The Major Players

Here's a brief description of some of the people you'll currently encounter in these journals. There are obviously plenty of other people who are important in my life -- these are just the ones I'm mentioning often these days.

Last updated: July 10, 2006

Chicago

Anita. Just getting to know her, the executive director of Rasaka Theatre company (Chicago's first South Asian troupe), and working with me on the Kriti festival.
Beth and David. Should probably get their own separate entries, but I most often see them together, so. Beth was a graduate student at U of C when I was an undergrad; her husband David was also affiliated with the university in some way. We met in the local bi group, I think, though Beth also juggled with the math grad students (with whom I spent most of my last year of college). She's a biology professor at DePaul now, and David's a computer guy. They're some of our best friends in Chicago; we're very fond of them.
Devi is one of the writers in the group; she came to Chicago to do an MA in writing at DePaul. She's from Kansas, and has heard every Dorothy joke you can think of. She's currently working on a suspense/horror screenplay about civil war ghosts in Kansas. She doesn't usually look so serious. :-)
Heather and Aaron.
Kevin. Mathematician, games enthusiast, rather solitary soul. I don't know what else to say about him -- I keep trying, and failing, to enclose him in words. He's made my life bigger. We've been together since the spring of 1992.
Lakshmi went to college with my sister, Mirna, but we didn't meet that way -- she'd actually run into my work on the internet, and knew me through that when she met me at a SAPAC meeting. She does more things than I can count -- from Chicago Public Radio to bartending to writing to massive volunteering for SAPAC (often in areas like voter registration in immigrant communities) to a new project, doing marketing for Swap Simple, a way to exchange books, movies, music. Try it -- you might like it! :-)
Mike and Linda.
Nikhil.
Me and Nilofer (at eight months). Nilofer's one of the SAPAC crowd in Chicago. I first met her as a poet; she was reading some lovely work at an event. Most of the time, I know her in her activism context; she does high-powered policy work for state organizations working with children, and in her free time, volunteers a lot of energy to progressive peace-focused causes. Now the proud mama of baby Zara (born May 2006).
Purvi. Just getting to know her, a recent college grad who's doing all kinds of great volunteer development work for Kriti.
Satya was born and raised in India, and has the cutest accent -- which oddly disappears when she sings in English. Although she was trained as an engineer, and still does computer work for her day job, she's a singer and artist (I own one of her paintings), and spends most of her evenings rehearsing or performing with various groups. Someday soon, she's going to start her own ensemble; we can't wait.
Sophia's been doing tons of work for DesiLit, which is especially appreciated since she isn't at all interested in being a writer herself. She was an English major in college (in Britain), and just loves literature. :-) Sophia grew up in Pakistan, and has only recently moved to the U.S. She works in PR, but her real ambition is to be an dealer in South Asian art. Visit her gallery at Blank Kanvas.
Sujata works for the government in public policy, and did her undergrad work at the U of C (just like me). Sujata's planning on spending the next year in India doing work in the community. She's the idealistic type. :-)
Venu. Just getting to know her, does diversity-related work at Northwestern's Law School, and has been a tremendous help to us in getting Kriti off the ground.

Elsewhere

Alex G. Russian mathematician, go player, sf reader. Took a job in New York doing fancy finance stuff; recently moved to the Bay Area. He's making enough money now that his ex-girlfriends can come mooch off him. Luckily for me, perenially starving writer, he has a generous heart. Romantically involved with Ajna, a terrific photographer who will someday get her web pages up so you can see her work.
David. Historian, guitarist, professional dilettante. Loves subtleties of language and once wrote wonderful long letters. Introduced me to sushi. We went out for a long time, and I got about two years of work out of him as a senior Articles Editor at Strange Horizons -- lucky us!
Jed. One of those people who knows everyone I know -- it was really bewildering to find out just how many people (from entirely different areas of our lives) we had in common. *And* he went to Clarion some years ago. Writer, word-buff, good taste in women and food. My sweetie; often makes my days brighter. Senior Fiction Editor at Strange Horizons.
Karen. Lovely SF/F writer, great person to go shopping with and/or have long conversations about life and writing with. Married to Par, hunky sweet Swede programmer; mother to Jeremiah, born in 2000. I miss our Berkeley sushi. Currently one of the three Strange Horizons fiction editors.
Karina. Australian babe, philosophy grad student, intensely ethical, soft-hearted (although she claims that she's tougher than I think. Uh huh.) Wonderful conversationalist. Much funkier clothing style than mine. (She kindly doesn't wear the leopard prints around me). Visits too rarely. Or I visit too rarely. Probably the latter. Partnered with Joe (for something like 15 years, oof!), poly. An old and dear lover of mine.
Kirsten. A true-blue friend, even when she disagrees (vehemently) with my ideas and philosophies. Epcot in the rain. Cook's terribly sweet champagne. Tiramisu. Who'd expect an Italian Renaissance heart in a frighteningly competent actuary? Married Adrian, a nice Brit, and moved to England. We like Adrian, we like England, we don't approve of Kirsten in England. We wants her back.
Lisette. We met over a Star Trek book (The Wounded Sky) in a high school freshman English class and have been excellent friends ever since. Absolutely gorgeous actress (blond hair, blue eyes, 5'4"), working in Hollywood on plays, big parts in small films, small parts in big films, etc. Some day, I'll write the screenplay for the movie that she stars in; something dashing, I think. If Errol Flynn were female...
Mirna and Sharmi. The two coolest little sisters anyone could have. Mirna's a resident at the University of Chicago Hospital right now; Sharmi's in med school. They're living the dream. :-)
Paul K. One year ahead of me in the Ph.D. program at Utah; I like his writing. I like him. Married to Marcia, editor. They have many pets, like movies, appear able to have amicable arguments for days on end, which is a skill I don't possess. I had dinner with them often in Utah; true friends.
Roshani. Friend and distant family, almost a sister to me. She's had more troubles to handle than any one person should have to deal with. A doctor in Milwaukee now, with her husband Thomas (another Brit), and her daughter Zoe (born October '00). I miss her. Milwaukee is further from Chicago than you'd think.
Sapna. One of the SAPAC crowd in Chicago, moved to France, sadly. She's a writer too, with a beautiful, complex story published in Crab Orchard Review and a novel in progress. She and her husband Steve make great dinner companions.

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