Doors are opening for DJ Citizen Jane and the Miami recording artist wants to keep them that way for future generations. When Modelo put her uncommon path to stardom into an ad for the Mexican beer, Citizen Jane became a crossover hit. Promoters and event organizers suddenly had no problem hiring someone from the LGBT community to headline their “mainstream” shows. “They’re not even thinking of it in that way, which is how it should be,” she said. A campaign for Miami’s professional soccer team soon followed, introducing Citizen Jane to a new audience – the sports world. She hopes her authenticity and fighting spirit will serve as inspiration for up-and-coming female artists. “I want to show them that you can still be yourself and still be successful in whatever it is you choose to do,” she said. Citizen Jane grew up in Hialeah, attended Catholic school and came out at 19. Before entering the music industry, she worked for five years as a police detective. A global traveler and fashion designer, Citizen Jane still makes time to mix music at Pride festivals and serves on the board of directors for Safe Schools South Florida. – JOHN MCDONALD CITIZEN JANE THE DJ Photo courtesy of DJ Citizen Jane. Nicole Alvarez found her passion for the law as a 16-year-old driver. “It was a speeding ticket … I took it to court and I won.” This moment blossomed into a legal career that saw Alvarez prosecuting sex crimes, and litigating finance and insurance cases. Alvarez’s most recent practice focuses on criminal defense, family law, and immigration — three areas she sees as sensitive and needing special attention, particularly when assisting LGBT individuals through harrowing legal processes. Alvarez takes pride in the care she takes with her clients — even her pro bono work — stating, “I do it from beginning to end. Going through a legal case is already scary. [The LGBT community is] always under attack.” Alvarez sees service as a personal duty. “It’s very important to volunteer. It’s so important to help the community … Anyone can do it … just be a good person; be a decent human being. Don’t just skate through life. It’s important — if you are in a position to do so — to make a difference even if it’s just for one person.” This sentiment is evidenced not just in her legal work, but in her commitments as a member of the City of Miami LGBTQ Advisory Board and Board member of Miami Beach Pride. – AMANCIO PARADELA NICOLE ALVAREZ THE CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYER Photo via Law Offices of Nicole Alvarez P.A. Facebook. MIAMI OUT & PROUD 52 | OUTSFL | OUT & PROUD 50 PRESENTED BY OUR FUND FOUNDATION
HORACIO SIERRA THE PROFESSOR As a member of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, Horacio Sierra is tasked with advising President Biden on cultural policy. The appointment, he said, “felt like an acknowledgment of my professional work broadening students’ cultural horizons and promoting the importance of the humanities in a well-rounded education that produces thoughtful, creative and engaged citizens.” Sierra, 39, is a tenured English professor at Bowie State University in Maryland, where he created the first queer studies course at a historically black college. Sierra has also taught courses on U.S. Hispanic literature, popular music, graphic novels and Shakespeare and film. Activism started early for the Miami native. As a teen, he made calls to voters convincing them to stop the repeal of Miami-Dade County’s sexual orientationinclusive human rights ordinance and had opinion pieces published in The Miami Herald. Today, Sierra leads the Cuban American Democrats, using those keen writing skills to refute Communism scare tactics often deployed by Republicans. “I’ve always felt that you had to walk the walk and not just talk the talk,” he said. “Whether it’s testifying at Gainesville City Hall for LGBT people to be treated equally before the law or participating in peaceful Black Lives Matter marches in Coconut Grove, my biggest concern is why more people aren’t doing the same. Complacency is the death knell of democracy.” Sierra married Dallas Clay Williams in 2022 and this year the couple became fathers through surrogacy. – JOHN MCDONALD Photo courtesy of Horacio Sierra. Tired of sitting in traffic? See how transit is getting better Visit PREMO.Broward.org to learn more and tell us your thoughts MIAMI OUT & PROUD OUT & PROUD 50 PRESENTED BY OUR FUND FOUNDATION | OUTSFL | 53
To say Gabe Salazar’s tenure got off to an unusual start is an understatement. He was selected following a national search during some of the darkest days of the pandemic, when singing was viewed as a risky activity that encouraged the spread of the COVID virus. And then his first big performance in December 2021 at Hard Rock Live with the Gay Men’s Chorus of South Florida (GMCSF) was canceled after several members tested positive. A full season into his tenure and the disruptions of the pandemic forgotten, the young conductor is confident about the future of the 150-voice ensemble, which merged this year with the former Fort Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus. “My approach to any new job is to go in and not rock the boat too quickly,” he said. “I did a lot of listening and observing, and now a year later, they trust me and my vision … it’s been a whirlwind in the best kind of way, fun and exciting.” Before finally arriving in Fort Lauderdale, the Texas native completed his education at universities in Arizona and Tennessee, sang with the Chicago Symphony chorus, taught at the college level in California and then headed to Orlando to teach in the schools there for a couple of years. After making the move here, he joined GMCSF to network and hopefully find a job teaching in South Florida. Then the artistic director position with the chorus opened up after just a few months. “I fell in love with the guys right away … and ended up getting the job I thought I’d never get,” Salazar said. - JW ARNOLD GABE SALAZAR THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Photo via Facebook. Ed Sparan works as HIV educator in charge of The PrEP Program at Broward Health. He also does HIV advocacy for the homeless population. Though Sparan’s AIDS work is laudable, many in the community know him for his work in the theater. “In the 1980s I was an actor in New York City which sparked my passion for the theater,” Sparan said. In 1990 he went to San Francisco where he was the Artistic Director for the PWA (Persons With AIDS) Theatre. He then moved to South Florida in 1994 where he was involved as a leather titleholder and worked as a manager for The Public Theatre of South Florida. Sparan was also the Director of the World AIDS Museum and Educational Center for four years. Beyond theater and HIV advocacy he wrestled in the Gay Games in NYC and in Sydney and was Events Coordinator for the 25th Anniversary of Stonewall in New York City. A true Renaissance man, Sparan has written many plays, one of which, For Everhard (about the Everard Baths fire of 1977) won him the Playwrights Sanctuary Award for Outstanding LGBTQ play in 2018. Sparan is proud of his theater company, Epiphany Theater, which for seven years has produced a variety of plays, most recently In Love with the Arrow Collar Man. The theater will soon move to a larger location and will present more productions as well as workshops and classes. “This summer our production of Ciao Mark will be workshopped in Florida and then receive a showcase in New York in October,” he added. This December Sparan will be in Madrid where he will judge the Mr. Spain Leather contest and will present his HIV artwork and book signing at The Triangular Gallery. – JESSE MONTEAGUDO ED SPARAN THE PLAYWRIGHT Photo by Carina Mask. A&E OUT & PROUD 54 | OUTSFL | OUT & PROUD 50 PRESENTED BY OUR FUND FOUNDATION
STEVEN SOME THE ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Unlike most of the retirees who find their way to South Florida, Steven Some has not slowed my expertise and knowledge,” Some added. “It all comes together – educating kids about the Holocaust and the AIDS crisis – teaching them the lessons of both these incredibly horrible chapters in history.” And while these are very important issues, he also makes time for creative pursuits as a board member of the OUTshine Film Festival and, more recently, joining Ronnie Larsen’s POW! (Plays of Wilton) at the Foundry as Media and Advertising Manager. “I’ve always been a supporter of the arts, especially gay theater, so this gives me a creative outlet. We’re really ramping up our media and advertising in a big way and it’s beginning to work,” said Some, who never expected retirement to be so busy – and fulfilling. - JW ARNOLD down one bit. He’s just getting started. For more than 25 years, the New Jersey native ran a large public affairs and government relations firm. And when he wasn’t advising blue chip clients, he served on the board of directors of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. and the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education. “It’s not enough to just write a check,” he said. “There are so many parallels going on in our world today to those terrible events that started in the mid-1920s in Europe. Now is not a time to be sitting and not getting involved.” Some heeded his own “clarion call,” and is now working with a number of South Florida organizations. He volunteered the Broward County committee of Equality Florida and the World AIDS Museum. “I needed to make myself available and provide Photo courtesy of Steven Some. Photo courtesy of Nicole Stodard. “I am a feminist artist, nonprofit leader, educator, researcher, author, and grant writer,” Thinking Cap Theatre Co.’s Artistic Director Nicole Stodard stated unapologetically. “I believe in equality for all and I strive in my life and work to combat ableist, ageist, homophobic, racist, sexist and transphobic stereotypes, ideas, behaviors and policies.” She added, “Feminism is my home. I came to dwell here over the course of several decades of life experiences, sustained graduate and post-doctoral study, and professional praxis in the archives, in the classroom and in rehearsal. A vibrant assemblage of feminist and queer voices has paved the way for my work, and I always keep their writings within arm’s reach.” For more than a decade, Stodard has stuck to those core principles, presenting cutting edge, thoughtful plays, with an emphasis on the kinds of interactive and multimedia theatrical experiences that draw audiences into the action on stage. She believes in breaking boundaries. Her Thinking Cap Theatre has called several venues in Fort Lauderdale home and most recently landed in Dania Beach, as the theater company in residence at Mad Arts, formerly the Gallery of Amazing Things. The 56,000 sq. ft. facility not only serves as an arts incubator, but also offers the kind of completely blank canvas that Stodard’s work fills. “I gravitate towards theater that shakes us and wakes us,” she concluded. - JW ARNOLD NICOLE STODARD THE FEMINIST In her youth, Carol Wartenberg always dreamed of a career on the stage. She pursued roles in school, but eventually, “I realized I had to start working on my career because I wasn’t going to be a great actress … or even a mediocre one.” Wartenberg taught physical education for a few years and went on to became a clinical psychologist, but she never abandoned her love of theater. Nearly four decades later and retired in Wilton Manors, she’s dedicating her energy to creating arts experiences for other women through the Lesbian Thespians. She sought out “every lesbian group and talked to just about everyone in South Florida who does women’s arts,” seeking ideas and drumming up interest. She also created a Facebook group and website. CAROL WARTENBERG THE FOUNDER “I’m not looking to be competitive, but give women choices, things they can do a couple of times a month,” Wartenberg explained, noting that there are only about 25 lesbian bars remaining across the country and South Florida’s LGBT scene already skews heavily towards men. A series of monthly mixers, play readings and spoken word sessions quickly grew and then a year later, the group found a new home at the local arts incubator ArtServe in Fort Lauderdale. This spring, the group presented their first full-length staged production, “The Gospel of Jesus: Queen of Heaven.” “I’m just trying to think outside the box as much as I can,” she said enthusiastically. “It’s just so exciting and the women have been so thrilled to be able to get together in a women’s only space and be comfortable.” - JW ARNOLD Photo courtesy of Carol Wartenberg. A&E OUT & PROUD OUT & PROUD 50 PRESENTED BY OUR FUND FOUNDATION | OUTSFL | 55
BY JOHN MCDONALD Park Ranger Gary Bremen leads a guided tour at Biscayne National Park. Photo by Pete Wintersteen. Q&A with Traveling Ranger Gary Bremen
How long did you work for NPS; what were your titles and where were you stationed? I started working for the National Park Service as a ranger when I was still in college back in 1986. I started my career at Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky, home of the world’s longest cave at well over 400 miles now. Since that was only a summer position, it worked out great to come back and finish my degree in biology from the University of Miami. Once that was complete, I became a seasonal employee that bopped from park to park. I did two winter seasons at Biscayne National Park, a long summer season at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (a really underappreciated area of diverse ecosystems and incredible wildflowers) and then moved to a tiny site called Roger Williams National Memorial in Rhode Island for my first “permanent” position. There I shared early colonial history, especially that surrounding the new idea of “religious liberty for all.” Next up was Everglades National Park, at the Shark Valley District (still my favorite part of that sprawling park). When another position came open at Biscayne National Park, I went back to the saltwater that I love. I spent a lot of time on Biscayne Bay as a child, and there’s something really special about taking care of a place that you knew as a kid. I was at Biscayne for a continuous 27 years, but throughout that time, I had many opportunities to work at other national parks on a short-term basis. Tell us more about those short-term assignments, what did that entail? I used to do a lot of training for the National Park Service, and that meant frequent trips to our main training centers at the Grand Canyon and in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. I had the opportunity to work the lead-up to the New York City Marathon at Gateway National Recreation Area on Staten Island, helped Fire Island National Seashore improve their interpretive program, worked two Independence Day celebrations at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, now called Gateway Arch National Park, spent two weeks helping out at the grand opening of the visitor center at Chicago’s first national park, Pullman National Historical Park, and worked as an interpretive writer for several newer civil rights parks in Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia and Mississippi. Those stories are so important, and I saw many parallels between the African American struggles and those of the LGBT community. What is your favorite park to go camping and why? I’m honestly not much of a camper, and I think way too many people think that national parks are all about camping and hiking, and doing dangerous things in the woods with bears! There are 424 national parks, and most of them don’t have anything to do with those things. Each of them tells a small piece of the American story … a story that continues to evolve. So what you’re saying is our national parks don’t always have to be a grueling test of toughness? People who think that national parks are only about camping and hiking, After three decades as a ranger for the National Park Service, Gary Bremen retired in December. He served the majority of his career in Biscayne National Park close to Miami where he was raised and Wilton Manors, which he now calls home. The Mirror Magazine caught up with Bremen to find out what it was like to be a gay man in the park service and what’s next for the experienced traveler and storyteller extraordinaire. Bremen (left) and Grant Livingston traveled the country doing their “Songs and Stories of Our National Parks” program. They are pictured here at Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park. Photo by Glenn Allman. OUT & PROUD 50 PRESENTED BY OUR FUND FOUNDATION | OUTSFL | 57
and such are really doing a disservice to the places and to themselves. They offer such an incredible opportunity to not only learn the history of an individual site, but also to see how that site connects with other things. I think people who really take the time to visit and understand national parks have a much better comprehension of this nation’s history, and where it fits in with the rest of the world. Ok, back to your favorites, you’ve gotta have a few? I am fortunate to have visited 270 out of the 424 national parks. My favorites? I’d be dishonest if I didn’t say Biscayne was number one. Number two is kind of a hard call, but if I was pinned down I would absolutely say Katmai National Park in Alaska. Most people probably don’t recognize that name, but images of the park are quite common in all kinds of advertising. It’s the place where there’s a little 6-foot-high waterfall that during the month of July – the salmon run – bears stand on the lip of that waterfall, catching salmon as they swim upstream. People love the national parks for seeing wildlife, but that wildlife is often just a fleeting glimpse. At Katmai, you can stand for hours and watch the bears’ feed. You start to recognize their habits, and you can predict what they’ll do next. It’s absolutely extraordinary. Is there a memorable moment from your career that stands out to you? Many. I think the many relationships that I made as a ranger have to be near the top though. I started a lot of programs at the park. Family Fun Fest ran for 20 years, and some of the kids that I met as five- and six-year-olds in that program have since invited me to their school plays, their graduation parties, their weddings. Artists who’ve shown in the gallery I started at the park have gone on to bigger and better things. Biscayne National Park will always be special for them, and I’m proud that I helped facilitate that lifelong connection. In what way did being a gay man inform your career? Though I knew exactly who I was from an early age, I didn’t come out until I was almost 30. I knew other rangers who were gay, but nobody ever talked about such things. I decided to come out during a tearful morning watching the sun rise over a snowy Grand Canyon, a story I’ve recounted many times in a program that I do call “Songs and Stories of Our National Parks.” It was just 14 months later that I took the man who would eventually become my husband to that same snowy canyon, but on the opposite side. Roger was there with me when we marched at the front of the New York City Pride Parade days after President Obama named Stonewall National Monument as the newest national park, and again when employees, partners and volunteers from all four south Florida National Parks marched in the Stonewall Parade in Wilton Manors last June, the first time any of the parks had ever participated in a Pride event. Do you think coming out at work made a difference? As many LGBT people have learned, telling our own coming out stories can help others create their story. The fact that mine is so intimately tied to the national parks meant that it was appropriate for me to tell that story as part of my work … in uniform. Seeing how that has impacted people … gay kids, parents of lesbian kids, people who never knew anyone gay, and even people who came to realize that their own treatment of gay people was not as kind as it could have been … makes me feel that what I did for 36 years really did make a difference. If you could change anything about the NPS what would that be? I wish the agency would worry less about doing things right, and more about doing the right thing, which is something my old boss Bob Showler used to say all the time. It’s true. Some folks are just so wrapped up in paperwork and pettiness that they have totally forgotten the amazing resources under our care, and how exposing people to those resources can be absolutely life changing. What are your plans for retirement? Well, I have 154 of the 424 national parks that I’ve never visited, and that is what I chose to do on my first day of retirement by visiting Cumberland Island National Seashore off the Georgia coast. I am creating a “brand” (The Traveling Ranger) that will include a website offering travel advice and consulting. I am also looking forward to continuing to help people connect to their national parks through storytelling, speaking engagements, and perhaps even enrichment talks on cruise ships. Will you stay involved locally? I’ll continue to volunteer at Abandoned Pet Rescue in Fort Lauderdale as I have for the past four years. And don’t be surprised if I’m soon back at Biscayne National Park now and then, guiding a walk or a boat trip for the Biscayne National Park Institute … this time on my own terms, and without the interference of the Hatch Act! Bremen and spouse Roger Boone were married at Jones Lagoon in Biscayne National Park on paddleboards on their 20th anniversary together in 2018. Photo by Mike Guido. 58 | OUTSFL | OUT & PROUD 50 PRESENTED BY OUR FUND FOUNDATION
Visit our website to learn more CFBROWARD.ORG/BE-BOLD “Partnering with the Community Foundation of Broward empowers me to make a BOLD impact for the community I love. As a longtime philanthropist and LGBTQ activist, my new endowed charitable funds at the Community Foundation are broadening the scope and amplifying the impact of my giving. Grants in my name develop future leaders, break down barriers to success and shape a community where everyone is treated with equity. I love that my endowed support is the gift that keeps on giving, long after I’m gone. With the Community Foundation as a partner, my BOLD impact never ends.” YOU CAN BE BOLD, LIKE PHILANTHROPIST MONA PITTENGER CF Mirror ad Mona 8.5 x 11 final.indd 1 10/4/22 11:33 AM
BY GREGG SHAPIRO Whether out singer/songwriter Amy Ray is performing with longtime musical partner Emily Saliers as one half of the Indigo Girls, as she has since the mid-1980s, or going solo as she did with her solo debut “Stag” in 2001, you can recognize her instantly. Her distinctive vocal style, which suits whatever genre she’s performing – folk, punk, Americana, or gospel – has become as much her trademark as the outspokenness of her lyrics. “If It All Goes South” (Daemon), Ray’s exceptional seventh solo album is a welcome addition to her singular output, touching on themes of queerness and social issues, all performed in her warm and welcoming manner. Amy was gracious enough to make time to talk about the new album around the time of its release. Riding the Joy Train with Amy Ray Photo by Sandlin Gaither
GREGG SHAPIRO: Before we get to your new album “If It All Goes South,” I wanted to go back in time a little bit. Your 2001 solo debut album “Stag” and its 2005 follow-up “Prom” are firmly rooted in a punk rock/riot grrrl aesthetic. While the Indigo Girls are more than capable of rocking out, did you feel that the songs on those albums wouldn’t have been a good fit for what you do with Saliers? AMY RAY: Yes. I think it was because of two things. One was the collaborators. Those were people I’m a fan of, most of them are people that Daemon Records (Ray’s record label) had an association with, in some way or another. It was kind of like this other camp of people that were different from the collaborators that the Indigos would typically play with. It tended to be more studio accurate, in some ways. As opposed to that punk rock ethic which is music being from a different place, and accuracy maybe being less important than technical prowess. GS: A little more DIY. AR: Yeah! And I also think the subject matter, the songs were just a little more singular in a way that was hard to do them as the Indigo Girls and not dilute the message. As soon as you get us together, we really shift the other person’s song, it becomes a duet. The subject matter to me was so specific and gender queer and punk rock edge, that it didn’t feel like it would work. At that time, when I wrote [the song] “Lucy Stoners,” Saliers wasn’t interested in doing some of those songs. She wasn’t down with the attitude. Now, she would say, I’m sure just knowing her, that [laughs] she’d do it now. Because her attitude has changed. I was hanging out with and influenced by people that were from that DIY movement, and there was lots of gender queer conversation. It was a different place than Saliers was in as a gay person. Saliers can play any song [laughs] and I know. Now, I look back on all of it and I think I was, all the time, reaching around to different collaborations because I love collaborating with different kinds of people. It always teaches me something. It’s also a different itch that I get scratch. GS: In terms of trajectory, to my ear, your most recent three solo albums – 2014’s “Goodnight Tender,” 2018’s “Holler,” and the new one, “If It All Goes South” (Daemon) – in addition to being alphabetically titled, feel like an Americana trilogy. Do you consider them to be linked? AR: Yeah. I mean I didn’t say to myself, “This is the third one and then I’ll stop.” But “If It All Goes South” was definitely a record where there was a thread from the other ones and some things that I wanted to achieve that I didn’t feel like I was able to do on the other ones. I think I didn’t even know that until we started making this one. This is more successful at combining a few of my punk-abilly influences into an Americana world. Also, some of that spontaneity we were starting to get on “Holler.” Now that we’ve played together as long as we have as a band, it was at its peak on this record. I think we just needed to make a couple of records to get to that place. I like them all, but for different reasons. They do different things for me. This one gathers up all the loose ends of “Holler” and “Goodnight Tender” musically and ties them up and puts them in a different context, and almost raises the bar. Lyrically, I wanted to have songs that were about healing, a “you’re not alone” kind of vibe, because of the time period that we had just been through. It’s also the same producer [Brian Speiser] on all three, and we’ve worked together on projects. It started off casually – “Hey, I’ve been wanting to do this country record with these songs. Let’s do this together.” We also had Bobby Tis, who had engineered the last one, and mixed this one. That made the whole experience like a closed loop in a good way. Because he engineered and mixed it, he got to bring his own sounds to fruition. We also went full-tilt on the tape, where the last two records we had, for budget reasons, had to transfer everything to Pro Tools and then mix in a Pro Tools session, and then transfer it back to half-inch tape. Trina [Shoemaker] did that. But this time we mixed to tape. GS: Am I reading too much into the album’s title “If It All Goes South,” or is it a play on words, as in “goes south” as a direction and as deterioration? AR: You’re not reading too much into it. There’s even more you can read into it, politically. When I was writing [the song] “Chuck Will’s Widow,” Georgia was the epicenter of some big political movement. When Warnock got elected and Abrams declared running for governor again, I was like, “Oh man, I’m in the right place for once.” But we knew it wasn’t always going to be easy. My perspective in that song was a couple things. “If it all goes South, count it as a blessing, that’s where you are.” Yes, it’s directional, and also like, if things get really shitty, try to make the best of it, of course, it’s what you tell your kids all the time. GS: As any Indigo Girls fan or follower of your solo output knows, you have a history of playing well with others, in addition to Saliers, “If It All Goes South” is no exception with guest vocalists including Brandi Carlile (“Subway”), H.C. McEntire (“Muscadine),” Allison Russell (“Tear It Down”), Natalie Hemby (“From This Room”), and the trio I’m With Her (“Chuck Witt’s Widow”). When you begin the recording process for an album do you have a wish list of musical guests or how does that work? AR: I usually have a wish list when I’m writing the song. Alison Brown, she’s part of the band, so I always think about her banjo playing when I’m writing. She doesn’t tour with us, but she’s in the band. I started writing “From This Room” a long time ago, and I started writing it as a duet. I didn’t have anybody in mind at that point, but I hadn’t finished it yet. When I was finishing it for the record, I had just seen Natalie Hemby with The Highwomen and had also just had met her and Emily writes with her sometimes. So, I knew her and I was thinking about her voice. When I wrote “Subway,” in part, in tribute to [the late DJ] Rita Houston, who had been so crucial. She and Brandi Carlile were super close. She really helped develop Brandi’s career in being such an indicator station, getting other people on board. So, I was thinking about Brandi and the chorus vocals that would be there because I was writing kind of an ambitious chorus for me [laughs]. I’m like, “I’m gonna have to have Brandi in here!” For “North Star,” that kind of gospel song at the end, when I wrote it and Jeff Fielder, the guitar player, and I were demoing it, I was like, “This is not right. There’s another ingredient. I don’t know enough about the kind of music I’m trying to write to do it.” I got Phil Cook to come in, as a co-writer really, to finish the song musically. Fill out the chords and make it the gospel song I was trying to write. The only person I wanted to do OUT & PROUD 50 PRESENTED BY OUR FUND FOUNDATION | OUTSFL | 61
this was Phil Cook. I am just very specific. Like Sarah Jarosz -- on this record in particular I wanted to get a mandolin player and I wanted Sarah to play mandolin. We’re always covering the parts ourselves. Jeff’s a great mandolin player, but Sarah Jarosz is a fucking prodigy [laughs]. Jeff’s a prodigy on the guitar. He could play any instrument, including a great mandolin, but he’ll say he’s no Sarah Jarosz. It’s like I envisioned who would be this group of people that would be together live. It’s never like a wish list of, “Who’s famous? Who can we get?” It’s more a case of who are these songs geared towards, so that when they come into the studio, you don’t tell them anything, really. They just do what they do great, and it works. GS: You mentioned the late, queer, influential WFUV DJ Rita Houston, and I was wondering what you think the loss of Houston means for new artists? AR: It’s a huge hole in the universe of people that would take a new artist and sort of help develop them, take chances at radio, and give people that space. She also was a mentor to artists. She wasn’t ever judging your art by whether you were gay or not, or what color your skin was. If the song wasn’t a fit for the station, she would tell you why. It wouldn’t have anything to do with whether you’re this or that. If it was a fit, it also didn’t have anything to do with this or that. She was a mentor in shared musicality. Being able to trust her and understanding how that taught you about the terrain that you’re in and who you can and can’t trust in that way. The people that one day build you up and the next day cut you down because of your politics or who your audience is; those are not the people to look to for advice. Someone like Rita, who you can trust, was a very important barometer for the other kind of people you should be looking for. All of a sudden you find this human and you’re like, “Oh, that’s the way it’s supposed to be.” I’m going to make sure that when I’m moving through this musical ecosystem, the people that I try to be around and get to know and trust and look up to are like Rita Houston. Without that, the younger musicians have one less person in that arena who was a huge influence on so many people, and so many people in the radio and journalism worlds. You can’t fill her shoes. You have to hope that there’s enough other people out there that were influenced by her, that came up through the ranks that can do what she did and share that mantle. GS: “Subway” ends with the line “This Georgia girl has got it bad for New York.” With that in mind, could there be an Amy Ray or Indigo Girls musical on Broadway at some point in the future? AR: [Big laugh] That’s Saliers’ territory. She’s working on some things. A couple of different musicals, and I’m not working on them with her. She’s developing two different ones, and I think one of them has actually gotten some traction and some workshopping that’s pretty important. There is a musical that a friend of mine from high school has been writing that’s really interesting and it’s gotten a lot of workshops. It’s still in the early stages. It uses Michelle Malone’s music and my solo music. Then there’s a movie coming out called “Glitter and Doom” which is a movie musical that’s just Indigo Girls music. It’s coming out next year, I think. We’re still working on the final credits’ song. GS: After the current Indigo Girls tour wraps up, is there a possibility of an Amy Ray solo tour? AR: Yeah. We’re booking dates in February for the South. I’ve tried touring in cold places in February, and it’s hard [laughs]. We’ll head up to the North in May. PHOTO BY SANDLIN GAITHER 62 | OUTSFL | OUT & PROUD 50 PRESENTED BY OUR FUND FOUNDATION
Do you like sleeping in on the weekends? Many of us look forward to staying under the covers on our Saturdays and Sundays, especially after a late night or a long week. The extra shuteye helps us recover from missed sleep during the week. Or so we think. Unfortunately, this kind of inconsistent sleep pattern has consequences for our health – from our relationships to our diet, and, perhaps most importantly, our heart. And trying to catch up on the weekends doesn’t seem to help. According to a new study published in February, sleep irregularity and atherosclerosis are linked. Atherosclerosis is a condition where plaque — cholesterol, fats and other substances – build up along the arterial walls. This plaque can reduce the flow of oxygen to critical organs, ultimately leading to a heart attack or stroke. How can your sleep patterns affect your arteries? Our bodies remain busy, even while we sleep. Throughout the night, our heart and respiration rates change. Our metabolism slows down, conserving energy. Blood pressure rises and falls. Hormones release to help repair cells and restore energy. The brain stores new information and rids itself of toxins. Even nerve cells get busy, talking to each other and reorganizing to support healthy brain functions. These processes support many of the functions our bodies handle on a daily basis — from helping repair muscles to supporting our emotional health. Good sleep also can improve insulin regulation and strengthen our immune system. It even supports weight management efforts. If you’re not getting enough sleep — or if your sleep schedule is irregular — you’re depriving your body of these benefits and putting yourself at risk for all sorts of conditions, including metabolic disorders, diabetes, heart disease and obesity. The studies linking poor quality and irregular sleep to these conditions have been piling up for years. Consider one from 2019 on sleep and metabolism. In the study, researchers split a group of 36 people into three groups for a two-week experiment: the first group slept up to nine hours a night; the second was allowed only five hours of sleep, and the third slept five hours during the week but could sleep late on the weekends. Participants in the second and third groups gained weight and had reduced insulin sensitivity, both risk factors for type 2 diabetes. That’s in just two weeks! Imagine the impact if they had kept up their poor sleep schedule. So back to how this can affect our heart health. Earlier studies have tied poor sleep patterns to high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, depression, asthma and obesity, which all negatively impact the heart. The new study didn’t look just at a lack of sleep but at irregular sleep, as well. Participants who had irregular sleep schedules were more likely to have a coronary artery calcium score above 300, which is associated with a higher risk of heart attack. They were also more likely to have an abnormal ankle-brachial index, which can indicate narrowing or blockage of blood vessels that carry blood from your heart to your legs. Both indicate atherosclerosis. How do you lower this risk? Start by getting more sleep and sleeping more regularly. Guidelines from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention recommend that you sleep at least seven hours a night if you’re 18 to 60. If you’re older, you may need seven to nine hours. I like to sleep in on weekend mornings as much as the next person. Just don’t let those sleep-ins be a substitute for the sleep you should be getting every night. THE WELLNESS CORNER THE BENEFITS OF GETTING A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP EVERY NIGHT BY PIER ANGELO 64 | OUTSFL | OUT & PROUD 50 PRESENTED BY OUR FUND FOUNDATION
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Pictured: Bitch. Photo by Kelly Davidson Studio. Image via bitchmusic.com. 66MAGAZINE
ADVENtURE Alpine S witzerland is known for many things, Heidi, fondue, cuckoo clocks, and skiing. It also has a strong LGBT community. Believe it or not, all these things coalesce in Arosa Gay Ski Week. The annual gathering is very popular in Switzerland, but mostly unheard of outside of the country, even among skiers. Switzerland’s tourism department wants to change that, and recently welcomed a group of American travel writers to promote LGBT tourism in Switzerland, as well as Arosa’s gay ski week. After arriving in Zurich on a Swiss Air flight from Miami the members of our junket are handed a jam-packed week-long itinerary. In addition to Arosa ski week, we have tours of Lausanne, Bern, and Zurich. All the while staying at fivestar hotels and dining at top-rated restaurants. It was a nice break from the heat and humidity in sunny Florida. Bad Ragaz, Grand Resort Bad Ragaz Hannes Heinzer Fotografie / Schweiz Tourismus BY RICK KARLIN
f Gay Ski Week Tschuggen Grand Hotel Arosa Fabio Zurmuehle from the Swiss Tourism meets the junket members at the airport and hands us our Swiss Travel Pass, which is fabulous way to tour the country. It allows unlimited travel by bus, boat, and train and includes premium panoramic trains, as well as local public transportation in more than 90 towns and cities as well as free admission to more than 500 museums. The phone app that comes with the pass also alerts you to nearby sights and landmarks. It’s like having your own tour guide 24/7. We immediately hop on a train to Lausanne and thanks to the city’s efficient Metro system, we’ve barely had to step outside until we come to the stop closest to our hotel, the Lausanne Palace. A grande dame of a building, it first opened in 1915 and whispers old world luxury. Rooms are large and charming, especially for an older hotel. After we check in, we have an hour or so to settle into our rooms and enjoy the stunning views of the sun setting across the lake in France (Evian), with more mountains in the distance. A short walk along the lakefront takes us to La Couronne d’Or, a landmark cafe in the city since 1895. You can almost feel the history. After dinner we take the Metro to The Moxy Hotel which hosts a weekly “Oh My Gay” Sunday tea dance. The DJ leans heavily on old school ‘70s and ‘80s disco hits. The next day, we visit to the Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts and lunch at Café de Grancy, followed by a guided tour of the city. There’s just a bit of time to recharge and we’re off for dinner at Brasserie de Montbenon. The next morning, we check out of the hotel and store our bags before heading out to the Olympic Museum. If you are a fan of the Olympics, there is much to appreciate here. We then hop a train for a day trip to Bern. Our first stop is a delightful lunch at the Restaurant Falken with Nik Eugster, from the EuroGames, and Michael Nägele, from Pink Alpine, who explained plans for the EuroGames taking place in Bern in July eurogames2023.ch. After lunch, we head for a guided tour of a unique exhibit at the Natural Historic Museum of Bern. “Queer – Diversity is in our Nature” shows how “normal” the gender spectrum can be. Given the atmosphere in the U.S. now, it was a joy to see children as young as 5 years old being taken through the exhibit by their parents. We hopped the train back to Lausanne, where we pick up our luggage and transfer to another train to Zurich. A two-hour train ride gives us an opportunity to rest in our first-class car. Our Zurich home is the five-star Dolder Grand, perched on a mountain ledge on the edge of the city. A short walk from the train brought us to the funicular (a cross between a tram and an escalator), which takes us up the mountain to the elegant hotel. With its elevated location, it provides magnificent views over Zurich, the lake, and the Alps. It is one of Zurich’s most famous landmarks. We settle into our rooms and the reconvene at the hotel’s award-winning Restaurant Saltz for dinner. The next day’s activities included a tour of the National Museum of Zurich, lunch at Restaurant Hiltl (founded in 1898, which claims to be the oldest vegetarian restaurant in the world), and a walking tour of the city culminating in a climb to the top of Karlstower of the Grossmünster Church (187 stairs!) In the evening, a ride down the funicular and a trolley delivers us to the trendy Restaurant Markthalle, a delightfully casual bistro tucked underneath a stone bridge. After dinner we grabbed a nightcap at Heldenbar, which looked exactly as you would imagine a gay club in Europe to look. Lots of eccentrically dressed, unbearably thin folks, with severe make-up and interesting eyewear. The next morning, we were on to our main destination, Arosa. We bundled up and headed to the train station. A short ride on one train takes us to our connection for Arosa, home of gay ski week. We relax and dish during the nearly three-hour train ride up the mountain to Arosa. 68 | OUTSFL | OUT & PROUD 50 PRESENTED BY OUR FUND FOUNDATION
Arosa Gay Ski Week, Facebook. Courtesy of Swiss Tourism board. Zach Zane Adobe Gay Ski Week Gay Ski Week OUT & PROUD 50 PRESENTED BY OUR FUND FOUNDATION | OUTSFL | 69
Photo credit: Alec White. There we are met by the hotel’s shuttle and taken even farther up the slope to the Tschuggen Grand Hotel. A haven high above everyday life with 128 colorful rooms and a unique view of the Arosa mountains. Tschuggen’s Bergoase spa, designed by architect Mario Botta, is a Swiss landmark. After we check in to our luxuriously appointed rooms (certainly worthy of its five-star rating), I join my junket buddies for our ride to the Tschuggenhütte, a sunny terrace, right in the middle of the ski area, where we enjoy a light lunch. Arosa Gay Ski draws more than 600 participants. There is something for everyone, even non-skiers. Classical music concerts, sunbathing at the Tschuggen hut, and après-ski, pool, ice-skating and disco parties! Event passes are geared for everything from a full week of activities to day passes. Every day there are different culinary restaurant suggestions to make your stay even more enjoyable. With more than a dozen gay-friendly partner hotels, weekly rental apartments and chalets there’s something for every wallet. The next item on our agenda is listed as “short stroll on a prepared winter trail” to the gondola station. The “trail” of compacted ice and snow and rises at a 40-degree incline for about 500 feet. We made it to the big gondola at the Weisshorn summit, the highest peak in the Arosa region that can be reached by cable car. It’s 8,704 feet above sea level. For perspective imagine seven Empire State Buildings stocked atop one another. Maybe I complained a bit too much about Florida’s heat and humidity. At least the air has oxygen. Lovely views, but I was distracted by the cute snow bunnies, many of whom dress in little more than underwear. I also marveled as I watched a man ski down the mountain with a parasail on his back. About halfway down the slope he unleashed the sail, took off over the trees and wove back and forth in the skies. The fondue dinner at Restaurant Burestübli in the Hotel Arlenwald is one of the most popular events of Gay Ski week. As we share mulled wine in the cozy village gathering place, language differences don’t prove a problem and soon we are chatting with other tables and passing food and wine back and forth. After dinner everyone piles out onto the streets which have been cleared for a sledding event. I had fantasies of me sitting in a sleigh, all comfy and warm. Oh, no! These are little rickety wood sleds no more than a few inches off the ground. Hundreds of alcohol-impaired folks rocketed down an icy street. All I could see in my mind were those commercials for old people with brittle bones. I passed and took a bus back to the hotel. To the best of my knowledge, there were no disasters. The big event the next day was the Ski Drag Race. Normally, everyone takes a snow shuttle up to the Carmenna mountain hut for the race, but a lack of snow the night before meant that those wanting to watch from the top of the mountain and mingle with the queens would have to hike a mile and a half up to the summit. I’ve seen drag queens. I’ve seen snow. I can imagine them together. I passed on the hike and the up-close look. Our last night in Arosa was capped off with dinner in the cozy Alpenblick mountain restaurant. To get to Alpenblick, guests take a shuttle up to a trail near the end of the town. Then board a snowmobile “bus” that takes groups of six along twisting paths with steep drop offs, to the top of the peak. Inside Alpenblick the staff was warm and friendly and the five-course meal is presented in an unusual style; any course can serve as a main and other tailored accordingly. Wine flowed liberally and we only left because the last shuttle was scheduled and we had to get back to change for the White Snowball farewell party at Haus Kursaal, featuring a “Heels on Ice” drag show, lasers, hot dancers, and famous international DJs. Saturday morning, we checkout out of the hotel, grabbed a shuttle to the train station for a two-hour ride down the mountain to Bad Ragaz and our last night in Switzerland. Talk about the cherry on the cake! All the hotels we stayed at were five-star rated, but The Grand Resort Bad Ragaz, is also home to one of the best healthcare centers in Europe and offers a unique health and spa experience in addition to the luxury of a five-star resort. It’s been around since 1242 and is where the world’s wealthiest people come to relax, recover, and rejuvenate. As an added surprise and the perfect ending to our trip, we were each treated to use of the private spa and a signature aroma-therapy massage. The following morning, we checked out of the hotel and boarded a train back to Zurich. A couple of transfers later we were at the airport about take home a lifetime of memories and a suitcase full of “ dirty laundry. LOVELY VIEWS, BUT I WAS DISTRACTED BY THE CUTE SNOW BUNNIES, MANY OF WHOM DRESS IN LITTLE MORE THAN UNDERWEAR. ” Lausanne, Olympic Museum Courtesy of Swiss Tourism board. 70 | OUTSFL | OUT & PROUD 50 PRESENTED BY OUR FUND FOUNDATION
BY LARRY PRINTZ The Acura Integra Returns for 2023 – Thank Goodness I t was Oscar Wilde who said, “Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.” For Acura, experience is the ILX, the moniker the automaker slapped on its compact luxury sedan for well over a decade. Little more than a Honda Civic with airs, this snotty boy never won the affection of those who had loved the Acura Integra, which the ILX replaced. But the Integra, along with the Legend, are two of Acura’s most beloved and iconic nameplates. But rather than build on the marketing magic these names bring with it, Acura has continued to used names consisting of letters that mean nothing. Thankfully, management has seen through its self-induced delusional – at least momentarily – to revive the Acura Integra, which arrives for 2023 to replace the aging, unloved ILX. A mix of new and classic, the new Integra is no exercise in nostalgia. The Integra reappears as a five-door hatchback based on the all-new 2022 Honda Civic, with an engine borrowed from the Civic Si. And while it’s still very much the sporty plaything, it lacks the overt juvenile silliness that sullies the appearance of some Civic models. Yet it still has the Integra’s trademark sloping rear backlight and generous amounts of glass, just like the original. But its design is contemporary and fresh. That said, if there’s any part of the car that truly screams Civic, it’s the cabin. It’s certainly a step up from the Civic, but not much of one. And it still possesses an infotainment system with a clunky user interface, which seems to be a Honda tradition. But there’s plenty to like here, such as a well-assembled cabin with roomy front seats. The test car trim level, the A-Spec, has faux suede seat trim and 12-way power adjustment for the driver’s throne. CARS
2023 Acura Integra Base price: $32,495-$36,895 Engine: Turbocharged 1.5-liter DOHC VTEC four-cylinder Horsepower/Torque: 200/192 pound-feet EPA fuel economy (city/highway): 29/36 mpg Fuel required: 91 Octane Length/Width/Height: 185.8/72/55.5 inches Ground clearance: 5.1 inches Curb weight: 3,109 pounds When it comes time to move, all Integras get the same powerplant, a 1.5-Liter 16-valve double-overhead-cam VTEC turbocharged four-cylinder engine rated at 200 horsepower and 192 pound-feet of torque. A continuously variable automatic transmission is standard; a six-speed manual transmission and a limited-slip differential are optional on the Integra A-Spec. Front-wheel drive is standard; all-wheel drive is not offered. Opting for the Technology Package adds wireless smartphone integration, a Wi-Fi hotspot, wireless charging, AcuraLink Connected Services, extra USB ports, a 5.3-inch head-up display, a 9-inch infotainment touchscreen with integrated Alexa (a 7-inch display is standard), and a 16-speaker premium audio system with Sirius XM satellite radio. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard. That said, the Integra may not be as fast as you expect; reaching 60 mph takes about seven seconds. Those looking for more under the hood – and who doesn’t like that – should hold off until the Type S arrives sometime this summer. But for the rest of us, the Integra doesn’t disappoint, with a lively, nimble, tossable personality thanks to its direct, finely balanced steering and well-controlled road manners. It’s good, it was named the 2023 North American Car of the Year and earned the highest possible safety rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. There’s little doubt that it’s a significantly better car than the generic ILX, and bears a name that is so meaningful to so many people. Then again, experience is the best teacher. Larry Printz is an automotive journalist based in South Florida. He can be reached at [email protected]. Photos via acuranews.com.
& BY JESSE MONTEAGUDO Me Mr. Preston
Though AIDS has affected every profession, it has been particularly devastating to the arts. AIDS has killed more talented people than any historical event since the Holocaust. One of the brightest literary lights to be taken from us by AIDS was a personal and artistic favorite of mine. Perhaps our most prolific gay writer, John Preston (1945-1994) wrote or edited a total of 26 queerthemed books, not to mention a series of “straight” adventure novels written under a pseudonym. From 1983 to 1984 Preston emerged on the scene with the book version of his SM cult classic Mr. Benson (which originally appeared in Drummer); the novel Franny, Queen of Provincetown; I Once Had a Master, the first of his Master Series; and Sweet Dreams, the first of six volumes in the Mission of Alex Kane series. This impressive literary output inspired me to honor Preston, in my syndicated “Book Nook” column, “Author of the Year” for 1984. I wrote him a letter to that effect, and he graciously replied, thanking me and supplying me with a photo and personal facts for my article. My “Author of the Year” article was the start of a literary friendship between John Preston and myself. I continued to send Preston clips of my reviews and he returned the favor by sending me review copies of his books, news notices and his always delightful Christmas cards. It was about this time that Preston learned he was HIV+, which led to a temporary halt in his prolific writing schedule. Fortunately for literature, Preston resumed his writing career as the editor of Hot Living (1985), a safe sex fiction anthology, and Personal Dispatches: Writers Confront AIDS (1989). The publication of Personal Dispatches led to Preston’s first appearance at the Miami Book Fair, as moderator of a panel of the same name that featured contributors Larry Duplechan, Andrew Holleran, Paul Monette and Edmund White. Preston’s participation in the AIDS literary panel gave me the opportunity to meet my idol face to face for the first time. From the audience, Preston cut a formidable figure, while in person I found him to be both stern and serious, jovial and friendly, a literary lion at ease among his subjects. Though Preston’s health declined steadily during his final years, his spirits were sustained by his prodigious writing, his speaking engagements, and his involvement with a series of young, literary proteges. A native of Medford, Massachusetts, Preston chose to live out his final decade in Portland, Maine, where he was active in the local LGBT and AIDS communities. Preston’s community consciousness is evident in The Big Gay Book (1991), a still useful, in-depth resource for gay males everywhere that truly lived up to its name. One of John Preston’s literary projects at that time was the anthology Hometowns: Gay Men Write About Where They Belong (1991). John encouraged me to contribute to Hometowns, which allowed me to discover another facet of his complex personality. As anthology editor, Preston was the consummate professional, quick to point out the weak spots in his contributors’ essays while at the same time sensitive enough not to hurt our feelings when doing so. Preston’s work as anthologist provided many gay writers with an opportunity to express ourselves, and launched many a literary career. The publication of Hometowns led to John Preston’s second appearance as moderator of a panel at the Miami Book Fair. This time I had the honor to be in the panel, along with contributors Andrew Holleran, Christopher Bram, Steven Saylor and Bob Summers. For me the high-light of that weekend was not the panel itself but the opportunity to socialize with John and the other panelists, not to mention the hangers-on who came by to shine in the reflection of his light. Accompanied by a 19-year-old “protege,” no doubt a literary perk, John dominated that weekend’s cocktail party and dinner conversations as masterfully as he did the panel, always allowing the rest of us to say our piece and have our moments of glory. I was not to see Preston again until May of 1993, when he returned to Miami to receive a well-deserved Lambda Literary Award as editor of the anthology Member of the Family: Gay Men Write About Their Families. This essay originally appeared, as “Visions of Preston,” in LOOKING FOR MR. PRESTON: A CELEBRATION OF THE WRITER’S LIFE edited by Laura Antoniou, Richard Kasak Book, 1995. Cover of Mr. Benson (1983) Image via amazon.com OUT & PROUD 50 PRESENTED BY OUR FUND FOUNDATION | OUTSFL | 75
A self-styled “pornographer,” Preston was proud of his erotic fiction. As Preston himself wrote, “For many other gay men [myself included] pornographic writings were how we learned the parameters of our sexual life. We could have more than a simple ejaculation with a nameless partner if we wanted. Pornography was how we developed our fantasies, both sexual and emotional.” Much of “the dark lord’s” gayrotic fiction was the product of his final years, when he defied the sexual negativity of AIDS with his own sex-positive message in books like The Heir (1986); The King (1992); Tales from the Dark Lord (1992); and The Arena (1993). Preston also established a canon of gayrotic fiction with the two Flesh and the Word anthologies he edited in 1992 and 1993. In My Life as a Pornographer and Other Indecent Acts, a collection of Preston’s best non-fiction work, Preston made “an attempt to show just why I think [pornography] is important, why it’s worth looking at, and why it’s very funny.” In the title essay, which was adapted from a lecture he delivered at Harvard University in 1993, Preston wrote that “Pornography has made me be honest about myself and some of the most intimate details of my life and my fantasies... Once I had exposed my own sexual fantasies, my most intimate desires, I feared little else about self-exposure as a writer.” As an author of gay porn, I learned much from Preston’s his example and his encouragement. Cover of I Once Had A Master and Other Tales of Erotic Love (1988) Image via oldbookshopofbordentown.com Photo of John Preston. Image courtesy of Jesse Monteagudo. The last time I saw John Preston was during Columbus Day Weekend 1993, at the OutWrite Conference in Boston, where Preston was one of the keynote speakers and I one of the panelists in a workshop on book reviewing and criticism. Though clearly affected by his illness, John was in high spirits, affectionate in a reserved, New England sort of way and still concerned about the future of gay writers and gay writings. Though I already missed the deadline for Friends and Lovers, his next anthology, he encouraged me to submit an essay. The posthumous publication of Friends and Lovers: Gay Men Write About the Families they Create, edited by Michael Lowenthal (one of Preston’s brilliant proteges), was a living memorial to our most influential gay writer and editor. On Saturday night of the OutWrite Conference Weekend many of us went to Boston’s Ramrod, a men’s Levi-leather bar, for a book signing party held in conjunction with Preston’s Flesh and the Word 2. Joined by contributors Michael Bronski, Michael Lowenthal and Scott O’Hara (among others), John signed autographs and worked the crowd like a seasoned politician. I was impressed but not surprised to see hardcore leathermen and gay bears flock like groupies around Preston, shaking his hand, buying copies of his book and telling him how his writings have changed their lives. These men, the much-maligned “clones” who Preston praised and defended in his controversial essay, “Goodbye, Sally Gearhart,” were this writer’s preferred audience; “gay everymen” who might not be “political” in the strict sense of the word but who act out the goals of gay liberation in their daily lives and who have stood by one another through the most devastating epidemic of the age. Preston’s passing left a gap in their lives, just as it did in mine. His work will endure as long as there are gay men willing to say “yes” to ourselves and to our sexuality. 76 | OUTSFL | OUT & PROUD 50 PRESENTED BY OUR FUND FOUNDATION
GADGETS SLOW INTERNET CAN BE FRUSTRATING FOR EVERYONE When your internet is slow you will get stuck with loading and buffering screens that make it almost impossible to do anything. WE HAVE GOOD NEWS! IT’S NOW EASY TO FIX There is a new device that fixes all your frustrating WiFi problems! THIS TINY DEVICE EASILY FIXES SLOW INTERNET! Thanks to a group of highly-skilled engineers, we can all now enjoy faster internet for cheap. They noticed a very common and deceptive practice that was going on. Customers were given weaker routers, resulting in slower internet for many hours of the day. When this was done often many customers would call in to upgrading their plans. This deception led to more money for the company, it didn’t seem right to them. So, they created a device that strengthen and boost the ISP’s signal across any house. At the same time, it greatly increases the range and speed of anyone’s existing home WiFi. Best of all, this device is so simple that anyone with no technical knowledge could use it. This device is now available for order online at mynettecbooster.com and has recently gone viral. GROUNDBREAKING DEVICE FIXES SLOW WI-FI BY PIER ANGELO This is how thousands of people in the United States are getting super-fast home internet for cheap. If your internet Wifi feels like it’s gotten slow, we can explain why it has gotten worse! It is most likely because your ISP (Internet Service Provider) gave you a weak router that is slowing down your internet speed. They usually give you a cheap router that gets slower over time. This is a common trick they use to make you upgrade your plan and pay more money. Unfortunately, by giving you their “cheapest” router it can be a struggle to even watch HD videos on YouTube or Netflix. Photos courtesy of mynettecbooster.com. 78 | OUTSFL | OUT & PROUD 50 PRESENTED BY OUR FUND FOUNDATION
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