1. Software / Computer Programming
2. Radio
3. Video / television
4. Political activism
5. Trivia
6. Languages / linguistics
7. Writing
8. Personal

Mitchell Szczepanczyk is a software developer who has pursued a suite of different activities over the years, some of which are described below. This website chronicles some of his work and interests. Mitchell was born in Michigan (USA) to Polish immigrants, and he lives in Chicago.

Software / Computer Programming

Since 2000, Mitchell has worked as a professional software developer and engineer, and he is expert in a number of computer programming and scripting languages. His strongest languages are Python, Clojure, Clojurescript, Elm, and Javascript; he also has experience with Java, Ruby, the Wolfram Language (Mathematica), ASP, Erlang, and APL; and he has past experience with PHP, Perl, LISP, C, and Fortran. Some of his code is available online on his Github and Github Gist accounts.

Radio

For a decade (2004 - 2014), Mitchell hosted the weekly public affairs show The Ministry of Truth on WHPK 88.5 FM radio in Chicago (all of the episodes are archived under the "radio" tag on this website). For five years (2010 - 2015), he produced From The Trenches, the monthly radio program of the Chicago Independent Media Center; an archive of episodes of From The Trenches resides on the Chicago Indymedia website. He has been an occasional guest on Chicago radio stations WZRD 88.3 FM and WLPN-LP 105.5 FM. Mitchell was also a volunteer contributor for six years (1983 - 1989) at a community radio station in Michigan (the former WEHB 89.9 FM in Grand Rapids). From 2022 to the present, Mitchell contributes to PEP Talk: The Participatory Economy Podcast.

Video / television

From 2004 to 2017, Mitchell has helped produce and contributed to Chicago Indymedia's monthly TV series, Chicago Independent Television, which was distributed on Chicago cable television and on national satellite. He produced about 70 short films over the years for the show; all those segments are online and linked on this website (archived under the "indymedia" tag on this website). He has also made a number of past guest appearances on the public affairs program 26 N. Halsted on Chicago TV station WCIU-TV.

Political activism

Mitchell is also a political activist, and has been involved in groups working toward positive social change, particularly around media and political economy. As a longtime organizer with Chicago Media Action (CMA), Mitchell has worked on CMA campaigns around the Federal Communications Commission and corporate media concentration, public access television, public radio and television, community internet initiatives, network neutrality, and the U.S. digital television transition. Much of his work there is chronicled on the website for Chicago Media Action. In March 2009, Mitchell was the subject of a cover story in the Chicago Reader entitled "Who's Holding the Remote?".

Mitchell has been involved with groups working on the heterodox economic model known as a "participatory economy"; he co-founded CAPES, the Chicago Area Participatory Economics Society, and has organized events with CAPES. He was also active with the Chicago chapter of IOPS (the International Organization for a Participatory Society), and is currently helping to develop computational models of a participatory economy. He is presently active with the Participatory Economy Project.

Trivia

Mitchell is also a quiz and game show aficionado, having played quizbowl in college and graduate school. He has written and edited questions for NAQT, National Academic Quiz Tournaments, and also occasionally volunteers with the International Quizzing Association. In September 2007, he appeared as a contestant on the syndicated American version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. In September 2008, he was a member of America's Team for an episode of the syndicated TV show "Trivial Pursuit: America Plays". Mitchell has also been active with the Game Show Congress and has participated in the Trivia Championships of North America. He still occasionally plays bar trivia and he was a member of the teams which won the 2013 Team Trivia National Championship and which finished tied for second in the 2014 Team Trivia National Championship. He is currently active with LearnedLeague, and was a guest participant on the NPR Sunday Puzzle.

Languages / linguistics

Mitchell grew up in a household where Polish was spoken, and he is working to achieve adult fluency in Polish. He is also conversationally competent in ASL, American Sign Language. In the past, he has studied Latin, German, and Spanish, and is interested in improving his German, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese. Mitchell holds two degrees in linguistics; his graduate work focused on Polish phonology, and his later professional work involves the computational analysis and presentation of syntax.

Writing

Mitchell was a columnist during the entire print run (2004 - 2005) of the Chicago monthly newspaper Third Coast Press. He has written articles and letters in other print publications including Z Magazine, Chicago's Conscious Choice magazine, and AREA Chicago. Some of those writings are available on this website. He has also written online for the Chicago Independent Media Center ("Chicago Indymedia"), and for Chicago Media Action, among other websites. He has written two e-books, and has contributed to four books: Real Utopia, Democratic Economic Planning, Anarchistische Gesellschaftsentwürfe, and Student Voices: The History of Loyola University Radio.

Personal

Mitchell attended primary and secondary school in Michigan; he is a graduate of the University of Michigan (B.A., 1996), and he holds Master's degrees (M.A., 1998; M.S., 2003) in linguistics and in computer science from the University of Chicago. He has lived in Chicago since 1996.