JACK BURDITT ((Un)Becoming (of) a Grandfather)
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Jack Burditt grew up in Cleveland and Burbank, married a girl he met at Magic Mountain at age 19, then together they had four kids and now a grandson. During that time he's worked too many jobs, but mostly as a journalist and sitcom writer. His credits include Mad About You, Frasier, Watching Ellie and 30 Rock, where he is currently Writer/Co-Executive Producer.

HILLARY CARLIP (Excerpt from A la Cart: The Secret Lives of Grocery Shoppers)
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(They're Loyal Fans and They Bake in installment #1)

Hillary Carlip is the creator, host and editor of FRESH YARN. Her fourth book, A la Cart: The Secret Lives of Grocery Shoppers (Virgin Books, March 2008) has been met with critical acclaim.

Her memoir Queen of the Oddballs: And Other True Stories from a Life Unaccording to Plan (HarperCollins, 2006), was an American Bookseller's Association Book Sense Pick chosen by independent bookstores throughout the country, a Lambda Literary Award finalist in two categories (humor and memoir), and was selected by Borders as one of the Top Literary Memoirs of 2006. She appeared on numerous radio and TV shows promoting Queen of the Oddballs, including the Ellen Degeneres Show, where she taught Ellen how to eat fire (complete with Liza Minnelli running onstage -- unplanned -- with a fire extinguisher!)

Hillary's first book, Girl Power: Young Women Speak Out (Warner Books, 1995), landed her on Oprah, an entire episode dedicated to the book, and her second book, Zine Scene (Girl Press, 1999), which Hillary designed herself and co-wrote with the award-winning, acclaimed author Francesca Lia Block, was featured at the New Museum for Contemporary Art in New York City, and won an American Library Association Award.

With a past as a performance artist, juggler, fire-eater, cult rock icon, and visual artist, Hillary also has a thriving web design business www.flyhcmultimedia.com.

ELISABETH R. FINCH (Lucky Day)
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(All Politcis Aside in installment #45)

Elisabeth R. Finch earned her MFA in Screen and TV Writing from USC and BA in Creative Writing and Drama at Carnegie Mellon, won the 2008-2009 Jerome Fellowship for Playwriting, and finally changed her New Jersey driver’s license after six years of living in L.A.

Elisabeth's work is featured in Women in Film’s Traction magazine, and has been performed at the WorkShop Theater in New York and the Kennedy Center/American College Theater Festival. She is currently a writers’ assistant on HBO's True Blood where she successfully drinks her weight in Diet Coke on a daily basis.

Elisabeth taught at the American School of Madrid, learning no Spanish whatsoever (except "swing set" and "furnished apartment"); received the Television Academy Internship for Script Writing; stuffed dead squirrels in high school for extra credit; and can recite 147 prepositions on command. She has neither a sense of smell nor sense of humor.

ALEXANDER GELFAND (Meet the Satans)
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No matter when you happen to read this, chances are that Alexander Gelfand will be standing over his kitchen sink, eating -- or drinking -- something that he shouldn't be. Gelfand's work has appeared in the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Village Voice, the Forward, and Wired.com. A former ethnomusicologist and sometime jazz pianist, he has drummed for animal sacrifice in Ghana and played piano for nude modeling sessions at the Society of Illustrators in New York City. Born and raised in Montreal, he has acclimated so thoroughly to New York that he almost doesn't gag when he sees someone pissing against his minivan in broad daylight.

MEREDITH GORDON (My Mother-In-Law's Vagina)
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Meredith Gordon is a former actress and stand up comic. In addition to
creating challenges on The Apprentice, Seasons 1 and 2, and doing punch ups on some animated flicks, Meredith has had two plays she's written produced -- Life in LA, Big Dreams/Small Hooters, and her one woman show, The Bride Is From California. Meredith often contributes articles to magazines including Cosmopolitan, and has performed stand up all around Los Angeles. She also publishes her own blog prettysharp.blogspot.com

DEBBIE KASPER (Queen of Hearts)
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Debbie Kasper is a two time Emmy nominated writer, stand up comedian, actress and director. Her two woman show, that she co-wrote, co-directed and co-stars in, Self-Help: The Comedy is currently touring America to rave reviews. Her new show Boomer Mania is about to open in New York. She's written for The Rosie O'Donnell Show and Roseanne. Her parody book, Bras and Penus on a Date, has been translated into three languages and is sold on four continents.

GABRIEL L. NATHAN (The Very Idea)
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Gabriel L. Nathan is author of the book For a Tin Star. He is an award-winning playwright whose works have been produced in America and the United Kingdom. Gabriel is an accomplished stage actor who specializes in portraying twits and misogynists. His written work appears in the e-journal Backhand Stories and elsewhere if you look hard enough. He lives and writes in Philadelphia.

CASSANDRA WISEMAN (Equator, Equator, You Said You Would Be There)
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Cassandra grew up both in Sausalito, California, and in the Australian Outback. She studied in England at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and graduated with honors from the University of California at Berkeley with a BA in Slavic Language and Literature. At Berkeley, she was awarded a Presidents Fellowship to translate and produce three Russian One Act plays. As Cassandra Webb, she had a successful acting career in Australia, starring in the British sci fi film Starship, and played the blind Kelly Burns on the television series Sons and Daughters. Her stage work includes Nora in the Australian National production of Brighton Beach Memoirs, Columbia in the Rocky Horror Show and has played several of Shakespeare's girls, Hermia, Juliet, Desdemona. In 1987, she moved to Topanga Canyon where she has been raising her three children. She has served on the board of several charities, and has focused on providing free classes in the arts to children at risk.

While most of her writing has been confined to letters of the “please excuse my child” type read by the educators at Malibu High and Topanga Elementary, or writing non-fiction articles for the Topanga Messenger, she has occasionally managed to get a story out and in print elsewhere.