It's been one whirlwind of a year for us here at GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine. While the time seems like it has gone by too fast, it seems far too easy to forget everything that has happened. Like the ghost of magazines past, this article will take you on a brief tour of the last 12 editions. At any time you can click on the links to visit the magazine or article that is mentioned, for a trip down memory lane, or perhaps to catch up on something that you missed.

We launched the January 2009 edition in style, with a fresh layout looking extra sharp on the glossy colour pages! Most memorable articles in this edition were Bedazzling in Blonde about the play accompanying the Marilyn Monroe exhibit at the Glenbow Museum, and Clue in to the Past, a historical piece about a former Calgary-based LGBT publication.

In February we landed TWO Calgary celebrities on our cover: Miles Faber and Allie Bertram, runners up on So You Think You Can Dance Canada. In an exclusive interview, the freshly anointed stars told us about their experience on the show in So You Think You Can Dance Canada: Miles and Allie make Calgary Proud. Mercedes Allen began her fascinating multi-part series, "A History of Gender Variance in Expression and Identity" with Part 1: Trans Expression in Ancient Times. Meanwhile, the community was shocked by the news of the hit-and-run death of Sandra Casey.

March 2009 featured Edmonton queen Connie Lingua on the cover. While originally wearing pink, thanks to the magic of Photoshop we outfitted her in green to fit St. Patrick's season. We reviewed Joni Mitchell's The Fiddle & The Drum put on by Alberta Ballet, and interviewed Queer as Folk Executive Producer Michael Lewis MacLennan. We discussed the war of words between religious and anti-religious transit advertisers in Buses Are Not Pulpits, and the 27th Anniversary of Apollo Western Cup.

Things started to get really interesting in April 2009, featuring one-on-one interviews with Drag Race host RuPaul, and singer/songwriter Dallas Green - not to mention our special interview with instant superstar Lady Gaga! We also had the LGBT scoop with our coverage of the 2009 Junos! Despite our differences, we gave the Twisted Element a pat on the back for their $50,000 pledge to AIDS Calgary in A Different Way of Giving. And there was much ado about the ISCCA, with the upcoming Coronation (DVDs of the event are still available for sale, contact us for details).

The cast of the Laramie Project hit the cover of May 2009. (An interesting piece of trivia: aside from the November 2008 cover that recapped all of our past covers, May 2009 was the first edition to have someone on our cover for a second time: both Barry Gagliardi, once on the cover as an owner of the Calgary Eagle but now as Director for the production, and James Demers as an actor, who formerly appeared on November 2007 as Allison Brodowsky.) I talked about my drag debut as Tara Hymen during the Tough Drag Show at the tail end of Coronation week. People were outraged over the Alberta Government's decision to delist Gender Reassignment Surgery; Mercedes Allen, Stephen Lock, and Will Sutherland weighed in on the topic. For the first time we began featuring online-only articles, which included a special video-interview with The Pinup Saints, as well as Fairytales takes Two-Spirit Focus.

June 2009 featured Vanessa Williams on the cover with an exclusive interview. The Perry Twins and Pinup Saints got their names in print, and we featured a touching one-on-one interview with music celebrity Bif Naked. The Alberta Government slapped the LGBT community in the face once again with Bill 44, while the community looked forward to the ARGRA Rodeo at its new home in Strathmore. While Edmonton continued their Pride tradition, a new one was born in Lethbridge with the first Lethbridge Pride! Online readers got a big surprise as we launched a new magazine previewing feature on the website, which allowed them to flip through the pages right on the web page for quick reference.

Just like that, infamous issue 69 hit us in July. The cover featured Lethbridge-born Canadian Idol winner Theo Tams who also gave us a one-on-one interview. Other big names in the music industry featured in this edition were Serena Ryder and Xavier Rudd, however, celebrity photographer Mike Ruiz also graced the pages of our magazine.

August had one of those covers that you just wanted to dive into! We published a travel piece on the beautiful Mayne Island Resort, and went behind-the-scenes at the Calgary Zoo and Edmonton Valley Zoo. We announced the upcoming ISCWR Coronation, and our writer Evan Kayne wrote an insightful piece entitled Branding Pride: Is Corporate Sponsorship Progress?

Another sexy (home grown) cover, September 2009 featured Peter wearing a boa...literally...her name is Buffy. It was perhaps the first cover that some had to remove in order to read the magazine, because of their deathly phobia of snakes! Nevertheless a phenomenal shoot, and in theme with our article on Reptiles, and the gays who love them. We interviewed Joyce DeWitt (Three's Company) who was in town for the Stage West production "Married Alive". We discussed the upcoming Calgary and Edmonton AIDS Walks, and published the first part of our special feature, Alberta's Top Ten GLBT Figures.

October had the second part of Alberta's Top Ten GLBT Figures, finally answering the familiar question (for Battlestar Galactica fans anyway), "who is the final five?" Dallas Barnes wrote an eye-opening piece on the growing number of affirming ministries. Evan Kayne delivered another hard hitting article: The Police Service: Are GLBT Trust Issues Unfounded? - despite his positive findings, some community members were still unconvinced.

November was a bombshell edition - not only our 6th Anniversary edition, but Dolly Parton appeared on the cover as part of an exclusive interview with our writer Jason Clevett. We're told that we were the first LGBT publication in Canada to interview Dolly, with many others catching up a whole month later. Our celebrity interviews this edition were numerous, including Jann Arden, Tegan & Sara, FtM Porn God Buck Angel, Three Days Grace, Tori Amos, The Cat Empire, and Lethbridge born Tara-Jean Popowitch who won So You Think You Can Dance Canada - Season 2. Not to be lost in the shuffle, we also talked about Edmonton's Exposure Festival.

Finally, the issue freshest in your mind needs no introduction.

So yes it has been another action-packed year of GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine, and throughout 2009, Alberta's LGBT community saw it first, better (or both) in our magazine! Things can only get better as we continue into 2010. So while others take a break, look for the January 2010 edition of GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine first thing in the new year!