Who is behind all this? Drinking Liberally is a project of Living Liberally, an organization which builds progressive communities through social networks and events. Living Liberally also runs Laughing Liberally, the political comedy project; Screening Liberally, a series of socially-conscious films; Eating Liberally, events with good gab and great grub; and Reading Liberally, book tours for progr
essive authors. Living Liberally is a New York-based LLC, led by a team in NYC and fueled by the energy of hundreds of volunteers and partners around the country. Drinking Liberally was founded in New York City in May, 2003 by Justin Krebs and Matthew O'Neill. With the help of David Alpert, DL went national in the summer of 2004; and with the work of Katrina Baker, that network expanded to 100 chapters by September, 2005. It is still growing today. Drinking Liberally was made possible by Johnny Dirt, former manager of Rudy's Bar and Grill and dabbler in all things, who opened his backyard to a weekly collection of rabble-rousers. The name Drinking Liberally was conceived by Owen Roth, an excellent guy. The Drinking Liberally logo and button designs were created by Daniel Greenfeld, a freelance artist and graphic designer living in New York City. The Team:
KATRINA BAKER is a co-founder of Living Liberally and its co-director. She partnered with Justin and Matt in the fall of 2004 to expand Drinking Liberally outside of New York City. Katrina orients and assists chapters and has done so while working and then studying law at Fordham University School of Law. At Fordham, she was a Stein Public Interest Scholar and received the NYS Bar Association Law Student Legal Ethics Award. She practices law in Manhattan. Prior to entering law school, Katrina worked on socially conscious television programming focusing on youth. She was raised in Western New York and graduated from Ithaca College. JUSTIN KREBS is a co-founder of Living Liberally and its co-director. He has worked in the office of Senator Clinton, in the parks advocacy movement and The Tank, a space for performing and visual arts in Manhattan. He recently published 538 Ways to Live, Work, and Play Like a Liberal. MATTHEW O'NEILL is a co-founder and co-director of Living Liberally and Matthew O'Neill is an Emmy® Award winning and Academy Award ® nominated filmmaker working with Downtown Community Television Center (DCTV) in NYC. The 2006 documentary he produced and directed with Jon Alpert for HBO, "Baghdad ER," won a Columbia DuPont Award, a Peabody Award, an Overseas Press Club Award and four Primetime Emmy Awards. His other documentaries include the Emmy® nominated "Alive Day Memories: Home From Iraq," the Emmy® nominated "Section 60: Arlington National Cemetery," and the Academy Award ® nominated "China's Unnatural Disaster." His reporting overseas has taken him from the steppes of Siberia to the scrap mines of Potosi in Bolivia and on to Turkey, China, Cuba, Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt, Venezuela and North Korea. His work closer to home has won five New York Emmy Awards including prizes for "Best Political Journalism" and "Best Societal Concerns Program." DAVID ALPERT is a co-founder of Living Liberally, a technologist, and political organizer who uses the power of democracy to foster technological innovation, and the power of innovation to improve democracy. In 2004 he founded IPac (http://ipaction.org/), a political action committee dedicated to finding and promoting Congressional and Presidential candidates who support the freedom to create and innovate. He was a Google Product Manager from 2001 to 2007 and lives in New York City. MARY BRUCH is leader of Living Liberally's fundraising efforts
("Giving Liberally"). As a student at Barnard College, she chaired
Columbia University Dance Marathon, one of the most successful
student-run benefits in the country for pediatric AIDS research and
treatment. She is now a non-profit development professional. During
the last ten years, Mary has worked on political campaigns everywhere
from Palm Beach County to Harlem. WENDY COHEN co-founded the monthly film series Screening Liberally. Before joining the Huffington Post as the Community Manager, Wendy was
Outreach Coordinator at Arts Engine and programmer of the Media That
Matters Film Festival. She was a Creative and Research assistant on
the book The Art of the Documentary (Peachpit Press), guest curator at
the IMPACT festival, and a co-chair of Urban Pathways Young
Professionals Board. KATIE HALPER, a Laughing Liberally co-founder, performs in Laughing
Liberally and in comedy shows across the country. Born and raised in
New York, Katie is also an Artistic Director and Comedy Curator at The
Tank. Her award-winning documentary La memoria es vaga, based on her
undergraduate thesis at Wesleyan University, premiered at the Amnesty
International Firefly Festival and has been screened in Spain and the
U.S. GREG RAE first imbibed at a Drinking Liberally in the summer leading
up to the 2004 election. He is currently one of the leaders of
Drinking Liberally Steps Out, the gay and le***an themed chapter in
Manhattan. In early 2005, he founded 22 by 7 Labs, an internet
technology company. He is also a member of the Harvey Mudd College
Board of Trustees and Alumni Association Board of Governors. He is a
native of Napa, California. KERRY TRUEMAN co-founded Eating Liberally to promote sustainable
agriculture after she got sick of getting chastised for being "too
political" as the food editor for Lime, a "healthy living" website
launched by AOL founder Steve Case. She has written about organic
gardening for the Financial Times and is a regular contributor to the
Huffington Post, as well as a member of the Food Systems Network NYC. A San Fernando Valley childhood in a Christian Science household left
her an agnostic with an aversion to cars. Kerry was educated
liberally at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville. MATT ROSENBERG runs a technology consulting business and is co-
founder/co-chef of Eating Liberally. A native New Yorker, lifelong
foodie, early adopter, and Drupal devotee, he shares his expertise in
open source community driven software with several organizations,
including the Hudson Valley preservation group rhinecliff.org. His
tech clients include Annie Leibovitz, Mario Batali and Patti Smith. While getting an undergraduate degree in journalism at NYU, he ran a
charcuterie business and worked for Apple Computer. Matt and Kerry's
edibly landscaped West Village rooftop was featured in Garden Design
magazine. JOSH BOLOTSKY was the National Programs Coordinator for Living Liberally, as
well as a Leadership Academy Fellow with Young People For. Prior to Living Liberally, he served as President of College Democrats of New York; his writing on youth politics have been featured in The Nation, the Huffington Post, and AlterNet.org. He studied Political Science, History and Creative Writing at Boston University and Columbia University, and is a native of Toms River, NJ.
