Our Eyes Are Fixed On: Jonathan Schlesinger
Our Eyes Are Fixed On: Darek Tatum
The hilarious Darek Tatum hits the Oral Fixation stage to tell us about a special church visit in college that has stayed with him ever since!
By day Darek Tatum is a web designer for Half Price Books and a father of identical twin girls. By not day, he’s doing improv at Dallas Comedy House, being generally annoying on Twitter, and still a father to identical twin girls.
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Our Eyes Are Fixed On: Shama Shams
The beautiful, Bangladeshi-born Shama Shams will be taking us back to her first moments in America for Old School!
Shama Shams is a mother of two girls, wife, and a writer of nonfiction. She was born and lived in Bangladesh until she was ten. She has a master’s degree in Women in Islam from Florida State University. She works as a Development Director for a nonprofit in McKinney.
Fixated Facts:
Name of your autobiography (if you had one)- I am currently working on a memoir titled “Throw Away Girl.”
If you could meet anyone dead or alive, who? My father because I never really got to know him.
Favorite Dallas hangout-at my home with my husband and our girls.
What do you miss about being a kid?- Climbing coconut trees.
Sneak Peek: “Sometimes the kids left a note on top of my desk for me. I didn’t know what it said but I looked at their drawings. I would draw a smiley face and place it back on top. I attempted to communicate with the outside world without leaving my safe haven.”
Our Eyes Are Fixed On: Ken Bethea
Your eyes did not deceive you! The Old 97′s own Ken Bethea is moseying on down to the Oral Fixation Stage!
Raised in a forest in East Texas, Ken fled the Piney Woods for the Dallas in 1988. He started the Old 97′s in 1993 and has spent the last 20 years driving around the country bending guitar strings and looking for the perfect breakfast. He lives in Lake Highlands and is married with two kids. Read more
Our Eyes Are Fixed On: Jillian Rickard
A Nurse who dreams of being a blackjack dealer is our newest addition to the Oral Fixation Stage!
Jillian Rickard grew up around the world. Born in California, she’s lived in Germany, D.C., Poland, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Dallas. She is an operating room nurse. When she’s not working, she enjoys spending time with her corgi-mix Jax, or on a quest for the world’s best burger! Read more
Our Eyes Are Fixed On: Erin McKnight
Erin, a writer who thinks the jasmine flower beautiful, will take the Oral Fixation stage on Tuesday!
Erin McKnight is the publisher of Queen’s Ferry Press, an independent press publishing collections of literary fiction. Erin’s own writing has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and W.W. Norton’s The Best Creative Nonfiction. She also reviews poetry and fiction titles. Erin lives in Plano with her husband and daughter. Read more
Our Eyes Are Fixed On: Joel Page
He speaks his second language better than he understands it and will take the Oral Fixation stage for the first time next Tuesday.
Joel Page is a lawyer and a writer, with a smattering of published short fiction. He works as a public defender, writing appeals for prisoners who cannot afford their own representation. He lives in Dallas with his wife Peggy and his cats Woodward and Bernstein. Read more
Our Eyes Are Fixed On: Kenneth Farnsworth
Our very own Oral Fixation lighting/sound designer and technician is taking the stage!
Kenneth Farnsworth is a freelance lighting designer and technician. He moved to Dallas in 2009
to start working while finishing school at UNT. His real passion is grilling and smoking meats in his backyard. He lives with his wife in East Dallas and they have two wonderful dogs. Read more
Our Eyes Are Fixed On: Michael Barry
Lover of school, garlic and rosemary and newcomer to the Oral Fixation stage.
Michael Barry is a graduate student at SMU and a six-summer veteran of camp. He is also a singer-songwriter who performs under the name Marathon Runner. Michael graduated from the University of Kansas with a BA in English. Read more
Our Eyes Are Fixed On: Gretchen Goetz
Oak Cliff resident, lover of the smell of simmering chili in the fall, and newcomer to the Oral Fixation stage.
Gretchen Goetz is an artist, writer, illustrator and Emmy Award-winning set decorator. She is a native Texan but part of her heart remains in England, sitting on a bench at the top of Richmond Hill looking at the Thames. She can’t stop painting stuff and is a rabid recycler. Read more