By the time this article makes it out onto the street, I will be gone already. My dad is dragging me down to Mexico for a three-week holiday, as he did two years ago. I say “dragging” not because I don’t want to go, but because it is difficult for me to pull myself away from all that is going on here in Calgary. I don’t think he realizes how busy we actually are since he originally wanted the holiday to last a whole two months. This was just not feasible with the magazine, and Halloween events at the end of October. Thus I am flying back on the 25th in time to get our 4th anniversary edition together. Regardless, three weeks of holiday is the ideal amount of time in my mind because I get to return home just as I start to feel homesick.
When I say “Mexico” I really mean the Baja peninsula. My dad is not about going to all the hot tourist destinations, but rather taking the back roads to discover the places that few people know about. From family holidays past, we already have our favourite out-of-the-way spots mapped out, and we visit them every time we go to Baja. Needless to say, there aren’t any sorts of hotels or motels in these places – usually the closest towns are fishing villages – so we camp the whole way through.
When driving down, we always stop by the boulder fields outside of Santa Rosalia to explore and take photos. When we arrive at our various destinations, we often share a small camp ground with others, but there are unoccupied beaches and islands only a walk or boat ride away just waiting to be explored. The desert landscape is beautiful, and many times I’ve wandered along abandoned roads through endless fields of cacti, elephant trees, and other desert plants, just taking in the scenery. Even more surreal is this landscape by the light of a full moon.
The ocean also holds a particular fascination for me. Due to my Spanish heritage, my body seems designed for the humid climate, so I often feel that I have a strong connection to it. Calgary can be a little dry, and many of my minor ailments disappear with a few days spent by the ocean; I had a perpetual split lip that would crack open anew from the dry air as I slept, but last time I was in Baja it healed within the first week and has remained mended ever since.
The Sea of Cortez, the strip of ocean between Baja and the mainland, is ideal; the waters are calm, and often bath-tub warm in the summer months. I always get excited when I see the ocean on the horizon as we drive to our first destination. In prior years my family has done quite a bit of snorkelling, and I plan to get some time in this year too. My dad has an inflatable Zodiac boat and a motor, enabling us to travel by water to the many islands and remote beaches that are otherwise inaccessible by foot – these are great places to explore above and below water. Most days we get up painfully early in the morning to see the beautiful sunrise and go out fishing, then go to bed painfully early in the evening to compensate.
I don’t participate in any Mexican gay nightlife to speak of; most of the nearby villages to places we stay are way too small for a gay bar, and getting away from my dad to visit them would be a challenge all on its own. Some of the Mexican locals and fishermen are hot, but only for the eyes – maybe I’ll steal a photo, but that is the extent of my boldness. I check those thoughts at the border…it is a family holiday after all.
In my youth I sometimes protested my dad’s style of holidaying, I have to say I’ve come to appreciate it now. There are very few places in a city like Calgary where someone can go for solitude. The parks downtown are shared with the homeless if not other city dwellers, and the police (with good reason) think you’re up to no good if you hang around in secluded areas of the city or the suburbs. Even going hiking in Banff or Kananaskis you will frequently bump into other hikers. But it is a special feeling to be able to leave the beaten path, explore, and discover new places that you have all to yourself.
Meanwhile poor Steve, who probably needs a holiday more than I do, is left on his own here in Calgary. He’s understandably a little resentful of me going away, but I have promised him that one of these days we will go together, just the two of us, and he’ll finally get to see these places I always talk about. Considering that I miss him when he goes away for 3 days to Edmonton, I will definitely be thinking about him while I’m in Mexico. It leaves just him to cover Calgary and Edmonton this month, so go easy on him! Luckily I’ll be back to rescue him for Halloween, with our usual mad dash to photograph at all the bars in Calgary and Edmonton.
Anyway, when next you see me I will no doubt be recharged, inspired, and full of tales about my adventure.

Last Month
September kicked off with the 4th Annual Cut-a-thon, which AFQOL Executive Chair Linda Eckess writes was a great success in her letter to the publisher (page 45). This year the event happened at a time Steve and I needed our hair cuts, and so we took advantage of this great opportunity!
As sponsors of the Calgary International Film Fest, Steve and I got to attend a special advance screening of “The Assassination of Jesse James”, starring Brad Pitt. A slightly long movie, but truly fascinating – Brad was hot, and there were definite gay undertones amongst many of the characters.
The movie we co-sponsored with Fairy Tales was “Breakfast with Scot”, the story of a little boy who is so over-the-top gay that even his temporary guardians, a gay couple, are concerned for his safety. Aside from Scot’s wardrobe, Steve and I were reminded a lot of ourselves as children. I was the little boy with the messy hair and uncommonly broad vocabulary, pushed into sports to satisfy his competitive dad; Steve was the little boy that would bake, sew, and sing songs from musicals as he walked to and from school. It’s really ironic how the gay stereotype can be projected onto a child before they even reach sexual maturity. This movie was an excellent comment on the topic.
ARGRA had their Annual General Meeting this month, where they reported record attendance over their July weekend. Rumors of their move from the Symon’s Valley Ranch venue were quashed as they announced their negotiations for another 3-5 year contract. They proudly reported coverage from 16 media outlets from across the country – and in fact the world – including a special on the OUTtv travel series BumpTV which aired just recently. We conducted video interviews with the directors about the success of the event.
Apollo also held their AGM last month, where questions about the success of the OutGames were finally answered. Unlike the Montreal incarnation of the event, Calgary’s OutGames posted a significant profit which yet remains to be divvied amongst the organizations behind the other two sub-events, OutRights and OutFest, which still broke even on their own. We video interviewed re-elected president of Apollo, Brad Bostock, about the positive aftermaths of the event.
ARGRA and Apollo both held volunteer appreciation dances last month. Apollo tried out a new venue that turned out to be a big hit. The Art Space Gallery at the Crossroads Market may seem like a somewhat remote location but really, it is on bus routes, and a 15-20 minute walk from the Eagle. The distance is worth it for the breathtaking venue – a capacity of up to 800 people, classy staging and furniture, lots of parking, high ceilings with no worry of paying union worker fees to hang lighting and banners. There is a lot of room for growth - definitely a venue that other non-profit groups might want to investigate for their own events.
The ISCCA held their Entertainer of the Year Show on the new stage in the Twisted Element Lounge, where I got beaned by a foamy football thrown by none other than Linda Huston. A bit difficult for me to catch with a camera in my hands Linda! Though the person holding the football could win prizes, so I know you had good intentions giving it to me. Matchbox Max performed an interesting routine using stage props to demonstrate the new “Drama Drag” events at Twisted, details yet to be confirmed.
Finally came Bearbash, and the Eagle was packed. There are many faces we only see out for this particular event each year, and it was good to catch up with people. Most notably, contestants in the Mr. Bear competition did a “Bear what you Dare” strip tease, and later had to don frozen wet T-shirts, with the winner being the fastest to get the garment on. Congratulations to the new Mr. Bear 2007…whose name escapes me at the moment, but I’ll be sure to find out. Steve and I were also pretty partial to the contestants that came in 2nd and 4th place (wink), but as camera men we sadly didn’t get to vote.

This Month
The 3rd Annual Straight to Diva fundraiser is happening on the 20th of this month, in support of the HIV Peer Support group. Michelle McDougal from City TV, and Empress 30 Dyna Myte will be hosting the event where we are going to see straight men and women transformed into real live performing drag queens! As with previous years, it is bound to be a hoot! Check out the ad on page 14 for more information.
The Backlot celebrates turning 11 on October 17th, so check out their ad on page 48 for details.
As usual there are lots of events coming up this Halloween. Look for more information in the ads of your favorite bars and non-profit groups.
Magazine Anniversary
Next month GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine turns four years old! As always, November is our Anniversary Edition, but the very next month is another milestone – the 50th edition of the magazine. To think that we have been producing the magazine for 50 months solid…it seems like a lot of months, but almost small for the amount of effort we have put in from the start. We are definitely proud of what we have achieved with the help and cooperation of the individuals, groups, and businesses in the community. For us, November and December will both be months to celebrate.

Cover Meowdel
This month’s cover “meowdel” is Salem. He’s a particularly large black feline who eats furniture (according to our cable guy), and loves getting his back scratched. It was our first time working with an animal for a cover shoot, but Salem was very well behaved. He had a great old time sniffing the branches and rubbing up against the pumpkins and driftwood. Even after the photo shoot, we found him curled up in his spot amongst the foliage.
Special thanks to John from La Fleur who provided us with the props to put together this autumn scene – without his help it would not have been anywhere near as colorful and interesting.

Municipal Elections
As always, we have published an article that explores the views and policies of the election candidates toward the gay community, to be taken into consideration as you vote on October 15th. You are voting, right?
In past years we left it to you to judge based on the responses of the candidates to a short questionnaire. Naturally all candidates are their own biggest supporters, so this time around we assigned the article to Allison who did an impressive job of interviewing and also investigating the candidates.
Scary enough, anyone can run for election as long as they can gather enough signatures from supporters. There are no prerequisites – no “candidate tests” to eliminate the under qualified, unfit, and unworthy. The only test is how many votes they get from people like you. That is why it is extremely important that you do a little bit of research and make your vote count.

Where’s GayCalgary?
Last month I talked about the reason why our magazines are no longer available at Twisted Element, and it appears that will remain the case indefinitely. Needless to say, the owners were not happy with what I had written. In a chance meeting they informed us (in not so many words) that they perceived the article to be slanderous, full of lies, and that they would pursue legal recourse. That is fine because we are confident that what we wrote was not slander when taken in proper context, though god only knows what had reached their ears from the rumor mill. Things seem to have calmed down, and I appreciate that I was still admitted to photograph their events this month without incident.
What we didn’t anticipate was that our little stand would cause so much commotion. While photographing at events throughout Calgary and Edmonton this month, many people complemented us on the magazine and the article. We were of course curious to hear what they thought of the whole situation, and in response many told us about some of their own experiences that seemed consistent with ours. A number of them congratulated us for our bravery in standing up for ourselves (and in a way, the community too); while others were disappointed we didn’t take the opportunity to say more in our own defence. Nonetheless, it was comforting to know there were so many who expressed their continued support for us through this tough situation.
By far it has generated the most feedback we have ever received from an article, but I do get the impression that it was bolstered up to a bit more than it actually was. It only talked about our situation but many people seemed to project their own sentiments between the lines. I think it only had such impact because it was a reversal, even though small and reasonably objective. A second read of the article might be in order to separate what we actually wrote from what people say that we wrote.
Nevertheless, we learned some valuable lessons from the whole experience – ones that have already saved our butts in other situations that cropped up this month. The more we think about it, the more it seems like these lessons were a necessary step in the growth of this magazine. Our press deadlines have been a lot less stressful without extra demands weighing on our minds, leaving additional energy for us to divert toward improving ourselves. As we get into our 4th year of publishing, it feels like we are stepping into the next era of GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine.

GayCalgary Upgrades
Speaking of a new era, we’ve got a couple of changes happening this month. For one, Steve cleaned up the Community Directory in the magazine, cutting down on some of the less prominent and less active community groups that we haven’t heard from in a while, as well as collapsing some subgroups into the listing for their parent organization. They are all still present in the Online Directory and we can easily reinstate any of these groups to the Magazine Directory as the need arises.
The other change is the new GayCalgary.com website, which I partially alluded to last month in mentioning the new photo gallery section. It is soooo close to being finished right now - after getting this magazine to press, I will be scrambling to get the limited version of the new website online as I pack and get ready for my trip. More features will be completed once I get back. The new site will contain an improved online business directory, community events calendar, and tag-searchable photo and video gallery. Sign up for a user account so that you are ready for the interactive features soon to come, such as a GayCalgary.com member profile where you can proudly display the photos that you are in, and even purchase prints of your favorites!
Other exciting features being launched in conjunction with the GayCalgary.com website are for the non-profit groups whose websites we host. Currently we have prototypes of the new events calendar software running on www.gaybanff.com and www.iscca.ca. These are calendars that the non-profit groups can easily administer through a web interface, and their event information becomes available on the main GayCalgary.com Community Events Calendar as they post the information. Soon to come are photo galleries that pull relevant photos for these groups from our own archives, while allowing the groups to post their own photos which remain exclusive to their site.
Needless to say we are very excited to announce all of this. With the help of this new technology developed in-house, we hope to help build a stronger community by keeping people better informed and in touch with what is happening every month.
We want to hear what YOU have to say about the topics in this article, and any other articles in our magazine. Visit the chat forums at www.gaycalgary.com and write your heart out! Or write us a letter to the publisher by E-mailing publisher@gaycalgary.com, and we may respond to it in the magazine!