Sunday, December 29, 2013

Two Cookie 2014, Another Year on the Stage

Two Cookie Minimum kick offs 2014 on Tuesday January 7th with a great line up, free zines and of course, cookies. Two Cookie host Johnny Misfit dubbed 2013 the Year of the Cookie and as curator of the series, looks to make 2014 as entertaining.
Starting off the year, January’s readers include:
  • Cassandra Greenwald, member of Chicago Woman in Publishing, runner, vegan and author.
  • Mason Johnson, author of Sad Robot Stories  
  • Kevin Budnik, cartoonist and author of collections Our Ever Improving Living Room and Dust Motes.
  • Jessica Scott, Creative Writing student at Columbia College Chicago.
  • Jason Fisk, author of Hank and Jules
At the event, a Two Cookie commemorative zine compiled by cartoonist Alex Nall will be available for free while copies last. The zine includes Nall’s cartoons, caricatures and doodles of readers and scenes depicted from 2013 Two Cookie readings. This above drawing Nall's rendering of the bar at Hungry Brain, which is an example of the work that will appear in the zine.

 The show begins at 9pm. Donations appreciated.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Two Cookie 2013 Wrap Up

It's been a great Year of the Cookie in 2013. To tide you all over, here's a photo of the existential debates that happen in the men's bathroom  at the Hungry Brain on Two Cookie Minimum event posters. Its nice to see these restroom philosophers don't ignore gender in this debate either. Go add to the conversation while this poster is still up at the bar.

Here's to 2014 and all the new graffiti our posters can fit. 


Monday, November 18, 2013

Two Cookie's December Ender

At the start of the year, I dubbed 2013 the Year of Cookie. Each month’s reading definitely lived up to that tag line. Here were some moments I wanted to highlight:
·         Two Cookie celebrated its 3rd year anniversary
·         Had an all comic reading to benefit  Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (CAKE),
·         Annual all zinester reading to benefit the Chicago Zine Fest,
·         Second All Female Reading,
·         Booked a Writers as Teachers reading,
·         Celebrated works from Columbia College Fiction Writing Department,
·         Halloween reading included tales from the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark book series

Two Cookie was named in Newcity’s Best of Chicago 2013, got interviewed by Chicago Literati and the Columbia Chronicle, and saw many post reading illustrations from artist Alex Nall.

This year has the best for the Two Cookie so far. To end on a good foot, Tuesday December 3rd, Two Cookie's December Ender will cap 2013. The lineup includes:

Lee Gaines, freelance writer in Chicago,
Allison Fabian, editor of The Insomnia Propagandist zine,
Shaun Rouser, author of short story collection,
Family Affair out on Red Bird Chapbooks,
Lara Levitan, Gapers Block Book Club editor,
Mahjabeen “Magic” Syed, Fiction Writing student at Columbia College.

As always there will be cookies free for the munching. Tis the season, so holiday cookies will be served.

And because Two Cookie had such a great year, we want to give a little back to our great audience. There will be surprise wrapped gifts on a first come first served basis including lit mags, books, zines, and more.

Donations will be appreciated to ensure there are more cookies into the new year.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Chicago Zine Fest Hallowzine Reading Recap

On Friday October 26 Chicago Zine Fest had their second seasonal Hallowzine reading at the new publishing space CHIPRC. I wanted to write about this reading for not only am I an organizer of CZF, but the director of CHIPRC. Due to these facts I ended up as proxy emcee for the reading.

Before this Hallowzine even began, there were already two special items to note.
1) It was CZF organizer Heather’s b-day. Go Cojack!
2) Zinester Jonas Cannon (Cheer the Eff Up)  was on the lineup, but the week prior welcomed a new edition to his family. He became a first time father to a lovely little boy. Jonas couldn't make the reading, but we wish him good luck becoming a Chicago Rad Dad!

As for the reading, there wasn't a strict Halloween theme, but many readers offered up pieces that fit the season perfectly. The room was set up with rows of seats facing a blank wall that we decorated with cut outs of bats and ghosts. A set of white lights outlined the form of a doorway on the wall. The reading was set to kick off.



First up we welcomed South Side’s own Gas Mask Horse, Josh Piotrowski. GMH read at last Hallowzine and we were glad to have him back. He runs a haunted house on south Ashland and puts out the zine appropriately titled Start Your Own Haunted House. GMH read from issue one of the zine. A strobe light pulsated throughout the reading adding to the eeriness of it all. His text walked the audience through the maze that is his haunted house. From the shadows, he produced a skull from the shadows and passed it around the crowd as he explained how he crafted it from a foam mannequin head. He closed with a piece on how to make a car from a shopping cart and a car bumper. He’d done this with a car bumper which he found in the alley and carried home on his bike. The reading was peppered with local horror factoids and jokes related to his adventures in building a haunted house. GMH always has an energetic reading and it was a great kick off for the night.

Next up was zinester legend LB (was that a bit much). I made some dumb joke about how LB was short for pounds because she was a heavyweight reader. She then bared her muscles from the back of the room. My banter wasn’t very funny. LB came up and read two pieces. The first was a story about working as a Chicago Public School teacher in this era of school closures and mass budget cuts. She talked about a student who skipped school to hang with gang bangers. When the girl returned to class against her will, she was snotty and sarcastic. “I can’t wait to learn,” she said to LB. “You’re the best teacher.” As LB read, I kept thinking if only her students knew this person before us with tattooed arms, beer in hand, reading from a self-published work of art. LB wasn’t any different than the adults most of her students probably look up to or hang out with. Would it make a difference, would these students look at her in a new light? Would they respect her authority, considering her as someone who knew what it was like to be cool, who was different from the other teachers? LB’s second selection was a new piece she had written to be included as part of an upcoming anthology of her Truckface zine. It was a nonfiction essay that struggled with some of the questions I presented above about her life as a teacher. She reflected on how difficult it is to reach these students who see a city that is not investing in their future or their community. These kids are intelligent; they see things for what they are and know when they are not being cared for. It was disheartening to hear this put into words. Here is a teacher who cries for her students, her profession, her city. Such passion and strength was put on the page and delivered to us. My questions became answered for I was sure, whether her students knew this side of their teacher or not, that LB was a great teacher. And we are lucky have her as part of Chicago’s zine community.

Following was another staple of the zine community, the queen of the zine (let’s say), Liz Mason. I introduced all her notable endeavors: the writer of the zine Caboose, the host of Shameless Karaoke, a singer in the Blue Ribbon Glue club, and manager at Quimby’s. She walked up to the front of the crowd in full costume: white face make up, a black strip across her eyes, all white hair, black boots and ripped up stockings. She was Daryl Hannah’s character in Blade Runner, so she told us. Liz held out her laptop which she read from. She required help for this and called out for an audience member. Elizabeth Terri, organizer of Back to Print Publishing, ran up dressed as a French maid. Liz asked her to hold a speaker and Elizabeth responded en Francaise. Liz joked back in French throwing in, “Oui Oui.” Liz began her reading with an intro. She shared her nightly rituals that consisted of checking her email before going to bed. She doesn’t simply check email but gets sucked into a wormhole of surfing the net instead of going to sleep. Her first piece detailed listed of things that she learned from the internet begging the question, does the internet make us smart or dumb. Lists of things she’s learned, like how to make Twin Peaks inspired sounds by importing into Itunes, Garage Band, back and forth until there is a creepy reverse on the vocals. She then played what this sounded like, thanking Elizabeth for holding the speaker before sending her back to the crowd. Liz left it to us if the internet was for the betterment of mankind. The jury’s still out I guess. She closed with a piece about going to get a new tire and wheel alignment. Sounds normal, but this is Mason here. She read this as a SPOOOOKY story, stretching out her words and speaking in a high voice. It was pretty funny and maybe sometime you can catch her reading it. Or maybe one day it will be uploaded online, causing others to be sucked in the uncontrollable time vaccum that is the internet.

We took a break at this point to set up the multimedia for the last two readers. I looked out and saw a lot of friendly faces the supported the reading. Zinester faces included Colin Brennan (Continental Interlude), Ben Spies (No More Coffee), Eric Bartholomew (Junk Drawer), Alex Nall (comics artist), Matt Davis (risograph expert), Nicki Yowell (SPOC), and Jim Joyce (Let it Sink). There were cupcakes, cookies, brownies, twizzlers and twix to munch on. People where all chatting up a storm. Its hard sometimes to corral people back after a break, but not they must have instinctively know how awesome the rest of the night was going to be, so things settled back in quickly.

Jaclyn Miller, fellow CZF organizer, brought us back on track. Jac read her from mini comic The Grimes Sisters Murders. Before her reading, she had something up her sleeve. She wanted to celebrate CZF organizer Heather’s bday. Not through the typical Happy Birthday sing-along. Instead, she set up her phone next to the mic. The classic Ghostbusters theme came forth and she turned around donning a pumpkin mask. This was all part of her set, to give a live rendition of a viral video featuring a dancing pumpkin from an Omaha, NE newscast. She mimicked the dance choreography to a tee. Once she got that out of her system and caught her breath, Jaclyn read her comic. Projected onto the wall, we all followed along to the images. It was a pretty gruesome story about a pair of sisters who were mysteriously murdered in the 1950s. The case is unsolved adding to the horrific nature of the tale. A notable image was of the two girls, naked and faceless, lying in opposite directions head to toe, holding hands.

Closing the night was the group Pup House who performed a live puppet show using two overhead projectors (the kind that uses transparency slides). There were about 8 puppeteers (Pups). To start, there was one large circle the Pups spun turning around to show two dogs running. This gave to a second slide that showed the Pup House logo: Skeleton dogs inside a dog house. That was only the first nibble. Their performance told the story from a bogeyman’s perspective as it stalked prey. Shortly into the performance, the front door of CHIPRC opened and there entered a figure, a Pup dressed as the bogeyman in black clothes and mask. The bogeyman acted as the narrator for the reading. Correlating to the slides, it called out the various parts of a little boy it wanted to eat. The puppeteers quickly worked, changed images and covering the light source. The little boy’s family all came in and out of the slides. Once all the body parts were named off the list, a large bag produced for the bogeyman by another Pup acting as the boy’s father. Of all the parts pulled from the bag, the most gruesome was a large eyeball with a retina tail. With the bogeyman sated, the Pups ended their show and the night.

I closed the night by running in and out of the audience high fiving all the readers. It was a spectacle to be missed for sure; hope I didn’t step on anyone while making a fool out of myself. It was my way to say, CZF really appreciated all the readers as we couldn’t have done this without you. It was a Hell of a reading. It looks like with it being such a success in its second year, we might have to make Hallowzine a CZF annual tradition. Here’s to next year!

Thursday, October 31, 2013

'Best' Recognize, Two Cookie in Newcity's Best of Chicago 2013

Two Cookie Minimum Reading Series gets a mention in the annual Newcity Best of Chicago issue. We landed Best Reading Series at 9pm on a Tuesday, listed in the Culture and Nightlife section.

Two Cookie Minimum
Best Reading Series at 9pm on a Tuesday
At 7:30pm on a weekday, a lot of lit-minded types aren’t home from their day jobs, or their jobs are on the exact opposite side of town from their favorite reading series. That’s why John Wawrzaszek is a genius for having Two Cookie Minimum start at 9pm. The Hungry Brain is also a genius location for a reading—a dark, cool dive bar with cheap drinks, couches and arcade games. The magic continues with readers—Wawrzaszek harmonizes the zine and lit scenes, booking writers like Mairead Case and James Tadd Adcox, whose work feels at home in both. And yes, there are cookies.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Check It, Two Cookie's November Line Up

On Tuesday November 5th Two Cookie Minimum prepares for Fall with a lineup that will be sure to warm up your spirits, as will the free cookies to snack on while you wet your whistle at the bar.

As series’ host Johnny Misfit, I welcome featured readers:

Lex Sonne, fiction published in Nighttrain, Corium and Hobart,

Simon Smith, high school English teacher and writer,

Todd Herskovitz, self-published author of the novel "In the Amiable Silence of the Moon” ,

Michael Bogart, current graduate student of Creative Writing at Columbia College Chicago,

Bobby Biedrzycki, Director of Programming for performance series 2nd Story.

The show begins at 9pm. Donations appreciated. Cookies, always free.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Two Cookie Minimum LA reading!

This past Monday night Oct. 21st, Two Cookie hit the coast for its first branded reading outside of Chicago! Two Cookie Minimum reading in LA happened thanks in part to fellow zinester and buddy Eyrca Sender (My Little Friend) for booking the venue, readers, promoting and emceeing.
The reading was in a cool little bookstore called Stories in Echo Park. They had the back patio set up for the reading with chairs and a PA system. Their Halloween decor blended in with their wooden fencing and trees. It was pretty welcoming. The best part was meeting new zinesters and hearing some great stories. 

Amber in her dancin' boots
First reader was Amber Garza (Zine Works) who read a story about how dance music, house, EDM has nothing to do with gender b/c it's about the music. Regardless of scene stereotypes and roles, the music is for all to share. She read on and then flipped the page to find the 2nd half of the story missing.We felt her pain but she closed strong and left beginning on a good foot.


Second reader was Brodie Foster Hubbard (Fair Dig). He read about his attempts at joining a Brazilian Jujitsu gym. All he wanted was someone to punch him in the face. Things hadn't worked out so well in the end and he quit going. His second piece was about his love of writing and putting words on the page. He actually worked on a draft of his text in that very patio. Both his selections were a nice balance.

Brodie pointing to where he had wrote his story in that very bookstore
 
Next up was Kelli Callis (That Girl) who joked that people who say they've been making zines for 'a long time' equaled people who've made zines for over 10-15+ years. It showed as she commanded the hell out of the reading. Her first selection was a bit about her trip to India way before outsourcing was a standard business practice. Peeing into a hole while a soaked rat jumped out was the highlight for sure. She then read from her zine Kurt Cobain was Lactose Intolerant Conspiracy Zine. She made the point that his lack of digesting dairy forced him to commit suicide. 



Johnny Misfit unscrewing his skull


Eryca followed reading two pieces, one about her nosedive into the world of SVU on Netflix and the other for a Guide to LA. Both were told in her casual yet witty voice evoking laughs and educating us at the same time. Now we know that 1) if you have to drive around LA for over 20 minutes to find parking, its best to turn around and go home, and 2) that Ice T's character on Law and Order has the same character background as his role in New Jack City. Informative for sure.

I, Johnny Misfit, ended the night reading a selection that's on my website, a fictionalized tale about growing up as a punk kid in Chicago. I noticed someone brought a dog into the store which made sense as this was LA and dogs were everywhere. It also made sense why the store's floor was all unfinished concrete. Then I read some chapters from my Field Manual: Human Body zine. I remember moving my hands a lot to the story, as in gestures. It was probably too much and pretty annoying (as you will tell from the photo).

It was a great night and I am glad to have been welcomed to LA by such gracious people. Nice words were shared, zines traded, and then we went on our way.  The experiences was so refreshing that I hope to do more out of town Two Cookie readings. Email me and let's get it started.

All above photos taken by Kelly Callis. Thanks!

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Two Cookie Scary Stories WRAP UP (like a mummy)



The Scary Stories reading at Two Cookie was a great time. Classics were read. A man with a hook for a hand terrorized teens. A spider laid eggs on a girl’s face. Cookies were eaten. A stuffed animal was beheaded and an electric skeleton made us laugh.

As the host Johnny Misfit, I tried to share a bit of background, to give a history to the works as an intro to the night. Let’s say I never shut up. But I did mention the fact that in 2011 for the book’s 30th anniversary, the old illustrations where replaced with new renditions. I showed some examples. This brought forth some boos from the crowd. Then I read a selection, about baseball because the playoff wildcard game was on and I found it fitting. 

When I finally did shut up, the invited readers started off the night. I have to note at this time, I began a slideshow of images featuring the creepy and grotesque black and white illustrations from the books. That set the tone, supplementing the text and performances that followed. 

Jim Joyce took it old school Scooby Doo style reading a story about a boy dared to spend a night in haunted house. Jim read with his trademark wit beginning his reading by sharing some Amazon reviews of the Scary Stories books. It ended with Jim performing a decapitation on a stuffed dog from which goldfish flew out of the stuffed body. 

Hillary Stone brought some laughs as she read two stories. One in particular elicited some help from the Batman’s villain Bane who, as we all know, was born in the dark (probably told some scary stories in his time).

More than half of the audience took to the stage to read their favorites.

  • Mike and Evan, two Members of the band Exit Ghost, each read selections that dealt with eating human beings.
  • Lindsey from the band the Cellphones gave us goosebumps reading about Harold the scarecrow come to life.
  • Comics artist Alex Nall sung and danced to the Hearse Song. He also drew another kick ass collection of drawings at the reading.
  • Other guests included Piper Pennigan aka Michelle Guimon, Allison Klein (DJ AllisonWunderland and CHIRP personality) and zinester Collin Brennan.
  • Dan the Hungry Brain’s bartender added to the festivities by retrieving an electronic skeleton head that lit up, had moving eyes and posed the question, “Do I Know You? Come a little closer.” Pretty good stuff.


Big thanks to Sarah W for bringing Halloween Oreos and those little orange and black wrapped peanut butter nuggets. And Jill S (my partner) for letting me use her laptop to project all the scary images.
Thanks to everyone who came out. Hope you all had a nostalgic time and that your sleep was full of nightmares.


And for those interested, here is the intro I wrote that I didn’t even follow. My actual reading of it was more a spastic version of Cliff Notes. Read the text below.

Friday, September 27, 2013

Scary Stories to Tell at Two Cookie Minimum

Two Cookie Minimum is going to change the format a bit for our next reading on Tuesday October 1st. To kick off Halloween a bit early,  the reading will celebrates the work of classic young adult books Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.

Readers will perform their favorite selections bringing these scary tales off the page and onto the stage.

Scheduled readers include zinester Jim Joyce, writer and events organizer Mairead Case, writer Hillary Stone and Two Cookie host Johnny Misfit.

There will be a sign up sheet beginning at 8:45 for ANYONE who wishes to join in the reading and share their favorite stories with the audience (bring a copy of the book so there's no waiting).

Plus, the reading wouldn’t be complete without the spine chilling images that accompanied the text in the books. Corresponding images will be projected along with the readings.

At Hungry Brain, 2319 W Belmont, 9pm.  Halloween cookies and candy!

Sunday, September 22, 2013

September Two Cookie Wrap Up: press. photos. videos.

Last month's Two Cookie had a great lineup supporting the new book Sad Robot Stories by Mason Johnson.  I wanted to share a post event wrap up for those who couldn't make it out. Thanks to those who made it out. See you next month.

There was an article in the Columbia Chronicle about Two Cookie Minimum with quotes from Mason Johnson, Daniel Shapiro and James Tadd Adcox.

There were some great photos taken by Allyson Frazier. Ever wonder what's it's like to be on the stage at Two Cookie? This photo captures it all. Check out the rest of the photos from Allyson's tumblr

There was video footage of the always funny Dan Shapiro reading some fan fiction of everyone's favorite sitcom based in Detriot, yeah you guessed it, Home Improvement. The intro alone is genius. Watch for yourself.


 


Monday, August 19, 2013

September = Sad Robots + Two Cookies

Two Cookie Minimum + Sad Robot Stories

The next Two Cookie on Tuesday September 3rd will be showcasing the new book Sad RobotStories by Mason Johnson (out on the Chicago Center for Literature and Photograph). Joining Johnson will be friends and fellow local self-publishers.

The lineup includes:
Dan Shapiro (host of Dan Shapiro’s Rigged Open Mic),
Alex Nall (comics artist, who also drew the quirky flyer you see above),
James Tadd Adcox (editor at Artifice books),
Vicky Lim (Abstract Door zine),
Jeff Phillips (writer from the comedy group Wood Sugars).

Hosted by Johnny Misfit at the Hungry Brain 2319 W. Belmont at 9pm. 

Cookies free. Books for sale. Sad Robots likely.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

The August Two Cookie Isn't to be missed

Last month reading series Two Cookie Minimum celebrated it’s third anniversary. To start off another year, Tuesday August 6th brings out a stellar lineup of established authors, comics artists, and zinesters.


Features Readers include:
Dave Reidy (Captive Audience),
Jeffrey Brown (Darth Vader and Son, Vader’s Little Princess),
Patricia McNair (Temple of Air),
Paul Durica (Pocket Guide to Hell),


As always, the show is hosted by Johnny Misfit at the Hungry Brain 2319 W. Belmont at 9pm. Free cookies. Don't miss this month or you'll be sorry.

Monday, June 24, 2013

Two Cookie Celebrates 3 years this July!


Wouldn’t you know it, Two Cookie Minimum is turning 3 Tuesday July 2nd. I’m shocked too. There’ve been dozens of readers and really great stories throughout the last few years (as well as hundreds of cookies consumed).  To celebrate the occasion there are a few top notch readers to usher in another year of Two Cookie Minimum.

Readers include:
Jen Twigg,
Thomas Simmons, 
Nichole Baiel, 
Eric Bartholomew and 
the music of Rich Salamander.

Hosted by Johnny Misfit.
Hungry Brain 2319 W. Belmont at 9pm.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Get Down with CAKE this Weekend!

CAKE Chicago is back this weekend Sat June 15 and Sun June 16 at the Center on Halsted 3656 N. Halsted. Over a hundred tables, specials guests (like Chicago's own Chris Ware), panels, thousands of pages of comics, millions of hours of time put into all the comics. Support and enjoy all weekend long!

Poster art by Chicagoan Jo Derby

Friday, May 24, 2013

Cookies and CAKE Too!

For the second year in a row, Two Cookie Minimum celebrates the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo with a fundraiser Cookies and Cake Too!

Tuesday June 4 we welcome a lineup of local comics artists who will share some eye-popping, socially aware, skillfully crafted and top quality visual work with us before they table at CAKE on June 15 and 16
 

Performers include
 Nate Beaty, Tony Breed, Max Morris (an organizer for CAKE),  


Hosted by Johnny Misfit at the Hungry Brain 2319 W. Belmont at 9pm, 21+.
A $5 donation is asked with all collections going to CAKE!

There will be free cookies and for the occasion we look to have some tasty cake too!

Flyer artwork by Dean Johnson http://deanjohnsonartstudio.com/

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Chicago Literati Reviews the May Two Cookie

As host of a monthly series, I have this sinking feeling, "Ok, no one is going to come out, I'm wasting everyone's time, who really cares about cookies anyway?" And each month I book some great talent which no mater what make the night worth it. Every First Tuesday, when walking into the Hungry Brain, the series' home since June 2011 (almost 2 years now), I have to pass through long hallway leading from the door to the bar. When walking that ten foot, walled off stretch of tile, I think to myself, "I hope people show up." This past Tuesday, I was pleasantly surprised to see a packed crowd of Fiction Writing alumni, faculty, students and friends.

With my fears assuaged, I took note of the crowd. Among the first faces that stood out, I noticed Dan Shapiro (host of a monthly comedy series at Cole's Bar), literary zinesters Ben Spies and Colin Brennan, and an old classmate and Fiction Writing alum Liz Baudler. The latter asked if I had a few minutes to chat with her for an article on the new lit based blog Chicago Literati. 8 readers, 3 Hamm's and a few cookies later, I sat down with her. The resulting conversation became a review of the night which can be read here.

This was one of the best Two Cookies so far. Thanks to all the readers, Columbia's Fiction Writing Department, to Liz @ CL, and all the friends and supporters who made the night a success.

Sunday, April 28, 2013

May 7th Two Cookie Celebrates Columbia College's FWD


The next Two Cookie on Tuesday May 7th celebrates Columbia College Chicago’s Fiction Writing department. The month’s lineup showcases readers who have been or are a part of Columbia’s fiction writing program.



Featured readers include:
Megan Steilstra (Literary Director of 2nd Story series and Fiction Writing faculty member), Jael Montellano (Fiction Writing alum), Aaron Golding (Fiction Writing faculty member), Jenny Seay (Host of Tamale Hut Reading series and Fiction Writing alum),  Tony Luce (Fiction Writing alum), and Cyn Vargas (2013 
Fiction Writing MFA).



To round out the lineup, we held an open submission contest among currently enrolled students with the support of the Fiction Department.  After reading the great stories, 2 students were selected: Liz Grear (an MFA candidate) and Virginia Baker (BFA undergrad).  
 
Drop in for free cookies and possibly some of the fiction department's publications. Hosted by Johnny Misfit (Fiction Writing alum) at the Hungry Brain 2319 W. Belmont at 9pm. 21+. Donations will be accepted.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Two Cookie Minimum Celebrate's the work of Columbia College Chicago's Fiction Writing Department

Two Cookie Minimum is back Tuesday May 7th celebrating Columbia College Chicago’s Fiction Writing department. This month’s lineup showcases readers who have been or are a part of Columbia’s fiction writing program.

Featured readers include
  • Megan Steilstra (Literary Director of 2nd Story series and Fiction Writing faculty member),
  • Jael Montellano (Fiction Writing alumni),
  • Aaron Golding (Fiction Writing faculty member),
  • Jenny Seay (Host of Tamale Hut Reading series and Fiction Writing alumni), and
  • Tony Luce (Fiction Writing alumni)

The last two slots are saved for Columbia students. Partnering with the Fiction Writing Department, Two Cookie Minimum is receiving submissions from enrolled undergrad and grad fiction writing students. More info to come.

Hosted by Johnny Misfit (who is also a Fiction Writing alumni)at the Hungry Brain 2319 W. Belmont at 9pm, 21+. 

And we won't forget the cookies. 

Friday, March 22, 2013

Writers in Teaching at the April Two Cookie


Two Cookie Minimum is back Tuesday April 2nd with a lineup showcasing Writers in Teaching. The readers are all teachers from a range of institutions from including higher education, Montessori, and Chicago public schools.

Featured readers will include:
Adam McOmber (The White Forest) teaches English at Columbia,
Christine Sneed (Little Known Facts) teaches English at DePaul,

Kyle Beachy (The Slide) teaches English at Roosevelt,
Dave Roche (If Nothing Else the Sky) teaches who knows what at CPS,
Carrie Colpitts (Gender Matters) teaches a class on zines and other stuff at Near North Montessorri,
Geoff Hyatt (Birch Hills at World’s End) teaches 
Fiction Writing at
Columba.


Hosted by Johnny Misfit (who doesn't teach anything).
At the Hungry Brain 2319 W. Belmont at 9pm.

There will be free cookies to boot.


Tuesday, February 26, 2013

A Two Cookie Chicago Zine Fest Fundraiser

The next Two Cookie on March 5th will be a benefit for the Chicago Zine Fest.

Each year Two Cookie holds a zinester reading with allowing readers to unveil their new work before the fest. This year is no different. Featured readers with new zines include:

Grant Reynolds reading Unholy Oath,
Krystal DiFronzo reading Black Sheep Coat, Jonas Cannon with issue #4 of Cheer the Eff Up, Georgi Johnston off her year long road trip reading from Georgi and the Haunted Minivan, poet Collin Brennan with issue #2 of Continental Interlude, and CZF organizer Jaclyn Miller with new comic work.  


As always Two Cookie will have free cookies for all at the Hungry Brain 2319 W. Belmont at 9pm.
Hosting is the insufferable Johnny Misfit. See you at Zine Fest March 8-9!

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Two Cookie Minimum in Cartoon Panels!


The last Two Cookie Minimum brought some great talent to the stage. The event was documented by cartoonist Alex Nall (Morbid Dork). Its a great representation of what went on for those that missed it. He even references that there was an accordion given away! Check out his blog and work. 

Host Johnny Misfit not pictured, wawa.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Spectacular All Female Showcase 2!



Two Cookie Minimum welcomes their second Spectacular All Female Showcase on Tuesday February 5th.

Featured readers will include:
Dalice Malice (singer/songwriter and writer of Curioddity zine),
Jessie Lee Gaylord,
Rachel Foss (comic artist, reading from new work!),
Benicia Blue
Meghan Mcgrath,  and
Janna Sobel.

Hosted by Johnny Misfit.
At the Hungry Brain 2319 W. Belmont at 9pm.

And yes, there will be cookies! We didn’t forget.