Sally Sheklow won an Honorable Mention in Palm Springs High School's essay contest with her essay lampooning essay contests. She discovered that it pays to make fun of stuff.

Her job hefting big heavy boxes of rennetless cheddar and organic gruyere around a natural foods warehouse gave rise to her most prolific parody period, producing such inspirational spirituals as "Oh, What a Friend We Have in Cheeses" and "Bringing In the Cheese." She was cookin'!

When her community's first gay newsmagazine sprang up, she volunteered to write an advice column that made fun of advice columns. Writing "ASK BIG SISTER" for five years whetted her appetite for seeing her words in print. She began taking actual writing classes and exploring the world of the personal essay. It was a nice fun world where she could say whatever she wanted without having to look too much stuff up. Her funny gardening essays appeared in the entire three-year run of VIEW magazine.

Frustrated with small publications folding just when she was on a roll, she started sending her essays to more established publications. Success! Newsweeklies and glossy magazines started running her essays about her everyday lesbian life and "Living Out" was born.

In between deadlines, she performs with the improvisational troupe WYMPROV!, teaches Lesbian/Gay/Bi/Trans/Queer Issues classes for Portland State University, and takes out the recycling on Wednesday nights.

Sheklow and her life partner share their Pacific Northwest home with a dog and a cat and heaps of fan mail.