The mission of Our Lives Magazine is to clearly, candidly and openly reflect the diversity and optimism in our community. We are dedicated to improving our readers’ quality of life by celebrating the people, establishments and events that encourage us to embrace our identities as individuals and as an LGBTQA community.

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Staff

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Publisher
Patrick Farabaugh

Patrick has worked in media and publishing for almost two decades. After starting his career at Entertainment Weekly in New York City, he went on to be one of the early art directors of OUT magazine and Creative Director of Seattle magazine. At 23 he become one of the youngest senior creatives ever to be hired by the Condé Nast Publications when he went to work for five years at Condé Nast Traveler.

Patrick is a strong advocate for LGBT equality. Since arriving in Wisconsin in 2005 he’s founded the Madison Gay Hockey Association, Our Lives Magazine and co-founded the Out Professional and Executive Network (OPEN). In 2010 Governor Doyle named him an LGBTQ Living Hero to our state.

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Editor
Virginia Harrison

Virginia has developed a closer connection with her community and its many amazing, diverse, and generous people through her work as Editor of Our Lives. When she’s not marking up and rearranging other people’s work, you can find her substituting in the Madison public schools, or hanging out with her daughter and/or partner around their favorite Madison haunts. Contact her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or learn more about Virginia at magicwordeditorial.com.

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Account Executive
Nathan Kidder

Nathan grew up in the small town of Lake Geneva, where he was hassled every summer by tourists from all over, but most prominently, Chicagoland. With ideals fostered by a small town and dreams inspired by the big city, he headed to Madison 2 years ago, hoping to utilize his 5 years experience in the marketing realm to make a difference in his new community. After picking up an issue of Our Lives and later meeting its publisher, he has eagerly joined our team and is ready to begin connecting local (and national) businesses to our community, in order to cultivate a sense of understanding and unity between readers and businesses alike.

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Advertising Production
Ingrid Ankerson

Ingrid grew up on a small farm in Washington County where she learned to bring a big imagination, strong work ethic, and an honest, optimistic approach to everything she does. After working as Fair Wisconsin’s internet director for the campaign against the ban on civil unions and marriage, she established Ankerson Communications in early 2007 to provide professional, affordable graphic design to political, nonprofit, and social justice organizations. She lives on the east side in a 125-year-old bungalow with her partner Megan, and their son, Clyde.

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Editorial Facilitators

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Our Prose
Kristina (Kiki) Kosnick

Kiki is the facilitator of LGBTQ Narratives, a queer activist-writers’ group she started in collaboration with OutReach and with funding from U.W.-Madison’s Center for the Humanities. Kristina is an instructor and Ph.D. candidate at the university, where she is writing her dissertation on contemporary queer women’s writing in French. Kristina was named OutReach’s Woman of the Year for 2010. To read work by members of LGBTQ Narratives, check out Our Lives’ new Our Prose column.

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Our Poems
Linda Lenzke

Linda gratefully chose Madison as her home 35 years ago and has been an active member of its LGBT community. She is a Business Development Manager whose avocations are writing poetry and spoken word performance. Linda volunteers with OutReach and co-facilitates the Women4Women group. Her newest passion is her role as an interviewer for the University of Wisconsin-Madison Oral History Project where she is collecting personal narratives of Madison’s lesbian community from the 1960s to the present.

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Our Future
Ryan Petty

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Regular Contributors

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Our Stages
Tara Ayres

Tara is a singer, writer, actor, director and general theater geek. She is the Artistic Director of StageQ, Madison’s queer theater troupe, and hosts a weekly radio program, “Better Living Through Show Tunes,” on WORT, 89.9 FM. She’s a strong believer in changing the world through art. She loves bringing people together and helping them find their voices and build community at the same time. She so appreciates how generous people in the Madison music and theater worlds are with their time and talent, and what a nurturing community Madison is for people who take artistic risks. In her spare time, Tara runs a computer training business, Breathe Easy Computer Training, and teaches individual voice lessons.

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Our Careers
Marty Fox

Marty is retired from Alliant Energy where she was Executive Director of the Alliant Energy Foundation. While working at Alliant she organized the Alliant Energy Pride organization and worked on corporate diversity issues. She is a past president of the O.P.E.N. board and the Treasurer of the GSAFE board. She enjoys spending time with her wife, Catherine, their five adult children, two very special grandchildren, and her dog, Lily.

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Our Issues
Sue Gill

Sue loves to travel, and hopes one day to go to Moscow so that she can have some ice cream while sitting in Red Square. She also loves snowshoeing and backpacking from her home base in Madison where she lives with her partner Sheri and their two dogs. Her step daughter Christa also lives in Madison where she performs with several musical groups, and her step son Aaron is in the Navy. Sue is a licensed psychologist and has been working in private practice and with crime victims at the DA’s office for the past few years. She specializes in working with PTSD and other effects of abuse, 
and in LGBT issues.

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Our Rights
Tamara Packard

Tamara is a partner in the Madison law firm of Cullen Weston Pines & Bach LLP, where she practices primarily in the areas of employee rights and civil rights. A frequent speaker on legal and gay rights issues, Tamara is also an adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School, where she co-teaches the seminar Sexual Orientation and the Law. Tamara is a founding Board member of the Fair Wisconsin Education Fund, and served as President of the Board in 2006–2007.

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Our Apparel
Bonnie Raimy

Bonnie initially majored in fashion merchandising and held several retail positions before discovering merchandising was not her passion. She earned an M.A. in Creative Writing and taught secondary multicultural literature in Delaware before moving to Madison in 2006. Her desire to own her own business, coupled with her innate sense of fashion, became the catalyst for change, and her personal shopping business was born. Bonnie caters to those who find shopping intimidating. She believes clothing should make people feel confidant and comfortable, celebrating each person’s individual beauty.

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Our Plates
Marcelle Richards

Marcelle loves to dish and tell. She sometimes even writes about it. In her quest for the best foodie hotspots in town, she has been known to endure grueling tests of will before deli cases, and feats of fortitude in chocolate consumption. In her spare time, she also writes a food column for Isthmus and hosts the Gastropacalypse Test Kitchen. She was a food crewmember for ACT 6, ACT 7 and ACT 8. She lives in Madison with her partner, Sid, and their well-fed dogs, Ringo and Claire.

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Our History
Dick Wagner

Dick Wagner, former Dane County Board Chair, was the first openly gay county official (1980-1994) in Wisconsin and a founding member of the national association of lesbian and gay public officials. Governor Anthony Earl appointed him in 1983 to co-chair the Governor’s Commission on Lesbian and Gay Issues. He was the founding co-chair for the New Harvest Foundation for LGBT support in South Central Wisconsin and founding co-chair of the Wisconsin Alumni Association’s LGBT Council, the first such alumni group in the Big Ten. He has an MA and PhD in American history from the UW Madison. Retired, he is currently researching and presenting on Wisconsin’s gay history among other civic activities.

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Our Artists
Karin Wolf

Karin works and plays in the small queer bubble of Madison, Wisconsin. She is the Arts Program Administrator for the City of Madison Department of Planning and Community and Economic Development and the Madison Arts Commission. She is a long-time supporter of the arts and arts education, and is involved with many community organizations in establishing exhibitions, film programs, temporary art, and permanent public sculpture projects. Her freelance arts writing has appeared in Sculpture Magazine, Public Art Review, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel as well as ongoing arts coverage for Our Lives Magazine.

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Contributing Photographers

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Roberto Amezcua came to Madison in 1998 from El Paso, Texas, to work as a computer programmer. While in Madison he has rekindled his love of photography and uses it to express creativity. He enjoys the emotional connection of photographs to his life experiences and finds it to be a means to connect with others. Roberto enjoys interacting with the person being photographed to set them at ease but more importantly to make a connection with the person and get their personality out. You can see some of his work at amezcuaphotography.com.

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Eric Baillies is a photographer who after working in numerous cubical jobs, decided to pursue his life long passion—photography. He shares a photo studio with long-time photographer Eric Tadsen who has aided him in professional education and experience.

When Eric is not taking pictures, you can find him coaching soccer in De Forest, running, doing yoga, or preparing for his next exhibit at Gary’s Art & Frame where he works part time. For more information, go to elitevideophoto.com or ericbaillies.com