the bohemian aesthetic eZine :|: staff bios

† Publisher/Editor-in-chief (since September 2003)

eMail • Web site • MySpace page • MySpace Music page

The daughter of a North American career military father and West Indian educator mother, Patsy Moore is a critically-acclaimed singer/songwriter, poet and essayist, film and television score composer, and humanities lecturer, who lives in Los Angeles, California.

In September 2002, she established patsymooreDOTcom—a Web site short on traditional 'fan' fodder and long on providing a community/forum for artful individuals representing varied disciplines while embodying independent vision.

The speedy evolution of pmDOTcom gave rise to the addition of a team of feature columnists, regularly enjoyed by people in over 100 countries and garnering, daily, between 2300 and 4200+ new readers.

Thus, The Bohemian Aesthetic eZine was launched, its name adopted from an underground arts and religion newsletter published by Patsy between 1994 and 1995. Along with publishing and editing this project, Patsy shoulders the primary responsibility of producing The World Watch Papers and TBA's video supplement, bohoTV.

† Partner Publisher/Editor (since April 2007)

† Topics: Poetry • Reviews/Interviews • Microtexts (since April 2007)

guest contributor

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Brentley Frazer is an artist who lives in Melbourne, Australia. His literary work has appeared in a slew of reputable periodicals, journals, and anthologies. Brentley’s first major collection of poems and microtexts, A Dark Samadhi (PC Press), was released to wide critical plaudits in early 2003. His paintings have been exhibited in several group and solo exhibitions since 1995.

In 2001, the multifaceted Aussie, while still a resident of Brisbane, founded Retort Magazine, an electronic journal dedicated to the publication and presentation of new, innovative and experimental art and text. Retort features both fiction and non-fiction on a semi-regular itinerary and has published some of the world's best known artists and writers as well as having continued to offer a platform for emerging writers and artists—favoring the cutting-edge over the blunt of the handle, the avant-garde over backward thought, the delinquent imagination over the hammered, economic mind. It is archived onsite and also by The National Library of Australia as part of the Pandora Project, which aims to permanently preserve electronic publications, based on their national and cultural significance. Retort and TBA began its relationship of shared content in April 2007.

Brentley also writes freelance for several online and print publications. His interviews/reviews of artists and writers have been published by Pixel Surgeon Magazine, Antipoda Magazine, and Cordite Magazine, among others.

† Senior Copy Editor (since September 2003)

† Column: Cambridge Letters

† Topic: Global Arts (September 2004 to December 2005)

Kym Cooper-Rodgers formerly (and briefly) covered arts scenes abroad, for TBA, and continues to act as Senior Copy Editor, bringing over a dozen years of professional writing and editing experience to the task. A move to England, in 2004, has enabled her to strengthen relations with our supporters across the ocean—particularly in the UK, France, Germany and the Czech Republic. (Aiding her greatly in this effort is her fluency in four languages.)

Kym, a native of Boulder, Colorado, works for a British news service. In their rare free time, she and husband, anime/film composer Dennis Rodgers, enjoy running marathons and kayaking.

† Copy Editor (February 2008-August 2008)

Brandon Blake is a resident of Windsor, Ontario. He is a 1992 graduate of Christ for the Nations in Dallas, Texas. His passions include singing, reading (interests are in Reformed epistemology, postmodern theory, and systematic theology), and hanging out on the Internet. When not thereby engaged, he enjoys photographing cars, spending time with his three children, and making runs to Dunkin' Donuts in nearby Detroit, Michigan.

† Proofreader (April 2007-August 2008)

Dayna Harding-Hubbard makes her home in Lincolnshire County, England—as she has all her life. She is a huge fan of writer/director Joss Whedon and his two frequently lauded television creations, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and its spin-off, "Angel" (making her a perfect fit with most of the TBA staff). She loves animals (especially cats) and is a passionate advocate for their rights. In her spare time, Dayna makes jewelry and, despite being an amputee (she lost a leg due to gangrene, shortly after being born), enjoys dancing.

† Copy Editor (April 2007-August 2008)

Melissa Merritt is a teacher and writer living in Chicago, Illinois. She has taught at the University of Evansville in Indiana and the University of Southern Indiana. She currently teaches at Benedictine University in Chicago.

Melissa is a published author of two books—This Way to the Losers’ Lounge and Missed Opportunities—and is always at work on her third. As ‘write what you know’ is the best piece of advice she has ever been given, her books are full of bad dates, horrible come-on lines, and usually end on a less than happy note.

Melissa has also worked freelance for several online sites and a newspaper in Florida. She received her M.S. in education from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale and her B.A. in English from Rollins College, where she also worked as an editor for The Sandspur—the campus newspaper. Her first collegiate years were spent at the University of Florida, and she is a proud 'Gator'.

† Assistant Copy Editor (since May 2007)

eMail • Web site • MySpace page

After six years in London as a production editor, Sorrel Moseley-Williams now resides in Cariló, a protected natural reserve in Argentina, with her husband, Ramiro. Originally planning an early retirement, Sorrel's summer activities include renting her home out to stressed-out porteños (Buenos Aires residents) and body boarding, while the imminent winter sees her playing bridge with the local elderly folk; collecting wood to keep the fire well stoked; helping organize an eGaming conference in BA; making toys to entertain her kitten, Henry; and teaching English to 120 pupils for a local political party.

† Copy Editor (since April 2007)

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Welsh writer/musician Huw Pryce is an experienced editor. He, his partner Veronique, and their daughter (the ever-quotable Isabelle) live on the extreme outer edge of London, England, in Barnet.

† Assistant Copy Editor (since April 2007)

Iselin, New Jersey is the place that Kathryn Rose Retkwa calls home. Kathryn has studied publishing, editing, and proofreading for almost a year since graduating from Washington College, in Maryland, with an English degree and a hope of entering the publishing field. She has been active in the arts all of her life—particularly in the areas of theater, dance, music, visual arts, and literature. She also involves herself with public service, currently as a volunteer for Garden State Equality.

† Editorial Intern/Researcher (April 2007-August 2008)

Victor Hugo-loving, songwriting, acoustic guitar-playing shoe fiend Shaniqua Whitfield lives in Harlem, New York. She is certain she was born to write.

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† Managing Editor (since January 2005)

eMail • Web site • MySpace page

Maria Hobbs (a/k/a Myrrh)—who began playing guitar at age 15—attended L.A.'s renowned Musicians Institute, in subsequent years. She has accompanied a vast array of artists, including Cree Summer, Macy Gray, Nedra Johnson and Medusa, although the versatile player is probably best known for her anchoring roles in the oft-praised West Coast bands Strangefruit and Only Child. She also contributed to the soundtrack of the 1995 20th Century Fox film Strange Days, starring Ralph Fiennes and Angela Bassett, and co-founded Papa Chuy Productions with Patsy Moore.

Maria resides in Los Angeles, California. As Managing Editor of TBA, she handles all business affairs.

† Administrative Assistant (since January 2008)

As the in-house intern for pmDOTcom & Associated Sites, Scott Milch's tasks include providing administrative assistance to The Bohemian Aesthetic. He is a fourth-year college student working towards a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Studies. Scott lives in Hollywood, California, but is originally from San Francisco.

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† Column: Amsterdam Dispatch

† Topic: Fine Art (since February 2008)

eMail • Web site

Karin Bos, born in Rijswijk, the Netherlands, graduated from the Amsterdam School of Fine Arts in 1989. She lives and works in Amsterdam, where her primary media are painting, drawing and printing.

†	Column:	Deleted Scenes (A Guide to the Great Cinema and TV You're Missing)
† Topic: Film • Television (since November 2003)
eMail • Web site

Stuart Chait hails from Rochester, New York. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Film (2002) and a Master's degree in Playwriting (2003)—both from Boston University.

His stage directing credits include "The 15-Minute Hamlet", "Sexual Perversity in Chicago", "A History of the American Film", "The Dumb Waiter", and his own "A Night with Edgar", based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe.

Stuart resides in Studio City, California and currently serves as a producer for Authentic Entertainment (Los Angeles), working on documentary programming for The History Channel. He is also a co-founder of Troupe West, a theater company based in the L.A. area.

† Column: Thus Spake Fred

† Topics: Social Issues • Politics • Religion (since August 2004)

guest contributor

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Fred Clark is an actor and a copy editor for a Wilmington, Delaware newspaper. He lives in Media, Pennsylvania.

"Indeed, there is no one I know who can sort through complex and often obtuse ideas and then explain them...to an audience in such a way that makes those ideas as plain as day—fairly and without distortion—all while making whatever point he wants to make. He is also dreadfully, painfully, surgically funny. And, better still, he is a man of conviction [and] grace." -Dwight Ozard on Fred

† Column: Lessons in Creativity

† Topic: Self-care (since July 2005)

guest contributor

eMail • Web site • creativity coaching services

Linda Dessau, BFA, MTA, CPCC, is a self-care expert, accredited music therapist and certified life coach whose journey of making and sharing music began with piano lessons at age 6.

Linda owns a successful music therapy practice and delivers weekly group and individual programs to adults and seniors with a variety of special needs.

As a certified life coach, she has developed resources and products aimed at empowering individuals to make healthier choices. She has also taught and spoken locally, in Toronto, Canada, as well as at conferences and events in other cities.

Linda's work has become focused on serving fellow creative types—musicians, artists and writers—via her popular Web site, eCourse and newsletter. Her original articles about creativity and self-care are published all over the Web and world.

Linda's most recent venture, Sing Out Your Stress, brings together her passions, gifts and skills in an exciting way by allowing her to share her whole self—musical, creative, spiritual, self-caring—by incorporating a strong interest in the Internet and new technologies.

† Column: Design Psychology

† Topic: Design (July 2005 to March 2007)

guest contributor

Web site

Professor Jeanette Fisher, author of Doghouse to Dollhouse for Dollars, Joy to the Home, and other books, teaches Real Estate Investing and Design Psychology.

† Column: Verse

† Topic: Poetry (since February 2007)

guest contributor

eMail • blog

A theatre and film graduate of Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, director, editor, cinematographer, Web developer, writer and (very) occasional actor John-Paul Gillespie combines a deep knowledge of pre-modern French and German artistic cinema with a total disdain for the entire oeuvre—a dismissive attitude he elaborated fully in "The Needle in the Haystack Theory" (1995), the pre-doctoral highlight of a brief academic career and a scathing dissertation on the futility of intellectual myopicism. Off-camera, this aspiring auteur and member of the Sri Chinmoy Centre, who lives in Auckland, New Zealand, hones his cinematic eye in the design industry, and uses his practice of meditation as a source of energy and inspiration for his many creative pursuits. John also writes articles on poetry for Poetseers.org and Sri Chinmoy Poetry.

† Column: On Books

† Topic: Books (since February 2008)

Tim Haigh (pronounced HAYG) was born in Yorkshire, England in 1960 and left for Manchester University 18 years later, where he read Politics and Economics. He has worked in a dizzyingly incoherent variety of jobs, but the best ones have involved books, writing, and broadcasting. In particular, he has done several stints reviewing books and arts broadcasting on LBC and reviewed for The Independent on Sunday, among other publications. Tim can be heard regularly on the podcast Tim Haigh Reads Books. He lives in London with his wife and two children.

† Column: London Letters

† Topics: London Arts Scene • Design (since May 2007)

eMail • Web site • blog

Kenya-born Shakila Taranum Maan found herself exiled, at age eleven, when the Ugandan government undertook the expulsion of Asians in 1972, forcing her family to leave East Africa and migrate to England; she has been part of the British arts scene since the mid-1970s. From her base in West London, Shakila wrote, produced and directed plays, for her own and other theatre companies, before venturing into film production and directing. (She is a graduate of the London College of Communication, with a degree in Film & Video production.)

Ferdous, her graduation film, won Best Art Film at the Latin American Film Festival and was screened worldwide. In 2001, Shakila's Alone Together collected the Pierre Cardin Award for Best Art Film at the Asolo Film Festival in Italy. Her first feature film, A Quiet Desperation (see poster art by clicking here), premiered as the opener for Raindance East at the Raindance Film Festival, London 2001, and has since screened at Cannes and the National Film Theatre, London. Now re-titled The Winter Of Love, it is scheduled for DVD release this summer.

The courage to explore daring themes in depth is a defining feature of Shakila's work. Her writing style, like her film style, is offbeat and contemporary, duly respectful yet brutally honest, and true to the facts and characters.

Shakila is also a founding member of The Art Ministry, a London-based art publisher and agent, which supplies galleries and other trade outlets with original and limited edition artwork internationally sourced from visual artists.

In her spare time, Shakila runs her own blog, About Film; and, on a good day, you'll find her in her garden, red-faced and raging, trying—but spectacularly failing—to keep the invading weeds at bay.

† Column: Verse

† Topics: Poetry • Arts Miscellany (since May 2007)

Jim Newcombe was born in Derby, England. He now resides in Richmond, SW London, where he works as a transcription editor for the Royal Courts of Justice. He also writes poetry and works as a literary hack. He has contributed numerous reviews to various publications.

Newcombe is neo-Romantic in literature, dissident in politics, and renegade Catholic in religion.

† Column: transcripts from A Lovers' Quarrel

† Topics: Spiritual Life • Popular Culture (June 2004 to September 2005)

guest contributor

Web site

Dwight Ozard was a writer, speaker, and communications, marketing and organizational consultant. He traveled the world with non-profit and for profit organizations, entertainers and the entertainment industry, politicians, and individuals, helping them develop creative strategies to, at once, better tell their stories and find ways to more effectively use what they do to serve those who have no power, no voice, no advocates.

During his tenure as Director of Communications and Special Events for Evangelicals for Social Action (a national, membership-driven, advocacy agency organizing and appealing on behalf of theologically conservative but politically progressive evangelicals), Dwight helped create ESA's award-winning PRISM magazine, where he earned an international reputation as a writer of extraordinary sensitivity and courage—capturing several awards heralding his music criticism, thought-provoking, honest, and occasionally controversial editorials, and analysis of the American religious and social landscapes. His groundbreaking essay, "The Seven Deadly Sins of Contemporary Christian Music", was heralded by CCM Magazine as "crucial, must reading" for the music community.

In the '90s, Dwight was a regular speaker at the Cornerstone Festival and other large festivals and conferences. He spoke around the United States, Canada, and Central America—where he came to be recognized as a passionate advocate and agitator for relevant, redemptive, and playfully faith-filled cultural engagement and social action.

Dwight was also a respected and highly sought-after expert in communications, marketing, and public relations. Over the years, he worked with—and for—a wide range of organizations, ministries, and individuals—from some of the largest NGOs in the world (including World Vision International and World Vision Canada, Habitat for Humanity International, DATA), to some of the world's most recognizable entertainers and public figures (including Sarah Michelle Gellar; Randall Wallace; The WB Network; the (former) Galloping Gourmet, Graham Kerr; People Magazine; Tony Campolo; Sixpence None the Richer; Julia Stiles; Tipper Gore), to small, focused non-profits and politicians.

As a consultant, Ozard was especially recognized for his insights into the development of "Cultural Capital", having earned a reputation as one of the most sentient experts in matching organizations and businesses with celebrities and artists seeking ways to creatively use their positions to both respectfully serve those in need and sensitively raise their profiles and "brands". Ozard also worked in the music industry—largely in private—to empower and teach artists to genuinely serve the needy while remaining true to their callings as art-makers and communicators.

A four-year cancer patient, this native of London, Ontario, Canada was developing several books for publication, including My Friend Went to Chemotherapy and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt, a compilation of the journals and letters that chronicle his ongoing battle with Multiple Myeloma. He worked with Graham Kerr on Outdulgence, a book on living the "good life" as an act of service. He also collected and wrote a series of essays, editorials (old and new), and studies to be published as two companion volumes titled A Lovers' Quarrel with God and How to be a Worldly Christian (and Not Go to Hell).

Dwight lived with wife Sheri Blick in Devon, Pennsylvania. He passed away on November 14, 2005 from complications related to cancer.

† Column: Savor

† Topic: Food (sinceApril 2006)

eMail • Web site

In addition to being a gourmand and Emmy-awarded set designer, Brian Parker, who makes his home in Nashville, Tennessee, helms Parker Designs—a company dedicated to works of great imagination and frequent whimsy.

† Column: Paris—Vie et Art

† Topic: Parisian Arts and Culture (sinceAugust 2006)

eMail • Web site • MySpace page

Francis Powell lives in Paris, France, where he teaches English, paints, writes poetry and short stories, composes music, Djs (under the moniker 'Dj Wise'), and makes video performance art.

† Column: The Art of Fiction

† Topic: Books • Author Interviews (since November 2005)

eMail • Web site

Peter Quinones, a resident of Brooklyn, New York, is currently working on a book about contemporary literature and its relationship to the culture as a whole. Several notable authors, interviewed by Peter for The Bohemian Aesthetic, are assisting him with that project.

† Column: Write of Passage

† Topic: Writing (since June 2004)

Eboni Rafus received her MFA from UMass Amherst's prestigious Creative Writing program. Although she has done stints as a production assistant, casting assistant, and elementary school teacher, expression through the written word has long been her first love. Eboni resides in Amherst, Massachusetts.

† Column: Rake on Music

† Topic: Music (since February 2004)

Waupun, Wisconsin is home base for Jamie Lee Rake, an accomplished veteran of music journalism, whose work appears regularly in numerous esteemed national periodicals.

† Column: Tending the Planet

† Topics: Social Responsibility • Spiritual Life (since August 2006)

eMail • Web site • UN blog

Alyssa Stebbing grew up the true flower child of well-educated, hippie parents. Spending a couple of years at a commune in New Mexico, in the early '70s—and having the experiment end poorly—sent her family packing to the nearest church, 35 miles away.

Alyssa's experience as a folk, punk, country, and rock musician and songwriter was enormously helpful in her work with other musicians, through Compassion International, for nine years. In 1998, she left Compassion to start The Legacy of a Kid Brother of St. Frank, following the death of her friend, Rich Mullins. The Legacy works with at-risk youth on reservations, in urban areas, and with Russian orphans, using music and the arts to develop coping skills and discover alternatives to violence and abuse.

Alyssa is a professed Franciscan with the Order of Ecumenical Franciscans, and is known, in the Order, as Sr. A. Claire Magdalena. She currently assists a church in The Woodlands, Texas in developing a worship service that utilizes artistic disciplines, and serves as the parish's Director of Outreach.

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† House Illustrator (since May 2007)

eMail • Web site • MySpace page

Gregory Michael Burton Chomichuk (a/k/a GMB Chomichuk) is a writer, artist, and founder of Alchemical Press, in Winnipeg, Manitoba (western Canada). He is a proponent of illustrated, sequential, novel-length stories that are equal parts prose and picture. Current creative endeavors include: working as art director on two feature film projects with Absurd Machine Films, CD design and art direction with the band Tele, and writing/illustrating two novel-length projects for Alchemical Press.

† House Illustrator/Photographer (since June 2007)

† Column: Hagan POV

† Topic: Photography (since September 2008)

eMail • Web site • MySpace page

John Joseph Hagan was born in Whittier, California. He is a photographer and self-taught artist who focuses, mostly, on creating with oil, graphite, canvas, and board. John leans heavily on his roots in illustration and cartoon, offering otherworldly subjects that simultaneously evoke playfulness and lament. He is the current Art Director for Vox Pop, an über-progressive coffee shop/book store/publishing house located in Brooklyn, New York, where he also resides. In that capacity, John curates monthly exhibitions and reaches out to emerging local artists.

† Cartoonist (since June 2008)

guest contributor

Randall Munroe is a CNU graduate with a degree in physics. Before creating the comic strip series "xkcd", he worked on robots at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia. Since June 2007, Randall has lived in Massachusetts. In his spare time, he climbs things, opens strange doors, and goes to goth clubs dressed as a frat guy so that he can stand around looking terribly uncomfortable. At frat parties, he does the same thing, but the other way around.

† House Illustrator (since April 2007)

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Ercan Üçer was born in the Republic of Turkey and lives there still. He is a graphic designer, stop motion animator, cook, and musician (he plays 23 instruments). Ercan also plays basketball and loves watching cartoons. His favorite director is Tim Burton.

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