There’s a television program that Steve and I (and many, many others in the gay community) have been following religiously since it first started airing in September of 2006. Ugly Betty speaks to us on a gay front, breaching topics like trans acceptance, faux-mo’s and reverse discrimination, gay youth and family, gay relationships and marriage, and the list goes on. But it also has special meaning to Steve and I, due to its perspective on the publishing industry. Granted we’re not nearly such a large publication as Mode (thank goodness that internal politics are not an issue for us), but we can often liken the outrageous situations to ones that we ourselves have faced in the past, or even now.
A recurring theme that hits closest to home is that of the constant struggle to remain a good person in the presence of the many bad influences, pressures, and extenuating circumstances that seem to come with the territory.
Wilhelmina Slater, the character played by Vanessa Williams who appears on our cover this month, symbolizes everything that we try not to be as people or as a magazine: vain, shallow, selfish, fake, unsympathetic, bitter, greedy, manipulative - and yet she excels at her job because of being this way. In a word, she is a shark - the battle-hardened product of climbing the corporate ladder, and someone who has compromised so much in her ambition to get to where she is that it can never be undone, she has nothing else to fall back on. One wonders if she is the inevitable endpoint for anyone who dedicates themselves to succeeding in this business.
Then there is Betty who we admire and identify with most, the polar opposite of Wilhelmina. She demonstrates that it is possible to move up in the business world without compromising who she is or sacrificing the things that are important to her. She keeps moving forward on her own merits, even though competitors with less honour use her as a springboard to get ahead. She endures merciless taunting from her co-workers Marc and Amanda, and yet she won’t pass up an opportunity to help them, even if it goes unappreciated. She is an outsider because of her appearance, but manages to rally like-minded friends, and serves as a positive influence for those like Daniel Meade who occasionally lose their way. She makes mistakes, and falls victim to trickery, but somehow finds a way to make things right, and owns up when she cannot. She often gets thrust into the middle of bad situations, but she is not afraid to take a stand when she sees something happening that she doesn’t agree with.
The real Vanessa Williams is a talented actress and musician, a friendly and interesting person, and an ally to the GLBT community that we are proud to have on our cover. But the TV villain Wilhelmina Slater reminds us of everything we strive not to become.
GayCalgary Online
Last month we launched a new feature on our website: magazine articles that appear exclusively online. Not only does this offer us better flexibility for publishing time-sensitive topics (especially for months where we’re already packed to the brim with articles), but also new possibilities for multimedia.
In the end, we published a total of 6 online articles last month:
Mother’s Day Gifts from LUSH: Thank your Mom for her Labour…Literally!
The Pinup Saints: Seducing Cowboys Saloon *
Cowboys and Lesbians: New Exhibit Hits Axis Gallery
Carmen & Bolero: Don’t Miss this Alberta Ballet Masterpiece!*
The Human Statues: Indy Rock Band Paving their Own Way
Fairytales takes Two-Spirit Focus
The two articles marked with *’s contain streaming video clips, and most of them contain bonus photos and images. If you haven’t gotten the chance to read them yet online, then you can access them by browsing to last month’s edition, or going directly to: www.gaycalgary.com/i67. You can receive notifications as new articles go online this month by signing up for a GayCalgary.com membership, or by joining our Facebook group.
New Online Features
Our print distribution is just the tip of the iceberg for our publication’s overall readership. Our online reader base has been growing in leaps and bounds over the past year. We estimate that the latest editions of GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine have received an average of 125,000 downloads every month – that’s a lot of people for the little local publication! It has definitely made us more mindful of what we can do to improve the experience for those following us online.
That’s why this month we are happy to launch a new online feature, which we hope will improve ease of access for our online readers – a quick and seamless way to browse the magazine without needing to wait for the whole PDF file to download. Visit the Magazine section this month to try it out for yourself, and tell us what you think. Remember, you saw it here first.
May 2009
Last month most weekends in Edmonton had only single events, which in most cases are not worth the trip and accommodations for Steve. So he got to stay in town most weekends, to the surprise of all those who usually pester me about his absence.
Meanwhile, Karen Hofmann has continued to generously volunteer photographs of Edmonton events that we cannot attend. We really appreciate when community members take the initiative to submit photos when we can’t be present ourselves. On a side note, shows like the ones Karen has photographed are fine because performers are presenting themselves publicly, but candid photos are a slightly different story: we make it a policy to inform people ahead of time where the photos are going so that there are no misunderstandings. If contributors can’t assure us of this, we have to decline publishing the pictures. So if you have the inclination to help out with candid shots when we’re not around, make sure everyone you photograph gives you explicit permission to submit the pictures to us to be published. And also incidentally, giving us photos through Facebook is not helpful whatsoever – we need the original files for print.
Laramie Project, the topic of last month’s cover, did its run in mid-May with great success - organizers informed us that every show was dangerously close to selling out. We knew it would be a tear jerker when we saw the boxes of tissues prominently available at the theatre entrance, and we definitely needed ours. The cast of queer youth did a phenomenal job portraying a staggering range of characters from the town of Laramie, as they spoke about the tragic incident that made their town famous.
Emperor Joey and Empress Bianca named their upper house at Investitures. As is tradition, the positions of Prince and Princess, Duke and Dutchess were appointed to help with fundraising efforts and to serve as back-ups in the event that anyone above them can no longer fulfill their reign. This event was also an opportunity for them to hand out a number of titles to community members. GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine was honoured once again to receive a title this year of “Imperial Gazette”. At one point on stage, Joey mysteriously destroyed a certificate before it could be read.
Strangely, fate brought GayCalgary to number of places outside of our usual domain. I was at Wild Ginger for the “One Night in Bangkok” drag show, where the primarily straight audience was in awe of the fabulous performances by Nina Tron, Justine Tyme, and Bianca LaBouche. It was also a great opportunity to check the place out, especially considering that it is the venue for this year’s Pride Dance. All I can say is I’m definitely excited! Tickets go on sale for it soon, so stay sharp! Several days later, Steve and I accompanied our senior writer Jason to Cowboys to cover the Pin-up Saints performance. It was our first time in the infamous bar, and admittedly we felt a little intimidated…this merely meant that we admired the cowboys from a safe distance.
As I write this, the Fairytales Queer Diversity Film Festival is going on and we’re stuck working – damn! We were present for the opening gala films, “The Island” and “Baby Formula”, which we quite enjoyed. I’m hoping we will get a chance to see some more before the festival is over. I swear, I would try see them all if our press deadline didn’t coincide. If you haven’t swung by yet, and you’re reading this in time to do so, I highly recommend it. I know the selection can seem overwhelming, but in all likelihood you will enjoy just about any of the films – they’re selected because they have fairly wide appeal.
Rumors have been flying about what’s happening with the old Boyztown space since Crazy Horse/The Brickyard bowed out. We’ve been able to ascertain that the space has been leased, and will become Vinyl Retrolounge – an 80’s retro dance club, not necessarily gay but supposedly having gay connections. The name may sound familiar to Edmontonians because you already have a Vinyl Retrolounge – it is owned by the same conglomerate company that brought you PLAY Nightclub! Like it or not, Vinyl will be Oil City Group’s foot in the door of the Calgary bar scene. If you’re looking for a job in the bar industry, it might interest you to try applying at www.vinylretrolounge.com/calgary. We’ll be keeping our ears peeled for more news about this club, and its potential as a gay-friendly venue.
Next Month
Steve and I will be practically living in Edmonton for a good part of June, to cover the hefty itinerary of Pride events (see their ad on page 54 for more details). But don’t forget that Lethbridge is hosting their first Pride celebration this year, so make time to go out and show your support if you can (see the article on page 34). We’re also sponsoring Pride Saskatoon this month – I know it’s out of our scope as an Alberta publication, but sometimes cross-province promotion is important too.
We’re also looking forward to ARGRA at the end of the month. This will be their first year with the rodeo at the new location in Strathmore, and understandably there have been some growing pains. From our point of view things look very promising, but if you are still not satisfied with the new set up, rest assured that the ARGRA board will be looking at solutions for next year. Read more about it on page 30.
Some other notes related to ARGRA:
If you are part of a non-profit group, make sure you make a presence at the Olde Tyme Country Carnival, sponsored by GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine. It’s a one-of-a-kind fundraising opportunity where community groups can charge a small fee for people to participate in a carnival game of their own creation. If you are interested, make sure you contact ARGRA as soon as possible! For more information, visit their website: www.argra.org.
Also, there will be a new shuttle bus running between 5 Hotel in Downtown Calgary (618 – 5th Ave SW) and the rodeo grounds in Strathmore. It is free to ride, but you will need to be waiting at the hotel on time because there are no more than 2 round trips on Saturday and Sunday, and only one on Friday. See the ad on page 45 for more details.
We want to hear what YOU have to say about the topics in this article, and any other articles in GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine. Visit our chat forums at www.gaycalgary.com/forum and write your heart out! Or write us a letter to the publisher by post or by E-mailing publisher@gaycalgary.com, and we may publish or respond to it in the magazine!
