Parker Molloy is a writer at Upworthy.com, where she writes about trending stories, culture, LGBT issues, politics, and more. Her work has also appeared at the New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Glamour, and Playboy.com, among other outlets. She lives just a few blocks from here with her dog and her fiancee, and she's looking forward to hopping right into bed and falling asleep as soon as this is over.

Please join Parker and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, June 7, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Rana B. Khoury is a Ph.D. candidate in political science at Northwestern University. She earned an M.A. from Georgetown University and a B.A. from American University. She has received writing awards from Northwestern and Georgetown, and research support from the Social Science Research Council, the Mellon Foundation, the Council for American Overseas Research Centers, and the Buffett Institute. Rana has lived as far afield as Syria and Singapore, but Ohio--where she conducted the research for her book--is the place she calls home.

Please join Rana and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, June 7, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Sara Krueger's writing brims with charismatic woodland monsters, world-weary robots, and beings from other dimensions, all of who yearn for connection, but seldom find it. She received her B.A. in Film from Columbia College Chicago and has attended residencies at the Atlantic Center for the Arts and the Ragdale Foundation. Sara's work was featured in the DEMO Project's 2016 Dustsceawung exhibition. Her poetry and short fiction appear in The J.J. Outré Review, Menacing Hedge, Devilfish Review, and Twisted Vine Literary Arts Journal, among others. Sara's chapbook, Somehow We Remain in the Aftermath, is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press this summer. Sara owes her artistic sensibilities to her late uncle, who introduced her impressionable 6-year- old mind to David Lynch, Dr. Demento, German Expressionism, and 70's science fiction. Sara lives in Chicago with her husband Garrett, her cat Lando, and her dog Luna. Read more at: sara-krueger.com.

Please join Sara and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, June 7, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

The May 3rd edition of Tuesday Funk found co-host Andrew Huff mixing it up with his patented topical haiku.

Here, then it isn't.
Seventies, then cold again.
Spring can't get started.

Cool mist hangs above
a girl's soccer game Sunday.
Clouds of bugs waft by.

Twenty years with one
person, through life's ups and downs,
make for lasting love.

Animated gifs
leave text replies open to
interpretation.

The next installment of Tuesday Funk, your favorite eclectic monthly reading series, is June 7! Join us in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf for readings by Sara Krueger, Rana Khoury, Parker Molloy, Norman Doucet and co-host Eden Robins! Andrew Huff is the other co-host, and Sal will be behind the bar to serve you a tasty beverage or two.

Doors open at 7pm -- no earlier, unless you enjoy standing in line on the stairs! -- and the show starts at 7:30 sharp. So get there early to grab a seat, but not overly early. As always, admission is free, but you must be 21 or older. And come early or stay late after for some great Belgian-style food downstairs.

Please RSVP on Facebook, and bring a friend. And become a fan so you never miss an invitation to one of our readings. Oh, and we're now on Instagram! Follow us for realtime photos of the readers.

We may not get an actual spring in Chicago, but it's always spring in the heart of Tuesday Funk. The evening started off strong with former co-host Sara Ross Witt's reading from her YA novel about a family of witches... and one girl who's a little different. Next up, J. Preston Witt read a short story about childhood desires, birds, and mud shoes that was funny and wistful in turn. And Martha Bayne finished off the half with an essay about haunted houses and the housing collapse.

Jason filled our glasses and we drained them dutifully.

Kimberly Dixon-Mays got us back in the mood with poems about Record Store Day and the trials and tribulations of marriage alike. And then Elizabeth Gomez provided our grand finale, with three separate pieces, a poem, an essay about a foray into self-waxing, and a short story told from the perspective of a sandwich-eating Cormac McCarthy.

Bravely, we exited our warm haven, back into the cold Chicago evening. But we'll be back next month on Tuesday, June 7 with Sara Krueger, Rana Khoury, Parker Molloy, Norman Doucet and cohost Eden Robins!

Sure, it's still coat weather, but let's pretend Chicago actually has a spring! Warm up with Elizabeth Gomez, J Preston Witt, Martha Bayne, Kimberly Dixon-Mays, and Sara Ross Witt, plus your faithful co-hosts Andrew Huff and Eden Robins!

Our readings take place at Hopleaf Bar, 5148 N. Clark St. in Chicago. We get started promptly at 7:30 pm in the upstairs lounge. Arrive early if you want a seat -- but no earlier than 7:00 pm. Our readings are free, but only those 21 and over will be admitted. No food can be brought in from the restaurant. See you there!

J. Preston Witt grew up in the suburbs of Flint, Michigan. He studied creative writing at the University of Michigan (2010) and The Ohio State University (MFA 2014). He served as co-editor of The Journal and as the founding editor of the education project PhoneFiction. In 2014, he won the Able Muse Write Prize for fiction, and he has recently published stories in Ninth Letter, The New Guard, and the Red76 anthology Trainwreck. He works as an adjunct writing instructor and lives in Uptown with his partner, the talented Chicago actress Elise Randall. He is working on a play and a novel.

Please join Preston and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, May 3, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Kimberly Dixon-Mays is a Ragdale and Cave Canem fellow whose publications include Reverie, Anthology of Chicago, Uproot, Consequence and Rhino magazines, the anthologies Trigger Warning and Just Like a Girl: A Manifesta! and her own collections SenseMemory, and More Than a Notion: Reflections on (Black) Marriage. Since 2004 she has been a frequent writer with the Poetry Performance Incubator project of the Guild Literary Complex, and served as the Guild's Executive Director from 2010 to 2012.

Please join Kimberly and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, May 3, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Elizabeth Gomez is a Chicago-based comedian, storyteller, writer, and experienced napper. She is a founder of the Windy City Rollers, Chicago's original all female roller derby league; a founding writer at Drinkers with Writing Problems; an associate producer of Story Club Southside and HilariTea; and a cast member of the Kates. She hopes to one day find a wealthy 96-year-old man to marry and eventually become addicted to prescription drugs and fluffy pink high heels.

Please join Elizabeth and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, May 3, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.