CAMILLE CYPHER
Camille is a fourth-year Creative Writing and Public Policy double major at The University of Chicago, originally from Oakland, CA. She's currently the head editor for The Chicago Maroon's Viewpoints and a columnist for Firebird. She is also a performer with the nation's oldest collegiate sketch and improv comedy group, Off-Off Campus, and is interested in political comedy and literary journalism!
PUBLICATIONS
Literary
"Reflections on Collections," The Saturday Evening Post, 2025. ​
"Why November 1 is the Best Day of the Year," The Saturday Evening Post, 2024.
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Humor
"My Love-Love Relationship with the TSA," The Saturday Evening Post, 2024.​
"In Search of the Turducken," The Saturday Evening Post, 2024.
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Interviews​​​
"Food for Thought: An Interview with TikTok Balladist Jake Schroeder," Firebird, 2025.​
"DIY and the Preservation of Artistic Agency," Firebird, 2024.​​​
"Exploring the abstract and the intimate in Teeth: an interview with Jeni Magaña," Firebird, 2024.
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Op-Eds​​
"College Writing is Fundamental to Deep Learning," The Maroon, 2025.​
"AI Professor," The Maroon, 2025.​
"Queer at the Heteronormative Apex," The Maroon, 2024​​
"A Deficit Without Communication," The Maroon, 2024.​
"Grub, Not Hub: Losing Social Connection at Hutch Dining Commons," The Maroon, 2024.​
"UChicago's Place in the Migrant Crisis: From Articulation to Action," The Maroon, 2024.​
"The Pros and Cons of Pros and Cons," The Maroon, 2024.​
"As a Swiftie, I'm not enthused with the Academy," Firebird, 2024.
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Articles​
"The Aces at Thalia Hall," Firebird, 2025.​
"Gay couple set to wed 2 days before their 50th anniversary," Bay Area Reporter, 2024.​​​​
"LGBTQ wellness festival returns to Northern California," Bay Area Reporter, 2024.​
"At the 2024 Congressional Baseball Game Division and Protest Abound," The Gate, 2024.​
"The Rest: not just a shadow of The Record," Firebird, 2023.​
"District Councils: A New and Hopeful Experiment For Police Reform," The Gate, 2023.​
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Other​​
"Our Fellows' Advice on Applying to Fi Labs: Spotlight Your Story," Film Independent Blog, 2025.
"The Meaning of 'Your Words' on Capitol Hill," Victory Institute Blog, 2024.​​​​
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SCRIPTS AND SHORT FILM
Homage to Cable - sketch show at the Second City (co-writer and director​)​​​: In this fast-paced, 1-hour sketch show, we bring cable television back to its birthplace: the theater. Watch as Chris Hansen takes down yet another predator. Then change the channel to see Jerry Springer backflip onto the cameraman. Disturbed? Tune into the local news, revealing text messages between a concerned wife and a nonchalant husband in the midst of a hurricane. That’s the joy of cable: experiencing the kind of whiplash that inspired The Hunger Games.
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Speech and Debate Short Film, 2025 (writer/director/producer): All is well right before a major speech and debate tournament when suddenly an accusation throws a high school team into chaos. Friendships are tested, suits are pressed, and blunts are literally consumed.
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Comedy Show Pilot Script, 2025 (writer): When a wannabe-late-night-writer with an uncanny ability to predict the American news cycle loses all job prospects and is forced to take a position at the nation’s least reliable news source, she must regain political comedy’s trust while questioning her everything-is-a-joke mentality in the form of a once-prominent, now-mistrusted politics editor whose faith in the system is unyielding.
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