Running a magazine, both Steve and I (and our writers) as individuals, take an interest in such a wide variety of topics. We do this for the sake of our readers, who are a large and diverse group of people with specific interests of their own, that we do our best to satisfy. We manage to transition fluently between many social circles, where the average person would take some time to break in and get acclimated and so remain limited to a small, manageable number.
If there’s one thing I have learned from the trans community, it’s that identity is not just who you are on the inside – it’s also, quite importantly, how you outwardly represent yourself, and subsequently how others perceive you. And intellectually, I think a lot of how others perceive you comes from pursuing your own personal interests. Others learn about you by seeing the process, the results, or the side-effects of what you enjoy doing.
When a person is a “social chameleon” for so long, as we are required to be, they start to lose something of their distinctiveness. Their interests appear to be so broad, it’s difficult to pin down the specifics that define their character. Or perhaps they just get so busy with what comes their way, that they don’t have the time to pursue the things that they truly enjoy doing. And that’s when the unique person they are on the inside stops shining through to the exterior. For the sake of efficiency, they conform; behave like just another cog in the machine.
I think I’m in that boat at the moment. I started to clue in when numerous people I have met through the magazine and have known me for a while, all around the same time, started slipping up and calling me “Steve” (the name of my partner/husband who also runs this magazine). I know it wasn’t intentional, and that they didn’t mean any harm by it, but it happened with too many different individuals to be just a coincidence. It makes me think that I may have lost my identity in the magazine; that I’ve been concentrating so hard on this group effort that I’ve forgotten I can be my own person.
When something like the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo comes along, it jolts me back out of that trance. Suddenly worlds collide, and my job leads me back into my personal area of interest.
No expo of this nature would be complete without some representation from cast members of Star Trek. The big names this year were Leonard Nimoy (Spock from Original Star Trek), Brent Spiner (Data from Next Generation), and Malcolm McDowell (the villain in Generations). The cast of the modern-day Battlestar Galactica series made a good showing with Tahmoh Penikett (Helo) and Aaron Douglass (Chief Tyrol). The Twilight series also made a pretty strong presence, much to the delight of hundreds of screaming 16 year old girls.
While I wouldn’t call myself a trekkie, I admit that I grew up on Star Trek: The Next Generation and it really influenced me as a person. All geeky fandom aside, I think the whole Star Trek franchise has been a very important and influential body of work. Part of this is the strong sense of morals that guide the characters to the right decisions – morals that are applicable even to our lives in the present. Quite revolutionary is the portrayal of the self-discipline involved in upholding this code of ethics – no threat of an angry god is required to keep people of the future in line. Their vision of futuristic technology has practically provided a blueprint for real-life scientists to follow, and in fact, inspired many to pursue the field of science with the hopes of making this vision to come true someday. I might even go so far as to argue that Star Trek has provided the human race with better direction in modern times than the big “B” book. I mean, some of the same lessons may be rehashed, but Star Trek helps us look to the future, the direction that we are actually moving, rather than to a past that is growing further and further away.
Battlestar Galactica was another amazing series – a hidden gem for those who weren’t aware of it. I was only able to force myself to watch maybe one episode of the original series from the 70’s, but the new BSG is an impressively sophisticated reinvention of a somewhat cheesy concept. While the main conflict is between humans and cylons (humanoid machines), it also explores internal struggles within human ranks, and also identity issues, as some humans discover they are hybrid cylons and must “come out” to their peers. There is an element of religion, with some actual intervention from a higher being, done in a surprisingly tasteful and believable way. The final episode of the series was impossible to watch without getting deeply emotional.
As the Twilight series goes, I’ve only seen the first movie. Vampires are not a topic that particularly appeals to me, perhaps because the thought of blood-sucking makes me want to pass out. I’ve seen previews for part two, and werewolves might be more up my alley. Though the characters are at highschool age, and from the crowd that showed up to the discussion panel, the fan base seems to be very young too. So young that the rest of us felt pretty uncomfortable being there, like fan trolls or something.
The expo was a chance for us to meet some of the people involved with these series, or at least see them in person during their discussion panels. Some actors were linked to multiple TV series, such as Tahmoh Penikett being involved with BSG and Dollhouse; Brent Spiner involved in Star Trek and among many other things, my favourite childhood cartoon, Gargoyles. Meanwhile I was delighted to meet Aaron Douglass, my favourite actor from BSG (since he was the token bear of the bunch), who told us a rather stimulating story about a costume malfunction and a sound guy (visit this article online to see the video clip).
Aside from that, I was taken back to my youth when I saw characters from some of my favourite video games. I perked up when I saw people dressed as Link from the Legend of Zelda, and Super Mario; fan art of Cloud Strife from my all-time favourite game, Final Fantasy 7. It reminded me how long it’s been since I played those games, and how magical those story worlds seemed when I was exploring them for the first time. I really miss that feeling. It’s been rare in my adult life, and something I would like to bring back somehow.
So I genuinely enjoyed my weekend of geeking-out (or should I say, my “geek-end”). It was good for the soul, and a reminder that I’m still alive and well under my hardworking exterior. Bringing that person out more often is just something I’ll have to work on.
April 2010
Now I have to mention that, due to a confusing flurry of E-mails from multiple people providing images close to last month’s deadline, there was an oversight in the credit for the photos used in April’s cover collage on the Derby Girls. The central photograph of the two women arm-wrestling was provided by Shannon MacKinnon of SMACKGraphixx. Additionally a photo from Claudia Katz was used in the background, alongside some team pictures, credit unknown. Hopefully this helps to clarify and properly credit those who were kind enough to submit images to us.
There was barely enough time to get the magazines out from the printers last month before we had to whisk ourselves off to Red Deer for the Taboo Show. This was our first year having a booth at this particular show and we had no idea how we would be received in this smaller town of farmers and oil producers.
Firstly, you can’t blame us for taking notice of the higher concentration of sexy blue-collar men. These were the ones that seemed to steer clear of our booth, except when their girlfriends occasionally stopped to chat.
Frankly I was surprised by how well the magazines went, and how many gay and lesbian couples stopped by to stock up on the past issues from this year that they hadn’t read yet. While we do have a handful of distribution locations in Red Deer, we were told those locations are not very well known, and even so it’s a scramble to get a copy before they run out. There were lots of people that didn’t know about the magazine, so our presence at least tipped them off to look for us or read us online. Sadly nobody could suggest any further locations in Red Deer to target our distribution, as nobody was aware of any particularly gay/friendly businesses. It must be tough being gay in Red Deer and not having a designated hang-out. Hopefully that will change sometime soon.
The week we got back, it was directly into the lead-up events of Coronation Week. From what we’ve seen, it has been a challenging year for the ISCCA, but it all came together in the end despite some last minute squabbles. As the official Media Sponsors of Coronation Week, we did what we could to help, but sadly we got dragged into some unnecessary bar politics that seemed tailored to interfere with this. Nevertheless we delivered what we promised to the best of our abilities, given the circumstances, and wish the ISCCA the best of luck in their endeavours for this new reign.
At Coronation, Emperor 33 Joey and Empress 33 Bianca presented cheques to their charities totalling around $12,000. Announcers cited the recession as a major stumbling block for this reign. To give some context, the 32nd Reign (Nina and Michael) raised around $35,000, the 31st Reign (Lonnie and Conrad) raised around $25,000, and the 30th Reign (Dyna and Wolfgang) raised around $42,000. Near the end of the night, Joey and Bianca stepped down and the next Emperor and Empress were announced: Fred Wolf-Would and Malibu Stacey.
The Return and Retirement of Tara “Terrible” Hymen
The Sunday evening following Saturday’s Coronation was the annual Tough Drag show. If you recall, last year I let myself get roped into performing a number in tough drag for everyone’s amusement, with my spur-of-the-moment drag name, Tara Hymen. At that show I was awarded the title of Tough Drag Champion. Fortunately the only thing this title did for the whole year was oblige me to defend it come this year’s event. And I did, with every effort to ensure I WOULDN’T win it again!
Makayla was generous enough to help me get into drag once more, but this time it was no holds barred – I asked her to make me look as hideously thrown-together as possible, and she seemed to enjoy this artistic liberty. Working around my bushy beard, she smattered me in gawdy makeup, put me in a rainbow tie-dye t-shirt and a skimpy black skirt, installed the same balloon tits from last year, and purposely pinned not one but two wigs onto my head (unfortunately this turned out to be too heavy and the top wig had to be taken off). I looked like a hippie Cowardly Lion after a sloppy sex change – it was fabulous!
As testament to my look, the bar had to eject someone that too-aggressively tried to burst my balloons. I can’t blame the guy though - it’s animal instinct to destroy creatures that look this ugly.
In my ambition to lose, I decided to do two numbers instead of one, just to drive the point home. Both were obscure songs which is often a fatal mistake for drag performers, so perfect for my purposes. If you want to look them up, the first number was “Oh my Dear” by Linday Jane. The second of the two wasn’t even a woman singing: it was “Napoleon” by Kelly and the Kelly Girls – a dedication to an old friend. As I stepped off the stage after my last number, Bianca made a funny and called me “Tara-ble”.
All in all, the experience didn’t seem quite as much as last year, probably because you can’t rape the willing. However, this time around I made sure Steve took plenty of pictures for posterity, and video clips of my performances on stage, so that unlike last year I would have mementos of why I should never EVER do this again. Seeing these afterwards, it’s safe to say they worked – it’s out of my system for good.
But enough about me, newly elected Emperor 34, Fred Wolf-Would, was coerced into making a rare appearance in drag after someone offered to donate $200 on the condition that he do a number. The show was put on hold for a while to get him into costume, and queue up an appropriate Cher number. He demonstrated quite clearly why drag queens are in the habit of tucking – I guess you could say, he stuck out like a sore thumb. But for a solid $200, how could he refuse?
In the end, the night totalled (if I recall correctly) $325 for the travel fund for their reign, which was not bad at all.
This Month
Well, when it rains, it pours. This May edition is admittedly quite heavy on the celebrity interviews, but there were just so many opportunities that we couldn’t pass up. For lack of space, some interviews have been pushed off for next edition, so keep an eye out.
This edition is also hosting an official Fairytales Film Festival guide on page 42, which provides a full schedule of the numerous events happening from May 27th until June 4th. Keep a copy with you for quick reference.
Lastly, we have an exciting announcement to make for our Edmontonian readers. A new dance club by the name of “Flash” is opening up this month in your area. Their grand opening party is happening on May 7th and 8th. See their ad in this edition for further details. 