Karen Zarker

PopMatters Senior Editor

About Karen Zarker

As Senior Editor for PopMatters, Karen Zarker finds herself working with the very kind of writers she loves to read; writers with smarts, wit and style on par with those of The Guardian, The New Yorker, Harper’s and Granta, just to name a few of the publications she consumes regularly. Having served as critical reader and editor for her professors while in college, she is devotedly a writer’s reader and a writer’s editor, and is absolutely thrilled that she gets to work at PopMatters.  A graduate of Columbia College (Chicago, that is) with an undergraduate degree in English, Journalism and Liberal Education, she is a post-graduate reader of most everything but minds.

Features

All the Girls Were In ‘The Closet’ With Ellen DeGeneres

By Karen Zarker

The true story about Ellen's fourth season, which includes the famous coming out 'The Puppy Episode (Parts 1 and 2)' is that it's really not about gay people at all: it's really about straight society USA, circa 1997. [10 October 2006]

Jellyeye: Beat in Chicago

By Karen Zarker

Spooky and throbbing as a newborn toadstool - the jellyeye. [1 January 1995]

Columns

The High-Tech Clairvoyant

By Karen Zarker

We of modern means seem to like our dose of psychic healing with a dash of technical [23 June 2004]

(more What's Working)

By the Sound of Her Voice: Earning a Living as a Voice Artist

By Karen Zarker

You don't have to dress up, watch your weight, or worry about that zit on your chin, and you get paid a great chunk of change. [7 January 2004]

(more What's Working)

What’s in the Wash

By Karen Zarker

Whether today's babies are clinging to a skinny, malnourished hip, or being wheeled about in a plush, triple stroller, come the time they reach working age -- should they reach working age -- they might well outnumber the souls of the dead and the posts they've vacated. [8 October 2003]

(more What's Working)

Reviews

Basement Boys: The Basement Boys Presents Mudfoot Jones

By Karen Zarker

A Density of Souls by Christopher Rice

By Karen Zarker

. . . by young writer Christopher Rice (progeny of gothic writer Anne Rice and poet and painter Stan Rice), is a mystery and gay-coming-of-age story that is powered, in part, by the current of hate pulsing through America. [1 January 1995]

Chienne de Guerre: A Woman Behind the Lines of the War in Chechnya by Anne Nivat

By Karen Zarker

Physical distance from Chechnya, from Palestine/Israel, from Rowanda, Albania, Guatemala, Kurdistan, Macedonia, and so on, for those of us who feel we have such distance, provides psychological comfort only. It provides no protection from the fallout from these wars.

Blogs

Mixed Media: Rachel Maddow Takes on Obama Over Defense of Marriage Act (video) [16 June 2009]

Consuming Consumables: The Burma Chronicles [17 December 2008]

Consuming Consumables: The Essential Cocktail / Peterson’s Holiday Helper

Consuming Consumables: State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America

Consuming Consumables: The Billionaire’s Vinegar

Consuming Consumables: Make ‘Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America [16 December 2008]

Consuming Consumables: Trial & Retribution: Set 1 / Midsomer Murders: The Early Cases

Consuming Consumables: Jazz Icons: Series 3

Consuming Consumables: Ultimate Adventures: A Rough Guide to Adventure Travel [15 December 2008]

Consuming Consumables: One Hundred Greatest

Consuming Consumables: Whole Lotta Led Zeppelin

Consuming Consumables: Interactive Mysteries

Consuming Consumables: Best of American series [13 December 2008]

Consuming Consumables: Murder Short and Sweet

Consuming Consumables: Secret Lives of Great Artists [12 December 2008]

Consuming Consumables: Two Fat Ladies [11 December 2008]

Consuming Consumables: Obsessed with Star Wars [9 December 2008]

Consuming Consumables: The Elvis Encyclopedia [8 December 2008]

Consuming Consumables: Lost: The Complete Fourth Season [7 December 2008]

Consuming Consumables: DC Comics/Vertigo/Marvel Encyclopedias

Consuming Consumables: The Gonzo Tapes: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson [5 December 2008]

Consuming Consumables: The Wordy Shipmates

Consuming Consumables: Town of Mirrors: The Reassembled Imagery of Robert Pollard [4 December 2008]

Consuming Consumables: What Philosophy Can Tell You About Your Cat/Dog

Consuming Consumables: Star Trek: The Original Series (Remastered) [3 December 2008]

Consuming Consumables: The Complete Ripley Novels

Consuming Consumables: The Intellectual Devotional: Modern Culture [2 December 2008]

Consuming Consumables: Once Again to Zelda [1 December 2008]

Consuming Consumables: Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris [30 November 2008]

Consuming Consumables: The DC Vault [26 November 2008]

Consuming Consumables: The Universe Collector’s Set [25 November 2008]

Consuming Consumables: The Book of Animal Ignorance [24 November 2008]

Consuming Consumables: Rolling Stone Cover to Cover: The First 40 Years [$125.00] [19 December 2007]

Consuming Consumables: Sex Libris: A Book About What Everyone Thinks They Know [$24.95]

Consuming Consumables: The Awful Truth: The Complete Series & The Best of the Awful Truth [$39.95 / $14.95]

Consuming Consumables: Babel (2-Disc Collector’s Edition) [$34.99] [18 December 2007]

Consuming Consumables: Heeere’s Johnny: The Definitive DVD Collection From The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson [$ [17 December 2007]

Consuming Consumables: Tip-Off: How the 1984 NBA Draft Changed Basketball Forever by Filip Bondy [$25.00]

Consuming Consumables: The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss [$45.00] [16 December 2007]

Consuming Consumables: Greetings from the Simpsons / The Simpsons Handbook / The Simpsons Masterpiece Gallery

Consuming Consumables: The World Without Us by Alan Weisman [$24.95] [14 December 2007]

Consuming Consumables: The Intellectual Devotional: American History by David S. Kidder and Noah D. Oppenheim [$24.00]

Consuming Consumables: Planet Earth: The Complete BBC Series [$79.98] [13 December 2007]

Consuming Consumables: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: The Complete Series [$59.98] [12 December 2007]

Consuming Consumables: The Marvel Vault: A Museum-in-a-book… [$49.95] [11 December 2007]

Consuming Consumables: Picket Fences: Season 1 [$59.98] [7 December 2007]

Consuming Consumables: The Book of General Ignorance by John Lloyd & John Mitchinson [$19.95] [5 December 2007]

Consuming Consumables: POV: 20th Anniversary Collection [$249.95] [4 December 2007]

Consuming Consumables: UM. Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean by Michael Erard [$24.95] [29 November 2007]

Consuming Consumables: Pets in America: A History by Katherine C. Grier [$16.00] [28 November 2007]

Consuming Consumables: Take Me to Your Leader by Ian Harrison [$25.00] [27 November 2007]

Consuming Consumables: Moby Dick: A Pop-Up Book by Sam Ita [$24.95] [22 November 2007]

Consuming Consumables: Street World: Urban Art and Culture from Five Continents by Roger Gastman et al. [$35.00] [21 November 2007]

Consuming Consumables: What’s Yours Like? The Game That Tells It Like It Is [$29.99] [19 November 2007]

Consuming Consumables: 3 Faces of Danzig [14 December 2006]

Consuming Consumables: The Pretenders – Pirate Radio Box Set

Consuming Consumables: Docurama Awards Collection: Volume 2 [$199.95] [13 December 2006]

Consuming Consumables: Michael Jackson: Visionary – The Video Singles [$134.97] [12 December 2006]

Consuming Consumables: READ - Shoes: A History from Sandals to Sneakers [11 December 2006]

Consuming Consumables: READ - Death by PowerPoint: A Modern Office Survival Guide [8 December 2006]

Consuming Consumables: READ - Fresh Fruits Postcards [7 December 2006]

Consuming Consumables: READ - The Rough Guides to Music and Film [6 December 2006]

Consuming Consumables: WATCH - Homicide: Life on the Street The Complete Series Megaset [30 November 2006]

Consuming Consumables: PLAY - Roboreptile [28 November 2006]