Evan Okun/E. Oks is employed by Circles & Ciphers, a Chicago-based restorative justice group that uses hiphop to engage young men who are court- and gang- involved in critical discourse. He recently graduated from Wesleyan University (CT), where he majored in Sociology, received a Certificate in Education, and completed the PreMed track. In his last three years at Wesleyan, Evan volunteered in the music therapy department of the Connecticut Juvenile Training School, a nearby juvenile detention center, where he designed and implemented a class that examined literary technique and societal inequality through modern day hip hop songs. In the summer after he graduated, he served as a full-time employee of this facility, continuing his work with the music therapy department. Evan has published two hip hop albums, competed in the national collegiate spoken word poetry tournament, and runs a variety of writing workshops for youth ages ten to twenty.

Please join Evan and all our other impressive readers on Tuesday, July 1, 2014, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Lisa Kirchner was once simultaneously the dating columnist for an alternative newsweekly, bridal editor for a society rag and the religion reporter for a gay and lesbian newspaper. Her new book, Hello American Lady Creature, is a darkly humorous memoir about getting everything she ever thought she wanted.

Please join Lisa and all our other multi-talented readers on Tuesday, July 1, 2014, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Three days before Independence Day, Tuesday Funk will celebrate its independence from genre! The 71st edition of Chicago's eclectic monthly reading series will feature Norman Doucet, Lisa White, Lisa Kirchner, Evan Okun and Sheri Reda. Andrew Huff and Eden Robins will stand defiant as cohosts.

The reading gets underway on Tuesday, July 1, 2014, at 7:30 pm in the upstairs lounge at Hopleaf, 5148 N. Clark St., Chicago. Doors open at 7:00 pm sharp -- but not earlier, as much as we'd like to let you in. Arrive early for a table and grab a beer from Mark at the bar. Arrive even earlier or stay afterwards for a full meal downstairs. Admission is free, but you must be 21 or older.

RSVP on Facebook and bring a friend. And hey, become a fan of Tuesday Funk on Facebook so you never miss an invitation to one of our readings. See you on the first of July!

As summer began, co-host Andrew Huff read another set of topical haiku at the June 3 edition of Tuesday Funk.

Maya Angelou
knew why the caged bird sings and
told us about it.

May she rest in peace,
and may we take her lessons
to our hearts and minds.

Cherry blossoms weep.
Cottonwood makes us sneeze.
Chicago summer.

There are two seasons:
winter and construction -- or
football and sausage?

Holy moly, folks. I certainly hope you didn't miss this month's Tuesday Funk, because if you did... you are a CHUMP. We started off fast and furious with Ted Goeglein's true story of robbing a strip joint and then, remorsefully, trying to give the money back. You'd think that would be a tough act to follow, but then Claire Zulkey nailed it with a tale of decadence and mystery... with a touch of life-swapping. Co-host Andrew Huff dropped some sweet haiku on us, and then Patricia Skalka cleaned up the first half with a teasing and sinister excerpt from her novel Death Stalks Door County.

There was much schmooze and drinking of booze.

After the break, co-host Eden Robins made us worry about her sanity with her micro-essay, and then former TF co-host Sara Ross Witt charmed and alarmed us with the story of some kids who accidentally watched a porn about goat-men. Finally, Ted McClelland had us all agape when he talked about his now-posthumously-famous neighbor, street photographer Vivian Maier.

You just had to be there. Hopefully you'll be there next month on July 1st when we have fabulous readers Lisa Kirchner, Norm Doucet, Evan Okun, Sheri Reda, and Julia Gray!

Hoo boy, have we got a treat for you. I'll give you three hints - it's tonight (TUESDAY), it'll be FUNKy, and ... well, that's probably enough hints.

It's Tuesday Funk #70, y'all! With special guest stars Claire Zulkey, Patricia Skalka, Sara Ross Witt, Theodore Goeglein, and Ted McLelland! And, of course, what reading would be complete without the vocal stylings of your favorite 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!

Since 2002, Claire Zulkey has run the blog Zulkey.com, which has been mentioned in the New York Times, New Yorker and by Anderson Cooper himself. Claire is also a freelance writer, and the author of An Off Year, published by Dutton in 2009, which was nominated as one of the ALA's 2010 Best Books for Young Adults. She runs the literary humor reading series Funny Ha-Ha, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary with a big reunion show on September 19. By day she writes for the University of Chicago which is also cool.

Please join Claire and all our other cool readers on Tuesday, June 3, 2014, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

With publication of her first novel - Death Stalks Door County - Chicago writer Patricia Skalka makes the gigantic leap from a successful career as a nonfiction writer into the unknown morass of fiction. So far, it's been a lot of hard work, an enormous amount of fun and more satisfying than she'd ever imagined. Released earlier this spring, the book has already gone into a second printing.

This former Reader's Digest staff writer includes waitressing, blogging, baling hay and ghost writing among her many talents. In her second appearance at Tuesday Funk, Patricia arrives from two terrific book launches -- one in Chicago and one in beautiful Door County - and ready for this coming weekend's Printer Row Lit Fest.

Please join Patricia and all our other multi-talented readers on Tuesday, June 3, 2014, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Ted (T.M.) Goeglein is the author of the young adult series Cold Fury from G.P. Putnam's Sons/Penguin. Cold Fury was published in July 2012 and the second installment, Flicker & Burn, was published in August 2013. The final book in the series, Embers & Ash, will be published in July 2014. He lives in Andersonville with his wife and children.

Please join Ted and all our other ampersand-loving readers on Tuesday, June 3, 2014, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Edward McClelland was born in Lansing, Mich., in 1967. Like so many Michiganders of his generation, he now lives in Chicago. His book, Nothin' But Blue Skies: The Heyday, Hard Times and Hopes of America's Industrial Heartland was inspired by seeing the Fisher Body plant across the street from his old high school torn down. After getting his start in journalism at the Lansing State Journal, he later worked as a staff writer for the Chicago Reader. His book The Third Coast: Sailors, Strippers, Fishermen, Folksingers, Long-Haired Ojibway Painters and God-Save-the-Queen Monarchists of the Great Lakes won the 2008 Great Lakes Book Award in General Nonfiction. Ted's writing has also appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Columbia Journalism Review, Salon, Slate, and The Guardian.

Please join Edward and all our other Midwest-loving readers on Tuesday, June 3, 2014, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.