It’s been a while, my friends! Five months, in fact — one more piece of pandemic pandemonium was the postponement of our June issue. We’re stoked to be back, and proud to once again be partnering with Pride St. Louis, who’s bringing Pride is Alive to Ballpark Village August 27-29. This issue is full of…
A Listening Ear, and So Much More: SQSH to the Rescue
Sometimes, you just need someone to talk to. For Luka Cai, that someone was hard to find growing up in Singapore — especially when it came to their queer identity. “I never had any positive queer or trans role models growing up,” they say, “so I had a lot of internalized transphobia.” Cai — trans-masculine,…
Letter from the Editor: March 2021
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…
Pod Help Us All
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…
Bloom Where You’re Planted
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…
Letter from the Editor: Melissa Meinzer
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…
Self-Care Tips from the Pros: Make Your Plan to Navigate the End of 2020
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’s Collection of Poems Takes on the Dark–and the Light
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…
Saint of the Streets: Dr. Punch saves St. Louis
It’s basically impossible to talk about public health in St. Louis right now without mentioning Dr. LJ Punch. The genderqueer genius has their hands in all the region’s most pressing issues, slicing through red tape and getting it done with brilliance, warmth, humor and grace. After years as a trauma surgeon in Baltimore and St.…
Heather Brown-Hudson: The Teacher
A fired-up teacher who believes in you can make all the difference. Dr. Heather Brown-Hudson is the chair of the gender studies program at Lindenwood University. Her time there began in 2010, teaching in the French and English departments. In 2013, she pitched a gender studies program, and it took off. “The program began and…