Jodie Janella Horn

Born and raised in the cultural wasteland of Santa Rosa, California in 1980, Jodie spent much of her early childhood competing in track and field until she could no longer tolerate scheduling conflicts between practice and Punky Brewster. Much to the chagrin of her parents, she devoted the remainder of her youth garnering knowledge of classic '80s sitcoms, Lucy Maud Montgomery, and musical theatre. Her acumen rivals the best of them, but does little for her Jeopardy game. After attending the same high school as Robert L. Ripley, believe it or not, Jodie spun off to U.C. Berkeley with a whole new cast of characters who knew her as "the girl in front of the TV with a two-liter of diet coke" and later "that girl with a 40 passed out in front of the TV". In 2000 she received a B.A. in Anthropology and moved to Los Angeles, making guest appearances in London; Portland, Oregon; and Oakland, where she met her husband. During that time, she worked for Powell's Books, Publishers Group West, and Taschen GmBH. Naturally, this forced her to hone her television watching skills only during prime time. A full-time writer, Jodie has completed an as of yet unpublished novel and contributes to PopMatters as a TV columnist, book reviewer, and the occasional feature. She asks that you please remember that chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans are great apes, not monkeys. It's an important distinction.