Diary of a Harry Potter Addict
Darby Romeo and Kerin Morataya are accomplished players in the pop-culture world. Darby created the landmark punk/music/culture magazine Ben Is Dead and has contributed to Vanity Fair, The Village Voice Literary Supplement, and Los Angeles Times; she also edited Lollapalooza's tour magazine. Overwhelmed with her success (ahem!), she sold her worldly possessions and ran away to an island. Today she spends her days catching waves, opening coconut husks with her teeth (with the help of her dog) and running the popular wahine surf/culture/eco site Coconut Girl Wireless. If someone calls her Wilkie she will respond.  Kerin has contributed articles to Vanity Fair, Raygun, Playboy, Elle and was a major force behind Ben Is Dead. After doing time in the music industry, she moved to Chicago and became an art director at a couple of trade publications you've probably never heard of. She now resides in LA, works on a variety of collaborative creative projects (with the help of her cat) and hopes to one day become a contestant on Cash Cab. Oh and she once got stoned with 2-Pac. Admit it, you're jealous.  Together, Darby and Kerin created the I Hate Brenda Newsletter and founded the band Rump. Whether or not they were intoxicated at the time is pure speculation. They've appeared on everything from CNN to The People's Court. Little Brown published an offshoot book from editions of Ben Is Dead entitled Retro Hell: Life in the '70s and '80s from Afros to Zotz. While both zines are defunct, The UCLA Arts Library has permanently installed The Darby Romeo Collection of Zines, housing a selection of some of the best publications from the '80-'90s underground 'zine movement. Today, Kerin and Darby are not-so-anonymous Harry Potter addicts, coming to terms with life after Hogwarts.