Brandy Betz is a freelance writer, editor, consultant and PR representative. Her political writing has appeared in Bad Subjects and her non-political writing start came at an online fashion and lifestyle magazine, She Unlimited. She has produced press releases and/or media kits for clients in the fashion, beauty and film industries. 

Born in northwestern Ohio, Brandy moved to Fort Myers, Florida when she was six and considers it her hometown. Her first political involvement as an adult came during the 1999 election season when she failed horribly at being a regional coordinator for the Green Party. She voted for Nader that year because she was 18 and in what she thought would be a red state. She regrets that decision.

Her must-read blogs are Five Thirty Eight, Lawyers Guns & Money and Skippy the Bush Kangaroo. She kind of wants to be Nate Silver when she grows up. Her mood music includes Dandy Warhols, Magnetic Fields, Broken Social Scene, Sleater-Kinney and Rancid. Her reading habits usually revolve around chemistry or biology textbooks but she’s also fond of Nabokov, Broyard and Dawkins.

She once rode to a family reunion in a hearse, her mother’s car at the time, and took a nap in the casket well. She favors horror among all movie genres and can fall asleep to the director’s commentary on Dawn of the Dead like it is a lullaby. She reads graphic novels and draws comics when time permits. As the writer of the Indie Retailer and Moue Music spots, she’s always on the look out for whats up and coming. But she still has no idea how to use Facebook. Kids these days… ::shakes fist::

Will Curl is a fiction writer, playwright, academic nomad and on-again, off-again activist for the Democratic Party and various progressive causes.

Born and raised in the upper Midwest, Will attended the University of Michigan and, later, the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, where he earned a Ph.D. in English. His political activism began in his high school years, and he has fond memories of the first time he was photographed by the Secret Service. Since then, he’s worked on a variety of political campaigns for Democratic Party candidates, in roles ranging from campaign manager to that obnoxious guy who hands you a flyer when all you’re trying to do is get through the door.

His must-read blogs include Eschaton, Hullabaloo, Glenn Greenwald, and Daily Kos. His must-listen music includes Wilco, Dead Can Dance, Bob Mould and the odd bit of Motorhead. His must-read authors include the above bloggers, plus assorted other folks including Jim Thompson, Mikhail Bulgakov and Jayne Anne Phillips. His own fiction has appeared in print and online publications including Hayden’s Ferry Review, juked, Ghoti Magazine and others. He’s been known to leave the occasional blog comment or two (or twelve).

He tells great stories. He admires particle physics and the Green Party, although he can’t quite fathom the inner workings of either one. He contradicts himself several times a day. If he had stalkers, he’d probably be so flattered by the attention he’d buy them lunch. And though he sees and believes in the inherent worth, dignity and beauty of every human soul, that doesn’t necessarily mean he likes you.

Acallidryas was doomed to be a political nerd from the beginning.  Her parents regularly discussed politics and religion and the dinner table, and for fun they regularly deconstructed commercials and engaged in brutally competetive Scrabble, Boggle and Trivial Pursuit games.  When she was in high school, she was in orchestra, latin club, and the Math Team, and actually enjoyed it.  (2, 4, 6, 8, we know how to integrate!  3,5,7,9, we have fun when we divide!  cosπ is minus one, doing math is so much fun!  Go, Math Team!)
Acallidryas was born in South Bend, IN.  Her family moved down to Florida when she was five, and she grew up in Ft. Myers, FL.  She went to University of Central Florida where she majored in Political Science, co-hosted a political radio show, met her future husband, and became active in all the political causes a college studen is supposed to be active in.  She also worked on Nader’s 2000 presidential campaign, and has been doing pennance since.  Afterwards, she moved to the Washington, DC area to pursue a masters in Environmental Policy at American University.

Acallidryas currently lives in DC with her husband, cat, and sister.  She currently works at a small faith-based organization as the advocacy coordinator and in project management.  She regularly has to give talks on environmental policy,international poverty or immigration, so she’s often forming expert opinions on issues on a moment’s notice, which is perfect practice for being a blogger.  Her must-read blogs are Talking Points Memo, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Envirowonk, and, before they all-but-abandoned us, Jon Swift and Orcinus.  These days, she mostly listens to Andrew Bird, Flobots, The Cure and Elvis Perkins, but she assumes this’ll change in a month, as it usually does.  Her must-read authors are Kurt Vonnegut, Margaret Atwood, Max Brooks and Rachel Carson.  She is very prepared for the coming zombie uprising.  

[dave] is a life-long cultural snob that does his best to use his elitism for the benefit of others.  His involvement with Indie Retailers allows him to re-channel the internet window shopping he once did at object d’crave.  His other ventures include tackling a wide array of emerging music and cultural artifact at suck my art, and still in the pre-launch phase is a group food blog called mad tasty.
His work life has long been strongly connected to the social service sector, currently as director of a small domestic violence agency but also having worked primarily people living with HIV/AIDS and mental illness.  He received his degree in Sociology & Social Policy at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland where he lived for five years, but currently resides in Boston not far from where he grew up.

His must-read blogs include Jezebel, Discobelle, Racialicious & Joe My God.  His favorite authors are Margaret Atwood, Clive Barker, Octavia Butler and China Meiville. He believes strongly in intersectionality, an embodied approach to society centered in anti-oppression and the importance of not being afraid to put your foot in your mouth from time to time.