Kathleen Volk Miller, Managing Editor

I was born the same day as Houdini, and that fact prompted me to write a biography on him when I was in Fourth Grade. I sucked my thumb until I was about four, and my parents told me they had a friend whose daughter's thumb turned green and fell off.  They then put green food coloring on my thumb while I was asleep.  We still argue about the intelligence of this method, and my parents only reply is:  "It worked didn't it?"

I came to PBQ as a young, naive graduate student, desperate for an outside editing project for a course I was taking, and desperate to read something written by other than dead white men.  It's 14 years later and I still feel young, naive, and desperate, and don't know if that length of time w/ a non-profit lit mag makes me pathetic or pathological.

Marion and I always talk about writing our memoirs of the things we've done in the name of PBQ.  We could talk about hemming a pair of pants as we drove to an AWP in Washington, calling John Updike at home w/ an illicitly gotten phone number, our stalking Kevin Bacon in Rittenhouse Square,  hot tubs we have seen and conquered, or my continued obsessive belief that if we could just talk to Sylvester Stallone, he'd finance us for life (don't ask).

Sometimes I wonder about what we do, what sense it makes, why we spend so much time, blood, sweat, tears, etc.  And then we have a reading and poetry virgins step up and share, everyone there is so happy, and so grateful for the experience, or a new issue comes out and it's so good, so rewarding, and I have to say, "Oh, yeah, that's right.  This is why we do this."

We've had the best of times, we've had the worst of times.

I was going to be all sarcastic and stupid and say, "I like Piña Colada's and taking walks in the rain," but I actually prefer vodka and indoor sports like arm wrestling and billiards.  

The family, the community that is PBQ shifts and changes, grows and contracts, but our commitment to a democratic editorial process and a dedication to finding the best of what's being written right now is the legacy we inherited and the aspects I'm most proud of...

Sun sign: Aries Favorite flick: Grand Canyon (really) or The Last Fandango (really, really) Favorite book: No way can I answer that Ever buy anything from spam mail? No way can I answer that Ever been arrested? If so, for what? No way can I answer that Nickname: No way can I answer that Cell phone provider? T-Mobile Craziest thing you'll admit to doing: That I'll admit to doing? That doesn't involve hot tubs or stalking Kevin Bacon? I 'll have to get back to you... Favorite drink? Vodka. Do you use toothpicks? I'll have to get back to you... Diner of choice: The Silver Queen, in Pittsburgh, PA. World traveler? (where have you been?) To hell and back. (Does that count?) Pet peeve? Other than questionairres like these? Best memory? Filling out this questionairre... Favorite food? Pizza Best time to call? From 2 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. Mon.- Fri. Secret ambition? To pole dance Least known fact: I am the body-double for Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider