Alumnae

Lisa Jervis, Cofounder

Lisa Jervis's official bio makes her sound far more official than she actually is. In addition to her many writings for Bitch, her work has appeared in Ms., the San Francisco Chronicle, Utne, Mother Jones, the Women's Review of Books, Bust, the late and much-lamented Hues, Salon, the late but not-so-lamented Girlfriends, the late and also-lamented Punk Planet, the late and lamented-by-the-few-people-who've-heard-of-it LiP: Informed Revolt, Body Outlaws (Seal Press), The Bust Guide to the New Girl Order (Penguin), and Tipping the Sacred Cow (AK Press). She is the co-editor of Young Wives' Tales: New Adventures in Love and Partnership (Seal Press) and (of course) Bitchfest: Ten Years of Cultural Criticism from the Pages of Bitch Magazine (Farrar, Straus & Giroux). She’s currently finishing up a cookbook called Cook Food: A Manualfesto for Easy, Local, Healthy Eating(PM Press, spring 2009) and procrastinating on her research for a book
about the intellectual legacy of gender essentialism and its effect on contemporary feminism.

She was born in Boston and partially raised in Los Angeles; she moved to New York City at age 8 and so considers herself a New Yorker by both chronology and temperament, though the transplant to Oakland, California, has worked out remarkably well.

In her spare time, she squeezes fruit at farmer's markets, bikes around Oakland, and resists adopting more cats.

A few of her favorite things are Buffy, Shortbus, cheese onion curry bread, Weeds, Alison Bechdel, Jane Austen, roasted brussels sprouts, Ben Lee, Ben Kweller, liar's dice, knitting, tattoos, Dexter, salacious memoirs, contemporary mystery novels about female PIs and investigative reporters, hammocks, vodka smoothies, The Philadelphia Story, terry-cloth hoodies, Liz Phair (yes, even the later "bad" stuff), sweet potatoes, Michael Pollan, bell hooks, Susan Faludi, and zine libraries.

Ben Shaykin, Cofounder

Ben Shaykin got roped into designing Bitch's first issue and stuck with it for six years and 13 more issues. After leaving his mark on the magazine in the form of clean design, nitpicky typography, punning headlines, and a tendency for late-night production sessions, he went on to design books for Chronicle Books and many others.

He enjoys baseball, bacon, and moving his five tons of books across the country.

He now has a freelance design practice in Somerville, Mass., where he lives with his wife, son, and dog. Someday there will be something to see here.

Rachel Fudge, Senior Editor

Rachel Fudge was the senior editor of Bitch from 2001 until the magazine's relocation to Portland in 2007. She's been a fan of Bitch ever since purchasing issue no. 1 at a neighborhood bookshop way back in 1996. No longer hooked into the vital pop culture stream, nowadays she enjoys day-old and remaindered media via the library and the internet.

Rachel has written for publications such as Bitch (of course), Mother Jones, the San Francisco Chronicle, Utne, Alternet, and the Women's Review of Books and has contributed to several Seal Press anthologies and BitchFest. She makes a living copyediting everything from Athabascan ethnographies to Xsan tutorials.

Fatal weakness: chocolate-covered almonds

Turn-ons: semi-colons, vegetable gardens, and toddlers who nap

Turnoffs: random capitalization, oxalis, and toddlers who won't nap

Secretly wishes she were a: flâneur