Contributors

Melinda Beck is an illustrator, animator and graphic designer who has worked with Harper’s Magazine, The New York Times, The New Yorker and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Her work was featured in “Shelves of Selves,” which appeared in the fall 2022 (Vol. 11, No. 1) issue of LMU Magazine. Follow her @melindabeckart.

Barry Blitt is a cartoonist and illustrator. He has contributed illustrations and more than 100 covers to The New Yorker. He is the author of “Blitt,” a collection of covers for The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and other publications. His illustration accompanied “Stage Rights” in the summer 2021 issue of LMU Magazine.

Ben Bolch has been a sportswriter for the Los Angeles Times since 1999. He covers the UCLA basketball beat and is the author of “100 Things UCLA Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.” His “Moneyball” feature, about the impact of NIL issues on mid-major D1 universities, appeared in our fall 2022 issue (Vol. 11, No. 1). Follow him @latbbolch.

Stephen Brodner is an illustrator, caricaturist and author whose work has appeared in Esquire, Harper’s Magazine, National Lampoon, The New York Times Book Review, The New Yorker, Sports Illustrated, Texas Monthly and elsewhere. His illustration is on the cover of the winter 2020 edition of LMU Magazine, which was selected as a finalist the SPD 55 Members’ Choice: Best Cover award. His illustrations for the cover story, “Dramatis Personae,” was given an Award of Merit in the SPD 55 competition.

Chris Buzelli is a painter and illustrator based in New York City. His clients include Harper’s, NPR, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Rolling Stone Magazine, Sundance Film Festival, United Airlines, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and ESPN Creative Networks. His illustration work accompanies our feature interview, “Calling All Angels,” in our spring 2019 issue.

Marcos Chin (above: The Saintly Order, Winter 2020) is an Illustrator whose work has appeared as surface and wall designs, on book and CD covers, advertisements, fashion catalogues and in magazines. He has worked companies and publications including MTA Arts for Transit, Neiman Marcus, Time, The New Yorker, GQ, Sports Illustrated and The New York Times.

Seymour Chwast is a graphic design artist and founder, along with Milton Glaser and Edward Sorel, of Push Pin Studios. For more than six decades he has produced illustrations for magazines, posters, book jackets, album covers, product packages and more. His illustration accompanied “No Places Like Home,” which appeared in the winter 2022 issue (Vol. 10, No. 2) of LMU Magazine. Follow him @SeymourChwast.

Lucy Clarke taught for 29 years in Los Angeles and El Paso and was president of the American Federation of Teachers local for El Paso ISD from 2008–14. Clarke has earned graduate degrees from Eastern New Mexico University and Texas Tech School of Law. Her “Letter From El Paso” appeared in the winter 2020 issue (Vol. 9, No. 2) of LMU Magazine.

Sol Cotti is an illustrator based in Buenos Aires. Her clients have included NPR, Scientific American, the Louvre Museum, the Guggenheim Museum, Condé Nast and others. His illustration appeared in the summer 2021 issue of LMU Magazine.

Antonio De Loera-Brust ’17 is a public policy fellow with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute in Washington, D.C. Previously, he was a Joseph A. O’Hare Fellow at America Magazine, where he wrote about politics, film, immigration and sports. His story “Burning the Roots,” which appeared in the spring 2019 issue of LMU Magazine, earned a bronze award for writing in the 2020 CASE Circle of Excellence Awards.

Oliver de la Paz ’94 is a professor of English at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. He is the author of five collections of poetry, including “The Boy in the Labyrinth” and “Post Subject: A Fable.” His “Trellises” appears in the winter 2022 issue (Vol. 10, No. 2) of LMU Magazine. Follow him @Oliver_delaPaz.

Diana Ejaita is an Italian-Nigerian illustrator and textile designer in Berlin. Her clients have included Design Indaba, Apple, The New Yorker, Scoop and others. Her illustration accompanied “Unmasked” in the summer 2021 issue of LMU Magazine.

Christopher J. Finlay is associate professor who teaches communication studies in the College of Communication and Fine Arts. He is the author of several articles and book chapters on new media and global communication. His article on credential sharing appeared in the spring 2019 edition of LMU Magazine.

Randal Ford is a commercial and fine arts photographer whose work has appeared in Texas Monthly, Audubon, Communication Arts and elsewhere. His “Good Dog: A Collection of Portraits” was published in 2020. His photographs accompanied “The Dogs That Save Us,” in the summer 2021 issue of LMU Magazine.

Michael Genovese is professor of political science in the LMU Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts and holds the Loyola Chair of Leadership Studies. The author of more than 50 books, he also is president of the LMU Global Policy Institute and a frequent commentator on CNN. A frequent contributor to LMU Magazine, his article on the Electoral College appeared in the winter 2020 issue.

Lynell George ’84, a frequent contributor to LMU Magazine, is a journalist and essayist based in Los Angeles. She is the author of “A Handful of Earth, A handful of Sky: The World of Octavia E. Butler.” Her feature essay “Shelves of Selves,” appeared in the fall 2022 (Vol. 11, No. 1) issue of LMU Magazine. In December 2019, SPJ/LA awarded her its Distinguished Journalist Award. Her feature “Sweet Hope” appeared in the summer 2018 issue of LMU Magazine (Vol. 8, No. 2) and was named among the Notable Essays and Literary Nonfiction of 2018 in “The Best American Essays, 2019.” Follow her @LynellGeorge.

Heads of State is a design studio in Philadelphia. Contributing frequently to LMU Magazine, the firm’s artists have worked with Fast Company, The New York Times Magazine, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Wired and others. An illustration by The Heads of State accompanied our story about the Electoral College in the winter 2020 issue. The firm’s work has appeared frequently in LMU Magazine.

Jason Holley is a Texas-born illustrator, educator and exhibiting artist living in Los Angeles. His clients include The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, MTV, The New York Times and Random House. He teaches at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. His work appears in “Climate Chaos,” in the winter 2022 (Vol. 10, No. 2) issue of LMU Magazine and on that issue’s cover. His illustrations also were featured in “Virtue Reality,” a feature about the Seven Deadly Sins that appeared in the summer 2017 Issue (Vol. 7, No. 2) issue.  

Alexander Huls is a writer based in Toronto. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Esquire, Popular Mechanics and elsewhere. He is the author of “The Dogs That Save Us,” a feature story that appeared in the summer 2021 issue of LMU Magazine. Follow him @AlxHuls.

Robert Jackson M.A. ’96 is a professor of English at the University of Tulsa in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He wrote “Stage Rights,” a feature story in the summer 2021 issue of LMU Magazine, as well as “Hollywood Caste,” which appeared in the winter 2017 issue of LMU Magazine. Jackson is the author of “Fade In, Crossroads: A History of the Southern Cinema.”

Dick Jerardi covered college basketball and horse racing for the Philadelphia Daily News from 1985 to 2017. He reported on 25 NCAA basketball Final Fours, and in January 1990 he covered LMU’s games vs. LaSalle and St. Joseph’s in Philadelphia. Jerardi wrote a story titled “The Unforgettable Run” about the 1989–90 men’s basketball team that advanced to the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament. Follow him @DickJerardi.

James T. Keane ’96 is senior editor of America magazine. Keane’s writing has appeared in Philadelphia Weekly, U.S. Catholic, Busted Halo and elsewhere. His “To Forgive Or Not” appeared in the fall 2022 (Vol. 11, No. 1) issue of LMU Magazine. Follow him @JamesTKeane.

Ben Kirchner is an illustrator in Bath, United Kingdom, whose work has appeared in The Economist, The Guardian, The Financial Times, Eight By Eight Magazine and elsewhere. His illustration accompanied “Krumpe Time,” which appeared in the summer 2021 issue of LMU Magazine.

Nate Kitch is a freelance illustrator in Oxford, United Kingdom. His work has appeared in The Guardian, The New York Times, The Observer, Scientific American, Wirtschafts Woche. and elsewhere. His illustration accompanied a feature story titled “The Angry Age,” which appeared in the winter 2020 issue of LMU Magazine. Follow him @NateKitch.

Gracia Lam is a Toronto-based illustrator. Her clients have included NIKE, Time and McSweeney’s, NPR and YouTube. Follow her @smalilams.

Justin Levitt is associate dean for research, professor of law and a Gerald T. McLaughlin Fellow at LMU’s Loyola Law School. He was deputy assistant attorney general of the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division in the Obama administration. His article about the 2020 U.S. Census appeared in the spring 2019 issue of LMU Magazine.

Janice Rhoshalle Littlejohn ’90 is a Los Angeles-based journalist and author. She documented her own natural hair journey in the essay “Growing Gray,” in Ms. Magazine (March 2020). She wrote “Crowning Achievement,” the cover story of the summer 2021 issue of LMU Magazine. Follow her @JaniceRhoshalle.

James Martin, S.J., is a Jesuit priest, editor of America magazine, and consultor to the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication. He is author of many books, including “The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything.” His most recent book is “Building a Bridge,” about LGBT Catholics. Martin’s article about his favorites saints, “The Saintly Order,” appeared in the winter 2020 issue of LMU Magazine.

Rubén Martínez, a frequent contributor to LMU Magazine, is a professor of English and Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies at LMU, and holds the Fletcher Jones Chair in Literature and Writing. He is the author of several books, including “Desert America: Boom and Bust in the New Old West.” His feature story “Alvarado and 3rd” appeared in the winter 2022 issue (Vol. 10, No. 2) of LMU Magazine. Follow him @Ruben6211.

Adam McCauley is a San Francisco-based artist whose clients include Smithsonian, The New York Times, Harper Collins, the Victoria & Albert Museum and SF MOMA. His illustration accompanies a story about the 2020 U.S. Census in the spring 2019 issue of LMU Magazine.

Kevin McCollister is a Los Angeles photographer. His blog “East of West L.A.,” was called “One of LA’s 30 Essential Blogs” by L.A. Observed. A collection of his photos appears in his book, “East of West LA.” Follow him @east_of_west_la.

Evelyn McDonnell is an associate professor and director of the LMU journalism program. Her most recent book, which she edited, is “Women Who Rock: Bessie to Beyonce. Girl Groups to Riot Grrrl.” Her Rankings article about all-female rock bands appeared in our spring 2019 issue. Follow her @EvelynMcDonnell.

Jim McDermott, S.J., is the West Coast correspondent for America Magazine, for which McDermott has written extensively on California, pop culture and God. Follow him @PopCulturPriest. His article about exploring the length of L.A.’s Sepulveda Boulevard appeared in the spring 2019 issue of LMU Magazine

Bryan Meltz is a documentary and portrait photographer whose clients have included The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, Outside Magazine and other publications. She is based in San Francisco. Her photography accompanied a feature story titled “Equal Play” that appeared in the spring 2019 issue of LMU Magazine.

Jacqui Oakley is a painter and illustrator in Hamilton, Canada. Her clients include The Guardian, National Geographic and The Globe and Mail, and her paintings have been shown in Shanghai, Toronto and elsewhere. Her work is part of “Title IX at 50,” which appeared in the fall 2022 (Vol. 11, No. 1) issue of LMU Magazine. Follow her @JacquiOakley.

Barbara Ott is a Toronto-based artist who works in paint, print and paper. Her illustration accompanied an article about grief that appeared in the spring 2019 issue of LMU Magazine.

Tara Pixley is a photojournalist and a professor of visual journalism at Loyola Marymount University. Her work has appeared in ESPN The Magazine, Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and elsewhere. Follow her @tlpix. Her writing and photos appeared in “Big City Oil,” a photo essay about the impact of oil drilling on people and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, in the fall 2022 (Vol. 11, No. 1) issue of LMU Magazine.

Emiliano Ponzi, whose work appears often in LMU Magazine, is an illustrator whose clients include The New Yorker, The New York Times, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, Moma NY and Amnesty International. He is based in Milan. His illustration accompanied a feature story titled “Looking for Sepulveda” in the spring 2019 issue of LMU Magazine.

Edel Rodriguez is a frequent contributor to LMU Magazine whose work has appeared in National Geographic, The New Yorker, Time, The Wall Street Journal and elsewhere. His illustrations accompanied a feature story titled “American Customs” in the winter 2020 issue of LMU Magazine. Follow him @EdelStudio.

Tilda Rose is a Finnish-American who is based in Helsinki who graduated from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Her clients include NPR, Philadelphia Magazine, The Poetry Foundation, The Sierra Club and the Curtis Institute of Music. Her illustration accompanied “Drenched,” which appeared in the winter 2022 issue of LMU Magazine. Follow her @tildaroseillus.

Nicolas G. Rosenthal teaches history in the LMU Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts. He is the author of “Reimagining Indian Country.” His “This is Indian Country” appeared in LMU Magazine (Summer 2016).

Joseph Ross ’80 is the author of four books of poetry, including “Raising King,” (forthcoming in 2020). His poetry has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The Southern Quarterly, Xavier Review and elsewhere. He teaches English at Gonzaga High School in Washington, D.C. His poem titled “For Gilberto Ramos” appeared in the winter 2020 issue of LMU Magazine.

Paul Sahre is a graphic designer who has worked with Marvel Comics, Knopf, Criterion Collection, AIDS Institute of New York, This American Life and others. His illustration appears in “Up in Arms,” a story in the fall 2022 (Vol. 11, No. 1) issue of LMU Magazine. Follow him @psahre.

Mark Evan Schwartz is associate professor of screenwriting in the LMU School of Film and Television. An award-winning screenwriter, he has credits on more than a dozen feature films and television shows and movies. His feature story about his family’s immigration to the United States from eastern Europe, titled “American Customs,” appeared in the winter 2020 issue of LMU Magazine.

Brian Stauffer is an illustrator whose work has appeared in publications including The New Yorker, Esquire, The Nation and TIME. His illustrations appeared in “Moneyball,” a feature about the impact of NIL issues on D1 mid-major universities (Fall 2022, Vol. 11, No. 1) and on the cover of that issue.

Lauren Tamaki is an artist based in Toronto and New York whose clients include The Wall Street Journal, Buzzfeed, Penguin UK, Harper’s Bazaar Germany and many others. Her illustrations can be found in “Carve a Turkey,” in the fall 2022 (Vol. 11, No. 1) issue of LMU Magazine. Follow her @LaurenTamaki.

Scott Timberg, who passed away in December 2019, was a frequent contributor to LMU Magazine. He is the author of “Culture Crash: The Killing of the Creative Class.” His work appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, Los Angeles Magazine and elsewhere. His feature story titled “The Angry Age” appeared in in the winter 2020 issue of LMU Magazine. A story about the tree canopy in Los Angeles, titled “Trees, Please,” also appeared in the same issue.

David L. Ulin, a frequent contributor to LMU Magazine, is a 2015 Guggenheim Fellow and the author of “Sidewalking: Coming to Terms with Los Angeles” and “The Lost Art of Reading: Books and Resistance in a Troubled Time.” His feature article about the concept of play equity titled “Equal Play” appeared in the spring 2019 issue. Follow him @davidulin.

Milton Un is design director for Carmichael Lynch in Minneapolis. His work spans design, art direction and illustration, and he has worked on projects with Nike, Appl, Adidas, ESPN, Red Bull and others. Follow him @miltonun.

D. J. Waldie is a cultural historian, memoirist and essayist. His most recent publications are “Ruscha, LA, and a Sense of Place in the West” and “A River Still Runs Through It,” a social history of the Los Angeles River. He is a recipient of the California Book Award, the Whiting Writers Award, and the Dale Prize for Urban and Regional Planning. Waldie wrote a feature story in the spring 2019 issue of LMU Magazine titled “Who Are We?” Follow him @DJWaldie.

Michael Waraska is a Chicago-based artist and illustrator whose work has appeared in The New York Times, TIME, The Los Angeles Times and elsewhere. His illustrations accompany a feature story titled “Who Are We?” that appeared in the spring 2019 issue of LMU Magazine.

Kevin J. Wetmore Jr. is professor and chair of the theatre arts program in the LMU College of Communication and Fine Arts. An actor, director and stage combat choreographer, he has written numerous articles on theatre, cinema, Shakespeare and Japanese culture. Wetmore wrote the feature story titled “Dramatis Personae,” which appeared in the winter 2020 issue of LMU Magazine. Follow him @HauntedKevin.

Nicole Xu is an illustrator in Brooklyn, New York. Born in Shanghai, her work has appeared in Ad Age, Buzzfeed, The Economist, The Globe and Mail, The New York Times, VICE and other publications. Follow her @rami_noooodles.