Spy of the Month

What do you do when you’re not at 826CHI?

If i am not at 826 between the hours of 11:30am and 12:30pm, I am watching The Young and the Restless. Daytime soap operas are a dying art. I spend a significant amount of my time babysitting. I've gotten really good at beginning sentences with "When I was your age..." and making comparisons between life now and life at the turn of the millennium. In the evenings I like to make watercolor paintings and write poetry.

You've designed many of the after-school chapbook covers. How do you do it?

Every Wednesday at 7PM, I drink a vanilla milkshake out of a straw woven from unicorn hairs. It keeps my creative energy going. Other than that, I consider it to be a great honor to be entrusted with creating a visual interpretation of the absolutely amazing student writing found in each chapbook. When the happy day arrives that I may read a manuscript of the new chapbook writing, I commit myself to an involved process of drawing and Photoshop-ing. Then I sleep really well.

Some of your work shares the beauty of Lisa Frank in her prime. Have you ever looked into making stickers, folders or Trapper Keepers?

Umm, yes. But why stop there? For Christmas, when I was five, Santa brought me a doll named Sally Secrets. Stickers came out of her bellybutton and one shoe turned into a roller stamp while the other shoe contained an ink pad. Adult-size shoes that are also stamps? A glittery, neon vest that is also a Trapper Keeper? Glow-in-the-dark jewelry that dispenses stickers? Just you wait.

What’s been your favorite moment at 826CHI?

It was shortly after the blizzard. I was volunteering for an In-School project. A gigantic mountain of snow blocked the easiest route to the school's main entrance. Going around would have taken more time and been a lot less fun, so we scaled it. Also, any moments involving students breaking into songs like "Eye of the Tiger."

What is your favorite thing about 826CHI?  

Being there at the moment when a student learns something for the first time, is really incredible. I am reminded that making reading and writing an important part of one's life sets up a continual relationship with learning.Working with students at 826 has had a definite influence on my own work as a writer and artist; it really makes me want to take more time to write silly sestinas and draw ninja toilets fighting chickens on the sun. When I think about this question, a montage of happy writing kids growing into happy writing adults runs through my head and makes me mildly emotional.

Most folks take their books on paper or beamed through a tablet, but our sources claim that you created a book out of something else ... could you please explain?

Gracie Lost Pink Tiger, is a large-scale accordion book and fiber art extravaganza. The meticulously painted, embroidered and appliqued fabric pages tell the story of my little sister Gracie losing her Beanie Baby, Pink Tiger. Pink Tiger is swept into the Ohio River and the current carries her all the way to the tiny village of Saint-Cirq-Lapopie in Southwest France. Upon washing ashore, Pink Tiger meets a troll named Magellan and a unicorn named Svetlana. They have a pizza party in the caves of Pech Merle.

You victoriously won the Moustache tiara at this year's Moustache-a-thon. What is a secret talent (or talents) of yours that has yet to be awarded a fancy trophy?

I am really good at untangling things.

What’s your life ambition?

I would like to seamlessly unite my interests in physics, poetry and visual arts.

If the macaroni has already hit the fast-forward button on the fire hydrant, when will the puppy ingest the glockenspiel?

When the flamingos are eating applesauce out of sparkly tap shoes on the terrace in Louisville.