Employees of the Month

LAURA WOLDENBERG

Laura has been a part of VICE Mexico since its inception six years ago. Back then, she handled the music reviews, but it wasn’t long before we realized we were underutilizing her myriad talents, and she was promoted to head of production. Now she’s always heading off to help film and write about whatever the most insane thing is that’s happening south of the border—and, in case you’re a moron, there’s a lot of crazy shit going on down there. For this issue, it was the vigilante militias in the state of Guerrero who grew so frustrated with the local (i.e., corrupt) cops’ failure to crack down on organized crime that they donned masks, took out their guns, and started policing their communities themselves.

See THE WARRIOR STATE

MICHAEL GOODEN

Michael is our facilities manager, but we prefer to call him Candy Man or, alternatively, Vibe Control because he’s the friendliest, most upbeat person in the entire office. A lot of us get cranky from staring at our computer screens all day and have a tendency to mumble or snap at one another, instead of interacting like adult human beings. But not Michael: he makes coffee whenever the pot is empty, delivers mail with a smile, and has a kind word or a joke for everyone who passes. He’s a native New Yorker who’s done everything from co-owning a nightclub to working at resorts in the Catskills to raising three children, and he says Doc Gooden is his cousin. We couldn’t imagine this place running without him.

See SOLVING ALL OF OUR PROBLEMS WITH THE KINDNESS OF A SAINT

BRETT GELMAN AND JANICZA BRAVO

Brett and Janicza—or B&J as we colloquially refer to them—are longtime lovers and collaborators. Brett is an actor/writer, and Janicza is a writer/director. Janet is their fuzzy, four-limbed daughter whom they enjoy more than people. This month VICE puts out the final installment of Combover, their second novelette, which we’ve been publishing over the past year; Toupee was the first and Rat-Tail, which we’ll begin serializing next month, will be the third and final volume in their Hair Trilogy. They enjoy traveling, afternoon hikes, and home cooking. They love a good museum, foreign cinema, and nights out at the theater. Guilty pleasures include reality television and gluten-free ice cream.

See COMBOVER: COMBOVER'S TRUTH. Photo by Robyn Von Swank.

ERICK LYLE

Erick is perhaps most famous for being the editor and writer of the long-running punk zine SCAM and for playing in notorious, jangly DIY punk bands like Onion Flavored Rings and Black Rainbow. His work has appeared in the Brooklyn Rail, LA Weekly, and on NPR’s This American Life, and he’s the author of a book about San Francisco called On the Lower Frequencies: A Secret History of the City. But Erick is still best known in some circles for bringing his bicycle on freight trains and stealing massive amounts of photocopies. For this issue, he hitchhiked down to Texas to meet Greg Ginn and join Black Flag. Seriously. He did that. You’ll have to read his piece to see if he was offered the gig.

See CAN I GET IN THE VAN?

CHLOE CAMPION

Chloe is the youngest in a long line of distinguished Canadians and Campions (her brother Thobey is one of our most successful admen) who have worked for VICE. She originally wanted to be a dancer, then an actress, but neither of those suited her, so she left the snowy north for America, freedom, and our production division, where she slaves away as an associate producer, a.k.a. one of the people who makes sure shoots actually happen. She spent her last two months haggling with the Russian government so that we could shoot the latest episode of Far Out, which is about an old lady and her peg-legged neighbor who live in a deeply isolated section of the taiga in Siberia.

See MEET THE LAST LYKOV