One year ago, I hurried out of my office on a Thursday afternoon figuring it might be a few weeks before I returned. I snagged a computer monitor to use at home with my laptop and told my plants to think like a cactus. Those plants, I assume, are fully dead at this point, and…
A year into a pandemic that’s vastly reconfigured LGBTQIA culture is a good time to reflect on the radical legacy of the gay bar and what’s next for queer spaces — in St. Louis and around the world. Google “gay bars near me” in St. Louis, and the pickings are slim and getting slimmer. (See…
If you find yourself in a conversation with Deon Johnson that veers toward matters of the divine, don’t expect declaring yourself “not really religious” to provide an exit route. “You can have a profound experience standing in your backyard watching your chickens,” Johnson says. In an era of DIY spirituality, the sentiment isn’t particularly unusual.…
The best podcasts feel like being at a party with your cleverest friends, and Eric Williams’ That’s a Gay Ass Podcast hits the sweet spot. The podcast goes deep with comedians and celebrities, posting the provocative and fully tongue-in-cheek question: “Whose fault is it you’re gay?” Muny Kids alum Williams is NYC-based these days but…
My quarantine began on the afternoon of January 4, 2020, when my boyfriend told me we needed to separate, that things weren’t working, and that his feelings for me, for us, weren’t what they were when his eyes used to soak into mine and the world became something bright and blue and beautiful. My isolation began soon…
Everyone knows that plants need the sun to flourish. For the more than 70 plants currently calling Joey Beaver’s St. Louis apartment home, an extra dose comes from their caretaker Beaver, who can fairly be called a human ray of sunshine. Beaver’s plants and his marvelous social media posts starring himself and a few leafy…
On Monday January 18th Qu’art St. Louis will be holding a Mayoral Debate on *Queer+ issues. Qu’art is a local organization aimed to promote queer art and use the voice of queer artists as a platform for social change. Qu’art was founded in 2014 by artist and activist Maxi Glamour and has worked with over…
As the year draws to a close, I think I join most of humanity in wishing this particular one a hearty good riddance. We’ve been through an utterly bruising year: a brutal political season, a pandemic that is killing record numbers of people — most especially Americans — and related economic ruin that’s seeing livelihoods…
Fraught with expectations and heavy on the socializing, the end-of-year celebratory blitz can be tough at the best of times. And — let’s be real — these are not the best of times. So we reached out to a few counselors in the city for tips on how to best navigate the waning days of…
Alex Zivic has packed a lot into his slim volume of poetry, Ellipsism. The evocative and often spare poems cover loss, longing, visions and perceptions, with darkly lush illustrations by artist Wafalo. Zivic, 25, spent about two years working on the book, writing in a Moleskine notebook or the Notes app on his phone. Sometimes…
