About A/C

A/C is Gaper's Block's topical section devoted to Chicago's vibrant arts and culture scene. From comedy to painting, interviews to photo essays, A/C features what excites us, whether it be a new standup comedian or the opening of a major show at the Art Institute. Stop by regularly for short updates and in-depth features.

Editors

Andrew Huff, Editor & Publisher
Andrew works deep into the night at his West Ridge two-flat, writing and editing and playing with the cats. He spends more time online than is healthy; follow along at me3dia.com. Email him at ah@gapersblock.com.

David Schalliol, Managing Editor
A graduate student in sociology at the University of Chicago, David is involved in far too many non-academic projects for his own good. You can check out some of his diversions at his personal website, metroblossom, and that flickr place. He has South Side pride. Email him at dcs@gapersblock.com

Staff

Ramsin Canon, Mechanics Editor
Ramsin Canon works and lives in Chicago. He has worked in and written about local and state politics for the last six years, and currently writes about the big issues at SameSubject.com.

Vanessa Day
Vanessa Day is a graduate student at DePaul University studying writing and publishing. She loves reading, playing sports, and traveling. Catch up with her life at A Traveler's Mind.

Amy Dittmeier
Amy grew up in and around Chicago, but did most of her maturation in her basement watching Humphrey Bogart and Jean Gabin or in her room blasting the Rolling Stones and David Bowie. Graduating with a critical studies in film degree from Columbia College, she continues her passion for film and music through her writing. She currently writes for HEAVEmedia and The Deli, as well as freelancing at other Chicago publications. She's also working on a non-fiction book about zombies in film and comic books, which you can follow here.

Dyan Flores
Dyan likes having a laugh, politics, and Chicago. If you were to Venn diagram these things, much to Dyan's delight, there would be a significant portion of the diagram where those three sets overlap. She also likes tamales, the White Sox and books intended for high schoolers. Dyan has contributed to The Bastion, Time Out Chicago and Consumerist.com.

Carl Giometti
Before moving to the city, Carl grew up in the suburbs and considers himself to be a "Chicagolander." He can often be seen on Wabash Avenue muttering on about how the South Loop is "only a year or two away from being an incredible neighborhood." He spends his free time scrounging for any mundane piece of information about Chicago and excitedly repeats it to his sleeping wife and cats. When he is sick he only eats Taco Bell Mexican Pizzas and he can almost sing several Italian operas, word for word.

Margaret Larkin
Margaret lives downtown, where she watches TV on a late 20th century Sony. She writes about language and other nerdy topics at her language blog and is a micro publisher of books about cities.

John Lendman
Columbia College grad and Lake View resident, John Lendman moved from San Antonio to Chicago five years ago and has been in love with everything Chicago-centric ever since. He's worked with the Columbia Chronicle, Windy City Times and the Chicago Tribune and can be found working diligently at wifi-firendly coffee shops on North Broadway.

Lindsay Muscato
Lindsay Muscato is a writer, editor and arts administrator in Chicago whose original work has appeared at the Around the Coyote arts festival and at the 2nd Story storytelling festival. She writes frequently at lindsayliveshere.org.

Margo O'Hara
Margo is an Uptown resident who loves riding her bike and indulging in tourist attractions. During the daytime, she works for the Active Transportation Alliance. Her biggest ego boosts come from critiquing news coverage and the media industry.

J.H. Palmer
J.H. Palmer is a secret writer who has lived in Chicago since 1992. She was born in Boston, but you'd never know it. Notable moments in her life include a brief stint as a census taker, writing copy for a hangover chaser, and a temp job at a catheter factory. She lives on the Northwest Side with three cats and a man. When she's not catching up on cable TV shows on Neftlix, she enjoys biking, eating, and writing about her life in her blog, Buttered Noodles.

Michelle Peterson
Michelle Peterson is a writer and editor based (very recently) in Chicago. In a decade of journalism, she's covered arts and crime from New York to Alaska.

Steve Prokopy
Steve at the Movies
A Windy City resident for more than 20 years, Steve writes about everything but movies at his day job for a trade journal publishing company. Using the alias Capone, he has been the Chicago Editor for Ain't It Cool News since 1998, and has been writing film reviews since he was a wee lad of 14, growing up in Maryland. (An archive of older columns may be found here.)

Katherine Raz
Katherine Raz is a freelance writer and the Community Manager for a non-profit arts organization. She's trekked all over Chicago in search of thrift store and estate sale bargains, and writes BackGarage, a blog about stylish apartment living on a garage sale budget. A two fisted-drinker and Chicago resident for over a decade, she lives in Ravenswood with her fiancee, Jem, and loves the Chicago Bears.

Kelly Reaves
Kelly Reaves moved to Chicago to become a famous artist and but realized the real money is in internships. She is a journalism student at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago as well as a waitress but spends most of her time taking her dog on epic walks, painting, blogging, and recording her breakthrough solo album on her four-track.

Christian Scheuer
Christian, an artist, photographer and builder of things, works for a small gourmet bakery in Evanston, bringing sweet goodies to the masses in various coffee shops in and around Chicago. In his downtime, he makes "stuff for people who like stuff" and keeps a blog about his varied interests in design and things with wheels.

Jamie Smith
Jamie came to the big city from the buckle of the Bible Belt and couldn't be happier in her adopted hometown. When she's not working as a para-paralegal, she's reading, knitting, biking, baking, blogging and adding new hobbies to the list every day. She may eventually come to terms with the fact that her to-do list will never be done, but until then she plans to continue behaving as if there are 36 hours in a day.

LaShawn Williams
LaShawn is a proud Chicago native who hails from the city's south side. When she's not pursuing her quest to become the queen of Scrabble on Pogo.com, she writes about social and community issues, pop culture and of course, "all things Chicago."

Rachel Zanders
Rachel has called the dance studio her second home since the day she could toddle across a room, and she's still at it. A born-and-bred Midwesterner, she is elated to be living among "her" people here in Chicago. She feels lucky to make a living by editing or writing just about anything anyone will let her sic her pen on (OK, anything on which anyone will let her sic her pen).

Contributors

Dan Kelly
Dan Kelly lives on the northwest side with his wife, son, and three graceless cats. He's written for the Reader and the Baffler and can usually be found gibbering about subjects like architecture, politics, film, comics, and Lisa Loeb on his blog.