I’m back from my much needed holiday to Mexico. I flew down there to meet up with my Dad who had already driven there about a month beforehand, and we spent most of our time camped in a small fishing village southeast of La Paz called La Ventana. The beaches in this area are very popular among the Windsurfers and Kite Surfers, and surely enough my dad gave me some lessons on how to do the latter…I mean, do Kite Surfing, not Kite Surfers (there were some cute ones, but I had to behave myself). By the end I was able to get up on the board for a couple of seconds while the kite pulled me – it might have been longer if the wind were stronger or my kite were larger, but the training kites aren’t built for optimal thrust.
Aside from that we did a lot of early morning fishing in our Zodiac boat – though dear god, not Brokeback Mountain kind of fishing, we brought back a full cooler to prove it! One morning we even went out in a boat with some of the local Mexican fishermen to catch giant squid! I reeled in two of them, and man can they pull. One of them repeatedly shot my Dad and I with jets of water as we tried to bring it in. They are truly amazing creatures, though granted pretty frightening.
The long drive back to Calgary was pretty grueling. We were on the road for about 4 days solid, but we made it back in time for our much anticipated Christmas reunion. I had a great Christmas Eve with my parents, but I was very glad to get home to Steve. I was shocked at how big our kittens Sparky and Snoopy had gotten while I was away. I spent Christmas Day with Steve and his family, where I stuffed myself with a big lunch and a second Christmas dinner.
Another pleasant surprise when I arrived home was the completely unexpected Christmas gift given to us by QUAB Galleries and Yvon Goulet! The card that accompanied it stated the following: “A thank you for your support of QUAB Gallery, our artists, as well as the local gay art scene. Your magazine is an exemplary example of a community magazine that works for the community.” I won’t say exactly what they gave us – only that it was something Steve and I had been admiring in the gallery for a while.
On a separate note…in all the shuffle last month, we forgot in our Publisher’s Column to welcome our new “queer girl” writer Nico! She is a former writer for the once popular e-zine Journal X.com, did a stint on the CJSW program “Dykes on Mikes,” and is a founder of the Kitty Group. She has lots of great ideas on how to help GayCalgary.com Magazine better cover Calgary’s Lesbian side, so watch for her articles this month and in future issues. If you have an event or topic of interest that affects women in our community, please drop Nico a line at nicoh@gaycalgary.com.
Bar Banter
While I was off in Mexico, Steve was very thankful for all of the bars that invited him to their staff Christmas parties. It was a chance for him to get out of the house and socialize, since he was feeling pretty lonely at home with only the cats to talk to. So many people have commented that they rarely see him drink (because photography and alcohol don’t mix well for him), so they were quite surprised to see that he actually can! He is just as much of a lush as I am though. He had a really fun time, and was very appreciative of the numerous Christmas gifts he received as a guest.
As for New Year’s Eve, Steve and I were extremely lucky that the weather was cooperative as we did our usual pilgrimage to photograph at every gay bar in the city. We split up to cut down on walking distance for the both of us, but Steve’s pedometer still registered over 15,000 steps for him at the end of the day.
Unfortunately for me, the New Year hit when I was walking to the last bar on my list to meet up with Steve. Well, time is in man-made units anyway, complete with inaccuracies and imprecision. In the cosmic scheme of things, I doubt a couple of minutes really mad a difference; what counts is that I bumped into a lot of friends along the way beforehand, and spent the remainder of the evening with the one I love.
We saw a spectacular performance by Chris Edwards at Twisted Element on both New Years and the day after. Chris is a female impersonator from Toronto who definitely lives up to her reported prefix, “The Incomparable”. Look for photos in this issue!
Nostalgia?
We are looking to put together a series of articles about the history of the Gay Community in Calgary. We’re hoping to find people who can tell us stories and anecdotes about the gay scene over 15 years ago. What were the bars like? What organizations existed? How different was it from today?
If you have stories to tell, please contact us by E-mail or by phone, as we would love to get your input!
Reader’s Choice Survey
It’s here - the Reader’s Choice Survey for the year of 2005! We’ve changed things around a little bit, adding some new questions, and removing those we no longer need answered. One big difference is that we removed the long listings of bar tenders and drag performers in favor of fill-in-the-blank answers. If you don’t know the name of your favorite bar tender or drag performer then ask them for goodness sake…if they don’t tell you first!
Once again the survey will run through January and most of February. Ballot boxes will be available in many gay spots for you to make your submission. There will be an online version of the survey which you can fill out on our website, if you’d rather fill it out at home.
This year we are giving away 13 prizes – a total value of close to $1000! Better get started filling the survey out to be eligible for the Early Bird prizes, because even if you don’t win for that draw, you are still eligible for the final draw in February. For more information on the Reader Survey, turn to page 33.
In the News
Surrounding the media buzz about the new film, Brokeback Mountain, Steve was interviewed by the Calgary Herald for their article entitled “Flick renews gay debate in Alberta” on page C2 in their December 23rd edition. Maybe you read that one? We didn’t see the movie in it’s entirety until several days later, whereupon we realized the full extent of this story’s poignance.
Naturally supporters of traditional marriage condemn the film, seeing it as a furtherance of the breakdown of existing family units. Oddly enough they don’t seem to realize the irony; gay people wouldn’t feel compelled to half-heartedly enter heterosexual relationships, only to break them later, if they weren’t pressured by these very people in society to do so. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. With mixed signals like these, it’s no wonder gay people have to go through so much confusion as they try to find their true selves. This is just one of the issues explored by Brokeback Mountain. Read more in our review of the film on page 39.
On the Web
Over the last several months we’ve been working on improving our online business directory. We added search capabilities in October, and at the same time we hooked our site into online mapping software so that visitors can get directions to all businesses that post their street addresses. This month we finished verifying businesses in our directory.
Federal Elections 2006
As we have done in the past, GayCalgary.com has asked all election candidates in the Calgary area to answer a few questions. These questions are to gauge their opinions on some of the burning election issues for the gay community, as well as to extricate some indication of how gay-friendly they are. If the candidates haven’t yet thought about where they stand in regards to the gay community in Calgary, then they will have to now.
GayCalgary.com is not here to tell you who to vote for – we are not in the habit of spreading propaganda for one political party or the other. As a media outlet, it is paramount for us to explore all sides of the issue, or at least put in due diligence to that end. We respect your right to make your own decision, and your intelligence to do the same. All we can hope for is to be a part of informing that decision with the responses we gather from our survey of candidates from the major parties. At the same time, we hope that we are not the only source of information you use to inform yourself – for instance, Egale is conducting a similar survey of the candidates with more detailed questions. You can see the results at www.egale.ca. Or go right to the source – visit the political party websites, E-mail the candidates in your riding, or talk to them in person – I did, and it was easy! Contact information for all of them is freely available on www.elections.ca.
We Love Hearing from You!
Let’s hear what’s on your mind. Don’t be shy, we love receiving letters or E-mails from you. Get some advice or let your opinion be heard!
For advice in life and love, write in to the Ask Nina column by E-mailing AskNina@gaycalgary.com, send a letter to her courtesy of GayCalgary.com Magazine (see our masthead on page 3 and 4 for our address). Failing that, give her your letter in person. You know which club to look for her in, right?
When gay politics gets out of hand and you need to know legally where you stand (that rhymed!) then write in to our Gay Legalese column for legal advice. E-mail Darryl Aarbo at LegalAdvice@gaycalgary.com, or once again send it courtesy of GayCalgary.com Magazine.
If you’re looking rather to express your opinion, write a letter to the publisher by E-mailing Publisher@gaycalgary.com. If you’ve got something good to say about someone or something, then that’s awesome! If you’ve got something bad to say about someone or something…well, just try to keep those claws sheathed!
