My name is Joe, a Scorpio E/INFJ originally from rural southern Wisconsin, complete with cows, raspberry fields and star-filled skies. I graduated from the University of Wisconsin in Madison with a degree in journalism and mass communication in 2008, and moved to Chicago shortly thereafter.
I am the editorial director of news at Thrillist. In addition, you can read my writing on pop culture and politics at Queering the Burbs, my Substack newsletter.
Prior to all that, I worked as senior news editor at Built In, managing editor at Dose/OMGFacts and senior reporter at The Huffington Post. My work has also been featured in the Village Voice, Fodor’s, Riot Fest Magazine, INTO, Gapers Block, Windy City Times, Chicagoist, the 2013 queer anthology Boys, and elsewhere. In 2017, I was named a National Press Foundation fellow.
Beyond writing, I co-hosted the pop culture podcast Coffee and Bars with Sylvia Rodemeyer for several years. I also occasionally DJ and previously co-founded a monthly LGBTQ+ community fundraising event called Subject to Change.
I currently live in west suburban Chicago with my husband Stefin, two cats, and probably too many vinyl records and sneakers.
These are a few of my favorite clips:
- The enduring power of Patti LaBelle’s ‘background singers’ (INTO, 12/20/18)
- Aretha Franklin’s final Chicago show proved the power of live music (Riot Fest, 8/17/18)
- The legend of the Loveland frogman (OMGFacts, 8/16/18)
- It isn’t easy being a ‘humane’ slaughterhouse (HuffPost, 5/13/17)
- No, food stamp users aren’t buying ‘lots’ of soda (HuffPost, 1/18/17)
- These lesbian farmers aren’t here to take over America — they want to grow it (HuffPost, 9/14/16)
- The slow-moving disaster happening at farms around America (HuffPost, 7/28/16)
- The hidden cost of cheap pizza (HuffPost, 6/3/16)
- 20 years later, considering the legacy of ‘Jock Jams,’ the ‘Red Bull of Music’ (HuffPost, 7/24/15)
- Chicago Public Schools under fire over dirty conditions, rotten food (HuffPost, 10/8/14)
- Yes, even rock stars like Dum Dum Girls freak out when they meet their idols (HuffPost, 7/22/14)
- Chicago teen: ‘When you’re in Englewood, that is the wrong place’ (HuffPost, 6/27/13)
- It’s not easy peeing ‘T’: Trans activists strive for safety and equality (Gapers Back, 6/22/11)
- Hunx and His Punx: A ‘bad boy’ take on ’50s girl pop (EDGE, 4/26/11)
- An interview with Mink Stole (Chicagoist, 8/11/10)
- Move over, metrosexuals: Meet the straight bears (The Village Voice, 6/22/10)
- For gay Iranians, a matter of life or death (EDGE, 6/20/09)
I spoke on a 2013 “Print to the Future” panel moderated by Alison Cuddy at Revolution Brewery. Other speakers included Ed Marszewski, Mara Shalhoup and Charles Whitaker. Watch highlights here:
More podcast appearances and interviews:
- Fox Valley Voice podcast interview (4/7/21)
- Reality Life with Kate Casey podcast interview (6/15/18)
- Champagne & Snark podcast interview (10/27/16)
- Food Tank Q&A interview (8/16)
- VAM Presents: SOLIDARITY video interview (6/25/16)
- Raw material: Riot Fest and the summer wrap-up (quoted in NewCity, 8/31/15)
- Queer nightlife gets powered by Generators (quoted in the Chicago Tribune, 2/5/15)
- In tribute: The after party for music fandoms (quoted in WBEZ, 8/21/13)
- West Chicago’s queer explosion (quoted in WBEZ, 1/31/13)
In 2016, I interviewed my parents for HuffPost’s Talk to Me series:
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