rachel oscar

The Zimm Sisters | Rachel Oscar

Rachel Oscar is the Director of Programming and Community Engagement for Campus District, Inc., a community development organization in Downtown Cleveland. She recently received a Masters of Urban Planning and Development from Cleveland State University in May 2017. Rachel graduated from Kenyon College in 2011 with a BA in history before returning to school worked for Case Western Reserve University. Rachel loves hiking and in the summer of 2016 hiked the John Muir Trail in the Sierra Nevada mountains. If […]

Red Hot Letters | LeeAnn Yops

LeeAnn Yops (long “O” in that “Yo”) is a Chicago-based stand-up comedian, storyteller and writer originally from Wisconsin. She’s your go-to guide for all thing 80s and 90s related. LeeAnn is the creator of the website BH9021WHOA, the site that’s better than a Mega Burger about everyone’s favorite teen drama zip code. When she’s not busy gushing over Luke Perry, she also runs a monthly storytelling show about music called Appetite for Rock n’ Roll Storytelling. You can catch Appetite […]

[EDITORS] We’re coming back from hiatus and things are going to be different.

We took some time off this summer to find ourselves. No mountain climbing in Nepal, but we are changing Story Club Magazine’s format. Live storytelling is electric, and immersive, and visceral, and we want Story Club Magazine to reflect that. Starting on October 4, we will publish audio and video stories so you, at home, can experience what it’s like to be in the room where it happens. What does that mean? We’ll publish a new audio/video story every Wednesday, […]

listening

Listening is Critical | Paul Gaszak

During my last few years of undergrad, I worked as a supervisor at a Chicago Tribune distribution warehouse in the southwest suburbs. The job was seven nights a week, in the middle of the night. It was an exhausting routine. Thankfully, I worked with some fun and interesting people, which brought a touch of joy and humor to the nightly grind. The nature of the job had us standing at workstations for at least a few hours a night as […]

black superman

Black Superman | Josie Woodall

I had a framed photo hanging prominently in the entrance of my apartment. Most people recognized that the photo was taken in the Oval Office of the White House. They also recognized the two old, white, jovial men flanking the black man in the middle as George Bush Sr. and Ronald Reagan. But then, “Is that…” They took a closer look at the man in the middle, “Is that your dad?!” My dad wore many hats: politician, social justice warrior, social […]

roundhouse kick

Martial Arts | Clarence Browley

When I was a kid, me and my two cousins were way into martial arts. My favorite martial artist was Jean-Claude Van Damme and his signature move was the flying roundhouse. I practiced this to no end, and eventually got pretty good at it. The summer before 7th grade, I moved to Pilsen and started a new school. I was one of only three black kids at this school. I stood out like a sore thumb. My class contained the […]

woman holding drink

Orange | Karen Clanton

It was simply unacceptable for Anne to ramble around in her husband’s girlfriend’s trunk any longer, we decided. It had taken almost six years to get her remains, and we didn’t want Anne to linger in indignity for another second. So we met the girlfriend one Saturday afternoon to collect the urn and ashes from her Chevy Malibu. After repeatedly calling and texting to track her down, our persistence led us to the dry cleaners next to the gas station […]

oranges

Guilt | Al Rosenberg

“Guilt” was read as part of Miss Spoken’s March 2017 show. The theme was Sibling Rivalry, and you can listen to the live show here. This story appears at 51:23.  Jordan was born the year I first kissed a girl. (I was six and my first love told me kissing was just for boy-girl couples, after I’d planted my lips firmly on hers – my first vivid lesson in consent.) Jordan’s mother was not my mother and his father, gone before […]

walk sign

Run…Don’t Walk! | Angel Simmons

I had just started that job three weeks ago. I thought it was going to change my life. Everything was still new and fresh and bright and shiny. This was my first job with my own office! Now granted, the walls didn’t quite reach the ceiling… but it was still my own office. And we could pretty much yell over that wall and talk to each other without getting up… but it was still my own office. It was April […]