LIN-Z
Lin-Z, the unexplained madness, is a 17 year old lost soul finding her way through writing and the arts. She’s a Cali-girl born and raised, though her heart now belongs to Chicago. This soon to be senior she started writing at 12 years old and hasn’t stopped since. She is just learning how to really write by the greatest place on earth — no, not Disneyland — but Young Chicago Authors. Lin-Z is in love with all forms of self-expression, writing, reading, music, dance, painting, film, and photography. Anything that you can do to express yourself, go out and do it! One of Lin-Z’s goals in life is to learn at least one form of each of these things before she’s 30. Lin-Z’s words to live by for all the women in the world: Good girls are bad girls that don’t get caught; Originality does not consist in saying what no one has ever said before, but in saying exactly what you think yourself; and originality implies being bold enough to go beyond accepted norms. Also anther of the many quotes she loves is: live as if you would die tomorrow; learn as if you would live forever.

AARTI MONTEIRO
Aarti is the sound of the ocean during the night. Aarti is the flickering flashing of the streetlamp. Aarti is a pretentious poet, and if everyone is pretentious then no one is pretentious. She has many sisters.

EMILY RABKIN
Emily Rabkin is a writer first. She spends her time putting on plays and starting up bands that generally don’t make it past the naming stage. She was a founding editor for Say What Magazine. Emily attends Wesleyan University.

NATALIE ROMAN
Natalie Roman is lavender and indigo, drunk on stars, and in love with clouds and avocados. She loves laughing, singing, dancing, riding her bike really, really fast on bumpy roads, and secret cowboys. Currently, she gets a formal edumacation at Vassar College, but really believes that life is the greatest teacher ever. When she grows up, she plans to be a traveling mermaid and a professional ten year old. Her greatest wishes are to become an igneous rock, to free all birds from cages (both real and imaginary), and to live on a communal avocado trampoline farm. You can send her e-mails about beautiful things at where.trees.go [at] gmail.com.

CABBAGE SAUCE
Cabbage Sauce is half lion and half dragon and eats eleven-year-old boys in her cereal. She does not like to wear underwear or shoes but loves androgynous boys who play guitar and wear chick pants. She has a two-foot green Mohawk. She is a professional liar and accordion player.

FELICIA CHAVEZ
felicia rose chavez... is a gust of wind and a punch in the gut. chief of chiseling chalk boards down to chimney dust. she turns chump change into street songs and mutters moon myths while sleeping.