Paula Carino is a freelance writer, editor, musician, and yoga teacher who has been blogging for eight years.  (Her personal blog, Intellectual House of Pancakes, is on hiatus but soon to be revived). She has written for AMG, American Songwriter, and the Encyclopedia of Pop Music. She is author of Yoga to Go (Sterling, 2004) and is about to release her second album (hopefully to coincide with John Laroquette’s 60th birthday). She lives in God’s own borough (Brooklyn) and has been a BG fan for years.

Mia Eaton is a writer and web developer in Brooklyn. Before moving to New York, she spent six years saving the world by programming the National Geographic Society’s award-winning websites. She now authors mintJelly.com, and has also written for Nerve and The Brooklyn Rail. Mia is currently an MFA candidate in The New School’s Creative Nonfiction program.

Amy Keyishian is a Brooklynite biding her time in San Francisco. When she’s not writing about work or her daughter, she’s working or hanging out with her daughter (and her husband, but he doesn’t get a blog). She has freelanced for just about any magazine you can think of, including Glamour, Self, Maxim, Men’s Health, and Inc., and was a staff writer at Cosmo for four hilarious years.

Christina-Marie Lopez–also new!–is completing bachelors degrees in English and Adolescent Ed. while working part-time in the video game industry. She devotes most of her free time to charity, and  to singing and photography. She has had a blog for over ten years. After moving around a lot, she has settled in her birthplace and true home, Brooklyn.

Rose Maura Lorre (nee Martelli) lives with her new husband, Sean, on the North Pole of Manhattan. Her Their dog, Duke, was named after her alma mater, while the cat, Rena, was named after Hurricane Katrina. Like Rena, Rose has enjoyed a good nine lives or so, which have included living in the Midwest, bartending, DJ’ing and coaching the junior varsity volleyball team at a girls’ Upper East Side prep school. (Go Lions!) She has been a writer throughout.

Kristine Patnugot is a filmmaker, writer, and creator of VH1’s Transform Me. She wears clever disguises involving foliage, wigs and/or computer parts and has the gift of persuading others to join in afternoon jaunts and eating experiments. She once believed that the Internet was a figment of her geek imagination, and if she stopped thinking about it, it would cease to exist. Drat.

Erin Whitehead — the newest member of our team! — is a writer, comedian, and improviser in Los Angeles. She writes a dating blog and a personal blog. You can also follow her on Twitter.

And our beloved alums…

Maria Burnham wanted to be an astronaut or Katharine Hepburn, but instead got stuck writing about riprap and sewer systems in Mississippi. Now an  editor at a New York paper by night, by day she tries to help save the world one blog post at a time. She thinks Ben & Jerry should be given sainthood for all they’ve done to heal broken hearts. She also hates tomatoes. HATES them.

Jackie Leventhal is a Washingtonian who avoids the political scene in favor of eateries and yoga studios. By day, she coordinates cultural and entertainment programs for a historic synagogue in the heart of downtown DC. Her overarching goals include bringing the high-five back to the workplace, learning a second language, and meeting a Kennedy. In her minute spare time, she teaches English to immigrants, leads a women’s writing group, and documents scenarios that make her look skyward and utter, “Story of my life.”

Abby Lewis, 17, is BG.net’s teen-in-residence. A teacher’s aide for children at an arts center, she finger paints all day and then cleans up. A Buffalo native, she is accustomed to snow, sports bummers, and great wings. In fifth grade, she created and published an incredibly popular newspaper. She can’t tell you what the contents were, but she is sure they were great.

Sadie Lune grew up East, now lives West, and loves and loses all over. She is a performer, dilettante and pleasure activist. Sadie is the creator of Saturn Return Komyx which nestle their slipshod pages into the soft bosom of $pread Magazine; her short film “Yum” won the People’s Choice award at the 2007 Good Vibrations Amateur Erotic Film Festival. Sadie lives in the Mission District of San Francisco with her three snakes. She is in the market for a wife.

Amanda ReCupido lives, loves, and works in New York City. You can see her name pop up occasionally on the GalleyCat blog on mediabistro.com, and on the masthead of Smithsonian Magazine, in very fine print. Her superhero capabilities include walking at the speed of most city buses, performing slammin’ 80s dance moves, and talking herself both into and out of awkward situations. Her name means “King of Love.” So there.

Mary Somers is a Midwestern transplant in NYC who  moved here because it looked good on “Friends.” Her apartment does not have purple walls, and her job does not allow leisurely breaks at coffee houses, but otherwise, New York has not disappointed. All recent writing has been in the TV industry, so please stop DVRing through your commercial break. Those promos are some people’s livelihoods! Her goals include writing more, getting eight hours of sleep and finally reading Harry Potter.