Marcus originally hails from the bastion of high intellect, Alabama. After college, he moved to New Orleans where he spent several years drinking, dodging streetcars, and trying not to look so suspicious. After losing his home as a result of Hurricane Katrina and growing tired of living in the post-apocalypse, he traded in his FEMA check for a case of Miller High Life and a one-way ticket to Chicago. He now resides in Roscoe Village with his dog Franklin, where they read, write, and listen to Avril Lavigne records all night long.

Tankboy resides in the body of Jim Kopeny and lives in Humboldt Park with a beagle named Betty who may actually be slightly more famous than most of the musicians slogging through the local scene. He's written about music for much longer than most bands you hear on the radio have even existed. He also swears that it wasn't him who did that and has learned that "deny everything" is a basic tenet of existence.

You can, and should, direct all arts & entertainment inquiries to Jim.

Chuck (aka "The Decider") grew up on the far northwest side of the city and, at the behest of a sweet-talking recruiter, joined the Navy after high school to study nuclear power. After his discharge in '94, he came back to Chicago and wasted the rest of his twenties and a good part of his thirties on good bourbon and gin; beer; jazz, soul, and insurgent country music; long bike rides; high-calorie breakfasts and women who don't stay for them. Chuck migrated through various north and west side neighborhoods until settling in Bridgeport eight years and one larger pants size ago. He always wanted to live east of Halsted near the home of a major league baseball team. He just never expected it to be Bridgeport. He's since grown accustomed to its face.

Chuck contributes the occasional article to the Chicago Sun-Times food section. His writing also pops up now and then in Time Out Chicago and Centerstage. His dog, Emmylou Harris, is the best looking dog owned by a Chicagoist staffer. Everything else can be found at his weblog, Bridgeport Seasoning. As evidenced by his picture, he also has a great smile.

You can, and should, direct all food & drink inquiries to Chuck.

Rachelle lived in various parts of the country before moving to Chicago to get back in touch with her midwestern roots. She is now a resident of Roscoe Village. When Rachelle isn't doing something online, which isn't often, she can be found with either a book, a beer, or a burrito in her face. Possibly all at the same time. Rachelle has a personal site at rachelleb.com.

Lauri runs a somewhat popular Website, FoundClothing, which documents the clothing and other items that she finds in the trash. A native of Johnstown, PA, she's lived in Chicago since May 2007, when she finished law school in New York City (the true "Second City" ... take that, Moneyhattan!). She's lived in about a 10 other places besides Chi and NYC, and has had about as many other lives. When she isn't writing about the arts, she paints funny portraits, takes photos, pushes the iTunes button/DJs, creates cartoons about her unusual life experiences, and makes friends.

Julienne has spent the last almost-eight years in Chicagoland searching for pizza and bagels comparable to those found in her homeland of New York.  A Lakeview resident with one of the best spots along the weekend drunk parade route, she would operate a late-night snack vending business through her window if she weren't so sure she'd eat all her inventory.  When not working at her "real job," Julienne is most likely in a theater, watching terrible/awesome VH1 or Bravo reality programming, taking dance class, or hoping for the elusive "musical theatre" category to come up at bar trivia.

Maxwell has been a fashion prodigy ever since he came out of his mother’s womb (in style of course). By the remarkable age of 10, he had already designed many collections for multiple fashion powerhouses such as Burberry, Versace, Vera Wang, and Marc Jacobs. Feeling unsatisfied with the fashion industry, Maxwell turned in his sewing machine, air-kissed his colleagues good-bye, headed to school, and finally became an Architectural Engineer. Born in Taipei and raised in and around New York City, Maxwell finally decided to venture away from the East Coast and landed in Chicago. Still an Architectural Engineer, Maxwell now spends his lunch breaks and weekends photographing ordinary people on the streets who inspire him.

After moving from San Francisco to Los Angeles to New York, Suzy expanded her list of major cities she’s lived in when she arrived in Chicago in January. So far, she is not a fan of the weather, but the arts scene makes up for it. Suzy was a Broadway diva in a former life and enjoys convincing people that “bad” shows are actually good and “good” shows are really bad.

Jen resides in Logan Square in a home filled with rock posters, bicycles, and art books. She has written about art, design, fashion, and music for years and also runs a design / screen printing business, SuperKonductor, with her husband, Dave. When Jen’s not writing, she’s either riding her bike or walking a tiny dachshund named Talia. Lately she’s a bit consumed with sugar snap peas, black licorice, and all things Scandinavian. Oh, and Poison Ivy—the most bad-ass guitarist ever.

Rob grew up in suburban Denver (mostly), and when he moved to Chicago in 1993 to attend film school it triggered approximately six months of severe culture shock. Now he loves Chicago so much that he actually looks forward to wintertime. Yes, he's that crazy. His list of five quintessential Chicago touchstones: Jane Addams, Nelson Algren, Chess Records, Meis van der Rohe, and "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer." He sees lots and lots of movies, contributes restaurant reviews to the Chicago Reader, and posts random thoughts on his blog Rob's Cosmic Mai Tai Noir. Also, he wrote a book called 100 Spinning Plates. He lives in Lakeview with his partner Andy, loves the enchiladas nortenas at Las Pinatas, and has a passion for mixing retro cocktails (the Mai Tai being his specialty, obviously).

Laura makes her home in Chicago's West Loop where dogs are the new children and get pushed around in Bugaboo strollers. After studying biology, she disappointed her Korean mother by attending law school instead of medical school and now practices law in the Loop. Like any good attorney, she is sarcastic, slightly offensive, loves practical jokes and is attached to her Blackberry. Laura obsesses over cell phones, her dog, identifying her friends' celebrity doppelgängers, and good food.  She's gone paragliding in the Alps, jumped off a bridge into a river in the Costa Rican jungle, and explored the New Jackson Hotel in Chicago.  Clearly, she'll try almost anything. She loves to take pictures in Chicago restaurant kitchens.

Anthony’s a native Iowan, but fled the state’s limited cuisine of corn syrup and pork products at the age of 18. After moving to Chicago in 2004, he became one of the city’s most avid boosters, especially when it comes to restaurants. A grad student in history at the University of Chicago, he will enthusiastically talk about Chicago’s sordid past until long after you’ve given him a strange look and sidled away quietly. As an avid nerd-of-all-trades, Anthony is probably the only person in the metropolitan area (and possibly in the entire world) to have eaten illegal Foie Gras while playing Dungeons and Dragons. When he isn’t locked in the Regenstein Library, Anthony lives in the South Loop.

When Jacy was eight-years-old she preferred 'Who's Harry Crumb' to 'Bambi' which may explain her interest in comedy and distrust of forest animals. She will buy any magazine with a Kennedy on it, is a brown belt in karate, and will talk about writing, TV, Pelmeni, little white dogs, Eric Cartman, dining experiences and snorkeling until you change the subject or give her a cocktail. Trivia: Jacy has participated in the world's largest trivia contest every year since she was born and is not amused by party hats.

Samantha grew up on a farm in western Pennsylvania, but she left behind the hayfields and horses in search of skyscrapers and cockroaches. After attending Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, Samantha became a political news junkie in Washington, DC. She moved to Chicago in June 2008 to attend graduate school at Northwestern, but she still reminisces about the days on the farm as she sways on the dance floor at Carol’s. When she isn’t writing, she spends most of her time searching for palatable gluten free food, laughing at Chicago’s political escapades, and over-using “that’s what she said” jokes.

Prescott has lived in the Chicago area his entire life, meaning he's either fiercely loyal or hopelessly boring, and now he's trying to instill his same love of the city into his offspring. When not mindlessly flamebaiting on Chicagoist, he's doing his part to further clog Michigan Avenue with tourists and strollers by writing about Chicago travel at About.com.

Kate Gardiner swore she'd never move back to Chicago after college. Then the economy started to collapse and her tiny Hawaiian newspaper died. Since July, she's been freelancing for newspapers and Web sites all over Chicago, and attending Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, hoping against all hope she'll find her Mecca: a permanent, full-time reporting gig. When she's not fussing with the Internet, Kate is live on Twitter, talking about city life, social media and the state of journalism in America - occasionally from horseback at her parents' farm in Wisconsin. She loves far more about living in this city than she'd ever expected - except, of course, for those who interrupt her biking commute on the lake path.

Karl started writing online as an additional resource to the suburban morning radio show he was then hosting.  The radio gig is long gone, but for some reason the writing habit stuck.  Now Karl writes and podcasts for Chicagoist, contributes to various local publications, and is currently plotting his next media takeover. You can, and should, direct anything podcastable to Karl.  He'll talk to damn near anyone. 

Lizz left Boston the day after graduation from BC to roadtrip home to Milwaukee, but stopped off 90 miles south in Chicago and hasn't left since. She's bounced from neighborhood to neighborhood, finding the best coffee, sushi, beer, and live music in each and finally settling in Ravenswood. A big fan of intimate rooms and approachable artists, Lizz is most often found failing to look cool in Chicago's coziest music venues and friendliest brew pubs.

Kevin was raised in the politics of Chicago's 10th Ward. Growing up in a family of steelworkers, he learned the value of hard work and standing up for your principals early on. He is a former union and community organizer and has played small roles in the periodic skirmishes for political power that define this city. After brief stints in Ohio, West Virginia, Chiapas and Mexico City, he returned to Chicago in 2003, and he resides anonymously in a gentrifying neighborhood. He finds skepticism and cheap whiskey to be good antidotes for political disillusionment.

Originally hailing from the North Shore, Benjy Lipsman spent his college years (plus a couple more) in Atlanta before returning home to Chicago in 2001. He currently resides in Lincoln Park.  But don't let geography fool you -- he is a lifelong White Sox fan.  When not reminding Cubs fans that he has actually witnessed his team win a World Series in his lifetime, he's busy following the Bears, Bulls and Blackhawks.  In addition to Chicago's great sports, he also loves the city's vibrant restaurant scene and world-class architecture. In order to pay his bills, Benjy works as a web designer and web marketing manager.

Matt's lot was cast in South Carolina, but he soon realized there wasn't enough cheese babka in those parts to keep him happy. In addition to Polish baking, Matt has an appetite for sports, tomfoolery, and genuine articles of all kinds. He agrees that fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, which is why he prefers a light beer. Matt will consider his work complete when a stranger in a bar tells him a joke that he himself once made up.

Timothy State grew up in the Pacific Northwest, attended college in the Midwest at Lake Forest College and completed a ten-year tour in the capital of the South, Atlanta. He no longer knows how to pronounce anything. In 2004, he was recognized as one of Georgia’s “Newest and Most Promising Writers” by the O, Georgia! Writers Foundation. His blog, BalancingBoyfriends.com has been highlighted as a “Best Gay Blog.” His essays have been published on Swellzine.com. Most recently two of his stories were included in the Lambda Literary Award winning anthology Love, Bourbon Street, and his story, “Weenie Scaloppini” will be included in the upcoming anthology Nine Hundred & Sixty-Nine: Stories of West Hollywood.

When he’s not writing, he’s on his bike, swimming in the lake, or futzing around Chicago with his camera.He and his main boyfriend, Tony, live in the West Loop.

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