She's not a penniless writer, yet. Instead, Allison Doyle has been dutifully applying to grad school for a Creative Writing MFA—wee! Not long ago, she staged a daring breakout from full-time employment and has taken the last several months to detox, write, relax, send out apps, and wonder why everyone else doesn't spend the day idling in the garden watching little ones play croquet. (Cue Jerry Maguire sound bite.) When she's not hanging around 826LA West, Allison can be found picking up part-time gigs, hanging out with her pup, and battling the growing impulse to run toward the sunset screaming, "Pshaw to all this work and academic malarkey!" The question is: Will she succeed?
Jenna Griffin was born in Japan, moved to Germany, and then went to Italy; after this "Axis tour," she lived in Annapolis, Maryland until about four years ago. Los Angeles has just begun to feel like home, and 826LA in Venice on Thursday afternoons has hugely helped that. She will be studying linguistics during the fall at UC Santa Barbara after spending her first couple of years in college as an English major. Jenna loves anything green, "like the nights when the northern lights perform." She has a signed poster of Ira Glass on her wall, drives a navy blue car, and is scared of birds but loves to fly.
Paradox Pollack, actor, writer, producer, and director of circus and film, began his career at fourteen with a humble company of vaudevillians who created every costume, script, and composition from scratch. He has performed in thousands of venues in dozens of genres, studying dance and circus arts extensively. He co-founded and performed prominently in two internationally traveling troupes: One People Voice, touring Indonesia and South Asia with Gamelan music and experimental performing arts; and as acting President of Mystic Family Circus, a non-profit organization creating performance and serving as a hub for social activism, cultural creation, and business innovation with 600 participating performing artists worldwide.
Paradox recently worked as a stunt performer and actor in "I Am Legend" and as a movement coach for aliens on the new J.J. Abrams "Star Trek" film. His several new partners include Feed the Pig, a film production company, and a coalition of circus groups committed to huge images and extremity of vision. He's working on three screenplays and will begin shooting his first film in spring 2009. His mythic and contemporary work builds a bridge between ancient ritual and popular culture.
Eli Rosenberg recently completed field work in the Ural Mountains in Siberia, and it was there that he decided to pursue a career as a cloud dynamicist. Just kidding! In truth, he graduated with a degree in American Literature and is a big fan of the outlandish author bio as a new literary subgenre. Eli just moved to Brooklyn and is excited about the prospect of facing life without homework. He likes pizza.
