About Us

Staff

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Mike Foldes, Founder/Managing Editor. Mike has published poetry chapbooks, alternative newspapers, and has worked as columnist, editor and contributor to newspapers and magazines since the late 1960s.  He edited the first edition of the Power Sources Manufacturers Association’s Handbook for Standardized Terminology of the Power Sources Industry, and in his other life is a sales engineer.  Mike is married, has three children, and lives in upstate New York. His book, Sleeping Dogs: A true story of the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, is available for download in most formats at Smashwords.com, or in print from Split Oak Press, Ithaca, NY.  e-mail: editor@ragazine.cc

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Metta Sama, Fiction Editor. Metta lives in Brooklyn, NY and Plainfield, VT. She is a poet, visual artist, story maker and scholar, and is the current blogger for Zora via Torch: poetry, prose and short stories by African American women. e-mail: ragfiction@gmail.com

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Jim Palombo, Politics Editor. Jim Palombo’s efforts focus on justice concerns on national and international levels. His latest book, Criminal to Critic, Reflections Amid the American Experiment (Rowman & Littlefield), chronicles his experiences from drug dealer and convict to social worker, professor, world traveler and writer, while raising issues relative to social, political and economic conditions in America. He is a native and resident of Endicott, N.Y., and San Miguel Allende, Mexico. e-mail: jmspalombo@yahoo.com

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Leslie Heywood, Creative Nonfiction Editor. Leslie Heywood is the author of Pretty Good for a Girl:  A Memoir (The Free Press/Simon & Schuster), Natural Selection:  Poems (Louisiana Literature Press); The Proving Grounds:  Poems (Red Hen Press), and many shorter works of creative non-fiction as well as academic writing.  She is Professor of English & Creative Writing at Binghamton University, and has particular interests in nature and science writing.  She is working on High Wolf Content, a book of creative non-fiction about a woman at a crossroads who travels the country with her wolf to make a choice, writing that includes personal narrative as well as an account of the history of the human/wolf relationship and the theory of human/wolf co-evolution. e-mail: leslie.heywood@gmail.com

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Mark Levy, Legal/Casual Observer.

Levy (left)  is an attorney with the Binghamton-based law firm of Hinman Howard and Kattell. He is a contributing editor to Ragazine of a legal advise column for artists and others who are engaged in creative pursuits (Feeding the Starving Artist), and is Ragazine‘s “Casual Observer”. He is an occasional contributor to NPR, where his comments can be heard some Saturdays at noon. email: creative@stny.rr.com and mlevy@hhk.com

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Zaira Rahman Sheikh, Karachi, Pakistan.  Zaira R. Sheikh has an MBA in Marketing from SZABIST, Karachi.  She was a Media Planner at Mindshare (GroupM Pakistan) and Account Manager at Interflow Communications Pvt. Ltd. Currently a writer, blogger and human & animal rights activist in Karachi, Pakistan, Sheikh is the author of Pakistani Media: The Way Things Are, available through Amazon.com, and If Mortals Had Been Immortals & Other Short Stories.

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Hala Salah Eldin Hussein, Cairo, Egypt. Born in 1978, Hala Salah Eldin Hussein was raised in Tanta, a city in the middle of the Nile Delta of Egypt. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the Faculty of Arts, Tanta University, 1999. She is the editor of Albawtaka Review (www.albawtaka.com), and general manager of Albawtaka Publishing House.

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Jeff Katz, Music Editor.  Born in Brooklyn, Jeff Katz now writes about music, baseball and whatever else he’s obsessing on from his home base in Cooperstown, New York. Jeff’s “what if” history of rock and roll, Maybe Baby (or, You Know That It Would Be Untrue), has garnered worldwide readership, with a new story posted on backbeat Fridays (the 2nd and 4th of every month).  Jeff’s  columns appear regularly in the music section, along with music reviews, interviews and outtakes. His latest book, The Kansas City A’s & The Wrong Half of the Yankees, was published in  2006.  http://maybebabyoryouknowthatitwouldbeuntrue.blogspot.com/

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Chuck Haupt, Photography Editor/Layout. Chuck Haupt is based in upstate New York. His award-winning work during a 30-year career at the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin is recognized throughout the region for its impact and excellence. Chuck is known for his captivating images of residents of New York’s Southern Tier, images that reveal character and evoke a powerful response.  His work as a photojournalist has taken him to a wide variety of places, from hospital operating rooms to professional golf tournaments, to lower Manhattan in the hours after the 9/11 attacks, and into the homes of ordinary people with extraordinary stories to tell. email: chaupt@chuckhaupt.com

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Emily Vogel, Poetry Editor. Emily Vogel’s poetry has been published in the anthology Co-Evolution 2: Shivering Through the Details with Turtle Ink Press, published in the Salt Hill Journal, The Edison Review, Hotmetal Press, The Broome Review, Main Street Rag, The Chaffey Review, Slush Pile, First City Review, and on the WSKG website. She is the recipient of second prize for The Academy of American Poets competition at Binghamton University, 2008.  Her first chapbook, Footnotes for a Love Letter was published in August 2009, by Foothills Press, her second collection of poetry, An Intimate Acquaintance was published in November 2009, by Pudding House Press, and her third collection, Elucidation Through Darkness, was published by Split Oak Press in May of 2010.  Her latest collection, The Philosopher’s Wife, was published in July 2011. She has been nominated for the AWP award in creative non-fiction, 2010, and is a Ragazine Pushcart nominee .  email: evogel1@binghamton.edu

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Valerie Brown, Washington. Valerie Brown studied photography at the University of Tel Aviv, Israel; Ohio State University; Parsons New School and School of Visual Arts in New York City. She gained additional skills working as an assistant to notable artists, including Ernst Haas, Salvador Dali, Igor Bacht, Philippe Halsman, W. Eugene Smith, and Helene Gaillet. Since 1977, Valerie has worked as a feelance photographer. Her client list includes Women’s Wear Daily, Washington Dossier, Interview Magazine, People Magazine, Time Magazine, Smithsonian Books, and the Kennedy Center. She presently lives and works in Washington, D.C. email: vbrown1416@aol.com

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GinGer Liu, Los Angeles. Ginger Liu is a one-woman arts fest, who in addition to photographing events in Los Angeles, and writing about them, provides online public relations, promotions, publicity, social media marketing, and more. The British ex-pat has lived in LA for about two years. GinGer’s writing, and photography reflect her background as someone who has embraced two defining cultures (both UK and US). She has lived in Australia, New Zealand, Germany and China, the latter to complete her quest for culture and identity. Invariably traveling solo, you can find GinGer traveling on a train through the heart of China, hiking the Great Wall, or riding a bike in the middle of Amsterdam.  email: gingerliu@yahoo.com

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Charlie Einhorn, Innerart, Columbus, Ohio. Charlie has been on the Columbus scene almost since anyone can remember. He’s a writer, photographer, publisher in his own right, and remains plugged into the city’s arts & culture network. His insider’s feed from the heart of the Buckeye State  will keep you up to date with a few of the latest places to go and things to see from open house jazz concerts to the neighborhood street fests grown into some of Central Ohio’s largest gatherings. email: innerart@gmail.com

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Miklós Horváth. Contributing Editor/Hungary. Miklós Horváth is an undergraduate student at Eötvös Loránd University and Leiden University. His first contribution to Ragazine was an article examining the work of artist Paul Gauguin from the perspective of postmodern narratives.

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John Smelcer. Contributing Editor. John Smelcer is the author of over 40 books, including Beautiful Words: The Complete Ahtna Poems (foreword by Noam Chomsky) and his short story collection, ALASKAN, edited in part by J. D. Salinger, John Updike, and Norman Mailer. Educated at Oxford and Cambridge, two of his novels have been selected for England’s National Literary Trust’s Young Reader’s Recommended Booklist, and last year, The Independent named his novel Edge of Nowhere as one of the “Best Teen Books of 2010” while The Guardian listed it as “Recommended Summer Reading for Young Adults.” Learn more at www.johnsmelcer.com.

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Monique Gagnon German. Copy Editor. Monique Gagnon German holds a B.A. in English Lit. from Northeastern University and a M.A. in English from Northern Arizona University.  She worked as a   Technical Writer and Tech. Pubs. Manager for a decade before taking time off to start a family. Her poetry has appeared in the anthology, “e, the Emily Dickinson Award Anthology Best Poems of 2001,” and journals such as Ellipsis, California Quarterly, Kalliope, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, Calyx, The Ledge and Rosebud, among others. Her poems can also be visited at: www.moniquegagnongerman.com.  Email: german_monique@yahoo.com.

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Header Credits:

Sargam Griffin: www.sargamgriffin.com

Toast

Self Portrait with Toast

Billy Shire/La Luz de Jesus Gallery/ www.laluzdejesus.com

Laluzapalooza: The Greatest Group Show on Earth (3/2/12)

Valerie Brown: www.valeriebrownphotos.com

Butterfly Garden

Nadja Asghar: nillustration.co.uk/

All arms

Gordon Holden: gordonholden.com

Music Waves

See your work at the top of the page!

Send your Random Header submissions to editor@ragazine.cc, SUBJECT: Random Header. Submissions should be jpg format, attached, sized to  865 x 170 pixels, plus or minus a few, and contain the ragazine.cc logo. Credits will be provided under HEADER Credits, along with your e-mail address or web URL (your choice).

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Want to work with us?

If you are interested in joining the staff of ragazine.cc as an editor, contributing editor, stringer, photographer, interviewer or beermeister, please contact Mike Foldes, editor@ragazine.cc

You won’t make a lot of money (guaranteed), but you might meet some people you didn’t know before (priceless).

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History.

The name Ragazine was coined in the mid-’70s in Columbus, Ohio, as the title of an alternative newspaper/magazine put together by a group of friends. It was revived in 2004 as ragazine.cc, the on-line magazine of arts, information and entertainment, a collaboration of artists, writers,  poets, photographers, travelers and interested others. And that’s what it still is.

Webmaster

ogdenian.com. Site maintenance is handled by Ogden McGahan, who makes life easier for all of us here at ragazine.cc. If you are interested in web and blog development, see http://ogdenian.com for examples of his work.

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