About Us

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Geez magazine is a seasonal, non-profit, ad-free, print magazine about social justice, art, and activism for people at the fringes of faith in both Canada and the US. Geez is for the over-churched, out-churched, un-churched and maybe even the un-churchable.

Our aim is to nurture a community of faith-oriented folks that are concerned about the environment, peace, racial and gender justice, decolonization, and other social concerns. At best, we offer a prophetic and provocative voice to the institutional church and a pastoral presence to those laboring at the front lines of social change.

The work of Geez is storytelling. We believe that stories are crucial to the ongoing struggles for justice — that they are part of what sustains us, gives us rest, and offers hope. Stories come out of movement and can be gifted back to movement. Geez is committed to not just raging against oppression, but offering the hope, beauty, and power alive in local communities doing their work.


Awards

Most recently: in 2020 we received eight awards of recognition from the Associated Church Press, including:

We’ve taken home numerous Canadian Church Press awards including top honours for General Excellence (2010, 2014), First Place for layout and design (2009, 2010, 2013, 2014), First Place for socially conscious religious journalism (2009), First Place for Best Department (Civil Disobedience, 2013), and First Place for Best Photo Essay (2013, 2014).

In 2014, the Associated Church Press awarded Geez second place for the first-person article by Dan Leonard, “Lessons from a white, Republican male;” and second for Ryan Booth’s photo, “Boy not praying.” We also received first place for issue design (Geez 36), and for Colin Vandenberg’s photo essay, “Failure Stories” (Geez 35), as well as second place for General Excellence, and an Honourable Mention for our Civil Disobedience department.

In 2009, we were shortlisted four times for Best Spiritual Coverage at the UTNE Independent Press Awards and won.

At the Western Magazine Awards in Vancouver we were named Best New Publication (2007) and Magazine of the Year (2007).


Gratitude

Thank you to our incredible minigrant donors who are helping pay for Writer and Artist honorariums, the rent at St. Peter’s Church, our next Advent book, professional development, our “gentle cushion” fund, and a staff retreat.

Thank you Wanda and Ed Eichler, Steve and Christine Clemens, Cynthia Ranke, and anonymous donors. We are truly overwhelmed with gratitude. Thank you.


In the media

“A stylish magazine in the tradition of Adbusters and Mother Jones … a surprisingly hip, bold take on Christianity.” – Maclean’s magazine (Canada’s news weekly)

“[Geez] pokes, piques and prods Christians, and the unconverted among its readers, to live out the revolutionary values of Jesus in a consumer-driven, postmodern, materialist world. [Darryl Brown] gives the magazine its sophisticated, edgy look.” – The Oregonian, Portland’s premiere daily paper

“Geez magazine, the Winnipeg-based Christian activism quarterly, won three honours recently at the Western Canadian Magazine Awards, gaining recognition for its unique combination of satire, critique, social consciousness, and just plain quirkiness.”– Winnipeg Free Press

“Not your average Christian magazine . . . Geez approaches the ‘Judge not, lest ye be judged’ problem by laughing at itself, and by tackling the big serious questions with a wildly diverse range of perspectives.” – Alison Gillmor, CBC.ca

In addition, Geez has been featured in: Dallas Morning News (North America’s premiere daily religion section), Chicago Sun Times, Toronto Star, Winnipeg Free Press, Tapestry, national CBC Radio (feature-length interview, selected for summer re-broadcast), Sounds Like Canada, national CBC Radio, SojoMail (reprint of Geez material), Listen Up TV (Canada, national), YES! Magazine, This Magazine.


Critical acclaim

We don’t want to sound immodest, but we want to give you a glimpse of emails that come in.

“We love Geez! It’s whipsmart, thoughtful, and beautiful to look at. We’re all big fans here.” – Anurag Dhir, Managing Editor, Ascent Magazine, Montreal (they received Utne’s 2005 Independent Press Award for Best Spiritual Coverage)

“I like the magazine very much. I think it is a great idea to reach out to the religious folk on the fringe of the churches, yet still be committed.” – James Profit, S.J., Director, Ignatius Jesuit Centre, Guelph, Ontario

“I just love [Geez 01]. I think the whole Adbusters-style pictorial-narrative thing is great. And you’ve created a terrific sense of adventure, surprise, and irreverent reverence in it.” – Jon Spayde, author and former Senior Editor, Utne magazine

“I’m a fan of your magazine, and [De-Motorize Your Soul] looks like a great campaign.” – Jessica Johnston, Editor, This Magazine, Toronto

“Good luck over there, and keep it going – there’s a nice exciting buzz around your magazine!” – Chris Chambers, Magazines Canada newsstand distribution


Readers respond

“For the past few years I have characterized myself as struggling to hold onto the Christian church with my fingernails. Thank you for providing me with the encouragement to hang on”. – Carolyn Foard-McPhail, Calgary, Alberta

“I’m five days into North America after 458 in Bolivia. Your publication fed my hope that my destiny is neither consumer nor hipster.” – Robb Hoover, Chatham, Illinois

“I have to respect a magazine that starts off its letter section with a reader saying ‘Geez claims everything but says nothing.’ This kind of editorial decision says there is more to being right than just being right. And it says contradiction is not as bad as compromise.” – Tim Gapinski, Noblesville, Indiana

“I need to be part of what you’re doing. There is a longing in my soul to be more than I am, but my only mechanisms for revolt are too entrenched in ways that cause my soul to rot. In fact, last night, no word of a lie, I woke up in a cold sweat with swirling memories of my demise from pastoral stardom to coffee shop obscurity.” – Brad Sorensen, Ottawa, Ontario

“I am spreading the word to friends about Geez. They represent almost every faith, including none, and are living proof that no one group has a corner on true nobility of spirit.” – Xristi Megas, 71 years old, Oakland, California

“I am pissed off at the Religious-not-so-Right, baffled by evangelicals, weirded-out by the shaking-and-falling down charismatics and mystified by Catholics. When I picked up Geez, it fairly screamed, ‘This is home for you girl. Read and be inspired.’” – Robyn MacKraus-Holukoff, Calgary, Alberta


Geez was founded in 2005, and is published by Geez Press, under the nonprofit Word and World School Inc. registered in the USA. Geez is non-profit, ad-free (so far), printed on 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper, and always trying to put people and the planet first. As the feds require us to share, you can call us at google number leaving a way to contact you via email to request our forms 990, 1023 or governing documents.


This website is site graciously hosted by Peaceworks.ca, and was designed and built by Amphibian in the spring of 2010.


Geez is printed in Canada and the U.S. by Friesens.

  • Lydia Wylie-Kellermann

    Lydia Wylie-Kellermann

    Editor

    Lydia Wylie-Kellermann (she/her) is a mother, activist, and writer. She is the director of Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center on Lenape land in the mountains of eastern Pennsylvania. She is the editor of the anthology The Sandbox Revolution: Raising Kids for a Just World.

  • Tuhina Verma Rasche

    Tuhina Verma Rasche

    Associate Editor

    Tuhina Verma Rasche (she/her) is a second-generation Indian American raised in a devout Hindu household. She is an (un)intentional troublemaker. She is also an ordained minister of Word and Sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and is one of the digital curators of the Anam Cara Community, a digital first community in the North Carolina Synod, ELCA. She and her spouse live in North Carolina where they’ve taken to bird watching and squirrel chasing.

  • Mashaun D. Simon

    Mashaun D. Simon

    Associate Editor

    A former pastor, award-winning journalist, cultural competency and equity specialist, marketing strategist, and facilitator, Rev. Mashaun D. Simon (he/him/they) is a justice advocate who works to highlight the lived experiences of communities often excluded by dominant society through his preaching, writing, and scholarship. Born and raised in Atlanta, he and his husband currently live just outside of Atlanta in Stone Mountain, GA.

  • Lucia Wylie-Eggert

    Lucia Wylie-Eggert

    Art Director

    Lucia Wylie-Eggert (she/her) is an artist and activist with a passion for print layout. She was raised in the Catholic Worker tradition and finds home in wooded paths and summer gardens. In addition to her work with Geez, Lucia is co-owner of and designer for Three Lyons Creative, a family-run video creative agency committed to nonprofits and small businesses. She raises 2 children with her partner Daniel.

  • Em Jacoby

    Em Jacoby

    Associate Publisher

    Em Jacoby (she/her) enjoys the contrasting roles of poring over precise spreadsheets for small non-profits and the beautiful chaos of raising three curious kids with her hubby. She can usually be found kneading sourdough, turning soil in the community garden, rallying for affordable housing or following a toddler around her hometown of Chicago, Illinois.

  • Drew Stever

    Drew Stever

    media coordinator

    Drew (pronouns are they/he) comes to the work from southern California, on the land of Tongva and Chumash peoples. @drwstvr is a queer, trans Lutheran pastor serving at a church in Los Angeles. In his time outside of work, Drew has taken a liking to woodturning, adding new appendages to his family’s bird feeder, and making arts and crafts with his family. Drew is a Cancer moon, Cancer sun, and Libra rising and confidently pretends to know what all of that actually means.

  • Céline Chuang

    Céline Chuang

    creative associate

    Céline Chuang (she/her) is a writer, facilitator, designer and art-maker based out of amiskwaciwâskahikan ᐊᒥᐢᑲᐧᒋᐋᐧᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ, Treaty 6 territory, otherwise known as Edmonton, Canada. She co-runs a neighborhood used bookstore and can also be found making congee, raising a racket against gentrification, and getting to know her magical prairie plant relations.

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Geez Magazine | 1950 Trumbull Ave. | Detroit, MI, USA | 48216 | ‪(585) 310-2317