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 work as a writer, reporter and the news editor at Built In. Prior to that, I worked as a social marketing manager and managing editor at Dose/OMGFacts and senior reporter focused on food and water issues at The Huffington Post. I’ve also written extensively on pop culture and politics. My work has also been featured in the Village Voice, Fodor’s, Riot Fest Magazine, INTO, Gapers Block, Windy City Times, Chicagoist and elsewhere. I formerly waited tables at an actual sit-down rural Pizza Hut and spent a strange week working as a magician’s assistant.
I live in west suburban Chicago with my partner Stefin, two cats and a (too) large record collection.
Recent essays:
- ‘Supermarket Sweep’ went off air but never left our hearts (2/4/19)
- What really happened when Erykah Badu ‘put up a prayer’ to R. Kelly (1/21/19)
These are a few of my favorite published works:
- 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:
In 2016, I interviewed my parents for HuffPost’s Talk to Me series:
And here I am talking about the moment I fell head over heels with my adopted-hometown, Chicago, as part of HuffPost’s Moment I Knew series in 2012:
