Editorial Bios

David Schimke, editor in chief
Since 2006, David Schimke has been the editor in chief and general manager of Utne Reader, an alternative media digest owned by Ogden Publications that sparks forward-thinking conversations about politics, pop culture, and the environment. Prior to entering the magazine world, David spent 10 years working for Village Voice Media as a staff writer, managing editor, and media columnist. His political reporting, cultural analysis, arts criticism, and feature writing was honored on three occasions by the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies and garnered a half-dozen Page One Awards from the Society of Professional Journalists. He has appeared as a guest on Nightline and National Public Radio, a panelist at the National Conference for Media Reform and the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, and is a regular commentator on Conscious Talk Radio in Seattle. David continues to report and write about the state of the media — both independent and mainstream — electoral politics, faith-based movements, and citizen activism.

Keith Goetzman, senior editor
Senior Editor Keith Goetzman combines more than 20 years of journalism experience with his interests in the arts, culture, and the environment. He writes about music because he believes, like Friedrich Nietzsche, that life without it would be a mistake. He has covered styles ranging from folk to jazz to Afrobeat to punk and has interviewed artists including Wilco, Ani DiFranco, and Keith Jarrett. He has also covered arts topics including culture jamming, the goth lifestyle, and a photography project documenting Europe’s Roma or “gypsy” people. “To figure out what’s going on in any society, you’ve got to look at its arts,” says Goetzman, who oversees Utne Reader’s Mixed Media section and the arts blog on Utne.com.

As an environmental reporter, Goetzman has covered topics including nontoxic paints, genetically modified trees, and eco-friendly ski resorts. His 2007 interview with Bill McKibben about the perils of a nuclear power renaissance has been widely circulated, and his 2001 article about artificial “outdoor” environments, “The Late, Great Outdoors,” was reprinted in the college textbook The Allyn & Bacon Guide to Writing.. “There’s a lot of trendy green journalism out there these days, but here at Utne we try to home in on what’s really happening and how people can truly make a difference,” he says.

Goetzman has written on a variety of other topics for Utne Reader, including a personal view of midwife-assisted home birth, a commentary on space exploration, and a profile of two obscure but powerful FCC commissioners.

He lives in Minneapolis with his wife and their three environmentally incorrect children.

Jeff Severns Guntzel, senior editor
Before turning to journalism, Utne Reader senior editor Jeff Severns Guntzel spent years doing humanitarian work in pre-war Iraq. Since that time, he’s reported from the Middle East and points all over the United States as a staff writer for National Catholic Reporter and as a contributing editor at the now defunct (and greatly missed) Punk Planet magazine, which was nominated on three occasions for an Utne Independent Press Award. Most recently, he covered the political and cultural landscape of his native Minneapolis as a staff writer for Village Voice Media and a contributor to innovative local news startups Minnpost and Minnesota Independent. Electronic Iraq, a website he co-founded in 2003 to document the Iraqi experience of war, is archived in the Library of Congress and the British Library. Jeff’s appeared as a guest on a number of national news programs, including NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and Democracy Now!

Julie Hanus, assistant editor
A no-nonsense Midwest native, assistant editor Julie Hanus believes fervently in living what she calls a “well considered” life. Her dedication to thoroughly examining issues is unmistakable in the magazine’s Mindful Living department, of which she initially thought herself an unlikely shepherd. “What frustrates me about a lot of conscientious lifestyle coverage is the tendency to get watered down, to be sort-of fluffy,” she says. “Editing Mindful Living has been this real opportunity for me to see how I can merge a conviction for living a sustainable, fully engaged life with solidly conceived and executed journalism.”

A devotee of the finely written word, Hanus also tends to the Gleanings department and its Utne.com analog, the Great Writing blog. She is charged with scouring the Utne library and the internet for exceptional writing of all stripes and keeping abreast of literary news. Through her work at Utne Reader, Hanus has also gained a unique familiarity with independent and small press publishers.

Since joining the Utne Reader staff in 2005, Hanus has written about workplace culture, healthy lifestyle issues (sustainable seafood, natural cooking, supplements, pesticides, cycling, placeboes), bridging divides through the art of conversation, and our cultural relationship with sadness, among other subjects. She also has profiled visual artists such as Chris Jordan and David Maisel.

Before coming to Utne, Hanus worked at the Minneapolis Star Tribune. She received a B.A. in English literature from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Bennett Gordon, assistant online editor
Assistant Online Editor Bennett Gordon oversees Utne.com’s Science and Technology and Spirituality blogs, and writes daily commentary on politics, the environment, and the arts. His work is routinely linked to by some of the most popular sites on the internet, including BoingBoing.net, Kottke.org, and Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Dish.

Gordon produces, edits, and hosts Utne Reader’s biweekly podcast, the UtneCast, where he has interviewed author and law professor Cass Sunstein, bluegrass legend Del McCoury, documentary filmmaker Robert Greenwald, HBO director Susannah White, and author Daniel Radosh. He’s also sent out to cover events in the field, such as the National Conference for Media Reform and the 2008 presidential caucus in Iowa.

Currently residing in his hometown of Minneapolis, Bennett has also lived in New York City and Washington DC and participated in study programs in Israel and Argentina. At 27-years-old, Bennett has visited 28 countries in his lifetime in North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. He received a bachelor’s of arts from the George Washington University.

Danielle Maestretti, librarian
As the Utne Reader librarian, Danielle Maestretti keeps constant tabs on all things indie-media. She maintains Utne’s library of 1,300 magazines, newsletters, journals, alt-weeklies, and zines, which hail from 43 states and 15 countries, and is always on the lookout for more quirky titles to add to the collection.

Maestretti writes about the independent press for Utne Reader’s Shelf Life column, analyzing new trends in areas like feminist blogs, youth-media projects, and prison newspapers, and examining media coverage of such issues as poverty and HIV/AIDS. She works closely with editor in chief David Schimke to coordinate the magazine’s annual Utne Independent Press Awards, which recognize the brightest stars in the indie-media landscape. As editor of Utne.com’s Media blog, Maestretti draws on her knowledge of both print and online media sources.

Before coming to Utne Reader in 2006, Maestretti worked in the realms of public education, corporate America, university libraries, and self-publishing. She also edited the newspaper at her alma mater, Macalester College, where she earned degrees in history and international studies.