[the authoress]
Sign: Aries/Taurus (cusp)
Occupation: Freelance Muse
Likes: Buying new journals even if I don’t need them, brown-eyed boys, Navy Pier, opiates, cutting my own hair, live shows, long nights, nice lips, O. Wilde, my Smashing Pumpkins tour t-shirt from 1998, bottled water, heavy reds, fresh salad, last-minute flights, The W Lakeshore, smoking, xanax, Angel perfume [FAVORITE], Billy Corgan
Dislikes: Bright yellow shirts, cargo pants on boys, Ugg boots on girls, self-tanner, romantic comedies, people who smell bad, random stomach pains, people who don’t tip their bartender, indecisive boys, circumstances, cats, children, people who say “comfortable” in three syllables
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April 20th, 1984, 7:15p.m.
I died as soon as I was born. I wasn’t supposed to live, having fallen out of the womb too soon. With the aid of injections, within two weeks the doctors performed three months worth of developing my heart and lungs. My heart is now a large hotel without vacancies. When a room does open up, it takes years to fill. Modern medicine really is a miracle.
I’m given a middle name after a voodoo lady in New Orleans. Today, I make necklaces using her recipes for love, protection, health and luck.
I was born on the same day as Hitler and William Shakespeare. I like to think I’m in excellent company.
Sometime during my 8th grade year of Middle School, 1997
The first solid goal I make regarding myself ricochets around in my tin-can-skull. I resolve to write a book of poetry that a reputable house will publish, and I’ll one day have the means to hand it to the man who’s inspired me to do so. I spend this year and all of next year writing his lyrics over and over in a notebook to learn form, pinpoint phrases and words that stand out to me, and educated guesses as to why that’s the case.
Sometime in my Sophomore year of High School, 1999
Ms. Mullin, my English teacher and head of the Tiger Times, our high school paper and also a publication for which I was an editor, sits me down and tells me an angry parent had written her a letter in response to one of my articles. In the letter said parent explained that all I knew was “gossip and the devil.” I took the phrase and never looked back, and in fact continued to write in copious volume, on into today where I thank said parent for giving me the namesake for my first book and website.
So, angry parent of years past, I thank you.
January 8th, 2009, 4:00p.m.
I am a recent graduate of Oklahoma State University with a B.A. in English with an emphasis on creative writing. While attending OSU, I had the honor of studying under one of the greatest poets of our time, Ai. She helped me in ways I can hardly express, pushed my art to new limits and gave me a real, credible body of work I could latch on to and devour. Toni Graham kicked my ass in all of my fiction classes, and taught me techniques I’m still using to this day.
Current and pending publications include The Poet’s Place (Outskirts Press) and The Great American Poetry Show (Muse Media), and journals such as Papyrus (Oklahoma State University Press) and Cram (via chicagopoetry.com), as well as the recipient of various poetry awards and scholarships from Northern Oklahoma College.
I currently reside in Tulsa, OK, though I consider Chicago my home. I’ve made friends across the country, but the bright lights of the frozen skyline always remind me where I belong.
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For editorial, collaborative or resume information please email me at:
julie[at]devilgossip[dot]com
You can also find me on these various social networking sites:
myspace | personal facebook | facebook fan page | twitter | chicago suicide club
