Dan Sinker
{{Infobox journalist
| name = Dan Sinker
| image = Headshot of Dan Sinker, October 2018.jpg
| caption = Sinker in 2018
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1975|11|14}}
| birth_place = London
| alma_mater = School of the Art Institute of Chicago
| occupation = {{hlist|Journalist|writer|podcaster}}
| years_active = 1994{{endash}}present
| website = {{URL|dansinker.com}}
}}
Daniel Sinker (born November 14, 1975) is an American journalist known for creating Punk Planet, a punk rock zine which ran from 1994 to 2007. He has written for Esquire, and his pieces have appeared in publications such as The New York Times, The Atlantic and Slate.
Sinker founded Punk Planet in 1994. During its eighty-issue run, he co-edited the small but influential publication—which had articles on music and politics—with Elizabeth Moore. Sinker received media attention in 2011 after revealing himself as the author of @MayorEmanuel, a popular Weird Twitter account which satirized politician Rahm Emanuel. From 2008 to 2011, he taught journalism full-time at Columbia College Chicago. He directed the journalism organization OpenNews from 2011 to 2018.
Sinker co-hosts the Says Who? and The Hitch podcasts.
Personal life
Daniel Sinker was born on November 14, 1975.{{Cite web |last=Mckenna |first=Phil |date=March 2, 2010 |title=Finding the facts that online news leaves out |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18605-finding-the-facts-that-online-news-leaves-out/ |access-date=October 5, 2023 |website=New Scientist}}{{Cite tweet |number=1583515583630692355 |user=dansinker |title=Hahahahha on my birthday. |first=Daniel |last=Sinker |date=October 22, 2022 |access-date=December 5, 2023}}{{Br}}
{{Cite tweet |number=1436363974321258499 |user=dansinker |title=I'm 46 years old and still get my mind fully blown every time a Muppet rides a bike. |first=Daniel |last=Sinker |date=September 11, 2021 |access-date=December 5, 2023}} He was raised in Evanston, Illinois,{{Cite web |last=Felts |first=Susannah |date=June 3, 2004 |title=Punk Planet’s Expanding Orbit |url=https://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/punk-planets-expanding-orbit-2/ |access-date=December 5, 2023 |website=Chicago Reader}} where he still lives with his wife and two children.{{Cite web |last=Schmich |first=Mary |author-link=Mary Schmich |date=January 24, 2020 |title=Column: From the man who brought you the @MayorEmanuel Twitter parody, a newsletter on Trump’s impeachment |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/mary-schmich/ct-met-mary-schmich-dan-sinker-impeachment-20200125-f73yzgbfwjgvdcd5xjvypiba3u-story.html |access-date=December 5, 2023 |website=Chicago Tribune}} In 1996, Sinker graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in video art.
Career
= ''Punk Planet'' and other work (1994{{Endash}}2011) =
In 1994, at the age of 19, Sinker founded Punk Planet, an independent music, politics and culture magazine that helped to document the independent music and art scenes of the 1990s and 2000s.{{cite web |title=Zine Wiki page for Daniel Sinker |url=http://zinewiki.com/Daniel_Sinker |website=Zine Wiki |publisher=Zine Wiki |accessdate=6 April 2019}}
From 2004 to 2011, Sinker was an assistant professor in the Journalism Department at Columbia College. In 2008, Sinker was a John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships at Stanford.{{cite web |title=JSK Fellow Daniel Sinker |url=https://jsk.stanford.edu/fellows/class-of-2008/daniel-sinker/ |website=JSK Journalism Fellowships page of Stanford University |publisher=Stanford University |accessdate=6 April 2019}}
In 2010 and 2011, Sinker was the author of the @MayorEmanuel Twitter account.{{cite web |title=Mayor Emanuel Twitter account |url=https://twitter.com/mayoremanuel |website=Twitter |accessdate=6 April 2019}} a parody account that Atlantic Magazine said, "pushed the boundaries of the medium, making Twitter feel less like a humble platform for updating your status and more like a place where literature could happen."{{cite web |last1=Madrigal |first1=Alexis |title=Revealing the Man Behind @MayorEmanuel |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/02/the-unmasking-of-mayoremanuel-reveals-his-many-constituencies/342062/ |website=Atlantic Magazine |publisher=Atlantic Magazine}}
= Later career (2011{{Endash}}present) =
In 2011, he led the Knight-Mozilla News Technology Partnership of the Mozilla Foundation, which was spun out as Open News in 2017.{{cite web |last1=Sinker |first1=Dan |title=Endings And Beginnings: Dan Sinker Says Goodbye. |url=https://www.opennews.org/blog/dan-stepping-away/ |website=Open News |publisher=Open News |accessdate=6 April 2019}}
In September 2016, he began co-hosting the podcast [http://www.sayswhopodcast.com Says Who?] alongside young adult author Maureen Johnson. Self-described as a coping strategy, Says Who? was originally conceived as an eight-week project in which Johnson and Sinker would talk with political experts about how they were surviving news coverage of the 2016 Presidential Election. The podcast has since continued past the results of the election, switching to a biweekly, then weekly, and then, for a time, daily format in which the hosts attempt to humorously discuss the news of the day, and more personally, share how they are coping as citizens both in the current political era as well as the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since 2018, he has been an independent author, consultant, and entrepreneur, writing for Esquire Magazine,{{cite web |title=Dan Sinker Contributor Page at Esquire Magazine |url=https://www.esquire.com/author/221516/dan-sinker/ |website=Esquire Magazine |publisher=Esquire Magazine |accessdate=6 April 2019}} and creating products like the Pee Tape and Robert Mueller III Prayer Candles.{{cite web |title=Pee Tape and Robert Mueller III Prayer Candles Kickstarter page|url=https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sinker/pee-tape-and-robert-mueller-iii-prayer-candles |website=Kickstarter |publisher=Kickstarter}}
Books
- We Owe You Nothing, Punk Planet: The Collected Interviews, 2001{{cite web |title=Amazon sales page for "We Owe You Nothing, Punk Planet: The Collected Interviews" |url=https://www.amazon.com/Owe-You-Nothing-Punk-Planet/dp/1888451149/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1516044946&sr=8-2&keywords=We+Owe+You+Nothing |website=Amazon |publisher=Amazon |accessdate=6 April 2019}}
- We Owe You Nothing: Expanded Edition: Punk Planet: The Collected Interviews (Punk Planet Books), 2007{{cite web |title=Amazon sales page for "We Owe You Nothing: Expanded Edition: Punk Planet: The Collected Interviews (Punk Planet Books)" |url=https://www.amazon.com/We-Owe-You-Nothing-Expanded/dp/1933354321/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1516044946&sr=8-1&keywords=We+Owe+You+Nothing |website=Amazon |publisher=Amazon}}
- The {{not a typo|F**|*ing}} Epic Twitter Quest of @MayorEmanuel, Scribner, 2011{{cite web |title=Amazon sales page for "The F***ing Epic Twitter Quest of @MayorEmanuel" |url=https://www.amazon.com/ing-Epic-Twitter-Quest-MayorEmanuel/dp/1451655142/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1526256165&sr=8-1-fkmr0 |website=Amazon |publisher=Amazon}}
- How I Resist (contributor), 2018{{cite web |title=Amazon sales page for "How I Resist" |url=https://www.amazon.com/How-Resist-Activism-Hope-Generation/dp/1250168368/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1526256203&sr=1-1&keywords=How+I+Resist |website=Amazon |publisher=Amazon}}
- Arte Agora: Art made, sold, or placed in the public way (foreword){{cite web |last1=Sinker |first1=Dan |title=Foreword for Arte Agora |url=http://www.arteagorabook.com/foreword/ |accessdate=6 April 2019}}