I know that this time of year is supposed to be filled with happiness despite the hassle of the Christmas rush, but oftentimes it can also be the time of year when the impact of the past year finally catches up to you.
I lost a lot of people in my family this year, but my hectic life gave me little time to properly reflect on them, so these are some of the things that are catching up with me. I lost my grandfather on my dad’s side earlier this year. He only spoke Spanish, and my dad always wanted me to learn speak the language fluently so that I could talk to him. Though that never happened, I realized that the truly important things can’t always be put into words. RIP Arturo D.M., Medical Doctor and my grandfather. In the last month my dad’s brother died from complications after being admitted to the hospital for pneumonia, only days before leaving for a trip with my dad. RIP Arturo D.H., Biology Teacher and my uncle. About two weeks ago my grandfather on my mom’s side underwent an operation to replace a stint that was holding his pancreatic duct from being pressed shut by a minor cancer. Soon after he passed away, most likely from the strain the operation put on his body. He loved to do jigsaw puzzles, and he left one unfinished in his room, which my mom took it upon herself to complete. I’ll miss listening to your stories. RIP Werner W., World War II Recon veteran, Brewery Worker, and my grandfather.
So I’m left alone here in Calgary, my mom away in Germany to visit my Grandmother (perhaps for the last time), while my dad went ahead with his trip after a brief visit to Spain to mourn his brother. As for me, I will be joining my dad for several weeks to take his brother’s place and salvage his depressing holiday. Poor Steve will be staying behind in Calgary to take care of the magazine - he never gets a break does he? I’ll be back in time for Christmas though, with my mom and my dad, and finally things will be back to normal again after all that has happened.
But enough depressing stuff, let’s talk about all the good things that have happened this month!
GayCalgary.com Magazine had a booth at the Taboo Sex Show for the 3rd year in a row. Our November 2005 issue was going so fast that we were worried we might completely exhaust our supply! This time we weren’t alone – Priape was in the booth right beside us and we at least had someone familiar to talk to when things calmed down. Plus we got some much needed comic relief as Shane ran around bumping into people with what we dubbed “The Optimist’s Dildo” – you know, the one that so large that it’s useless.
We definitely noticed a change in people’s reaction to our magazine this time around. The 1st year we were at the show, when we had just launched our first issue, we had a born-again Christian start bible thumping to us about being gay. Hello, look around you guy, you’re at a sex show – there’s stuff here the bible wouldn’t even know what to do with! Not to mention T-shirts with sayings like “Jesus loves you, but I think you’re an asshole.” Damn, wish I had one of those at the time… But back to what I was saying, this year we didn’t get nearly as many negative reactions, and got to talk with so many people that were excited to see us there. It definitely seems like Calgary is slowly getting there.
Otherwise, this month we’ve given Darryl Aarbo a break from the Gay Legalese column, but be sure to look out for his article in next month’s issue!
In the News
*Groan* Not another election! As usual, GayCalgary.com Magazine will publish the responses of political candidates on gay issues to help inform your voting decision. Not to add any bias, but you may want to read our Press Release section this month – it may have some relevance to this.
Bar Banter
Our set of articles on the bars last month caused a bit of a ripple, especially in regards to the square footage and capacity of some establishments; granted, we did ask the owners to pull these numbers off the tops of their heads. Our intention was to create a small tourism section on the GayCalgary.com website – in essence, a subset of the business directory with only the things that are relevant to gay travelers coming to our city. We asked for the bar’s capacity and square footage to give an impression of their scale and how busy they can get. Currently we are having the City of Calgary Fire Marshall pull up the official stats since not all establishments have this information publicly posted. In the end we may just reduce these statistics to more subjective descriptions…big, small, crowded, quiet. You get the picture.
Also, the article on the Backlot last month had a little gremlin creep in – did you notice? Owner Ken is definitely not thinking about starting up a band or becoming a rock star! In actual fact, that final paragraph was from October’s music review on the Boygirls. Bad copy-paste, bad!
Money-Pennies celebrated their 10th anniversary on November 26th, and prior to that, Twisted Element had theirs on the exact date of their grand opened last year, November 12th. Congratulations to the both of you!
Winter has finally arrived – no Chinook to save us now! Before you show up in the cold, don’t forget to ask your favorite bars whether or not they are even open on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day!
At the beginning of 2005 we anticipated that this would be the year of change, and indeed it has been. Indulge, The Verge, and Solar Café were dissolved, and Detour got their much anticipated make-over to become the new Pulse. Metro Boyztown became Metro The Club and began selling memberships to women, and before the year is up, Twisted Element will finally open up their basement lounge. In the coming year we will see what else the future has in store for Calgary’s gay community.
Reader’s Choice Awards for 2005
Get ready, next issue will have our annual Reader’s Choice awards. Fill out the reader survey to be entered into a prize draw, and vote for your favorite establishments so that they receive awards for their efforts! Once again the survey will be held across the month of January and February, and can be filled out from the magazine or online. We’ll have more details for you next issue.
Happy Holidays!
Lastly, from all of us at GayCalgary.com magazine, we wish our readers and advertisers a fabulous Christmas and a queer New Year!
Questions or comments about the magazine or other things happening in the community, please E-mail us at publisher@gaycalgary.com
