Contributors

Melissa McEwan is the founder and editor of the award-winning political and cultural group blog Shakesville, a founding member of the Big Brass Blog, and a contributor to The Guardian's Comment is Free and AlterNet. Melissa graduated from Loyola University Chicago with degrees in Sociology and Cultural Anthropology, with an emphasis on the political marginalization of gender-based groups. An active feminist and LGBTQI advocate, she has worked as a concept development and brand consultant and now writes full-time.

She lives just outside Chicago with three cats and a Scotsman, with whom she shares a love of all things geekdom, from Lord of the Rings to Lost. When she's not blogging, she can usually be found at her piano or dancing like no one is watching to a Smiths' tune. Email Liss.


Arkades is a gay, married, heavyset, eclectic, eccentric Midwesterner. He jots the odd rant now and then, and is otherwise content to add pithy and sometimes snarky observations to discussions-in-progress. Topics of interest include gender and gender roles, sexuality, media, pop culture, politics, and (of course) beards and bears. Email Arkades.


Erica C. Barnett is a Texas expatriate living and shivering in Seattle, Washington. She has a large vegetable garden, a road bike she frequently leaves on the bus, and a job writing about local politics for Seattle's alternative weekly. Michael Nesmith is her favorite Monkee. Email Erica.


Kenny Blogginz is a fearless leader of the next generation of American Patriots. When he isn't busily combating the radical gay feminazi agenda by wielding his Jesus-sword and flag-shield, he attends college in Northwest Indiana.

All Kenny Blogginz really wants is an uninterrupted afternoon to watch Lost and smoke some weed. Email KBlogz.


CaitieCat is a UK-born Canadian, with a Room of Her Own in southern Ontario (but not in Toronto!). She's a polyglot and a cunning linguist, a writer, painter, editor, soccer player, referee, actor, director, scriptwriter, cane-user, grandmother, bisexual, polyamourist, gamer, stand-up comic poet, Marxist, feminist, bassist, history wonk, and geek. Also, some people used to mistake her for a boy, but she's feeling much better now. Email CaitieCat.


Deeky was born and raised in Los Angeles. He now lives in Missouri.

When he's not gracing Shakesville with his estimable, you can find him reviewing movies at Surfin' Dead or waxing deektastic at El Deeky de los Muertos. Email Deeky.


Elle is an assistant professor of history, a conflicted southerner, and a single mama. She's also an aspiring author—both in the sense of not-yet-published and in her fervent wish to have an uninterrupted year to write about whatever strikes her fancy (and she does like to have her fancy struck). Her professional and personal work encompass many topics—women, African Americans, the South, labor, and black-brown relations, just to name a few. She also blogs here. Email Elle.


Benjamin H. Grumbles is Head Detector of Potions, Elixirs, and Poisons for the US Government and Its Occupied Territories. His hobbies are fisticuffs, driving a penny-farthing, and drinking your milkshake, all of which he pursues with an abundance of gumption. He resides on a steamboat headquartered on the Mighty Mississip with his wife Vivian. Email Benjamin H. Grumbles.


The Heretik is a wanton purveyor of heresy.

When he's not scandalizing Shakesville with his profligate sacrilege, you can find him fomenting dissent at his own blog. Email the Heretik.


Misty is a tea-guzzling, latté-sipping, book-obsessed progressive living in the PNW with her husband, four offspring, black lab, and torbie kitty overlord. When not chasing toddlers around, you might find her in the kitchen baking yet another loaf of french bread while listening to NPR. Or re-reading a book for the zillionth time. Or perhaps watching As Time Goes By or that deep, thought-provoking show, So You Think You Can Dance? Then again, she might just be out driving to the store in her rockin' minivan with the windows rolled down and the Lord of the Rings soundtrack turned up. Because she is just.that.awesome. Email Misty.


Mustang Bobby is a writer and blogger who looks at the world with dry bemusement and tries to get through life without bumping into the furniture. In addition to Shakesville, his work can be read at his own blogs, Bark Bark Woof Woof and Bobby Cramer, and at the literary group blog The Practical Press. Email Mustang Bobby.


Paul the Spud is the original Mai Tai recipe.

1 1/2 oz fresh lime juice, 1/2 oz Curacao, 1/3 oz orgeat syrup, 1/4 oz rock candy syrup, 1 oz aged Jamaican rum, 1 oz Martinique rum. Shake ingredients well. Serve in a double old-fashioned glass filled with crushed ice and spent lime shell. Garnish with mint sprig. Email Spudsy.


Petulant is a pissy lad with a chip on his shoulder because _______. Fill in the blank and it will probably be true. He is allergic to shellfish, hates pedestrians, and the aches and pains of this reality find him reaching for the nearest bottle. (If a representative of Big Pharma is reading this, email him for where to send your samples.) He is the proprietor of Petulant Rumblings and spends more time on his ass than necessary for one human. He likes to call himself a confirmed cynic, but might actually see some hope in the world if there is sufficient Champagne. Email Petulant.


Teh Portly Dyke is 50-something, 5 ft. (in shoes), 155 lbs. Pretty handy with a thesaurus, says "fuck" a lot. A founding Member of the Lesbian Grand Council and licensed distributor for Titty-Wrap Hugs, Inc.[twh]., her super-power is Occasional Fits of Pique and her aliases include Chatty Cathy, Troll-Bane, Ms. Deity, The Right Reverend, and Kwisatz Fatterach. She can also be found at her own blog, Teh Portly Dyke. Email Portly Dyke.


Quixote has been messing about for far too long getting a degree in naturopathic medicine, a doctorate in biology, and teaching college to make a living (in a purely academic sense). Q will probably never figure out "what I want to be when I grow up," but is having heaps of fun writing science fiction and ranting here at Shakesville, at Acid Test, and in comments all over blogland. Email Quixote.


Chet Scoville was born and raised in the swamps of New Jersey, and now teaches English in the rockier terrain of the University of Toronto. He is a well-camouflaged, nocturnal creature who prefers to avoid situations of conflict; why he blogs is therefore something of a mystery to biologists. When he's not at Shakesville, he can either be found grousing about life at his own blog, The Vanity Press, listening to old Kirsty MacColl tunes, or muttering darkly that hot pepper sauce should have been his invention. Email Chet.


Mr. Shakes, aka Iain, is originally from Edinburgh, Scotland, where he spent his formative years learning to imbibe mass amounts of alcohol without falling over, refining his caustic wit to weapons-grade snarkery, and building up an immunity to iocane powder. He moved to America just a year into the Bush administration and has regretted it ever since.

He now lives just outside Chicago with three cats and an American. Email Mr. Shakes.


Shark Fu, a.k.a. AngryBlackBitch, Mistress of Correction, High Priestess of the United Church of Bitchitude and Latter Day Drunks, and the Supreme Empress of Keeping it Real. Proudly practicing the fine art of bitchitude since 1973! When she's not blinking it up at Shakesville, she can be found at her own blog, AngryBlackBitch. Email Shark Fu.


SKM lives in a converted ice cream parlor among the steep stairways of Pittsburgh's South Side. When not reading, writing, or being a professional Auntie, she may be on a hike or a hunt for fabulous fabric or wild sourdough cultures. A graduate of Brown University and Chatham University, she spent 10 years doing lab research in genetics and immunology before turning to her current project on the anatomical mystery of how so many people manage to put their feet in their mouths while their heads are so far up their asses. Email SKM.


Space Cowboy is also known as Volcanus Eruptus, which references the simmering cauldron of rage that exists just below his deceptively pleasant exterior. Either way, he's a happily married dork living in New Jersey. By day, he's a mild-mannered software developer who blows off work to write posts. By evening, he's a gamer, part-time drummer, and human slave to one wife and two felines. Email Space Cowboy.


Jon Swift is a reasonable conservative who likes to write about politics and culture. Since the media is biased he gets all his news from Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and Jay Leno monologues. You can also find him serving up his Swiftian Swiftiness at his own blog, the aptly-named Jon Swift. Email Jon Swift.


Todd was born and raised in Northwest Indiana where he spent most of his time with Melissa worshipping and impersonating Morrissey. He then escaped to Chicago and graduated from Loyola University with a Communication major and English and Sociology minors. He also partied a little too much, got his heart broken a few times, learned a few lessons, and used it all for writing material. He still resides in Chicago where he works in the marketing department of a law firm and spends his free time planning his next big move. Wait for it .... Email Todd.


Guest Blogger: Shakesville regularly features guest posts by a variety of bloggers. If you're interested in guest blogging at Shakesville, please email Liss with your request.