Editorial Board Vol. 2 No. 1

  • Deanna Day — Coordinator, Volume 2

    Deanna is: a graduate of the University of Chicago. a history concentrator. chronically analytical. obsessive compulsive, hopelessly nostalgic, and easily addicted.

    Deanna wants: to know everything about everyone. a stand-up electric mixer. Otium to be a big success. a watermelon Ring Pop.

    Deanna likes: anything or anyone that tells a story. bad movies. books. calvin and hobbes. concerts. daydreaming. coca light with lime. jangly earings. kitsch. libraries. line editing. pink flamingos. public transportation. reading. shelving books. sucking at trivial pursuit. trashy pop culture. tv shows on dvd. uno. writing. you. your story, and telling it.

  • Sarah Adair Frank — Coordinator, Volume 2

    Sarah Frank is only in the MAPH program. She hopes one day to live in a freezing climate and write novels.

  • Christopher Casebeer — Web Designer/Programmer

    Christopher Casebeer is a third year undergraduate at the University of Chicago. He dabbles in many fields and is partial to analytical challenges. Otium has been an extremely pleasant foray into less technical environs.

  • Jenny Gavacs

    Jenny Gavacs is completing her Master of Arts in the Humanities with an emphasis on creative writing at University of Chicago. Formerly a journalist with House & Garden magazine, she has decided to dedicate herself to the pleasures and pains of creative prose.

  • Terry Huang

    Terry Huang is from California and did undergrad on the East Coast. Curious about what the middle of the States looked like, she decided to come to the University of Chicago for school. She is a first-year at the law school and spends most of her time trying to climb out of piles of cases.

  • Alison Macdonald

    Alison Macdonald is a graduate student at the University of Chicago with a background in Folklore and Mythology.

  • Achy Obejas

    Achy Obejas is a widely-published, award-winning writer whose work includes fiction, journalism and other non-fiction, poetry, plays, and translations. After a smashing noir debut in “Chicago Noir” this year, she’s been brought in by Akashic Press to edit “Havana Noir,” which will be released in fall 2006. Her most recent novel, the critically acclaimed Days of Awe, was published by Ballantine in 2001. A former staff writer for more than a decade with the Chicago Tribune (where she won a team Pulitzer), her work has also appeared in The Nation, Village Voice, Ms., Playboy, Vogue, and scores of other publications. She served as the Distinguished Writer in Residence at the University of Hawaii at Manoa this fall, where she hung out at the beach every single day, and is still in shock over her return to cold weather, frost on her windows, and the University of Chicago. She’s currently plotting a return to the tropics.

  • Laura Osur

    Laura Osur is a first year undergraduate at the University. She is excited by the idea of experimenting with prose pieces, as opposed to the common experimentation within poetry styles. Otium, being an online magazine, offers the University the opportunity to bounce ideas back and forth and to experiment with different styles both in subject matter and in the format of the pieces themselves.

  • Peter Robinett

    Peter Robinett is a graduating third year in the College concentrating in International Studies. He is excited about reading interesting, non-academic prose.

  • Jenna Telesca — Art Director

    Jenna Telesca is a recent English grad from the College. She recently stopped hiding under her desk long enough to come to terms with entering the Real World.

    Jenna works as an editor in the University News Office. She enjoys preaching from the gospel of the em dash.

  • Melissa Thomas

    Melissa is a Second Year in the College majoring in English.

  • Lee Wang

    With affection for the letter ‘e’, bad puns, worse TV and comic books, Lee is trying hard to make everyone forget he was once a high-flying literature geek. Currently enrolled in MAPH and working on the spy-melodrama Alias for his thesis, he is also aiming to replace Roland Barthes as the world’s pre-eminent theorist of pro wrestling.

  • Rich Wang

    Rich Wang is a third-year undergrad at the University. He’s a biology and English double concentrator, specializing in molecular genetics and creative writing respectively. Although he’s an aspiring lawyer, he keeps creative writing, along with chocolate and rice, as an essential part of his life.

  • Zachary Werner

    Zachary Werner is a second year in the college majoring in Fundamentals. After working as a DNA evidence technician for the nation’s leading crime lab, he decided to devote his life to literature instead of forensic science. His work has appeared in the Online Newshour with Jim Lehrer, Chicago Weekly, and the Chicago Maroon, for which he covers literature, death, and their intersection.

Otium