Meet Courtney Algeo, spunky and spirited literary hardcore who’s thriving in and driving the Minneapolis lit scene. She’s the Editorial Director of Paper Darts, a literary magazine, publisher, and creative agency. (We featured Executive Director Jamie Millard here.) On top of that, she’s written for a myriad of publications, including the A.V. Club, the Twin Cities Daily Planet, pop culture and creative writing blog The Tangential, and the City Pages. Her day job keeps her busy drafting witty e-communications for a world-class art museum. Oh, and once upon a time Algeo had a blog devoted to tacos and video games.
She’s as sweet as pie, but don’t be fooled—Algeo’s been known to throw out saucy one-liners, and once beat the producer of the Twin Cities’ Literary Death Match in a boxing bout. She’ll also dominate you at any and all video games.
So follow Algeo on Twitter @IceCrmSocialite and connect with her on LinkedIn and endorse her as being fantastic. Then, check out her interview with Being Geek Chic!
Q: What has led you to your passion?
A: I guess I should first let you in on what my passion is. My passion is being involved with the literary community. In my work with Paper Darts I get all sorts of incredible opportunities to work with up-and-coming authors, poets of note, and an all around chillingly talented cast of characters. There’s something about hearing the right poem or the right story performed live, and catching the right glint in the right author’s eye that seems to connect everything in the world together for one brief moment. It’s an exquisite moment. What led me to that? Just being in love with literature. Sorry, I wish it were more interesting. The rest followed pretty easily.
Q: When did you first realize you were “geeky?"
A: I guess I’d always been, but didn’t want to face the facts. It wasn’t until I met my husband—we fell in love over X-Files and honeymooned at the San Diego ComicCon—that I came to terms with my geekiness and allowed someone to love me for it.
Courtney and her adorable husband Bob as Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. (Bob drew it for their anniversary!)
Q: You can choose one superpower. What is it?
A: As we all learned from Spiderman, with great power also comes great responsibility. It’s not that I don’t WANT responsibility, because I do, but I’d rather not spend my Saturday nights patrolling for goons in dark alleyways. So, how about I choose a not-so-super power, like being avoided by bugs.
Q: Can you tell us a bit about your tattoos?
A: I’ve got a handful of tattoos from when I thought that was an awesome way to spend money. My favorites include three rotten teeth on my right wrist, received after a particularly terrible dental year; stick figures on my left calf of all the Universal monsters next to icons showing the best way to kill each one; and Amy Racecar’s rocketship from Stray Bullets #6 on my right calf.
Q: If you could take any fictional character out for a drink, whom would you choose and what would you drink?
A: I’d love to take Malta Kano from The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle out for a drink to hear about her weird life and what might be to come for mine. We’d both drink tea.
Q: What would you tell your 13-year-old self?
A: That’s a tough question. I was so weird at 13. I’d tell my 13-year-old self to relax a little. Just take ‘er easy, kid.
Emma Bauer is a Being Geek Chic Contributor. Clearly, she’s got great taste. She is a PR enthusiast, history scholar, tea drinker, fashion devotee, and of course, aspires to Be Geek Chic.
Follow her on twitter: @emmalynnbauer
Meet our longtime contributor Courtney Algeo.