Host Committee
The JournalCon DC Committee is comprised of a diverse group of journallers in the Washington, DC Metro area and surrounding cities. The committee is co-chaired by Kalamity and booger, and the treasurer is Clueboy. Additional members serve specific outlined roles (see committee bios below), including coordinating venues and vendors, researching and strategizing transportation issues, developing and overseeing programming, managing financial and business considerations and other details as related to JournalCon DC.
| Kalamity |
Kalamity hails from South Carolina, but has been in exile in the Dreaded North for almost six years. In that time she has visited Big Eleanor on multiple occasions, and has met two actual Secretaries of State. She has not, however, been to the top of the Washington Monument. No, that's not a metaphor. From 9-5 you can catch her in close proximity to all things official, where she's made a living out of bossin' (although they call it communications and events management at The Firm). If you're intimidated by her unnatural height, you can break the ice by discussing Shih Tzu puppies, velvet Elvis', sangria and syntax. Kalamity is responsible for overall JournalCon DC management, including public relations and media outreach, as well as creative design and grammar. You can contact Kalamity by e-mailing Kalamity[at]kiss-my-grits[dot]com. |
 booger
|
Michelle/booger is a native Washingtonian and has taken out-of-towners on many a tour of the Air and Space Museum. She also knows that the National Gallery is not a Smithsonian museum and actually volunteered at the Museum of American Art in high school. She has attended a real, live inaugural ball (Clinton's 1997 DC Ball) and used to live down the street from both Joe and Hadassah Lieberman and Sonny and Mary Bono. In spite of all of this exposure to Washington power brokers, Michelle makes her living in the other great power base of the greater Washington area -- the software industry. Michelle works as a product manager for an enterprise software company, where she spends her days telling engineers precisely what to do. It's an excellent fit for her personality. In her copious free time, Michelle is an extremely part-time doctoral candidate in Education at a local university. As Secretary of the Interior, Michelle leads up all of the infrastructure issues for JournalCon DC, include website design and maintenance, and will serve as administrator for the JournalCon DC forums. She also knows the best place to get baklava in all major U.S. cities and cooks a mean spanakopita. You can contact booger by e-mailing JournalCon[at]wildeep[dot]org. |
Clueboy |
Whenever he's bored, Clueboy likes to test the laws of Physics. This may have been the inspiration for his marriage to Kalamity. He is a native of the Washington, DC Metro area, and he drives like it, too. For all things math, JournalCon DC relies on Clueboy, database developer, videogamer and mathematics aficionado. He specializes in translating numbers into English and avoiding taking out the trash. He also talks a lot about the internal combustion engine, but the author of this bio tends to tune out those portions of the conversation. As the Treasurer of JournalCon DC, Clueboy will cook the books so that everything comes out even. (We kid, we kid!) |
| Russiagirl |
Russiagirl is an international trade specialist for the Department of Commerce. Her job allows her to deal with the former Soviet Union from the comfort of her own home, with running water and a washing machine, which is definitely the way to go. She pays her taxes without getting representation and drinks Old Dominion beer, but still considers herself to be from Alaska, where she grew up. She joined the JournalCon DC committee because it satisfies her neurotic urge to plan and make lists. Within the committee, she is known as the Department of Homeland Security and coordinates with our hotel vendors on issues relating to the eating and the sleeping. Russiagirl is the only member of our committee who actually resides in the District! When she's not online, she can be found eating vegetarian snacks cooked by her husband, Skateboy, watching AFV, or belly dancing at her gym. |
| Jeanene |
Jeanene lives with her husband and baby boy in Hyattsville, MD just a smidge north of DC. She's a housewife-- you know the type, wears dresses with cute aprons and high heels, always baking stuff and asking people if they want coffee or a cocktail while they lounge around her spotlessly clean home in the suburbs. Except absolutely none of that is true except the part about coffee and cocktails, oh and actually being a housewife with a baby and husband in Hyattsville. Originally from the right side of the country, she was dragged to the East Coast kicking and screaming, but has decided it's not all that bad even if it isn't California. It took a year or two, but there's some DC love goin' on here now. She's been journaling on-line since December of 1999 (just you never mind about those missing years.) She thinks bios are harder to write than the great american novel, and as of yet she hasn't written a decent one of those either. Jeanene oversees transportation issues for JournalCon DC, including travel to and from the city and while in the District. |
| Dave
Tepper |
In 2000, the Attorney General of JournalCon DC fooled the bar examiners into thinking he should be an attorney, and has been laughing maniacally about it ever since. He joined the JournalCon DC committee because it was the only way he could ever get nominated to anything in this town, due to a 1996 scandal involving a priest, a gorilla, and a cocktail waitress. He is an attorney for the Federal government, and in his spare time reads too much, writes too much, and has an unhealthy affinity for game shows. His dream job would be professional ass-kicker in Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble. If you're thinking of suing the JournalCon DC Committee, Dave Tepper has a thing or two to discuss with you. |
