Cast Biographies

Mo

Occupation: Worrier and kvetch extraordinaire, with a job at now-defunct Madwimmin Books on the side. Mo has since graduated from library school.
Impending Doom Alert Level: Orange
Unchanging truth: A rhetorical, if not action-based, dedication to social justice combined with red and white striped shirts.
Cats: the ever-present Virginia and Vanessa

Sydney

Occupation: Pretentious academic engaged in epistemic and ontological interrogation of feminist positionalities.
In More Pedestrian Terms: Mo’s partner, a tenured college professor and credit card debtor with a penchant for the theoretical and disdain for knee-jerk liberalism.
Classes taught: Women’s Studies 101, Post-Everything Feminist Theory, and Gender, Class and Miniature Golf: The Social Construction of Leisure.
Survived: Breast cancer, and terrible boundaries between herself and her father.

Clarice

Occupation: Environmental Lawyer
Relationship: Mo’s first lover, subsequently civilly-united, married, and otherwise connected to Toni
Cause of Sorrow: Realizing that the world seems to get worse no matter how many injunctions she wins against polluting factories.
Intriguing Observation: For someone interested in revolutionizing society, she seems awfully cautious about change in her personal life.

Toni

Occupation: Accountant
Relationship: Long-term (and long suffering) partner to Clarice, mother to Raffi
Other Commitments: Freedom to Marry advocate, fast-walking with the beguiling Gloria and fending off skeptical heterosexual parents.
Counterpoint to Whitebread Neighbors: She’s a suburban soccer mom with a twist.

Lois

Occupation At Madwimmin: hand-sold books by providing quality service in any situation
Occupation at Bounders Books’n’Muzak: Processes pulpy publications.
Relationships: Too many to count- currently, Jasmine
Mentorships: Gender-blending role model to trans-identified Janis.
Hobbies and interests: Drag performance, breathing fire with the Lesbian Avengers, one-night stands

Ginger

Occupation: Associate Professor of English at Buffalo Lake State
Residence: Shacking up with Lois, Sparrow, Stuart and Jiao Raizel
Relationship History: Several doomed romances (including Jasmine) which failed because of Ginger’s fear of commitment
Current Fling: Shares a penchant for pooches with paramour Samia.
On Her Nightstand: The Norton Anthology for the College Student’s Soul, as well as “The Many Moods of Hamlet: A Shakespearian Play”, as yet ungraded.

Sparrow

Occupation: Director of a domestic violence shelter, incidental mom to Jiao Raizel.
Relationships: partner to Stuart, Former partner to June, strong relationship to astrology.
Quirks: Crunchier and more organic than sustainably-grown, unsalted amaranth puffs with nutritional yeast and spirulina.
Hobbies: Therapy of all kinds, exploring her outer inner child.

Harriet

Occupation: Human rights investigator for the state by day, Subversive single mother by night.
Relevance: Mo’s most significant ex and confidante during tough times.
Foil Assignment: To showcase the panoply of queer familial permutations.

Jezanna

Occupation, Good Old Days: Owner of Madwimmin Books, which finally succumbed
to its chain-store competitors turned into a Velma’s Secret in 2002.
Occupation, Post-Apocalypse: ESL teacher.
Relationships: Lives with her father, Albert, and her girlfriend, Audrey
Unabating Habit: Fervent calls to arms that haven’t quite lost enough sincerity to be ironic.
On Her Nightstand: The Collected Works of Bell Hooks, and Steal This Book, for which she paid ten dollars and thirty-seven cents

Raffi

Occupation: Middle-schooler, video game aficionado
Relationships: Best friend of neighbor Billy, mortal enemy of classmate Taylor, and ambivalent towards Clarice and Toni, his sometimes-preoccupied parents. Also friend of Stella.
Lingering question: Just how much therapy will Raffi need?

Thea

Occupation, then: One-time number-cruncher for Madwimmin Books
Now: Teaches art
Claim to Fame: Challenged Mo’s preconceived notions about people with disabilities, causing Mo to develop a crush.

Jonas -> Janis

Occupation: Adolescent, regretfully pubescing as a male.
Family: Transgender-identified daughter of single mom Jasmine; formerly known as Jonas
Lingering Regret: Not yet old enough to sign up for a credit card.
On her nightstand: Gender Trouble and Paris Hilton: The Naked Truth

Samia

Occupation: Some vaguely science-related job at Sydney’s university; also teaching Arabic to neo-Conservative, CIA-bound student Cynthia
Relationships: Apparently monogamous attachment to Ginger now at odds with recently discovered, still-legal marriage to Ammar.
Haunting Eventuality: One day her exhibitionist tendencies will cross paths with her passion for dog shows.

Stuart

Occupation: Homemaker, dad, blogger
Relationships: Partner to Sparrow and father to Jiao Raizel; housemates with Ginger and Lois.
Queer Quirk: More stereotypically lesbian than….many lesbians.
Sex Appeal: Goes commando under the UtiliKilt.

Cynthia

Occupation: Student of Ginger’s at Buffalo Lake State; also studies Arabic with Ginger’s girlfriend Samia
Rhetorical Role: Stalwart voice of educated, right-wing sensibility in a sea of bleeding-heart, knee-jerk liberals.
Career Aspirations: CIA
Final Red Flag: Intrepidly adheres to the virginity pledge she took at church when she was fifteen.
On Her Nightstand: The Truth About Hilary, How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must) by Ann Coulter, and Coming Out to Your Parents: a Beginner’s Guide

Jiao Raizel

Family: 3-year-old daughter of Stuart and Sparrow
Something To Speculate On: The particular form her rebellion will take after years of home-schooling with her ecologically-minded leftist dad: Will it involve cussing, littering and shopping at Wal-Mart, or merely a membership with Concerned Women for America?

Jasmine

Occupation: Waitress
Family: Single mom of Janis
Romantic Affiliation: Currently with Lois; also briefly dated Ginger
Sartorial Catch-22: Calibrating her fashion compass is difficult with a teenage daughter who constantly steals her Paul Frank pajamas but also begs daily for a rhinestone-studded Ashlee Simpson halter top.
On Her Nightstand: Pamphlets for various puberty-delaying hormone courses, subtly planted by Janis

Carlos

Occupation: Serial short-term careers; male role model.
Relationships: Sunny-day monogamy with Daniel.
Job: Teaches Raffi the ins and outs of masculinity with a gentle, campy touch.

Stella

Occupation: Middle-schooler, co-conspirator.
Relationships: Unfortunate bystander turned participant in Ana and Gloria’s relationship meltdown, friend and confidante to Raffi.
Future Career Possibilities: Documentary Filmmaker? Master Spy? Counselor?