Rebecca Forbes
There are things Rebecca likes. They include: coffee (!!!!!!), books, cake, movies, music, questions, print newspapers, ice cream, food, eating, the color blue, organizing, chips and salsa, doodling in a horrible fashion, Converse, hot chocolate, making things, making biscuits, reading, reading cookbooks, watching shows about food, sensing patterns (like maybe there's something about food going on here), more reading, looking at art, using metaphors for an extended period of time with no end in sight (to the amusement and/or consternation of those around her), watching amazing television (no matter what other people say about what is or is not amazing). One thing Rebecca finds difficult: talking about herself. Something Rebecca just realized: she's been talking about herself...for a little while now.
Lisa Fraser
She’s a poet so don’t ever ask her for a testimony to find out how something really happened. She’ll dress it up with dazzling modifiers, use superfluous, eloquent and elusive wording, bring you vivid imagery, bulk up on the alliterations, employ some metaphors, snap her fingers in rhythm while explaining to you how she saw it, and produce pregnant pauses to leave you in suspense. Maybe she’ll even begin her description using the word “twas,” and, ultimately, amid long, drawn-out answers to questions like “Did you see this man leaving your apartment building last night?” or “Would you mind giving us your version of how [insert person’s name] ended up stuck on the toilet bowl?,” she will confuse the shit out of you. But, in true fashion of a poet, she’ll leave you wanting more. Some of her favorite things: white cotton sheets, sunshine through the leaves, melted Hershey’s kisses, music, cupcakes, wine, a full moon, warm socks, Roswell (yes, that old TV show), hearing her neighbors blast music (which can only happen in Queens), long drives, randomly finding $20 in a coat pocket, the cozy feeling of a rainy day, pineapples, palm trees and mint-colored nail polish.
Jhaneel Lockhart
Jhaneel likes to write almost everything except bios. Without sounding too cocky, she likes to think that her essence cannot be captured in a few words, but here it goes: Jhaneel is a journalism student with an appreciation for good books, food, fashion, music and photography. She loves baking, sleeping and eating. She rarely watches TV, but when she does, it is to see genius shows like The Big Bang Theory, The Office, The Good Wife and The Early Show on CBS. Some things that make her life worthwhile are: her best friend/boyfriend, Chinese food, cookies and cream ice cream, writing, books and Gilmore Girls (even though it ended, just knowing that it once existed comforts her). Her life will be complete when she either finishes Yale Law School or works at The New York Times. Oh, and there's a thing about a Park Avenue apartment and a chandelier...
Teresa Lok
Teresa is a New Yorker who has been doing her own thing since '88. She’s an upbeat person and she loves what she does. She likes to make stuff look pretty and neat, and loves knitting, crocheting, sewing, origami, etc. She’s a total geek and nerd at heart; she loves to play video games and watch anime! Her favorite thing to do in the city is eat and just plain chill with good company. She photographs everything and anything that catches her eye and will design anything you can throw at her! She absolutely loves colors; she’s that girl with the colorful socks and/or colorful pants. Her tools include a Nikon SLR, Canon DSLR, Mac, PC and Adobe Creative Suite.
Aaron Monteabaro
Aaron was born in the mid-west (the real Mid-West, not that Ohio bullshit — has anyone looked at a damn map? That state is east of the middle) and have spent my life surrounded by herds (first it was sheep and now it's tourists). Aaron eats and loves it. Pizza is his boyfriend, salad his girlfriend, salmon his wife, and shortcake his mistress. If food was crack, he'd say, "Load me up another, and this time make me FEEL it!" Words are his friends, all of them, even in languages he’s never heard of before or tongues created in his sleep. Even the bitchy words that pretend not to like anyone are his friends, pretentious little bastards like whom. Oddly enough, the actual word pretentious is quite a friendly fellow — who knew words' personalities weren't the same as their definitions.
Ron Mouadeb
Ron refuses to write a complete bio until his title is changed to editor. Such has been the case in his career as a contributing writer in the past, and he is taking a stand once and for all to gain the proper recognition for his magnificent editing capabilities. On his down time Ron will occasionally write, draw, pretend to have ideas for short stories to appease his editor and endlessly rewatch TV on his computer. Ron has also expressed his wishes to be a lawyer or spy...which ever happens first.
Stephanie Hom
Born, raised and still living in Brooklyn, Steph loves watching football, baseball, basketball and volleyball but cannot play for the life of her (that's probably why she was one of the last ones to be picked for teams in gym). While she barely cooks, she loves to eat, so food is the way into her heart. Steph will never refuse a slice of pizza, if she does, you know something's wrong. Monday nights are purely awesome for the simple fact that she gets to watch the Monday night CBS line-up (oh Big Bang Theory, how she hearts you). When it comes to music, she’s not that picky, just look at her iPod — it has a little bit of everything.
David Oropeza
When I was a youngster, I had so much ambition that it spilled over the top of my pants and belt...like a muffin top. Unfortunately, this brings me to another childhood recollection of my time as the infamous muffin-top thief. When my family was eating unhealthily, my parents would buy a whole box-set of muffins of every flavor, shape and color. Like any person of good taste knows, the top of the muffin is where the all the good flavor lives. As these muffins would be lying around the house, I would kill them by eating their fashionable and edible "hats." This irritated my older brother to no end. It was a constant battle between my love for muffin tops and his conservation of them. He loved the muffin as a thing whole and intact, an almost spiritual fascination with the symmetrical shape of the muffin. One day, in that box-set of muffins, he burnt his own crops and livestock so that I may not eat them. Similar to what the Aztecs did when loss was inevitable to the Conquistadors. He, in fact, ate all the muffin tops. I closed the refrigerator in disgust and searched for good elsewhere. The muffin-top thief still lives today. Trying to conserve my girlish figure, however, my area of interest is now no longer in muffins but any place where good lives. I go by a less interesting name — David — and hail from a semi-suburban area known as Queens.
Special thanks to Jahn Golden for dealing with our (read: Rebecca's) many, many questions.
