, writer, and filmmaker and has directed two trans focused Feminist Porn Award winning films.  Tobi started producing media to fill the utter void of diverse trans characters as well as to offer an alternative to the overwhelmingly exploitative and exotic ways that trans women’s sexuality is often portrayed.  Check out Tobi’s work at HandbasketProductions.com.
Todd Andrew Clayton wishes he were good at soccer.  He lives in San Diego & writes at coffee shops & in his living room.  Someday, he hopes that he can write & get paid for it.  Until then, he’s going to grad school.  He likes Thai food & wants to go to Ireland before he dies.
Tony Merevick is the Editor in chief and co-founder of Chicago Phoenix. He is an award-winning journalist, and is the former Online Editor at Chicago Free Press. He was also a columnist at Gay Chicago and worked at O, the Oprah Magazine through an internship. Twitter: @tonymerevick
Travis Olson is a current student at Loyola University Chicago studying sociology and environmental studies. He works to be a voice for queer students on his campus through helping to organize the student group Advocate LUC. He hopes to continue to educate others through pursuing a career in higher education focused on student diversity. In his spare time he likes to read queer theory, cook and create art.

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