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Description
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ToC Objects of Desire by Melanie Barker (p40); Her Little Secret by Melanie Barker (p42); Fabulous Foodie Femmes by Lisa Tedesco & Merryn Johns (p44); The Look of Love by Melanie Barker (p55); Cover: Return of Our Favorite Rock Star - Melissa Etheridge, Life Part 2 (p58); Who in the World is LP? (p64); All You Can Eat and Drink (p67); Cover Photo by John Tsiavis
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Holiday Gift Guide
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issue
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8
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Date Issued
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Nov-Dec 2014
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Format
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PDF/A
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Publisher
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Frances Stevens
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Identifier
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Curve_Vo124_No8_November-December-2014_OCR_PDFa.pdf
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extracted text
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®
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NOV/DEC 2014 VOLUME 24#8
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2014
for LGBT Equality
NOV/DEC
2014
FEATURES
~o
OBJECTS OF DESIRE
Red is the color of the holidays,
even when it comes to interior
design. By Melanie Barker
~2
HER LITTLE SECRET
You can thank us later for this
easy way to eliminate Lesbian
Bed Death. By Melanie Barker
n
FABULOUS FOODIE
FEMMES
Five female restaurateurs revea
their approaches to the culi
arts, just in time for the holi
By Lisa Tedesco & Merryn
Johns
55
THE LOOK OF LOVE
This Antwerp-based lesbian
photographer is making images
to enjoy for 2015. By Melanie
Barker
58
RETURN OF OUR
FAVORITE ROCK STAR \
Who doesn't hav€ Melissa
Etheridge firmly planted on a
lesbian pedestal of must-hear
music? By Laurie Schen~
6~
WHO IN THE WORLD JS LP?
One of the greatest lesbian
singer-songwriters you never
heard of, that's who! By Kelly '
McCartney
67
ALL YOU CAN
EAT AND DRINK
From Vienna to Sonoma
to Alsace, our pick of gre
destinations for wining a
dining. By Merryn Johns
Kelsy Chauvin
COVER
PHOTO
BY JOHN
TSI
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
IN EVERYISSUE
4
EDITOR'S NOTE
6
CURVETTES
8
FEEDBACK
10
THE GAYDAR
80
STARS
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
TRENDS
REVIEWS
9
BEAUTY
Delicious beauty products that
create spa time at home.
26 MUSIC
Pop provocateur Sinead
O'Connor is back at last with a
rollicking good album. By Kelly
11 LES LOOKS LIKE
Meet a dedicated lesbian
author, minister and new mom.
14 LESBOFILE
Our favorite celesbians
behaving very badly
VIEWS
14 OUT IN FRONT
Meet our community leaders.
14 IN CASE YOU MISSED
IT ... LGBT news from across
the country. By Sassafras
Lowrey
16 POLITICS
Happy holidays indeed, but
spare a thought for those
less fortunate, including the
lesbian homeless. By Victoria A.
Brown worth
18 THE TWO OF US
Our monthly profile of captivating lesbian couples who
live, love and work together.
20
LIPSTICK & DIPSTICK
22 SCENE
You had to be there! Our
reviews of the best LGBT
events and girls' nights
around the country.
2
CURVE
NOV/DEC
2014
McCartney
28 FILM
We smoulder over sizzling
lesbian short Camp Belvidere.
Plus our reviews of two
must-see lesbian films. By Lisa
Tedesco & Marcie Bianco
32 BOOKS
The UK's favorite lesbian
author, Sarah Waters, has
finally returned tolesbian themes with her new
novel The Paying Guests,
and we couldn't be happier.
By Tiffany Lowana
35 FOOD & DRINKS
The holidays are upon us.
What to serve our guests, and
ourselves? Here are some tips
for the best tipples and nibbles
for your holiday table.
RONTtMERRYN'S
MEMO
curve
THE BEST-SELLING
So111ed1i11g's
<Jooki11g
0
ne of the wonderful things about fall is its accompanying seasonal
produce-and
the cooler weather that makes cooking less of a chore
and more of a pleasure. When winter and the holidays arrive, the
mandatory ways to socialize and celebrate tend to revolve around food
and drink. That's why we make our November/December Holiday
issue the tastiest one of the year.
This year's Holiday issue is particularly
mouthwatering: We take a sneak peek at
the sexy and romantic L-calendar for 2015;
we bestow a bounty of advice, as well as
books and recipes from fine foodie females,
including My Drunk Kitchen's Hannah
Hart; we salivate over Sarah Waters'
overdue return to lesbian literary themes;
we get up close and personal with pop
provocateurs LP and Sinead O'Connor;
we review some essential lesbian viewing
perfect for cuddling up with your girl; we
lap up the season's most sensual spa and
beauty products, and yummy edible and
drinkable gifts. After all that indulgence, Jill
Goldstein's self-esteem-boosting fitness plan
is a gift indeed.
It's important to remember that it's not
a luxe life for everyone all the time, or for some people, ever: The images of enjoyment
in these pages might be unattainable for a good percentage of our community. Victoria
A. Brownworth has something to say about the growing problem of homeless LGBTsteens, veterans, the elderly-who can slip through the cracks and escape our notice,
especially at this time of year. Awareness is the first step to helping others, and maybe you
can find the time or the money to help this year, starting in your very own neighborhood.
It's always a pleasure, then, to celebrate the achievements of someone whose humble
beginnings could not predict her eventual success. Our cover story featuring out lesbian
rock icon Melissa Etheridge-new
wife, new life, and a solid album release (now there's
a gift idea!)-is the very inspiring cherry on the top of this holiday cake. Enjoy our last
issue for 2014, and I'll see you next year with more fabulous ideas from Curve!
!z
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
merryn@curvemag.com
NOVEMBER
2014
»
LESBIAN MAGAZINE
VOLUME
24 NUMBER
PUBLISHERSilke Bader
FOUNDINGPUBLISHER Frances Stevens
EDITORIAL
EDITORIN CHIEF Merryn Johns
SENIORCOPY EDITOR Katherine
Wright
CONTRIBUTINGEDITORS Melanie Barker, Kathy Beige,
Marcie Bianco, Victoria A. Brownworth, Gina Daggett,
Lyndsey D'Arcangelo, Sheryl Kay, Gillian Kendall, Dave
Steinfeld
PROOFREADERAmber Kinnear
EDITORIAL
ASSISTANTS
Caitlyn Byrne, Lisa Tedesco, Cora ShayePope, Erin Wilson
OPERATIONS
DIRECTOROF OPERATIONS Jeannie Sotheran
EVENTS& MEDIA RELATIONSCOORDINATORRobin Perron
ADVERTISING
NATIONALSALES
Rivendell Media (908) 232-2021, todd@curvemagazine.com
ART/PRODUCTION
ART DIRECTORSRicardo Calvi Vivian
SOCAL MEDIA
MANAGERBel Evans
INTERNLucy Doyle
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Melany Joy Beck, Jenny Block, Kelsy Chauvin, Jill Goldstein,
Kristin Flickinger, Adrienne Jordan, Gillian Kendall,
Kim Hoffman, Francesca Lewis, Charlene Lichtenstein,
Sassafras Lowrey, Kelly McCartney, Emelina Minero, Dana
Piccoli, Laurie K. Schenden, Stephanie Schroeder, Janelle
Sorenson, Rosanna Rios-Spicer, Stella & Lucy, Yana TallonHicks, Sarah Toce, Jocelyn Voo
CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATORS & PHOTOGRAPHERS
Steph Brusig, Meagan Cignoli, Syd London, Cheryl Mazak,
Maggie Parker, Robin Roemer, Leslie Van Stelten
CONTACT INFO
Curve Magazine
PO Box 467
New York, NY 10034
PHONE(415) 871-0569
FAX (510) 380-7487
SUBSCRIPTIONINQUIRIES(800) 705-0070
(toll-free in us only)
(818) 286-3102 (outside US)
ADVERTISINGEMAIL advertising@curvemag.com
EDITORIALEMAIL editor@curvemag.com
LETTERSTO THE EDITOREMAIL letters@curvemagazine.com
Volume 24 Issue 8 Curve (ISSN 1087-867X) is published 8 times
per year (January/Febrary, March, April/May, June, July/August,
September, October, November/December) by Avalon Media,
LLC, PO Box 467, New York NY 10034. Subscription price:
$59.90/year, $59.90 Canadian (U.S. funds only) and $89.95
international (U.S. funds only). Returned checks will be assessed
a $25 surcharge. Periodicals postage paid at San Francisco, CA
94114 and at additional mailing offices (USPS 0010-355). Contents
of Curve Magazine may not be reproduced in any manner, either
whole or in part, without written permission from the publisher.
Publication of the name or photograph of any persons or
organizations appearing, advertising or listing in Curve may not be
taken as an indication of the sexual orientation of that individual or
group unless specifically stated. Curve welcomes letters, queries,
unsolicited manuscripts and artwork. Include SASE for response.
Lack of any representation only signifies insufficient materials.
Submissions cannot be returned unless a self-addressed stamped
envelope is included. No responsibility is assumed for loss or
damages. The contents do not necessaraly represent the opinions
of the editor, unless specifically stated. All magazines sent discreetly.
Subscription Inquiries: Please write to Curve, Avalon Media LLC.,
PO Box 467 New York NY 10034, email crvcs@magserv.com.
Canadian Agreement Number: 40793029. Postmaster: Send
Canadian address changes to crvcs@magserv.com, Curve, PO
Box 122, Niagara Falls, ON L2E 6S8. Send U.S. address changes to
crvcs@magserv.com,
Curve, PO Box 17138, N. Hollywood,
CA 91615-7138.Printed in the U.S.
curvemag.com
4
CURVE
NOV/DEC
2014
8
Curve's online selection of must-do, must-try, must-have extras.
EDITOR'S
PICK
CULTURE
THE BIRTHPLACE OF LESBIAN CHIC
A new documentary celebrates the legendary
Sunday nights at Cafe Tabac in New York City.
Imagine a lesbian bar so chic and glamorous
that even rich and famous culture-makersMadonna, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Queen
Latifah-would climb to the top of the stairs to
join the party. Did it ever exist? Read more on
G curvemag.com
REVIEWS
BOOKS
EVENTS
LOCAL
TAKING FIRE BY RADCLYFFE
Radclyffe's "First Responder"
series is turning out to be an
excellent and powerful departure from her more traditional
romances. Thoroughly enjoying
the exploration of powerful
WHOOPI GOLDBERG AT NEW YORK'S
women in difficult roles. Read
HALLOWEEN PARADE
more on
G curvemag.com
The legendary comic will be the Grand Marshall of the 41st
Annual Village Halloween Parade. Did you know that New
THE HIDDEN PANDEMIC
When will it end? It is more deadly than
Ebola, more prevalent than cancer, more
incurable than AIDS. It is pandemic-meaning it has spread to every continent, meaning
that no one is immune. It is violence against
women. According to the American Public
Health Association "Violence against women
(VAW) is a global threat. It is pervasive across
all cultures and economic groups. Worldwide, women living in economically disadvantaged areas are at an even greater risk.
According to WHO (2013), 35% of the total
female population is impacted by this grave
York City's Village Halloween Parade is the largest public
participatory event in the United States? So who better than
an Academy Award-winning actor and New Yorker to be the
Grand Marshall for such an occasion that encourages the
boldest, brightest-and
sometimes the scariest-expres-
sions of ourselves? Read more on
NEWS
INTERNATIONAL
G curvemag.com.
threat." Read more on
LIFESTYLE
WEDDINGS
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
CHOOSING RITUALS & POLISH FOR YOUR
~
UNFORGETTABLECEREMONY
~
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~
Maybe you and your partner are totally into Chinese food
or love the same pizza joint. Maybe you're both fans of
Japanese anime. But how similar are your backgrounds?
If ever there was a time to highlight the unique aspects
of your cultural heritage, and the fantastic journey that
brought your two worlds together, it would be at your wedding! Read more on G curvemag.com
~
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We have some of the leading voices in our community
sharing their thoughts on
love and romance, parenting and politics, and sex and
spirituality-not to mention
our huge collection of lesbian fandom.
~
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G curvemag.com
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NOV/DEC
2014
CURVE
5
TIFFANYLOWANA
LAURIESCHENDEN
JILL SLOANE
GOLDSTEIN
MARCIE BIANCO
Sydney-based Tiffany Lawana
has a Bachelor of Professional
and Creative Writing and was
the editor of Curve's Australian
sister magazine, LOTL. For
Curve she has interviewed
Orange Is the New Black's
Laura Prepon, Taylor Schilling
and Lea DeLaria, plus Rosie
O'Donnell and Heather Peace.
For this issue, she interviews
three-time Booker nominated
Sarah Waters on page 32. "I
had read that Sarah is quite
shy, even rigidly guarded. Yeah,
by her own admission she is reserved. But a few minutes into
the interview, laughter seemed
to be key-with it, there were
no defenses. It was actually
one of the most generous interviews I've had."
Laurie Schenden is a filmmaker
and journalist who worked for
20 years at the Los Angeles
Times. Follow her documentaries on Facebook at Saving
Grace Films. She recently
completed An Unexpected
Win: Title IX and the Pinckney
Pirates, and is in post-production on Unstoppable: Icons of
the 20th Century, featuring five
famous lesbians. This month
she interviews legendary rocker
Melissa Etheridge on page 58.
"I was surprised when Melissa
Etheridge told me she was
going to 'take a break' from her
career, until her new team cha Ilenged her to write an album.
The result is a return to the
music that makes girls cry."
"Whenever I don't want to exercise I play a little mind game
with myself," says Jill Sloane
Goldstein, an avid fitness enthusiast. "I'll think, 'In one hour,
I can still be sitting here or be
done with a workout and feeling so much better.' Knowing
that the time is going to pass
either way, nine times out of
ten I get moving." It's this kind
of self-motivation that keeps
her fit. The freelance writer is
dedicated to raising her twoyear-old son, but makes time
to exercise each day through
running and weight training.
Jill has combined both her
strengths, writing and fitness,
into Curve's fitness advice column on page 22.
Marcie Bianco, lesbian-feminist
PhD, is the senior news editor
at VProud.tv, and a contributing writer at Mic, AfterEllen,
Lambda Literary, and Curve.
She also makes frequent
appearances on Huffington
Post Live to talk about all
things feminist and LGBT.
Marcie recently published an
essay regarding the "satirical
aesthetics" of HBO's Girls in a
collected volume, and she is
currently at work on a memoir
about lesbian academic affairs,
two excerpts of which have
already been published. This
issue her reviews appear on
pages 30 and 34. Follow her on
Twitter at @MarcieBianco.
6
CURVE
NOV/DEC
2014
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POST
ON
FACEBOOK!
The
best
comment
posted
each
month
could
winyou
afree
digital
subscription!
ANORO
S1YlE
SPEClt\L now that she has a TV show,
clCkASSSTUFF
amazing wife and a baby on the
YOU'LL
WANT
TOPICKUP
way.Talk about having it all!
-Annette Collingwood,
STAR
Toronto ON.
MAKER
YOUTH SUPPORT
I'm writing to say that I appreciate the editorial Curve has
been running in the magazine
and on your website that is
aimed at queer youth. I always
heard that your magazine was
for older lesbians so I find it
encouraging that there are
articles for people under 30 as
well. We are often overlooked
when it comes to serious information and quality content
and it's good to see a mag like
Curve stepping up to the plate.
The stories on genderqueers,
studs, and trans people are
also really cool. - Kirsten B.,
PERRY'S PEAK
I was thrilled to find Linda
Perry on the cover of Curve
[Vol.24#7]. Thank you for
giving this amazing woman the
exposure she deserves within
our community. I am a big fan
oflesbian music and while
we have music icons with a
high profile such as Melissa
Etheridge, k.d. lang, and Brandi
Carlile, I have always felt that
Perry never received the attention she deserves, even though
she has done it all, from leading
her own hit band to contributing to the careers of other top
musicians. She's someone we
need to be proud 0£ especially
Minneapolis MN.
Editor's note: Curve isfor everyone, no matter what age, background or gender expression.
Posts from our Facebook fans
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
facebook.com/curvemag
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Loving Linda Perry!
Powerful ! -Jorg Haufbler
the text book definition of
bad ass ..... -Carlos Osorno
She is bad ass -Meggie Ortiz
And now she and her wife
are going to have a baby!!!
So exciting. -Jenny Fish
congratulations linda and
sara!!!! -Che Cotton
So cool. Luv her n Sara
-Deborah Conrad
Love her! -Lisa AlbrightWilson
IN GRATITUDE
Tara and I wanted to thank
you so much for the beautiful article and pictorial in
this month's Curve magazine
[''A Thousand Words" by
MerrynJohns, Vol.24#7]. We
are so honored and feel very
proud to be representing our
community! Truly grateful
She's awesome!! -Linda
Guzman Hall
Good goddamn christ I love
her. -Lisa Curtis
She rocks my sax off
-Melissa Deforke
Congrats Sara and Linda on
their baby! -Cecily Riley
Love Linda Perry!!! -Linda
Deeringwater
I have so much love for
Linda Perry!!! -Leigh Loffe/1Dawson
that you told our story in such
a magical way. Wishing you
and your awesome publication
continued success! We're likely
going to buy out this side of
California's copies when it
hits the newstands in our area
*wink*.
- Heidi Margocsy and Tara
Baxter, Petaluma CA
WHAT'S
THE
BEST
THING
ABOUT
HOLIDAYS?
45%
Eating and drinking
myself merry
22%
Reuniting with family
and friends
I 3Qo Taking my girl home to
meet the family
3%
17%
Revisiting my faith
Nothing. I hate the
holidays
WRITE
Curve magazine, PO Box 467, New York, NY 10034
letters@curvemagazine.com
US! 510.380.7487
curvemag.com/letters
Send to:
Email:
Fax:
8
CURVE
NOV/DEC
Online:
2014
Subscriber Services are now available at
curvemag.com/customerservice.
✓ subscribe
✓ pay your bill
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✓ get missing issues
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TRENDS/
BEAU
Spa For the Senses
LUSCIOUSPRODUCTSTO TANTALIZEYOUR
FACEAND BODYTHIS FALL. BY MELANIE BARKER
It's a Lush Lite
LUSH Cosmetics has plenty of sweet body treats for
Christmas including the Holly Golightly bubble bar, Yog
Nog soap, Candy Mountain bubble bar, and Snow Angel
bath melt. These self-preserving, mostly vegan bath
products include delicious ingredients such as cinnamon
leaf oil, clove bud, nutmeg cocoa butter, and aromas such
as vanilla and almond marzipan-sure to put you in the
mood for the holidays. ($8-$11, lushusa.com)
PHYTO-C
SUPERHEAL"'
0-Live Serum
NET 30ml
t1EJ.30WJ
On Your Soapbox
on
NATURAL
LEMONGRASS
,ACE
soOY
SOUL
soapbox·
,....
Bathe and luxuriate in rich and buttery
artisanal soaps-and save the world at the
same time. These ethical, cruelty-free,
vegan-certified, environmentally friendly
bars of hope come in delicious fragrances
such as orange, lemongrass, cinnamon and
spearmint. SoapBox works with local bar
soap makers around the world to empower
communities, not create aid dependence.
Through soap, water development, and
vitamins, each bar of soap contributes to
saving 24,000 lives. ($5, soapboxsoap.com)
lhenigO
Olive leaf extract is the key ingredient of Phyto-C's O-Live
Serum and we were beyond impressed by its healing powers.
First used medicinally by the ancient Egyptians, this ingredient
goes to work immediately. Just a few drops on dry skin on face
and hands made lines disappear, refining and firming the skin.
It's one sure way to deal with holiday stress and arrive at your
engagements looking like your better self. ($130, phyto-c.com)
,.\.loha, Tub Time!
'lhe Ro~1,I Tt•eatment
The Brits know about luxury and Temple Spa offers
the most luxurious spa skin products we've ever
tried. Their award-winning anti-aging Skin Truffle is
a miracle cream made with diamond powder, black
truffles, champagne extract, strawberries and cocoa
butter, in a rich cream that gives your skin an instant
glow. The Body Truffle made with rose quartz, silk,
gold, cashmere and long-life mushroom is by far
the most impressive body butter we've used. These
splurge-worthy products prove
that your body is your temple.
($85 and up, templespa.com)
Escape the cold with your honey in a
bubble bath made with Hearts and Stars
Lilikoi Luxury Bath & Body Gel. Hawaiian
passionfruit is the key to this tropical
blend, which also features lemongrass,
aloe vera, grapeseed extract and hemp
oil to create a refreshing foam that will
rejuvenate your skin, your senses and
have you imagining you're at a spa in
Maui. ($20, hearts-and-stars.com)
HEARTS
&STARS
LoYe l Tnde1•the Yines
Enjoy the ambience of Mediterranean
living in your own bath and bedroom.
Olavie's Tuscan Fig Diffuser with its
notes of juicy fig, tangy rhubarb and
aromatic white cedar is a perfect way to
bring the scent of the holidays into your
home. But our favorite Olavie product
is the Antioxidant Body & Massage Oil
with the sweet and precious extract
of Chardonnay grape seed extract to
soothe and moisturize your favorite
lady. ($45 and up, olavie.com)
NOV/DEC
UI koi Luxury
BATH & BODY GEL
2014
CURVE
9
NDS/
THE GAYOAR
p
I
%
~
~
!~e~ o~~!~~wRone?
Let our gaydar help
you decide who's hot, who's not, who's
shaking 1tand who's faking it in lesboland.
BY MELANIE BARKER
~
Lesbians are fired from
a St. Louis Catholic
Girls school after the
faculty finds out they're
a married couple.
Jesus H. Christ, when
will discrimination in
education end?
We couldn't love Julianne
Moore any more than
we do for her heartfelt
portrayals of gay women.
Now she's playing
opposite Ellen Page in
Freeheld
Ellen DeGeneres visits
Chelsea Handler in the
shower for her show's finale
asking why she was never
a guest. "Is it because I'm
a lesbian?" "No," retorts
Handler. "I didn't even
know you were a lesbian. I
thought you were married
to Ryan Seacrest." Zing!
The Mindy Project
sees Mindy Kalin
fantasizing for a
second that she
and Brennan can be
lesbians together. Nice
try, we guess
Millions of
dollars spent
on a "lesbian
Obesity"
study finds out
that a good
number of
dykes weigh
more-and
are happierthan straight
women.
Duh,tellus
something we
don't know
A-lister Emma
Stone plays her
edgiest film role
yet as Michael
Keaton's lesbian
daughter
=-7
Jenny Shimizu
marries long-time
girlfriend Michelle
Harper right after
Angelina Jolie
marries Brad ...
Congrats to both
couples!
J
l
Iggy Azalea may be
under siege from
her exploitative exboyfriend but onstage
it's all about girl-ongirl and getting down
with Nicky Minaj,
Jennifer Lopez and
Rita Ora
WJ
It's all
happening on
the Continent
as Miss Spain
comes out on
lnstagram.
Bienvenidos,
chicas!
A court in Rome, Italy
also approves the
adoption of a child
by a lesbian couple in
the first such ruling.
Eccellente!
The High Tribunal of
Bogota, Colombia
takes a stand in favor
of a transwoman to
gain exemption from
military service and
permits a lesbian
couple to adopt a
child. Bueno!
Queer graphic artist
Kimberly Linn
comes out with a
line of cute lesbian
emoticons that
are thumbtastic,
including this
homage to Tegan
&Sara
0
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10
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NOV/DEC
2014
NDStGOSSIP
p
~ LESBOFILE
~
~
Our favorite show spawns real love, marital bliss
abounds, and Lindsay makes a (rumored) lesbian
comeback. BYJOCELYN
voo
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'
Life Imitates Litchfield
For the maybe five people left on the
Martina's Match
There's all the cliche ways you can
planet who haven't binge-watched their
ask the love of your life to marry you. Yet
way through the Netflix insta-hit Orange
somehow, Martina Navratilova can get
exes, and quite probably her first serious
Is the New Black, let me bring you up to
away with it.
female love-coincidentally
speed: the year-old dramedy revolves
"Originally it wasn't the idea to do it at
the fact that Jenny Shimizu-one of Jolie's
got hitched
only a few days later.
around Piper Chapman, who is sentenced
the U.S. Open, on the Jumbotron and all
to 15 months in a women's facility. There,
that, but then it was, 'Why not? I've seen it
stylish woman-of-town Michelle Harper,
she is reunited with her ex-girlfriend and
in movies," the tennis legend told People.
wed at the New York City Clerk's office
has to deal with her feelings of attraction,
Secluded in a TV suite, the 10-time U.S.
Shimizu and her girlfriend of two years,
in decidedly not low-key ensembles: the
despite being engaged to a man. But
Open champ presented her girlfriend of
former Calvin Klein model in tailored mens-
forget about what's happening on the
eight years Julia Lemigova, a former Miss
wear, the socialite in a voluminous Olivier
small screen for a second. Turns out there's
USSR,with a ring between the two men's
Theyskens gown. The pair's magnetism,
as much action happening behind the
semifinal matches at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
the way Shimizu tells it in a New York Times
scenes-at
Still, the engagement was broadcast on the
interview, was total serendipity. "I didn't
big screen-with
believe it myself until I saw it."
least for one person.
Back in May, Lauren Morelli, one of the
writers for Orange, penned an op-ed for
Mic declaring that, a mere five months
much supportive fanfare
from lucky attendees.
"We've come from similar backgrounds
after she'd gotten married to her longtime
and experiences in life and we've both
boyfriend, she'd flown to New York to start
overcome a lot," Navratilova said. "We both
at Orange-and,
dreamt big and we both made it, so it's
almost concurrently,
realized that she was gay. "In Piper and
Alex," she wrote, "I'd found a mouthpiece
pretty cool!"
Game, set, match.
That was the fall of 2012. And now,
Lohan's Leanings
We haven't heard much about Lindsay
Lohan in a while, but we're throwing the
redhead a bone here because, hey, who
doesn't love a comeback?
for my own desires and a glimmer of what
my future could look like."
And upon eating up the stunning photos, we can barely believe our eyes either.
Jenny and Jolie
Wed-Separately
Though the party-hardy actress has
reportedly been involved with a new older
roughly two years later, Morelli has filed for
While the greater part of the media
(seemingly amicable) divorce. The catalyst?
was busy gasping about Angelina Jolie's
She's now allegedly dating actress Samira
stealth wedding to Brad Pitt ("She wore a
really high-profile women and she prefers
Wiley, who plays Poussey on the show.
dress with her KIDS' DRAWINGS on it!" "He
to be with women any day over men."
We can't wait to see where this story arc goes.
12
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NOV/DEC
2014
FORGOT his TIE!"), we were mooning over
man, a source tells Radar online that "she
was in several relationships with some
Who are we to disagree?
TRENDS/
"Honestly, I thought
we might get one more, but
I knew that this could be the last
season ...lt's time, in a way. In terms
of the story, I think we could have done
another. But I'm happy that we're saying
goodbye in a particularly strong season,
and I'm pleased that we're gonna go
out with a bang." - Anna Silk to
EW on the end of Lost Girl
SHEs
s1PROFILE
IN CASE
YOU
MISSED
I'C...
~
Dulce Garcia
SanFrancisco
BayArea» SexualHeathActivist
She's been called a fierce femme, and Dulce Garcia
considers the designation a badge of honor. "It came
from living my life with conviction and resilience,"
says Garcia. "Because I'm a queer woman of color,
there are many oppressions I face, yet I also hold a lot
of privileges, and it's my responsibility to use them
toward true liberation and social justice."
Being a fierce femme allows her to live with
purpose-and
without apology-through
focused her attention on serving gay youth, originally
at De Ambiente (In the Scene), the only program of its
kind in California, and one of a handful nationally that
serve the needs of Latino LGBT youth. While there,
she was involved with HIV prevention and other sex
education programming. "Working with queer youth
has not only allowed me to witness their resilience
but to learn from them," she notes. "Young people are
really smart, and if adults would just take a second
to listen to them, they will tell you what their needs
are, in order to feel safe in the communities they live,
learn, and work in."
Today, Garcia continues her efforts as the health
educator for the Bay Area at the California Health
Collaborative, where she evaluates and implements
bilingual breast and cervical cancer screening
education workshops for the Every Woman Counts
program. Her goal is to target uninsured and
under-insured low-income women, so they'll have
access to free mammograms and free pap smears.
She's also joined San Francisco Women Against
Rape (SFWAR)as the bilingual Spanish community
education consultant, working with staff to provide
rape-prevention education and outreach to Spanishspeaking communities, and to support them in
identifying ways to confront and end sexual violence.
Still, at the end of the day, the kids are not very far
from Garcia's thoughts. "Do I want the right to marry?" she asks. "Yes. But is it my main concern, or the
struggle I focus on? Not at all. I'm more concerned
about queer youth of color having access to health
care, housing, and safe learning environments." By
14
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NOV/DEC
2014
I ~i~~tf
~i~!~ ~1~r~ ~ ~s~i~ ~ !f
~~s~~air
Lytess, and that Monroe and Lytess lived together
for two of the seven years they worked together.
Lytess says that Monroe was often naked at home,
but was also very insecure: "She was afraid of giving
up all that had made her as Marilyn the sexiest girl:
dresses, make-up, moves. Because she thought she
had nothing to give except sex appeal. In fact it's interesting because she really hated sex!"
life's com-
plexities and intersections. Over the years, Garcia has
Sheryl Kay
•
THIS
YEAR,
LILY
TOMLIN
WILL
be one of five performers who
annually receive the prest1g1ous
Kennedy Center Honors Although
several gay men have won the
award 1nthe past, Tomlin will be
the first out lesbian to be chosen
The Kennedy Center Honors are
awarded to l1v1ngartists for their
l1fet1mecontribution to American
culture through the performing
arts.
CHRISTINA
FONTHES,
A
British c1t1zenand lesbian act1v1st,
has safely returned to Br1ta1nafter
a trip to v1s1ther family 1nthe
Democratic Republic of Congo,
during which her mother stole
her passport to keep her 1nthe
country and held her hostage
to "cure her of her gayness"
Fonthes got the Br1t1shembassy 1n
Kinshasa to apply for emergency
travel documents, but she wasn't
allowed to remain 1nthe building,
and later was seized by the police,
who returned her to her family
Fonthes took to Twitter, posting,
"I'm NOT m1ss1ngMy passport has
been stolen BY MUM, and I need
to return to the uk asap" With the
support of her partner, Jessica
Creighton, a sports Journal1stfor
BARB
WEBB,
WHO
WORKED
at Marian High School 1nBloomfield
Hills, Mich, teaching honors
chemistry and coaching sports,
was fired after she told school
off1c1alsthat she was pregnant
Webb, who has been with her
partner, Kristen Lasecki, for five
years, believes the "nontraditional"
pregnancy 1swhat led to her being
terminated The Catholic, all-girls'
Marian High School has a "morality
clause," however, parents and
alumni are publicly protesting the
dec1s1onto fire Webb
COLOMBIAN
LESBIAN
ANA
Le1derman gave birth to her 4- and
6-year-old children via art1f1c1al
1nsem1nat1on,
and her longtime
partner, Veronica Botero, who
was not a b1olog1calparent, had
no custodial or legal rights over
the children-until recently In a
s1gn1f1cantstep toward LGBTQ
rights, a Colombian court granted
adoption rights to Botero
Currently, this ruling only applies
to gay couples when one partner
1sthe b1olog1calparent, but it's
believed that this ruling could
1nd1catea w1ll1ngnessto move
toward adoption rights for all
same-sex couples 1nthe country
By Sassafras Lowrey
-
Planning our financial future
Wants to
open an IRA
\
Wants to
open a B&B
/
When it comes to finances, we don't all think alike. That's why a meaningful discussion can
lead to a more secure future. Talk to each other about your financial priorities, then stop by
and talk with us. We're here to listen and help provide the guidance you need to create a plan
of action. Let's start a conversation today. Visit wellsfargo.com/theconversation.
Together we'll go far
© 2014WellsFargoBank,N.A.Allrightsreserved.
ECG-1207567
The Invisibles
It's time to help our lesbian homeless.
BY VICTORIA A. BROWNWORTH
Thanksgiving.
Hanukkah.
Solstice.
Christmas. 'Tis that season again-and
the quest for holiday dollars is going full
throttle. Brick and mortar stores have been
playing "O Holy Night" since Halloween,
Thanksgiving is known increasingly as
the eve of big discount sales, and it's even
worse online, where it's been Christmas
since September.
Still, the holiday season is not all consumerism run wild. This is also the time
of year when we are most likely to notice
the poor and homeless among us. Service
organizations receive the majority of their
donations at the holidays, when people are
feeling generous.
But what about the homeless in our
own community? We don't think about
LGBT people being homeless, but a surprising number are-it's just that they're
even more hidden than the rest of America's homeless.
In fact, LGBT people are among the
fastest-growing
homeless demographic
16
CURVE
NOV/DEC
2014
in the nation (after veterans), particularly those in the 15-to-30 age range overall,
and women over 40.
There are 1 million chronically homeless adults in the U.S., according to the
most recent U.S. Census. Yet that number
does not remain static. The Department
of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) estimated in its 2012 report that
between 2.3 and 3.5 million people will be
homeless for a portion of each year. That's
one in every hundred Americans. How
many are LGBT2
The numbers are worse for children,
probably because when single mothers
become homeless, so do their children.
HUD stipulates that 1.7 million kids under 18 are homeless in the U.S., and the
majority-58 percent-are teens. Most of
them are on their own. The National Gay
and Lesbian Task Force reports that approximately 40 percent identify as LGBT.
So, although gays and lesbians constitute only about 10 percent of the popula-
tion, and trans persons less than 1 percent,
LGBT teenagers represent close to half of
the homeless teens in the U.S.
For several months in the late summer
and autumn of 2008, I reported an investigative series on homelessness among
LGBT teens in Philadelphia for the Philadelphia Gay News. (The prize-winning
four-part series ran in November and
December and was titled "Hiding in Plain
Sight: Homeless LGBT Teens, Our Hidden Minority:' The series can be found
under that title at epgn.com.) The series
required me to spend many nights on the
streets of Philadelphia and countless hours
in abandoned squats, shelters, and drop-in
programs. The stories I heard about how
LGBT teens wound up homeless were disturbingly similar. They were either forced
out of their families of origin or felt too
restricted in those families to stay. Nearly
every kid I interviewed had met the same
fate: prostitution. One young lesbian had
become pregnant and her girlfriend left her.
VIEWS/POLI
A young African- American who had AIDS,
and whose sweet, dreamy, drugged-up face
is as clear to me now as it was when I sat
next to him six years ago, had been infected
by tricks who refused to use condoms.
It wasn't my first investigation into
queer homelessness. I'd done another series on adults for PGN and sat on city
steps with several older lesbians-decades
older than I was-who had fallen on hard
times and ended up on the streets, fearful of shelters and targets for rape. As a
reporter for The Advocate, I wrote about
how AIDS had forced many gay men into
homelessness (Jan. 15, 1991, issue 568). I
wrote a book, Lost in America, on juvenile
prostitution, which was as much about
homelessness and LGBT youth as it was
about anything else.
I've written often about homelessness
because I live in Philadelphia, the poorest of America's 10 largest cities, and you
can't separate homelessness from poverty.
The 2010 Census found that 35 percent of
Philadelphians lived at or below the poverty level, with nearly half of that population in what the U.S. Dept. of Health and
Human Services calls "deep poverty" living on half as much as the federally set
guidelines for poverty.
The poverty numbers for my city,
the fifth-largest in the richest nation on
earth, are the same as those for India, the
world's poorest nation, according to a Pew
Research study released in September.
In January 2014, I reported on how the
number of people being turned away from
homeless shelters in Philadelphia had tripled in just the past three years.
Michelle Obama has made veterans' issues a primary focus of her efforts as first
lady, and that has helped draw attention
to the fact that 10 percent of America's
homeless are veterans. A disturbing number of those veterans are lesbians.
Female homelessness-not
just among
veterans (thank you for your service, now
take your PTSD and chronic unemployability to the streets, please)-has been on
the rise since the Great Recession in 2008,
which impacted women hardest, particularly women 40 and older. A 2012 study
in Philadelphia showed an 18 percent
increase in homeless women in my city
alone. San Francisco has seen not just a
spike in homelessness, and among women
in particular, but increasing conflict between business owners and the homeless
in Union Square and downtown on Market Street.
I have been seeing several homeless
women in the same places for years now. I
know they are lesbians because I have talked to them. I also know they have nowhere
else to go.
As terrible as LGBT teen homelessness is, homelessness among the elderly
has become an increasing problem, which
will only get worse as more and more baby
boomers hit Social Security age. The majority of the elderly are women. And as the
poorest demographic of all Americans,
they are the most vulnerable to the dangers of homelessness. Older women are
invisible in America, the poor are invisible,
the homeless are invisible. Imagine the invisibility of homeless lesbians.
Homelessness concerns me because I
know how devastating it can be, and how
hard it can be to extricate yourself from it.
I was homeless in my early 20s for
nearly a year. I ended up on the streets
the same way many women do: I moved
to a city right out of college where the
only people I knew were work colleagues.
I struggled to make enough money for
a place to live. I bounced around on the
sofas of friends and acquaintances, spent
some unpleasantly wakeful nights in the
local shelter, and eventually was able to
find a room in an SRO hotel in the city's
skid row. There I shared a bathroom with
20 other people and prayed every night
that no one would come into my room
while I was sleeping.
The women on either side of me were
also lesbians, also lost, though not, I think,
as temporarily as I was. One was in her
40s, settled into her homeless life with a
cat in her room. The other was, like me, in
her early 20s, but had a drug problem and
was already prostituting hersel£ because
she could not hold a job.
I was fortunate. I got off the streets, left
that city, moved to one where I was able
to get a job that paid enough for me to get
an apartment. But I struggled for several
years afterward, living on the margins,
often on the verge of eviction. Homelessness takes a toll, and it can be hard to play
catch-up with your own life.
Homelessness feels desperate. Then it
feels hopeless. When you don't have the
normal routines of home and work and
friends and family, you begin to lose touch
with normalcy itself. I saw it in the teens
I interviewed-many
were drugged up
every day, and few had a focus or a plan
to get out. I saw it with devastating clarity
in the older homeless lesbians I talked to.
They had mostly given up, no longer cared
about bathing, never mind searching for
help. The discrimination they each experienced in the homeless system just added
to their desperation.
And so here we are, holiday season.
HUD says one kid in 50 is homeless. One
in every hundred Americans is homeless.
An unknown number of lesbians-from
teens to women over 40-are homeless.
So what are we doing about it? While
there are increasing numbers of programs
for LGBT youth, it's still not nearly enough.
An estimated 5,000 homeless LGBT teens
are living in New York City as I write this.
How are we as a community providing for
lesbians who are without access to shelter
space-because those spaces are reserved
almost exclusively for women with children,
because they are the most desperate? And
what about our most at-risk population,
older lesbians? In the recently released film
Love Is Strange, Alfred Molina and John
Lithgow star as a longtime couple who become homeless at 70.
There were probably always homeless
LGBT people. I've been reporting on them
for 25 years, since just after my own homelessness ended. But now we know they are
there, though we didn't before. And the
issues that drive people from their families and jobs and relationships remain
distressingly constant: homophobia, discrimination, self-medicating through substance abuse.
So this holiday season, talk to your local shelter and your local LGBT center.
What is being done for the queer homeless in your area? What is being done at
your local women's shelter to reach out to
lesbians? What outreach is available to gay
and homeless vets?
These are our people, too. These could
have been us, could still be us, with only
one wrong step on that ladder oflife. So as
we deck the halls and light the candles and
over-gift everyone who already has more
than enough, we need to take some time to
look around us, to seek out the most invisible members of our community. This holiday season, give thanks for the roof over
your head, and ask what your community
is doing to be sure no one is on the streets
as New Year's chimes in 2015. •
NOV/DEC
2014
CURVE
17
VIEWS/
TWO OF
FttDING
PtOPlt
ISAWAY
OFTAKING
CARt
OFTHtM.
THtRt
ISONt
UNIVrnSAl
RrMrnY,
AND
THAT'S
A
GOOD
PlATt
OFFOOD.
''
HOW
THEY
MET
ready to go on vacation, they don't have to
COLLEEN: We met through a mutual friend
sit down and say, "You get the passports
is a way of taking care of them. There is
who I had worked with. We were friends for
together and I will make sure we have the
one universal remedy, and that's a good
especially in my family, that feeding people
right clothes for the weather." We just know
plate of food. I use the hospitality industry
our own strengths and stick to that. And
as an outlet for my inherent desire to take
ONLIFE
BEFORE
THEY
BECAME
CHEFS
we have very strict rules about bringing
care of people.
COLLEEN: I was a sponsored skateboarder
work home.
some time before becoming a couple.
COLLEEN: Although today's statistics
and a jazz DJ before I really found a home
in the kitchen.
COLLEEN: It wouldn't be nearly as satisfying
would say otherwise, women have always
to be a sole proprietor. Being able to share
been the cooks. My grandmother and my
JEANA: I was going to be an accountant
your work life with your partner is amazing.
mom are both great cooks. I learned from
before I went to culinary school.
We have a very full plate. So it's great to
watching the two of them.
have constant support from the person
HOW
THEY
ENTERED
THERESTAURANT
BIZ you're sharing your life with.
WHY
THEY
FITSOWELL
TOGETHER
COLLEEN: I started cooking as a high
COLLEEN: We love all the same things. We
school job. The restaurant business really
HOW
THEY
RESOLVE
DIFFERENCES
have the same dreams and we don't hold
chose me. I was moved into a chef position
COLLEEN: We have resigned ourselves to
each other back from being a little daring
at a very young age, and even though I
the fact that we just don't have the liberty
sometimes. I know that I can count on
tried to go to school for film, the business
to have an all-out fight. We certainly have
Jeana to encourage me through a crazy
just kept drawing me back.
things we both feel strongly about-but,
motorcycle trip through Vietnam, and that
overall, we don't have time for petty
she can count on me to support her in
arguments.
getting that Julia Child tattoo she always
JEANA: I started working as a hostess in
college at Outback Steakhouse. Before
wanted.
I knew it, I was headed up the corporate
JEANA: We have definitely mastered the
chain. I had to work kitchen shifts as a part
30-second, "I'm sorry, I probably wasn't
of my management training. After my first
being considerate toward your feelings"
pressure that most couples have from being
kitchen shift, I was hooked. Not long after
in different places in their lives. We met
that, I quit college and made the choice to
conversation. And whatever the conflict
was, it's squashed. We never look back and
when we were young cooks and came up
pursue a future in the restaurant business.
we never bring up stuff from the past.
together. Every success that I have on my
ONWORKING
TOGETHER
ONWHY
WOMEN
MAKE
GREAT
CHEFS
have done it together.
JEANA: Just like when a solid couple gets
JEANA: It has been my experience,
(good2gotaco.com) •
JEANA: Plus, we don't have the added
resume I share with Colleen, because we
NOV/DEC
2014
CURVE
19
s, LIPSTICK+OI
PSTICK
Need a Nose
Ring Now
Mom won't let tweener get pierced.
BY LIPSTICK & DIPSTICK
Dipstick: Nose piercings are so gay, aren't
resistance. Just ask my mom. She'll tell you
they, Lipstick?
we had many a tussle as I tried to spread
Lipstick: Yes they are. Every sister I know
has her nose, eyebrow, tongue, or belly
it all in hindsight and let me tell you, if I
my wings. These days, glory be, I can see
Dear Lipstick & Dipstick:
I need advice. I am 15 and
came out to my mom last
Christmas. This happened
right around the time I was
supposed to get my nose
pierced. My mom said she
was saying no because I am
gay and it would make me
even gayer. My birthday is
right after New Year's and I
really want my nose pierced.
How can I explain to my mom
that it won't make me look
more gay?-Tenacious Tween
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
20
CURVE
NOV/DEC
2014
could do it all again, I'd try to hold on to
button pierced. Typically, the piercing
my youth and innocence a little bit longer,
happens during inauguration.
and listen to my mom a little bit more.
Dipstick: It's right after the vegetarian
prom with that cute senior guy was a bad
primer and the regrettably short haircut.
idea and I should, instead, spend Saturday
Lipstick: And just before the animal-shelter field trip, if I remember right. Tenacious
that one.
Especially when she told me that going to
night with my girlfriends. Boy, did she nail
Tween, here's a big high five for being so
Dipstick: Lipstick is used to getting what
out and proud! Now, here's my arm. Hook
she wants, so I bet if you keep walking with
yours through mine and imagine we're on
her long enough, she'll give you a tip or
a little walk, just you and Lipstick. I know
two about how to turn your mom around.
you feel like a full-size adult, ready to pave
your own path and make all your own
Lipstick: That's if I thought the ship
choices. At 15, I, too, was raring to go and
needed a new course. This one is headed
quick to throw a tantrum in the face of
in the right direction, albeit captained
by a fearful, obstinate skipper. Cool your
Lipstick: Ouch. No kidding. These kinds of
jets about getting the piercing, young'un.
questions are a punch to the gut. Majorly
Unfortunately, yo mama still has the right
Stressed, DO NOT END THIS LIFE. There
to make and enforce the lion's share of
is so much beauty and love outside your
the rules. At least for a few more years.
current constraints. What you and your
What you should address, however, is
girl need to do is figure out a way to leave
the ridiculously homophobic place she's
India. Get in touch with the International
coming from. Nothing is going to make
Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission
you gayer or straighter, and what she really
(iglhrc.org) and talk to someone there
cares about is how people see you, and, in
about steps you can take to make a move.
turn, her. While most parents go through
The present climate there makes it nearly
their own "coming out" after a child steps
impossible for you to be happy, healthy,
from the closet, it's our job to challenge
and safe.
"Blue Roses "
this phobic angst with honest conversation and living in our truth. Be respectful
Dipstick: Remember when we were on
and come from a place of love. It'll likely
tour and we met that lesbian from India
shock the hell out of her. Maybe she'll even
who was in an arranged marriage? She
change her mind. Remember, you're only a
spent most of her life pretending to
teenager once, and you'll get a lot further
be straight, and she snuck out on her
with sugar than salt.
husband to come to our reading. Our col-
Dipstick: Even though I do think your
surreptitiously
mom is being a pinhead, I hate to admit
only connections to the LGBT world. She
it-because
sure was brave. But no matter how hard it
umns and a few lesbian websites that she
it's going to make me sound
old and conservative-but
I'm actually
perused at work were her
is, even in places like India, you can find
with Mom on the piercing. For different
like-minded people who will love and ac-
reasons, of course. It's not that I don't think
cept you for who you are. I know that there
you should express yourself, it's just that I
have been some recent setbacks for gay
don't like nose piercings. The way they sit
rights in India, but there are also gays and
in your nose makes it look like a booger is
allies who are fighting for your right to love
about to drop off. lck. Besides, nose rings
right there in Mumbai. It may be daunting
are on their way out, so there's no sense in
at times, but it's the fight that every com-
getting one now. Wait until you're 18 to see
munity with gay rights has to go through.
if they're still in fashion.
Call an LGBT helpline like Qashti (971-1282081; 971-128-2307) and talk to someone
Dear Lipstick & Dipstick: We live in India
who knows what you're going through. It's
and are facing all sorts of troubles. With
not easy. We know that. But please don't
the kind of atmosphere we have in our
give up. The world needs you.
families and in our surroundings, we
can never be together. This is causing a
Lipstick: If you ever think about do-
stress in us. Don't know what to do. Feel
ing anything drastic,
like ending this life. -Majorly
get in touch with us
Stressed in
Mumbai
again-immediately!
Dipstick: All I can say is, this puts the
question about nose piercing in perspec-
Do you have a burning
question for Lipstick
tive, eh, Lipstick?
& Dipstick? Write to
ask@lipstickdipstick.
com
"melodies that will
break your heart"
RollingStone.com
NEWALBUMIN STORES
& ON TOURNOW!VISIT:
RACHAELSAGE.COM
Don't Doubt YOurse(f,
Just Dolt
Is your own worst enemy you? Learn how to conquer
your self-doubt this holiday season. ev JILL SLOANE GOLDSTEIN
I recently came across an article about
a business school professor who asks her
incoming class the same question each
semester: "How many of you in here feel
that you are the one mistake that the ad~
missions committee made?" Every year,
about two~thirds of the students raise
their hands. It's quite the perplexing phe~
nomenon, considering that each student
needs a top~notch dossier in order to gain
entrance. And yet, despite their excellent
grades, recommendations, and personal
essays, year after year the majority of those
students feel as though they don't deserve
to be there.
22
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NOV/DEC
2014
Sound familiar:' It's commonly known
as Impostor Syndrome. Chances are, we've
all felt it. In fact, sociologists who've been
studying it since the 1970s cite that over
70 percent of their subjects feel it at some
time or another. Impostor Syndrome can
be defined as "a collection of feelings of
inadequacy that persist even in the face of
information that indicates that the oppo~
site is true. It is experienced internally as
chronic self~doubt:'
Although the classroom and the work~
place seem to be the most fertile fields in
which Impostor Syndrome can take root
and flourish, it's actually the gym that ap~
pears to be the most lush environment for
our insecurities. It's the place where we're
most likely to draw psychologically harm~
fol comparisons based on appearance
alone. Despite the fact that we all possess
the ability to exercise, walking into a sea
of tanned, Adonis~like bodies draped over
machines with elaborate computer screens
and pulley systems can bring even the
strongest mind to its knees. We immedi~
ately assume that everyone around us was
either born looking amazing or they were
quicker to master the fitness game than
we'll ever be. We encounter inner dialogue
that sounds like this: "I have no business
VIEWS/
""
Many people will tell you not to even
let those naysayer ideas take shape, but
I find that acknowledging them helps to
rationally dispel them and take their pow~
er away. Logically speaking, there was no
reason I couldn't follow the instructor at
my own pace, despite my nerves; I had the
same hands and feet that everyone else
brought to class. And surely there were
dumbbells available that would rival my
son's weight, if not the countless grocery
bags I schlep each week. You get my drift.
It turns out, the mind's fearful thoughts
are not necessarily the most well~reasoned
ones, and that becomes evident only when
we acknowledge them.
Another helpful tactic in overcoming
self cynicism is to give yourself cred~
it where credit's due. When it comes to
fitness, it is far too easy to criticize your
body and your abilities, ultimately creating
a barrier to progress. But truly, what pur~
pose does it serve, other than to decrease
your drive and willingness? Our brains
will always quit on us before our bodies
will. We simply don't want to continue.
We're outside of our comfort zone, and,
quite frankly, that doesn't feel so good. So
we shrink in the face of what's left to do, in~
stead of reveling in the accomplishment of
what's been done. Shifting focus onto what
weve achieved will help create the motiva~
tion that will see us through to the com~
pletion of an exercise. Try it the next time
you go running-finishing
that third mile
will not be nearly as difficult once you give
yourself credit for already conquering two.
It probably seems counterintuitive to
walk into an already intimidating situation
and make yourself vulnerable by seeking
guidance, but in the face of self~doubt even
the smallest bit of advice can go a long way.
So ask a trainer for help. (Or if that ter~
rifies you, hop onto YouTube and watch
fitness videos. There's certainly no shortage
of them.) Learning how to use a new ma~
chine or how to do an effective squat will
begin to structure your future workouts.
After even the briefest tutorial, exercises
will become familiar, something you can
navigate with a semblance of control. Now,
like me, you'll probably steer clear of the
ACTUAllY,
TH
t
GYM
APPtARS
TO
BrTH[MOST
lUSH
tNVIRONMtNT
~OR
OUR
INS[CURITltS.
''
being here and they're going to see through
me ... see how little I'm capable of' And we
get discouraged-really
discouraged-as
we stomp on our confidence levels. Then
we begin to think that we don't even de~
serve to hold that membership card, which
feels as fraudulent as our first fake IDs.
We become exercise impostors.
Well, before you rip off your sports bra
and go running for the closest exit, know
that there are manageable ways to over~
come these feelings. Recall that Impostor
Syndrome is ': .. feelings of inadequacy
that persist even in the face of information
that indicates that the opposite is true:'
We all have the physical ability to exer~
cise-it's our brains that tell us otherwise.
So it's our brains that require the work. I
recently joined a friend as a guest at her
high~end gym. I've visited countless clubs
in my day, but this one unraveled me. All
around me there were young women who
seemed flawless, if not in appearance then
in the way they carried themselves. Con~
fidence oozed as they socialized outside
the studio, awaiting the start of their new
cardio ~ bar~ Pilates~ infused~ ab~bus ting~
circuiMraining~HIIT
class (OK, so the
name wasn't that fancy, but the descrip~
tion was). Everything about the environ~
ment suddenly made me doubt mysel£
despite my fitness experience. As I began
to shrink back and reconsider taking the
class, I started an inner dialogue that actu~
ally proved helpful in shaking me back to
logical ground. It began with letting in my
negative thoughts.
FITN
spots I like to call "oh hell no" -say, the free
weight room, where men bench~press your
entire body weight during their warm~ups.
Theres no pressure to learn every corner of
the gym or every exercise known to man.
Stick to areas that feel comfortable. You'll
find that the more adept you become at
one thing, the more confidence you'll have
to try something new.
Many of these tactics will work for you,
even though some may not. It's certainly
an individual process. But here's a bit of
universally sound advice when Impostor
Syndrome takes hold: Get off the hamster
wheel of critical thinking and look around
you-you'll
probably see some women
huffing through their push~ups or sweat~
ing on the treadmill as another mile clocks
by-and
ask yourself what makes them
better or more able than you. In the quiet
and calm of the moment, you'll realize the
answer is: nothing. They too started exer~
cising at some point, without being com~
pletely in the know. They too had inner
thoughts and insecurities to face. They too
had weight to lose, arms to tone, muscle
to gain. The only thing that separates you
from anyone else in that gym is mental and
physical effort. You're not unique in your
vulnerability, but if you're standing back in
fear, you're alone in letting it paralyze you.
(jillsloanegoldstein.com)
4 FEARLESS
TIPS
FOR
BEATING
IMPOSTOR
SYNDROME':
1
1. Confront your negative
thoughts: You'll soon realize
they're just not logical
2. Give yourself credit: Don't
criticize yourself, congratulate
yourself on your success so far
3. Go for the win: Acknowledging
your achievements makes going
that extra mile so much easier
4. Seek advice: From your trainer
or even the Internet; information
can put your fears in perspective
NOV/DEC
2014
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23
T
aste Seattle Food Tours, owned by
West Seattle residents and lesbians
Felicia Watson and Roen Ako, aims
to share the unique culture of Seattle
neighborhood, Alki Beach. Roen, who
serves on the board of the Greater Seattle
Business Association (GSBA), the city's
LGBT chamber of commerce, was recently married to her partner Felicia; they were
one of the first couples married in Hawaii
after the Hawaii Marriage Equality Act
made same-sex marriage legal in Roen's
home state. Both women share a passion
for great food and they have partnered
with local, artisanal businesses that offer
24
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NOV/DEC
2014
superior and unique products that showcase Seattle's rich food scene.
Alki Beach was the preferred destination for Seattle's sun-seekers this summer,
where they came to enjoy summer days
at the beach, soaking in breath-taking
panoramic views of the Seattle cityscape
and the Olympic Mountains. But along
with natural beauty, Alki Beach also offers a thriving neighborhood foodie scene.
This summer, Taste Seattle Food Tours
launched a unique biking foodie tour
along Alki Beach as a fun activity aimed at
both visitors and locals alike.
Cruising along the Alki bike trail with
its views of Puget Sound, Elliot Bay, and
Bainbridge Island was a great way to
burn off calories from all the goodies consumed along the way at five eateries such
as famed food truck Marination, Slices
pizzeria, Ampersand Cafe, Seattle's oldest fast-food restaurant, award-winning
Salty's, and Alki Spud Fish and Chips,
which has been on Alki Avenue since
1935. Tours were helmed by a knowledgeable guide who offered insight into
Alki's colorful past and present incarnations, pointing out hidden gems from
quirky public art to a working lighthouse.
(taste206.com) •
U
prising of Love is a coalition formed
by many individuals and organizations-from
Melissa Etheridge to
the United Nations-that
banded together around the issue of Russian President
Vladimir Putin and his support of anti-homosexual propaganda laws that resulted in
violence and discrimination against LGBT
people leading up to, during, and after the
Sochi Winter Olympics.
On September 15 Uprising of Love
held a benefit concert for global equality at the Gershwin Theatre in New York
City. Hosted by Jane Lynch, the concert
featured performers such as Sting, Chely
Wright, Patti LuPone, Billy Porter and
Kathy Najimy, who highlighted the issue
of global LGBT discrimination.
J. Bob Alotta, Executive Director of
the Uprising of Love coalition member
the Astrea Foundation ( astreafoundation.
org), spoke about Astrea's mission for the
evening, which included highlighting the
organization's role in providing support to
80 countries and 43 states.
"This is a time where, while even though
there are many laws in place, it doesn't
mean they are implemented. We consid-
er ourselves to be a racial justice, a gender
justice and an economic justice organization. Those things are inextricably linked.
We're not really interested in a single issue
because we don't live single-issue lives.
LGBTI folks all over the world are organizing in ways that are multifarious.
"I've always joked that Astrea surely is
a woman because she doesn't get credit for
any of her work;' said Alotta. "I am really
hoping that the benefit will broaden our
reach so that we can intersect across our
various niches and get to know each other:'
(uprisingoflove.org) •
NOV/DEC
2014
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25
The Intention and Interpretation
of SinCad O'Connor ~
Music's provocateur is back with a new album.
BY KELLYMCCARTNEY
M
ahatma
Gandhi
once
said,"To believe in something, and not to live it,
is dishonest:' It's a high
bar, to be sure, and not everyone clears it
in the same way that Sinead O'Connor
does. Passionate ...principled ...bold ...brazen ...thoughtful...tendentious:
All these
descriptors easily apply to the Irish singer/ songwriter, whose shaved head and
dauntless spirit have been rocking more
than a few people back on their heels since
1987. In 1990, her hypnotic rendering of
"Nothing Compares 2 U" left anyone and
everyone who came near it breathless. I Do
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2014
Not Want What I Haven't Got, the album
which yielded that stunning cut, continues to stand as one of the best albums
of the '90s, even as some of the issues it
addressed-most
notably, police brutality
and racism-continue
to ring out as heartbreakingly now as they did 24 years ago.
Since that time, O'Connor has released
albums of torch songs, ancient Irish melodies, and reggae, while riding a steady
current of pop rockers. She also tore up
a picture of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live and retired from music.
Though that first act of defiance will live
on in infamy, the latter exploit was, thank-
fully, short-lived. Through it all, O'Connor
has continued to animate her music with
the issues she believes in and cares about,
whether they are rooted in social justice,
feminism, or something else entirely. Even
O'Connor's love songs, which fill her new
album, I'm Not Bossy, I'm the Boss, seem
somehow political, if only on a personal
level. These aren't your tween's puppy love
songs, though O'Connor begs to differ. "I
think, on this album, there are quite a few
'oh, baby baby' songs. I despise politics and
I don't really consider myself a political
artist. Perhaps I might be a spiritual artist, and there are times when I get involved
REVIEWS/
with the church business and all that, but
I don't see that as political as much as it
is spiritual. So I'm very anti~politics, as it
happens;' she emphasizes. 'Tm happy to
sing 'oh, baby baby' songs as much as 'fuck
the Vatican' songs:'
Indeed, that pro~spirituality leaning fac~
tors obviously and heavily into O'Connor's
life and art, as does her stance against pol~
itics and religion. What tethers them all
together and spirits them into the world is
the power of the spoken word-a power
that O'Connor takes very seriously and
wields very thoughtfully. It's also a pow~
er, she contends, that founded the science
of prayer. "The fact is, God trusted us too
much and gave us free will. We don't know
how to look after ourselves, and It can't in~
tervene unless we ask It, and religion has
us talking to the wall;' she explains. "So,
we're in trouble. That matters to me, obvi~
ously, because there's a way of fixing things
very, very quickly, which is asking in the
right place. And that's what I mean about
the power of the spoken word. 'Intention'
is one way of putting it, because if you're
asking, hopefully you have some belief that
what you're asking for will happen. And
that's intention:'
Sexuality is another
subject that
O'Connor has never shied away from.
But, in "Daddy I'm Fine;' when she sings
about how she wants to "stand up tall with
my boobs upright" and "fuck every man in
sight" (from 2000's Faith and Courage), it
feels like personal empowerment rather
than self~objectification-a
distinction
that O'Connor tried to help Miley Cyrus
understand last fall via an open letter to
the young upstart. Even still, O'Connor
claims that the distinction comes from
the execution, or the interpretation, rath~
er than from any specific intention on her
part. "I don't think it's conscious. I sup~
pose, if that's how it comes across, it's just
the way I must be;' she muses. 'Although
I'm quite potty~mouthed, in terms of how
I write or talk about matters of sexuality, I
suppose secretly I'd be very similar to the
character in 'The Vishnu Room' (from I'm
Not Bossy). I think of sex as quite a sacred
thing, whether it's a one~night thing, or
a relationship, or whatever. Whether it's
neat or whether it's filthy, that's beside
the point. To me, it's a sacred thing and I
actually think of it as lovemaking, which
everybody slags me off for as very corny.
But that's where I sit, I suppose, with those
things. The way that I talk-especially
when I write-is
very much not what I
actually, really am like. My mouth is a lot
more adolescent, perhaps, than my heart:'
The character in "The Vishnu Room'' is
one of several female voices that O'Connor
amplifies on I'm Not Bossy. Writing out~
side of herself is a practice that she began
on her last outing, How About I Be Me?,
as a means to explore other emotional
landscapes and take a break from mining
her own. She says, "It's brilliant, actually,
because it gives you a lot more freedom.
It's kind of like being a puppet master,
MUSIC
you know2 The puppet can do and say all
kinds of stuff you would never do or say:'
One of those other female characters plays
a role in several songs. O'Connor notes, "
'Take Me to Church' is what I would re~
fer to as her eureka moment:' Though this
character has occupied earlier songs that
were full of longing for the object of her
desire, here she faces a personal reckoning.
"She finally gets what she wants, which is
five minutes with the guy, and it turns out
he is frightening;' O'Connor explains."She
then has to ask herself, 'How did I get here,
into this frightening situation? How did I
not know I was with somebody frighten~
ingr' She realizes that perhaps she's had
longings, and she wonders what were they
for, and she comes to the conclusion that
it was actually herself she was longing for:'
The moral of the story: Be careful what
you wish for.
After all that's been said and done, are
there things that O'Connor herself does
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REVIEWS/
MUSIC
HOT
LICKS
))BYMIAJONES
& KELLY
MCCARTNEY
wish for-ideas about her that she may~
be wishes people would let go of? Not
really. No. "I don't think I'm entitled to
wish for people to let go of anything;' she
says. "I don't spend too much time wor~
rying about what other people think of
me, to be honest. It's very low on my list
of priorities. So, there's nothing I would
particularly wish, one way or the other:'
That insouciance may well be indicative
of a wiser whole than the sum of all the
rambunctious parts of her past. Although
the words "passionate and principled, bold
and brazen, thoughtful and tendentious"
all still apply, the first word that comes to
her mind when describing herself as an
artist now is "mature:' O'Connor observes,
"Perhaps I'm at a phase in my life, and in
being a woman, where a certain maturi~
ty comes over things:' I'm Not Bossy, I'm
the Boss evinces that-and
the fact that
Sinead O'Connor, in all her shaved~head
glory, still and always lives her beliefs right
out loud. (sineadoconnor.com) •
Mary
Lambert
Heart
OnMySleeve
(Capitol
Records)
Best known as the voice behind the lump-in-throat-inducing refrain on
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis's "Same Love," Mary Lambert has established
herself as a solo artist on the rise with her EP Welcometo the Age of My Body.
Her full-length album debut.Heart on My Sleeveis filled with raw emotion,
honesty and some surprising cross-genre musicality. Album opener "Secrets"
is an infectiously upbeat, catchy pop tune with decidedly non-poppy lyrics
revealing some of Lambert's personal struggles like bipolar disorder and weight
issues. There's a smile behind her voice, handclaps, horns and a great interlude
with an operatic solo sung on top of trip-hop beats. The feeling of carefree
acceptance is fleeting and soon the sunshine is chased away by storm clouds.
Track two, "So Far Away," is a better indication of the album's overall theme of
heartache, loneliness and making mistakes. "Rib Cage" is a standout track with
dark, brooding overtones and powerfully understated guest vocals from rhyme
slingers K. Flay and Angel Haze. Lambert's cover of Rick Springfield's "Jessie's
Girl" adds distinct layers of longing, insecurity and sadness that transform the
song into something new. Many of these songs will be used as the beautifully
sad soundtrack to a breakup and "Sum of Our Parts" should be listened to in the
final stage of the grieving process. Wearing your heart on your sleeve makes
you vulnerable, but also brings you closer to your personal truth. [M.J.]
Sinead
O'Connor
I'mNotBossy,
I'mtheBoss
(NettwerK
Music
Group)
Ever since she stormed onto the scene, Sinead O'Connor, the brash personality,
has garnered more attention than Sinead O'Connor, the brave artist. The
point that many people miss is that they are two sides of the same being and
they merge in her music, whether in her dismantling of Irish folklore or in her
revealing of personal frailties. For O'Connor, the personal and the political are
not separate, and that's the stance she takes on this new set. Musically and
thematically, I'm Not Bossy is a familiar form in which longtime fans will find
immediate comfort. From "How About I Be Me" on down, O'Connor peels back
the layers of love and life from various perspectives-the other woman, the
lonely lover, the uncertain bride, the lost girl, the defiant badass. In whispers
and in growls, O'Connor lays it all down, and gloriously so. [K.M.]
28
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2014
R
emember how excited you
were when you packed your
bags for summer camp and
headed off to the woods to
make life-long friends? Well, it's that time
again, only now you don't need to leave the
comfort of your own home to enjoy a hot,
steamy summer night with the sexy short
film, Camp Belvidere.
Director, producer, writer and actor Astrid Ovalles brings us a captivating story
of two women finding love at a summer
camp for girls in the 1950s. One is the
camp's nurse, Gin (Ovalles) and the other is an 18-year-old camp counselor, Rose
(Molly Way).
Along with an abundance of passion
comes a tale full of confusion and pain.
Rose desires Gin but Gin knows how
troublesome and unaccepting the world
can be, especially in the '50s, for a lesbian
relationship to work. She tries to push
Rose away to save her from a life of torment and seclusion even though she feels
the same yearning.
Ovalles, fascinated by 1950s lesbian
pulp fiction, brings us a film that brings
forth the struggle of the era. Camp Belvidere has a dynamic dose of raw emotion,
taken to a level of utmost intensity, from
the brilliant chemistry and acting portrayed by Way and Ovalles. Not to mention they have extreme eye candy status.
From writing an influential script to
producing, directing and staring in the
film, Ovalles proves to be a force to reckoned with.
What made you decide to make it a
period piece set in the 1950s?
I've always had a fascination with the
lesbian pulp fiction of the '50s. I was really
drawn to the colorful characters and the intense romance that the novels portrayed. I
really craved to see something like that done
on film; something with a little grit, and a
little pain, but also very romantic, beautiful, and picturesque. One day on vacation I
couldn't stop thinking about this character
that popped into my head. I knew some
things about her. I knew she was reserved
and glamorous but also held a lot of pain inside. I needed desperately to see her come to
life...then Gin was born. Next thing I knew
she was in a cabin and it was a really hot day
and this whole thing happened with this
irresistible young woman (and that's how
Rose was born!). From there I started brainstorming with a couple of friends (Anna
Kolantis and Emily Martin) about where
the story could go and how these characters
could relate to each other, all the while staying realistic about our budget. Sure enough,
several months later we had Camp Belvidere. It was important to the story that we
keep it in the 1950s because I knew that the
struggle these particular characters had to
face would not have had such high stakes if
it had taken place in the present, or even the
'60s. I really like to put my characters in a lot
of trouble when I write, I like to see them
suffer and then persevere. Another reason I
wanted to keep it [set] in the '50s is because
I honestly love doing vintage set design and
costumes and that was a ton of fun.
NOV/DEC
2014
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29
There is a large and growing fan base
for this film and a lot of buzz online.
What do you think is attracting audiences to this film?
I TRltO
TOWRITE
THIS
STORY
FROM
THE
PERSPECTIVE
OFA
HARDCORE
MOVIEGOER
AND
TRUE-BlUE
lESBIAN.
I tried to write this story from the per~
spective of a hardcore moviegoer and true~
blue lesbian. I knew that a lot of lesbian
films I had watched were "nice" or "sweet"
or "depressing" and I wanted something
that was a little twisted, a little sexy, a little
painful, and that didn't make me want to
shoot myself in the end. It was nice to be
able to play a lot with Gin's character be~
cause I think she has all of those elements
within her and I think people are drawn
to characters like that. I know that I am.
Then, as human beings, we always want to
understand how we relate to one another
and we want to feel like our complexity is
not being overlooked. So then you throw
in some complex characters that want to
fuck (or sleep with) each other but can't
because they're in this messed up situation
with all kinds of adversity... and people
seem to love it!
The chemistry between you and your
co-star is electric. How was it working
with each other? Was this your first
time playing a lesbian?
How difficult was it to balance various
roles (writer, producer, director, and
character lead)?
Overwhelming at times but I honestly
enjoyed it tremendously. It allowed me to
learn and utilize a lot about the many arts
that collaborate in a film, and of course
seeing everything come together in the
end was extremely rewarding. I learned a
lot about music, set design, costumes. It
was like being in Cher's closet! When on
set, I had Oriana Oppice as my co~director
and she would focus on the acting while
I made sure the picture was what I had
imagined. Luckily we had Victor Suarez
as our director of photography and he's
got magic in his eyes so I was able to trust
him with the picture while I played Gin.
During pre~production I did think I was
going to lose my mind a few times, but as
luck would have it I seem to have my men~
tal faculties somewhat intact still.
Writer-director Astrid Ovalles
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NOV/DEC
2014
I'm happy that the chemistry between
Gin and Rose came through. I was honest~
ly worried that it wouldn't because Mol~
ly and I had been spending a lot of time
together just hanging out as friends and I
thought then the novelty would wear off
and that it wouldn't translate on screen,
but thankfully it worked out. When I cast
Molly in the role I felt right away that we
had chemistry and I knew that she was
bold enough to play Rose. Working on set
with her was tons of fun. We have many
stories about smeared lipstick and vintage
bras getting stuck in things.
Gin is my first lesbian role, as long we're
not counting my days of playing a lesbian
since birth. It was so very refreshing to be
able to tell a story that I relate to whole~
heartedly. I can step into a lot of charac~
ter's shoes regardless of their sexuality but
I'll admit that playing a lesbian was way
more fun ... so I've decided to play a lesbi~
an always. (campbelvidere.com) •
REVIEWS/
Fl
HOT
PICKS
)) MARCIE
BIANCO
& LISA
TEDESCO
Who's
Afraid
ofVagina
Wolf?
Oirecteo
byAnna
Margarita
Albelo
The2013lesbiancomedy hit Who'sAfraid of VaginaWolf?is now availablefrom WolfeOnDemand.
com. Winnerof multipleawards,this gemof a film features an all-star cast-L Word alumsGuinevere
Turnerand JaninaGavankaralongsideAgnesOlech,Carrie Preston,and CelestePechous-ledby Anna
MargaritaAlbelo,who also directedthe film.
'ALESBIAN
FEEL
GOOD
COMEDY
... LAUGH
OUT
LOUD
FUNNY'
nN1
A Sapphichomageto Who'sAfraid of Virginia Wolf? by EdwardAlbee,the film is a contemplativeyet
comicaltake on a questionthe mediasays is plaguingwomenthese days:Canwe haveit all?According
to Albelo'scharacter,Anna,havingit all includesthree goals:makinga movie,gettinga girlfriend,and
losing20 pounds.Thefilm opensas Annaturns 40, and our seeminglycarefreeprotagonist-who
drinks, smokes,and lives in her friend'sgarage-turns pensiveas she considerswhy she has been
unableto negotiatea satisfactory balancebetweenher life and her work. Thefilm follows Annaas she
confronts all the psychologicalblockages-fromher relationshipwith her motherto her propensityfor
choosingshinyyet vapidgirlfriends-that havepreventedher from havingit all, all along.
Havingsacrificed lovefor a career,which itself has been unsuccessfulup to this point,Annadecides
to invert the strategy: makea movieto woo a girl. Thegirl she has in mind is KatiaAmour (playedby
Gavankar),a cool, detachedgraduatestudent with a tongueskilledat academicjargon, as well as
other things. KatiabecomesAnna'sdanglingcarrot, as well as her muse.
Anna soon learns that muses-those catalysts for artistic output since antiquity-are nothing
but an illusion. Anna's coming of age is therefore inspired by the reality of her own midlife crisis,
and the film spectacularly employs conventional as well as literary tropes to explore, as well as
satirize, such dramatic moments.
Albelois a breath of fresh air in the relativelystale cinematiclandscapeof lesbianfilmmaking.Who's
Afraid of VaginaWolf?is intelligentand hilarious,both in its use of Albee'splay as a frame narrative
and in its manyallusionsto literary and pop culture. Theacting is superb, especiallyGuinevereTurner's
own deadpantake on ElizabethTaylor'sMartha.A spectacularparody.[M.B.]
Feminin/Feminin
Written
an□ oirecteo
byCnloe
Robicnauo
Move over Blue Is The Warmest Color. A new lesbian web series with a
quintessentially French twist has created a lot of buzz in Canada.Feminin/
Feminin,a dramatic comedy about the lives and loves of six Montreal
women in their 20s, filmed in French and with Englishsubtitles gives us the
real French lesbian film fix.
Written and directed by Chloe Robichaudand produced for a website
geared and dedicated to lesbians called Lez Spread The Word, the Feminin/
Femininweb series incorporates two different styles of filmmaking in
cinema verite style.
"Feminin/Femininpresents a series of tableaus of different women aged
18 to 42," says Robichaud."Each episode taking us into one of their lives
through a mix of tributes, portraits and playful allusions."
If you are looking for something similar to our precious L Wordthen this
isn't the show for you. Robichaudwanted to avoid the stereotypes and
all-around cliches that most lesbian series thrust upon us. Feminin/Feminin
proves to be different and breaks new ground.
"This is a series about how women love," says Robichaud."It's daily life in
eight ten-minute capsules. My hope is that, in these women, many will see
their own reality reflected, whether they are homosexualor not."
Whether you caught the screening at Montreal Pride or not, this web series
definitely deserves a chance. [LT.]
NOV/DEC
2014
CURVE
31
ven if you haven't read
Sarah Waters, chances are,
you still know who she is.
Not only can she actually
afford to write full~time,
she has joined that dazzling group of writ~
ers who have usurped the celebrity usually
reserved for movie stars. With her three
Man Booker nominations, the statuesque
Waters is literary and popular, loved by
lesbians and straights.
The Paying Guests is her sixth novel,
the only one set in the 1920s, and was the
toughest to write, monopolizing her iron~
clad 9~to~5 workweek for about four years.
Is that because this one is more charac~
ter~driven than her others:' "I think the
characters almost came first, so, inevitably,
they drove the book. In a sense, that made
it a tougher novel for me, because I had to
do a lot of work to get to know the charac~
ters and let their story emerge from their
personalities:' Somewhere along the way,
Frances Wray became Waters' favorite ere~
E
32
CURVE
NOV/DEC
2014
ation. "I like her a lot ...she is very fearless.
She speaks her mind, which we don't al~
ways do in the world:'
It is 1922, and genteel south London
is peopled with the broke and the dead.
Frances lives with her mother. But Frances
is not the" whiskery spinster daughter" you
might envision. She fires up beautifully at
galling men and once threw her shoe at
an MP. Impoverished by her late father's
debts, Frances has no choice but to take in
lodgers-Leonard
and Lillian Barber are
the paying guests. But theirs is not a sati~
ating marriage; so, in her kimono, which
keeps coming strangely undone, Lillian
turns to Frances.
Those who looked for and failed to find
Waters' trademark lesbian carnality in her
last novel, The Little Stranger,won't be dis~
appointed here. The Paying Guests is thick
with sex-female flesh "crimsoning in the
heat" -and signals Waters' return to the
theme that purrs across her fiction. "Often
they're books in which a kind of passion
breaks through the surface of something
and kind of causes trouble. This one is
about ordinary people whose lives are
turned upside down-first
by desire, re~
ally, and then by the tragic consequences
of it:'
Time travel is Waters' thing. "Each of
the novels has grown out of the one before
it, very much. There were those three Vic~
torian ones, and I wanted to make a move
then but I didn't want to come into the
contemporary world. I went to the '40s for
two, and then became interested in what
preceded the '40s, so slipped back to the
'20s. It's the past, really, that interests me.
Because I'm mainly telling lesbian stories
too, I'm fascinated in how their lives have
changed over the years:' In this attempt
to faithfully reanimate our lesbian sisters'
stories, research, she says, is as much a fo~
cus as the writing itself.
Waters never meant to be a writer. Born
in 1966 in Wales, her father an engineer
and her mother a housewife, the Cance~
REVIEWS/ BOOKS
rian didn't start writing until she was 29.
Little-person Sarah wanted to be an archeologist and grown-up Sarah became an academic. If she hadn't written her PhD thesis,
"Wolfskins and Togas: Lesbian and Gay
Historical Fictions, 1870 to the Present;'
who knows if we'd ever have seen her first
knockout, Tipping the Velvetr She stumbled
upon the expression "tipping the velvet" as
she researched pornography-it's Victorian
slang for cunnilingus. At the same time, she
stumbled on a thought: Could she-would
she-write fiction that would finally give a
voice to the lesbians of the past:'
Waters speaks to me from her bookcharged attic study-"an orderly mess" and it is here that you would find the
book she wishes she had written: The
Talented Mr. Ripley. "You know, the Patricia Highsmith:' I thought about it a
lot when I was writing The Paying Guests
because she's so brilliant with tension and
suspense:' Perhaps the first book to really wow her is crowded in there too. "The
White Mountains, that first book in John
Christopher's trilogy, The Tripods, is a
book that sticks in my mind. It's postapocalyptic ... and he imagines a whole
world. I was very taken with that
idea. I was about 10:'
The Paying Guests is "a lesbian
love story that's also a crime story:' Waters then goes on to tell me
that she is reserved. But, like any
good crime story, she opens up in
the most unexpected ways. She remembers her stunned scintillation
when Virago accepted Tipping the
Velvet after 10 other publishing
houses had rejected it. How did she
celebrate:' Her laughter becomes
elastic. "My partner at the time
was in a choir-very lesbian. I got
the news and I got on my bike and
I cycled round and met her after choir and
had a drink at the local pub. I can't believe
I'm telling you that! It's such a lesbian story!"
We're both laughing now."That's a great story;' I say."It is;' she says,"It really is, isn't it:"'
Since 2002, her partner has been her
writing ally,Lucy Vaughan. They share their
London home with a badass cat. "Did you
ever see Bad Girls:"'Waters asks. "Well, you
remember Yvonne Atkins:' Our cat actually
looks like Yvonne Atkins. She's hard. Real
tough. Yeah, Lucy named her Atkins:'
Art galleries, London gazing, and films
are Waters' other grand passions. She has
particularly talked about her love of the
screen-big and small. Her career acme,
she says, was "when Tipping the Velvet was
adapted for TV. It's mad to say that. It was
such a long time ago!" (A screen adaptation
of The Paying Guests, you ask:' There has
been "a bit of interest:' And no, Waters has
not started on her next novel yet. "Maybe in
the new year:') As for music:' 'Tm not really
into music in terms of keeping up with it. I
mean, if you saw the contents of my iPodcheesy old disco classics!"
When asked how she'd describe herself,
there is no hesitation before her almost
inaudible, almost stealthlike, 'Tm a bit of
a worrier. I wish I could shake that one
off:' Then, to the next question comes a
walloping "What:"' that sounds more like
an exclamation than a question. "What:"'
she says again, the literary giant's brain
taut with concentration. "If I had to define
my life using a book tide:' An imaginary
one, or one that already exists:"'"Whatever
you like;' I say."Oh gosh! Oh God! Well it
wouldn't be War and Peace, or anything as
dramatic as that. Oh God, that's too hard,
and it's a really good question! Umm, I
would say something like A Quiet Excitement:"'That's good;' I say."Reallyt she says,
'J\.re you sure:"'This from the woman who
once said that she had "this superstitious
idea that worrying will stop bad things
from happening. When I'm on an airplane
I feel I have to concentrate really hard to
keep it in the air:'
What is the worrier's worst fear:' "That
one day I'll run out of stories to tell. And
that probably will happen. It won't be the
end of the world though. I've written six
novels that I love. I like to think I'll write
at least six more, but who knows:'
Who knows:"'
This is not to say that Waters
lacks confidence-exquisitely,
far
from it. "I think you get a kind of
confidence in middle age that you
don't have when you're younger. I'm
in my late 40s now, which is not unpleasant. You get very kind of, just
not giving a fuck anymore. I mean,
if I wanted to listen to Billy Joel on
my iPod or something, I would have
worried about being horribly uncool a few years ago! But now I just
think, Fuck it-if I want to listen to
Billy Joel, I'm going to listen to Billy
Joel:' (sarahwaters.com) •
NOV/DEC
2014
CURVE
33
HOT
READS»
BYMARCIE
BIANCO
& RIABUSCH
Francine
Prose
Lovers
attheChameleon
Club,
Paris
1932
(DecKle
Eoge)
Nothing comes between the Fuhrer
and his nut cutlets. Hitler, like most
fastidious vegans with a short fuse for
vulgarity, devours half his nut cutlet
before pushing the plate away and
proceeding to lecture Lou Villa rs on
Blythe
Rippon
Barring
Complications
(Viva
Puolisning)
What are the odds that fiction can
outmatch reality in this debut novel
about the U.S. Supreme Court's decision
on marriage equality? Blythe Rippon's
Barring Complicationsdoes just that,
delivering an impressive, captivating tale
that combines history, politics, and a
tender lesbian romance.
Here is the setup: The Supreme
Court has decided to hear a case about
gay marriage. Victoria Willoughby, the
newest justice (and rumored to be a
lesbian), must now navigate courtroom
politics, the press, and her own feelings
34
CURVE
NOV/DEC
2014
the merits of veganism as the proper
dietetics of the great German empirejust as Lou's lover, Inge Wallser, has said
he would. Francine Prose's protagonist,
Lou Villars, meets Hitler in Lovers at the
ChameleonClub, Paris 1932,Prose's
engaging 20th novel. The scene is Berlin
on the eve of the 1936 Olympics. The
lesbian lovers are Hitler's special guests
and he has a job for them-for Inge,
Germany's great auto-racer, and for
Lou, the disgraced Joan of Arc of French
auto-racing. It is a job that eventually
costs both of them their lives.
Prose based the character of Lou
Villars on the real-life Violette Morris,
promising young French athlete turned
Nazi collaborator who was featured in
Georges Brassa'i"s Lesbian Coupleat
Le Monocle, 1932.This impressionistic
black-and-white photograph captivated
Prose so much that she decided to make
the mysterious tuxedoed butch woman
the focal point of her plot about the rise
of Vichy France in the 1930s.
From Lou and Inge;to Gabor Tsenyi, a
Hungarian mama's boy based on Brassa'i,
the photographer who took the infamous
photo; to the wealthy baroness Lily de
Rossignol,who patronizes Tsenyi and
employs Lou to race her family's line of
cars-the novel's cast of characters paint a
portrait of the creative and deviant classes
in this landmark case-but her biggest
challenge will be Genevieve Fornier, the
brilliant, out lead counsel for the LGBT.
By then going decades back in time,
to when both the main characters were
at Harvard Law, Rippon reveals the
history of so many of us who had to
choose between pursuing a promising
career and being out and proud. This
backstory shows clearly why the
Supreme Court's decision in favor of
marriage equality was historic. From the
opening scenes introducing the justice
and then the counselor, this reader was
hooked. In clear, crisp prose, the book
entertains us with convincing and likable
characters, courtroom intrigue, and an
important story to tell. [R.B.]
circulating in and around Paris in the '30s.
Structurally, Lovers is a compilation
of narratives laid out in distinct chapters
that flow chronologically. Yet there is
no palimpsest effect. These narratives
about Lou overlap rarely if at all, so
you never experience a conflict of
perspective in the retelling of an event.
Furthermore, every narrator swears
omniscience when it comes to Lou's
fall. What is lost through this seamless
chronological flow is the opportunity
to complicate the moral quandary at
the heart of the novel, the opportunity
to challenge large, baggy metaphysical
concepts like "truth" and the difference
between "history" and "fiction."
The fact that we come to know Lou
through others' voices produces an
inverse learning effect: We learn more
about these other characters than we do
about Lou herself. They all describe her
as a sad, emotionally underdeveloped,
masculine lesbian whose desperate
attempts to find the love she never got
from her parents in others, especially in
other women, is a sign of her immaturity
and the reason behind her downfall.
Perhaps this narrative strategy is a part
of Prose's brilliant endgame, for the very
photograph that inspired her is what the
reader is inevitably left with: an image.
[M.B.]
REVIEWS/
For
Christmas:
POM
Wonderful
Did you know that
November is National
Pomegranate Month and
fresh pomegranates are in
season through January? So,
the holidays are the perfect
time to enjoy this antioxidant
rich, nutritious and colorful juice,
especially in a cocktail. For something
simple, top Brut Champagne with a
splash of POM Wonderful for an easydrinking Poinsettia Cocktail, or try the
POM Cosmo below
(pomwonderful.com)
POM
Cosmo
byChef
Amy
Ephron
ORINKS
For
Thanksgiving:
Napa
orBordeaux
We recently discovered the big, bold
Uproot reds and were blown away. The
2012 Grenache ($46) is loaded with
cherry, strawberry, vanilla and spice, while
the 2011Cabernet Sauvignon ($78) is
bursting with raspberry, cherry, blackberry
and chocolate, perfect with roasted
meats and holiday sides (drinkuproot.
com). To impress guests with a French
red but without the price tag to match,
the Chateau Les Paris 2011,Sainte-FoyBordeaux for $13 is unbeatable. With simple
fruits, violets and red cherry, this elegant
and affordable drop goes down a treat. For a
crisp and quaffable budget white perfect as an
aperitif or with turkey breast, the Verdillac 2013
Bordeaux at $10 is a steal. (bordeaux.com)
1-1/3 oz. POM Wonderful juice
1-3/4 oz. vodka
1/3 oz. orange liqueur
1/3 oz. fresh lime juice
Pour ingredients into a shaker
filled with ice. Shake and strain
into glass. Garnish with a twist
of lime. Serve and enjoy!
For
New
Year's
Eve:
St-Germain
Liqueur
There's nothing like a simple Champagne
cocktail featuring the classic St-Germain
liqueur, made from hand-picked elderflower
blossoms and presented in a beautiful belle
epoque bottle to see out the old and ring in the
new (stgermain.fr)
Bottom~ Up!
Celebrate this special time of year
with these beautiful beverages.
BY MELANIE BARKER
St-Germain
Champagne
Cocktail
1/2 part St-Germain
Top with Brut Champagne
Pour ingredients into a chilled fluted glass and
stir lightly. Float half a strawberry as a garnish
and get ready to toastl
~)DRINKS»=
For
Halloween:
Ketel
One
Get rid of the chill with one of the most reliable
and versatile vodkas on the market.
The
Great
Pumpkin
1"½oz. Ketel One Vodka
½ oz. Baileys Caramel Irish Cream
½ oz. pumpkin liqueur such as Hiram Walker
1 cinnamon stick
Combine Ketel One Vodka and Baileys Caramel
in a mixing glass. Shake with ice. Add pumpkin
liqueur and shake again. Strain into a rocks
glass over ice. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.
NOV/DEC
2014
CURVE
35
JAPANESE
SHORTBREAD
Also known as "the macaroon of the East"
these Cha No Ka green tea wafers are ad~
dictive! Part delicate candy, part cookie,
they make a change from shortbread or
gingerbread during the festive season. De~
vised by three Japanese culinary masters,
and using the highest quality Okoicha
green tea from Kyoto, these wafers con~
ceal a fine layer of white chocolate and go
well with a glass of eggnog or Champagne.
Beautifully presented they make the per~
feet gift or treat for those with a taste
for the exotic. Available from importers
of fine foods such as Dean & Deluca.
(malebrancheJp)
Tasty 1-lolidays
From snacks to sweets, satisfy the cravings of
friends and family with a few of our favorites.
BY MELANIE BARKER
~Afooo»
CHOCOLATES
FROM
WINE
COUNTRY
Napa Valley's artisan chocolatier Chris
Kollar has come up with quality, grown~
up chocolates very different from your
average Whitman's Sampler. These are for
the serious chocolate connoisseur with a
palate more refined than a simple "sweet
tooth:' Our favorites: the White Chocolate
Coconut Snowballs, Almond and Choco~
late Rocher Christmas Tree adorned with
Crispy Pearls, a Cocoa Pod Christmas
Ornament so solid you may need to reach
for the nutcracker, and the signature Kol~
lar's Truffles with seasonal flavors such as
cinnamon, chestnut, blackcurrant and red
wine. (kollarchocolates.com)
36
CURVE
NOV/DEC
2014
REVIEWS/
FOOD
NEVER
INAJAM
Everyone loves to end a dinner party with
a good cheese plate, so serve your favorite
cheeses and charcuterie with a side of jams
and chutneys from Three Little Figs. This
little company from food-centric Oregon
makes sophisticated, wine-friendly combinations simply bursting with flavor: The
Cheese Please Pack includes Balsamic
Fresh Fig, Cabernet Cracked Pepper, and
Tomato Tapas Jam; Sapphic sommeliers
will smack their lips at the Wine Lover's Trio of Grown Up Grape, Cabernet
Cracked Pepper, and Peach Prosecco Bellini. Not only do these jams complement
your favorite dairy or bevvy, they're great
spread on fresh-baked baguette, on grilled
sandwiches, or as sauces for chicken and
pork. (threelittlefigsjam.com)
PASS
THE
POMEGRANATES
PLEASE
Pomegranates are a wonder-fruit, and a
pretty and colorful addition to holiday
dishes. For a tasty appetizer, try making
Pomegranate Ceviche by Joanne Weir, executive chef and restaurateur Copita Tequileria y Comida, San Francisco at home.
This and other great recipes are on the
POM website (pomwonderful.com).
THE
HOLIDAYS
CAN
BE
SUCH
ADRAG!
...especially if you're vegan. But never fear,
here's something queer! Mistress Ginger's
LGBT vegan cookbook Mistress Ginger
Cooks is a fantastic ( and funny) resource
to have at hand or a great gift for the vegan you love. Mistress Ginger (cabaret star
Justin Leaf) serves up a sense of humor
at a stressful time, and her recipes such as
Gingersnatch Cookies, Pop My Cherry
Scones, and French Kissed Toast provide
hours of fun in the kitchen-and
satisfy
your cold weather cravings.
NOV/DEC
2014
CURVE
37
■
■
I
■
Limitedspace remainson these incredible,
fun-filledlesbianvacations.
AUSTRALIA
&NEWZEALAND
CRUISE
February13-24,2015
Call today to reserve your cabin!
Olivia Newton-John kicks off our 25th
Anniversary with a concert on board February 13!
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CANA
PARADISE
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All your accommodations, meals, beverages,
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ROOMS AS LOWAS $1,399 PERPERSON
FEATURES/
ST LE
LOOK
SHARP
odern, designsavvy sex toy
company Crave
has unveiled its
latest product: the
world's first rechargeable vibrator
necklace. The Vesper vibrator is
designed as a distinctive and elegant
piece of jewelry-and as a strong,
sleek and silent sex toy. "In the spirit of
continuing to elevate and re-imagine
what a sex toy could be I was inspired
by the idea of bringing together
function and fashion," explains Ti
Chang, lead designer and co-founder
M
of Crave. Conceived in San Francisco,
where technology and pleasure
regularly intersect, the Vesper is made
from stainless steel and features one
button operation with multi-speed
settings. It's also splash proof, USB
rechargeable, and has a warming
feature. The nickel-free plating, which
comes in a choice of silver, rose,
gold or 24K gold-plated is perfect for
engraving, making this one hell of a
spicy and sophisticated gift for your
significant other. Dare we say this is
one way to "get nailed" these holidays?
(lovecrave.com)
NOV/DEC
2014
CURVE
39
FEATURES/
ST
IGNITE BENCH
THE PERFECTPLACE FOR A
PASSIONATEENCOUNTER
NESSA CHAIR
CLASSIC, ELEGANT,
CONTEMPORARY
.,____
or many, red is the color
Portuguese for red, specifically a type
a woman's body are echoed in the
of emotion, passion, seduction and
of crimson dye). This bold hue will
elegant silhouettes of the Colete Sofa
energy. It's also a key color of the
give your home a touch of holiday
magic - and kindle a flame in your
and Nessa Chair. Other feminine
flourishes in Morais's design aesthetic
lady's heart. Designed by Janet
Morais, Koket's creative director,
include dramatic gemstones, subtle
no better way to make your home
cosy than by adding a splash of scarlet
the range is aimed to please women
fabrics and textures. Each piece of
to your interior design scheme in the
form of a carefully selected accent
and exudes empowerment with an
enticing and exotic aesthetic you
furniture has a touch of the grande
dame or femme fatale about it and
piece. Interior design label Koket has
won't find at many major furniture
is one way to set the scene for your
released a luxe line of furniture in
retailers. How can key interior design
holidays in seductive style. *Prices
a gorgeous "vermelho" (the word is
pieces be feminine? The curves of
upon request. (bykoket.com)
festive season, suggesting joy and
warmth. As the mercury drops, there's
metallics, deep jewel tones and exotic
NOV/DEC
2014
CURVE
41
LOVELYLINGERIE
FOR LADIES IN
LONG-TERM
RELATIONSHIPS.
BY MELANIE BARKER
42
CURVE
NOV/DEC
2014
FEATURES/
/2
id you know that there's a
designer lingerie to your girlfriend's door
simple and discreet way to
in a box filled with rose petals. Choose
liminate Lesbian Bed Death?
mes in a little black box and
from a variety of styles including thongs,
briefs and boy-cut undies by popular
it's delivered to your door once a month,
brands like Agent Provocateur and
batteries not required. Sexy lingerie to
Maison Close. Sprinkle those rose petals
spice up a relationship may be cliche, but
on the bed as she tries them on ... and you
a clever company called Enclosed has
know how to do the rest! The perfect gift
come up with a new twist: a subscription
for longterm lovers, brides-to-be, or even
service that delivers your choice of stylish
yourself! (theenclosed.com)
ST
The adorable insta-star
Han ah Hart has us wanting
second and third helpings.
oop! Boop! Mmmmmm:' Weve all come to recognize
those familiar sounds by now! And to love and adore
Hannah Hart, that cute and punny girl who is making
her way up to mega~big~time status. Hart, the star of
the wildly popular YouTube show My Drunk Kitchen,
where she prepares dishes in the style of Thanksgiving
Pie on page 47, has gone from being online, to being on screen, and
now is available in print with her cookbook, My Drunk Kitchen: A
Guide to Eating, Drinking & Going With Your Gut. This out~and~
proud lover of the ladies has become a superstar in the LGBT and
online communities, with hundreds of thousands of followers all
over social media. There seems to be no stopping her from dish~
ing up more and more success-and we're totally OK with that!
Did you ever think, in your wildest dreams, that your little Butter Yo Shit video would catapult you into YouTube
stardom?
Not even a little bit! I started out as a translator~proofreader
working at a translation firm about three years ago, and the video
was really just for a friend of mine, and people seemed to like it.
An inadvertent calling was born.
With your YouTube channel, your film, Camp Takota, and
now your book, My Drunk Kitchen: A Guide to Eating, Drinking & Going With Your Gut, how does it feel to be bouncing
around in these different media categories?
It all feels pretty incredible. I'm actually a little bit excited to slow
things down, just because it has been a whirlwind for the last three
years. I am also, like, really happy to also have such a positive recep~
tion thus far, and am overly blessed for that and need a moment to
take it all in. To be totally honest, nothing makes me happier than
making videos or writing words. It's hard to answer "Which do I
prefer, which do I gravitate toward?" I kind of feel like I have the best
job in the world. So I would say YouTube is probably my bread and
butter, no pun intended. Sorry, pun fully intended, I'm not going to
lie to you! Some people say it's a condition!
46
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2014
How was it co-hosting the Streamy Awards show among
your on line peers, and taking home one of those coveted
statues for your comedy series?
I think it was pretty cool. I think that, ya know, obviously, with
an awards show, it's run by people who aren't necessarily part of
the online community. It's always gonna have a couple hiccups, I
think. It would be really cool if someone within the community
itself would make an awards show for the community itself, which
would maybe have different types of awards-like, Best Reply to
a Flame. Ya know what I mean? Like, stuff like that. It's really really weird for all of us to be ranked against each other because, at
the heart of it, that's not what the Internet is all about. Were not
doing that. It's supposed to be a lateral playing field, and, ya know,
capitalism and Hollywood are trying to make it into something
that it's not ... so ... it was great hosting the awards show!
PATRICK STEWART! So bad! I would love to cook with Patrick Stewart. I think hes amazing. But also James Franco and Seth
Rogen, people that seem cool. ELLEN! I would love to cook with
her. I would love to be in the same room with her, even for a minute.
All of those celebrities and role models that kind of crafted my life.
Our readers wouldn't mind knowing what you look for in a
woman, or in a partner.
Oooh. What do I look for in a woman or partner? I look for
somebody who is independent but kind. Like someone who has a
good relationship with themselves and is a good friend, but not, like,
in a co-dependent way. Someone who is self-sustaining but also loving, if that makes any sense! Like, I could never date me, because I
am, like, the most needy, clingy person in the entire world. I need to
date the opposite of me.
Did you get all of that, ladies? So if you're a Stage 5 clinger,
Following you on lnstagram, Facebook, Twitter, and You-
sorry, you don't make Hannah's cut. Hannah Hart's new book,
Tube, we can get a glimpse of your life when you're not in
My Drunk Kitchen: A Guide to Eating, Drinking & Going With
front of the camera. Do you enjoy reading your tweets and
Your Gut, is now on sale wherever books are sold. You can also
feedback from fans?
catch new episodes of My Drunk Kitchen on YouTube every
Ya know, I really try and pay attention, and, to the best of
my ability, respond to as much of it as possible. Like, the sheer
numbers have exceeded anything like how they were in the past.
Internally, it just makes me feel really incredible. I kinda wish everybody had people rooting for them all the time, and I wish this
was a feeling that I could bottle up and give out to everyone-be
like, "Here's what it's like when you have a group of people who
are supporting you and believe in you:' It's just incredible. It's hard
to say anything else.
Thursday night. (hannahhart.com)
----~
THAIISGIVIIG
PIE
INGREDIENTS
• One fully baked store-bought cheesecake
• One can of cherry pie filling
• Holiday-related baggage that is manifesting in this
weird way right now
If your fans don't have your book already, what can they look
forward to finding inside it? Are there any favorite recipes?
The book is actually made up of like, a hundred or so never-before-seen recipes. So I really encourage people to get it, because there aren't any recipes that have been on MDK-except
for lately I've started doing some things from the book. Basically,
the book is broken down into four parts: Part 1, Kitchen Basics,
is about the basics of life, like your ingredients, from which you
begin to make a meal in your life. Part 2 is about "adultolescence;'
which is like adulthood and adolescence, in between. Ya know,
right after college and you start to journey out on your own. Part
3 is called So This is Love, and it's about love, sex, and dating, with
my armchair advice for relationships. Part 4 is about family and
the holidays.
INSTRUCTIONS
First and foremost, accept that the holidays suck. Or at least
they do in my opinion. I feel like the holiday season is that time
of year where you get together with people you only see 10
percent of the time, but you're supposed to go and be together for this holiday thing .... Anyway, this year for Thanksgiving
don't bottle up all of your holiday-centric angst for an inappropriate outburst before/after/during the meal-try this instead!
• Close your eyes.
• Take a deep breath
• Put your hand on top of the cheesecake.
• Releaseyour breath and ...
• Press down.
A lot of celebrities are making appearances on your show. Is
there anyone in particular you'd want to cook with?
And then pour cherry goop inside the hand shape and serve!
NOV/DEC
2014
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47
hiladelphia might have been on the road to foodie fame
a decade before culinary couple Marcie Turney and
Valerie Safran entered the scene, but their impact in
the last several years has been undeniable. Both origi~
nally from the Midwest (Safran was born in Indiana,
Turney in Wisconsin), they moved to PA at young age
(Lancaster for Safran and the Poconos for Turney). Together as a
couple for 13 years, they have built a veritable culinary empire locat~
ed in Midtown Village, beginning with Open House home wares
in 2002, and continuing with Lolita BYOB Mexican restaurant in
2004, Grocery in 2006, Bindi new age Indian restaurant in 2007,
Verde artisanal chocolates in 2009, Barbuzzo Mediterranean kitch~
en and bar in 2010, and Little Nonna's Italian in 2013. Lolita closed
in 2013 for a full~scale renovation and reopened in spring 2014
with the addition of a full liquor license. Bindi closed in 2011 and
was transformed into Jamonera, an Andalusian tapas and wine bar,
which opened in 2012.
"We love that Philadelphia is a city, but it's very manageable;' says
Safran."It's a city that has thrived over the last decade and continues
to grow. For us there was a huge opportunity to grow our business~
es in the center of a major city that is still affordable in the grand
scheme of things. We love everything about Philly-the support
from the community, the diversity of the neighborhoods, especially
the neighborhood we call home, Midtown Village and also the abil~
ity to walk everywhere easily is pretty great:'
The particular neighborhood that Safran and Turney call
home-13th
Street, now referred to as Midtown Village-was rel~
atively undeveloped and noMoo~chic when they began with their
"little housewares store': Open House, 12 years ago. Safran and
Turney's enterprises grew along with the neighborhood. "We were
able to grow and continue to open our businesses because of combi~
nation of things-local support, we still have the same locals in our
shops and restaurants every day, a great location-we get a mix of
locals, business people, convention people and now that this area has
become a destination. So all of those things coming together along
with the two of working hard in our businesses every day has really
created a unique success for us:'
Safran and Turney love Philly, and Philly loves them back.
Turney emphasizes that it's the customers, along with hard work,
who have helped build their empire. "We started on this block
over 11 years ago and built our customer base one by one, by one
restaurant at a time. It took time to build, but you slowly gather
this customer base that supports you and wants you to succeed
as much as you want to succeed and they're the reasons we do
succeed:'
For the most part, they were well received from the get~go.
"Ultimately, we know that if you offer a quality meal with great
service, the rest will work itself out. When it comes to restaurants
nowadays, they come and go very quickly, so we know that we
have to really deliver on all fronts. That is how we approach each
new restaurant as we open them and so far, so good!"
Even when it came to foodie trends-locavore,
sustainable, or~
ganic, farm to table-support,
not trendiness, was the key. "From
the very beginning, it was always important to support the great
farmers and farms that we're so fortunate to have surrounding us
in this region;' says Turney. "We have a group of farmers that we
order from for all the restaurants and we've always felt we should
be doing as much as we can to support them:'
"Marcie has always used local products before it was ever a trend,
so that has been part of her cooking that people have always seemed
to love and appreciate;' says Safran."We certainly are aware of trends
in the restaurant industry, but again, it is really the day~to~day con~
sistency on delivering on a great meal-food, service, beverage, mu~
sic, lighting, etc. We are in it for the long haul with the restaurants
and we always want to keep things interesting and relevant. Lots
of trends happen in the restaurant industry, whether it is a foodkale!-or something else, so we look for ways to incorporate new
things into our menus every season so that we stay fresh and the
customer stays interested:'
And people are interested, including food critics. Turney feels
that her restaurants have been fairly reviewed and that the posi~
tive notices have helped draw customers. But any raves are justi~
fied! I can vouch for that, having eaten the most innovative Indian
at Bindi, the most interesting Mexican at Lolita, in my many years
of dining out.Turney has a flair for authentic ethnic fare.
"I've always loved all types of food, all types of cuisine and the cul~
ture behind any given cuisine;' says Turney. "Every year, I try to learn
something new-a few years back I took a butchering class; prior to
launching our own line of chocolates I went to an academy in Chicago
to learn how to do hand~dipped chocolates and ganaches-of course,
you'll never know everything, but I constantly want to learn and it
helps keep it interesting!"
Even when they opened Lolita in 2004, Safi-an,who had formerly
been a Spanish teacher and loved all things Mexican, contributed what
she knew about the cuisine (you can order "Valeria's Chopped Salad"
with shaved corn, jicama, pepitas, avocado and a buttermilk~herb
dressing, and check out Jamonera's Papa Fritas on page 44). Turney,
who loves immersing herself in cookbooks and learning new culinary
techniques, goes beyond replicating a cuisine to offer a modern inter~
pretation for an American palate. "I remember Marcie telling me that
she would go to the spice shop near her culinary schools and just walk
around and look at all the different spices and items. She really loves to
learn about new foods and applies them to her cooking:'
Just before you fantasize that you and your girlfriend could also
build such an empire, Turney reveals that she and Safran rise at 7 a.m.
and work until midnight every day, and even then they never seem
to have enough time. "Luckily we have a lot of great people working
for us who help run the show-and we're fortunate because many of
them have been with us for many years;' says Safi-an."We are finally
at a point where we both realize we need to slow down. We are lucky
to be as successful as we are, but also realize there is more to life than
work. We take little trips here and there to get away and that really
helps to let us completely forget about the businesses for a little bit:'
With all this success one wonders about homophobia, sexism,
jealousy even, but if anything, women especially have really stepped
up and supported the couple's ventures. And you can expect them to
grow their empire even further. "We just built out a second space floor
above our restaurant Barbuzzo;' says Turney."lt's a 3,000~square~foot
space with its own kitchen, a 22ft long Italian marble chefs counter,
a separate bar. It will be used as a private events space, but its also
been designed as a place where I can cook, test dishes for our restau~
rants, work with my chefs, prep-the space will also be home to my
collection of over 1,000 cookbooks, which are currently stored in
our apartment!"
This winter, the couple will
also open another restaurant
along 13th Street-a
classic
American eatery called Bud and
Marilyn's, named after Turney's
grandparents, who opened a
restaurant in 1950 called The
Spot in Ripon, Wisconsin. "It's
a busy, but exciting time!" says
Turney. Indeed, so when you're
next in Philly, find the time to
pull up a chair at one of chef
Turney's many tables.
( 13thstreetphilly.blogspot.com)
NOV/DEC
2014
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49
Christine Manfield's new
essert book brings the heat.
elebrated Australian chef Christine Manfield is most~
ly known for her highly regarded restaurants, which
she has run in Sydney and in London from 1993 to
2013; for her high~quality, gluten~free, all~natural
range of spice products and accompaniments; and
for her culinary events-from
gastronomic travel
tours to extravagant charity dinners. But she is also known for six
impeccably assembled and presented cookbooks focusing mostly
on spice. Her latest venture offers up something cool and sweet
instead: Dessert Divas presents 45 show~stopping recipes, the
spice of which is in the name of the desserts or in the sweet spice
ingredients, such as cinnamon and nutmeg.
Whatever she is doing, Manfield is a perfectionist, and passionate
about travel. When I spoke to her, she'd just returned from a cruise
around the coast of Turkey, during which someone else cooked for
her, and she was delighted by the easy, Mediterranean style of din~
ing. During the trip she was also relaxing after a stellar career as a
restaurateur-she'd
recently closed her final restaurant, Universal,
in Sydney, Australia. "It was always my swansong, my exit strategy;'
she says. "I promised myself that when I turned 60 I didn't want to
be a restaurateur, and it was so exciting and so empowering to be
able to go out on an absolute high:'
She hasn't missed the hard slog in the kitchen; besides, she's as
busy as ever, "redirecting my energies into a whole other range of
projects. When you reach senior status you can afford to do that;'
laughs Manfield. While she is a leading light in the Australian culi~
nary scene she has always kept "one foot in the world, staying con~
nected to the whole global scene" and her network of colleagues and
friends around the world. She keenly follows culinary trends such as
foraging, farm to table, sustainable ... "It's always been there but it's
trending now;' says Manfield. "You work with what's around you;'
she says, noting that"Today's focus on produce and the provenance
of produce, making as much as possible, your own butter, cheese,
charcuterie;' is really a return to past tradition.
She's skeptical, however, when she hears about foodie fads: "Foraging in Singapore, like in an urban jungle, for fuck's sake. I mean,
you know, give me a break;' she laughs. "The true ethics of good
cooking have always been there, but this has given us an opportunity
to shift the focus onto the food, and even the plating of food to give
it a more relaxed style. For example, you can use your hand to throw
stuff onto the plate in a way-how it lands is how it stays. That's a
style that quite a lot of younger chefs are adopting, and that's mimicking a lot of what's coming out of the Nordic region, in Copenhagen in particular:'
But there is nothing thrown-onto-the-plate about Manfield's 'clivas:' Even though she wanted to "introduce a bit of playfulness and
whimsy when it came to dessert" -every dessert has a name and
a personality, sometimes contrived around the ingredients that are
used. Often they have a double meaning, such as Bite the Pillowthese are brilliantly structured and composed dishes to end even the
most elegant meal. But Manfield's sense of humor prevails as much
as her perfectionism: One of her favorite desserts is Crackberry.
"When you see the actual photos with the name, it makes sense,
such as Crackberry, which has a little dusting of icing sugar, clever, I
£Uess,without bein2: offensive:'
The commercial ice creams of her native Australia also get a nod,
such as Gaytime Goes Nuts-that
dessert, named after a butterscotch and honeycomb popsicle from Down Under, was featured
in the finals of MasterChef Australia and became a sensation as far
away as India. "I give an introduction to each recipe, how the name
came about, what it means, but it's open to interpretation;' says
Manfield. "It's really to break down the seriousness of desserts:'
There are cheese desserts, and of course chocolate gets the biggest chapter in the book-"No self-respecting dessert menu leaves
chocolate out of it;' says Manfield, who hopes to appeal as much to
the home cook as to chefs. "When you look at the book, each 'diva'
is broken down into components to construct that actual diva dessert-the Gaytime has 15-but each of those components are complete recipes in themselves;' says Manfield. "These can each be made
as simpler desserts if you wish. You don't have to do all of it; you can
make elements. Every one of those divas is laid out in front of you,
so there's no flicking backward and forward through the book to find
the components:'
For example, you could conceivably make any of the ice cream
components that are throughout the book and just enjoy it as ice
cream. For Thanksgiving dessert, Manfield recommends using some
of her marshmallow recipes; and for New Year's Eve dessert, anything with meringue would be fun, especially her Carmen Meringay.
Manfield's next move is more exotic travel-she'll be traveling
around Australia and New Zealand for six weeks running pop-up
dessert bars; she'll be continuing to host gastronomic tours to India,
Spain, Morocco, Tunisia, Bhutan, and France; and there's another
book in the works as well. (christinemanfield.com)
CHRISTINE
■INFIELD'S ....-...
..CIACIBEIIY
..
A lemon yogurt cream dessert with blackberry jelly and
sauce, meringue dots and nougatine collar wafers.
"This term was coined in the Noughties for people addicted
to their Blackberry phones when they first hit the market. I
have placed blackberries on top of the construction here
to resemble the buttons of these mobile phones. Finished
with a little dusting of icing sugar, you'll have a cheeky bit of
whimsy that puts a smile on everyone's face," writes Manfield
in Dessert Divas.
~
<(
::e
Cf)
Dessert Divas by Christine Manfie/d with photography by
z
Anson Smart is published by Lantern.
0
Cf)
z
<(
NOV/DEC
2014
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51
From the Netherlands to New
York City, Linda Steen puts
good health on the plate.
BY MERRYN JOHNS
inda Steen's taste buds developed at the tender age of
8 when her father, a well~known chef, would feed her
oysters for lunch. There have never been-nor
will
there ever be-Pop
Tarts and Hot Pockets in this
busy lady's life. Not even when she's preparing meals
and snacks for the kids of her celebrity clients. Steen's
emphasis is on pure, delicious, and beautiful food, wherever she is
in the world and for whomever she cooks: whether that's herself
and her long~term partner, or for the Dutch royal house.
I had the pleasure of lunching with Steen at Jean~Georges
Vongerichten's restaurant, Nougatine, in New York City recently
to find out what I could learn about her approach to the culi~
nary arts, and little tricks such as how to order well from a menu
( naturally, I wanted everything she had ordered and she wanted
none of mine, except the watermelon salad. I paid extra attention
to everything she said after that!). What Steen shared with me
has actually changed the way I eat. Farmed protein is firmly off
my menu and antioxidant~rich leafy greens such as kale cram my
fridge. And Steen gave me a great tip for making kale salad: To
soften up this tough green, don't cook it or douse it in dressingsimply squeeze it with lemon juice and massage a ripe avocado
into it. Chef Steen knows what she is talking about: She is mostly
vegetarian and tends to purchase produce only from greenmarkets
where she can be sure of the provenance of the food. But her for~
mal culinary training, which led to an ll~year career as she worked
her way up from assistant sous chef to chef du cuisine, means that
her approach to food is anything but boring. The healthiness of her
dishes is only matched by their taste and their presentation. Steen
has run two highly acclaimed and busy restaurants, cooked for Eu~
ropean dignitaries, and worked as a VIP chef at the 2011 Shanghai
World Expo. In New York, you can find her cooking for the finan~
cial and showbiz elite (her ND As prevent her from revealing exactly
whom, but we can tell you that out athlete Jason Collins loves her
muffins); holding cooking classes; catering for weddings, parties,
and private dinners; and presiding over fascinating evenings called
Date~and~Cook, where singles learn to cook and meet other singles.
This globetrotting gourmand never stops thinking and learn~
ing about food (one of her favorite books is Food: The History oj
Taste), builds her cuisine on a bedrock of French and Italian cook~
ing, and is continually inspired by the ingredients she has sampled
while traveling in 62 countries. An adventurous eater she never~
theless sticks to some basic rules: Animal protein should be kept
to a minimum and always be free~range or wild caught; produce
should be organic, and grown and raised sustainably.
It's a bonus that Steen is also out and proud and regularly
supports and organizes LGBT events-her most recent was the
120~person USA Gay Pride float for Amsterdam Pride's canal
parade in August.
HEALTHY
TIPS
FIDMATDPCHEF
• Carbs are OK in the morning, but avoid after breakfast
• Replace carbs at night with protein-rich quinoa pasta and
fiber such as elephant beans
• Fight cancer-forming cells by eating salads made with
tomatoes and parsley
• Give your brain a boost with raw almonds, avocado,
broccoli, and fish
• Don't deprive yourself of food: rather, eat yourself healthy
• For inspiration, check out the healthy heart cookbooks by
Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., MD
Read more tips from Linda Steen at curvemag.com
NOV/DEC
2014
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FEATURES/
NOV/DEC
2014
PICTORI
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55
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2014
____________________
TheDinah.com
_.
IJ Club Skirts Dinah Shore Weekend
((•~•»
'fl
~·
@DinahShore
u
B E R
ml
a'•"·"@..m! j ™'.!!!!!!!
I #DinahShore I
888-92dinah
60
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2014
FEATURES/
COVER
I'vegottamakethis music
becauseI'mjust realizing
somethingsaboutmyself.
proudly displays a portrait of her four beautiful children, Etheridge admits she was ready to give up on love after her last relationship. "I said, I'm just going to have fun if I want to have
fun, but I'm done having relationships."
Etheridge met Linda Wallem in 2001, when the writer from
Cybill and That '70s Show called about a TV show she
wanted to do.
"It didn't work out, but we became best friends," says
Etheridge. "So when everything fell apart with the last relationship, I asked her to come help me, because now I had
four children in my house-and just me [laughs]. She had
been working in New York on Nurse Jackie, and she had
some time, so I said, 'Come stay with me. It's a big house."'
"In that process of making kids' lunches, talking to
teenagers, driving to and from this and that, love happened. We fell in love."
Etheridge calls it "the exact opposite of the way I'd
always fallen in love, which is, meet that sexy girl, and
ooh, and hopefully you can become friends and stay
together for a long time."
"I had been through cancer and everything with
her. I'd been through her breakups, she'd been
through my breakups. She made me laugh like nobody else. And then, there's the attraction, the
whole package. I just said, 'Who am I waiting for?'"
The song she wrote and sang to Wallem on
their wedding day, the love song "Who Are You
Beckett, Etheridge's 16-year-old son, got to go on the road
Waiting For?," is on her new album.
with her before school started in August. It's important, she says,
While they could have married sooner in
to give balance to their lives.
New York, because they have an apartment
"You want to give them kind of a normal experience," she says.
there, Etheridge wanted to wait until it was le"Yet, they know that strangers talk to me, that's part of their life."
gal in California.
While Etheridge says all four of her children are musically tal"People who are against gay marriage
ented, "I think they see how much work it is. My youngest, Johnnie
don't understand the implications of what
Rose, has a little bit of that sparkly stuff, but we'll see as life goes on."
it does to the family-not being able to file
While she is excited to tour and perform the new songs (the alfor joint custody, not being able to have a
bum was released on Sept. 30), her kids are always on her mind. "It's
partner's insurance cover the children or
important for me to show my children that if I'm going to spend time
the other person, all these things that are
away from them, it's because I'm doing what I love. I try to teach my
rights that straight couples don't even
kids, love what you do." (melissaetheridge.com)
know they have."
FAMEAND
FAMILY
NOV/DEC
2014
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63
Austria's capital has a character
to Sigmund Freud. A city with
and a culinary and cafe culture
along the Danube. This cul-
and a history as opulent, attrac-
a past, which is to say a very
worth sinking your teeth into-
tured and tolerant city saw civil
tive, diverting, and delicious
rich history, Vienna offers tales
especially in the summer, when
unions for same-sex couples
as one of its iconic cakes or
of imperial intrigue, artistic
the city celebrates Pride and
pass into law in 2010 and is a
infamous inhabitants-from
achievements, more statuary
enjoys refined outdoor leisure
lovely destination to visit at any
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
than you can shake a stick at,
in its manicured parks and
time of the year.
WHERETO EAT
BEDDING DOWN
I stayed at the 25hours Hotel, and
its very name indicates that this is a fun
choice, a good foil for the Habsburg aesthetic, which permeates much of the city.
25hours is not stuffy or historic, but a hip,
chic, relaxed choice of accommodation
with compact rooms decorated charmingly if a little eccentrically. It also has common spaces in which you can spread out:
the lobby, a great restaurant with an outdoor terrace, and a lovely rooftop bar with
views of the more antiquarian Vienna. The
hotel's restaurant, 1500 Foodmakers, does
a fresh and fantastic breakfast, lunch, and
dinner with efficient and engaging servers.
( 25 hours- hotels.com)
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NOV/DEC
2014
You are spoiled for choice in this city famous for its hospitality, but here are a few
gems that are most certainly not tourist
traps: Glacis Beisl is historic and elegant
casual dining, with a lovely old garden and
pergola for summer and a cozy tavern-style
interior for cooler months (glacisbeisl.at).
Motto (motto.at) is a very trendy place
popular with gays, not least because it was
where Helmut Lang waited tables before
his ascent in the fashion world. If you like
contemporary dining with a nightclub ambience (DJs after 8:30), Motto is where to
get your night off to a good start.
To experience the latest in new Viennese
cuisine, a special dinner at Medusa is in order. This lovely design-centric restaurant on
three Boors is world class, with a wide variety of dishes and even a good place to stop
for a cocktail (medusarestaurant.at).
It would be remiss of you not to try the
famous Wiener Schnitzel, a classic dish
that originated in the 19th century: Legend
has it that Count Joseph Radetzky brought
the recipe-a deliciously breaded veal cut
let fried in clarified butter and served with
a wedge of lemon-back to Vienna from
the Italian territories under Habsburg rule.
Many restaurants in Vienna do this dish
well, but the best is Plachutta's Gasthaus
zur Oper (plachutta.at). Try it with a glass
of Gemischter Satz, a traditional Viennese
blended white wine.
Coffeehouses abound in Vienna, and
are associated with the city's rich artistic
and intellectual history. For dessert or a
pick-me-up, don't miss coffee and cake
at Cafe Landtmann (landtmann.at),
a
gorgeous and historic place popular with
locals as well as tourists. (Franz Landtmann's patrons have included Sigmund
Freud, Marlene Dietrich, and Hillary
Clinton.) It offers an authentic Viennese
coffee-tasting experience in a classic and
tasteful coffee salon that has been operating since 1873. Try the world-famous Vienna coffee (topped with whipped cream)
and choose from a decadent selection of
beautifully decorated desserts and pastries
( the apple strudel is to die for!).
TALKOF THETOWN
The best way to work off calories and
get from one cultural attraction to the next
is to bike or walk. Vienna is an easy city to
navigate, thanks to the Ringstrasse, a three~
mile boulevard that loops around the city
and connects most of its major attractions.
A visit to the Kunstkammer at the Kuns~
thistorisches Museum is a must. (khm.at)
This is quite literally a chamber of art and
wonders, reopened in 2013 after a decade
of renovations. If you love tchotchkes, this
is the place for you: Feast your eyes on 2,200
items in 20 rooms: a solid gold saltcellar
by Benvenuto Cellini, the Krumlov Ma~
donna, beautiful bronze figurines, intricate
docks, curios, and scientific instruments.
The Viennese are a people with intelligence,
aesthetics, and ambition to have assembled
such prized collections.
The Belvedere (belvedere.at) boasts
500 years of art history, from the Mid~
dle Ages to the 20th century, including
The Kiss, an immensely popular painting
by Gustav Klimt. Much sightseeing re~
valves around magnificent monuments to
Vienna's astonishingly
rich architec~
tural, musical, military, and religious
history, but for something feminine and
intimate, visit the Sisi Museum in the
Hofburg Palace (hofburg~wien~at). The
Imperial Apartments are worth wandering
through to acquaint yourself with the life~
style of the Habsburg dynasty, including
the 19 state and private rooms of Emperor
Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth. The
royal couple did indeed live in splendor
and luxury: He had an audience chamber;
she had a gym in her bedroom, which no
doubt contributed to her legendary beau~
ty. Elisabeth, referred to by the Viennese
as "Sisi;' is an adored figure (portrayed on
film by Romy Schneider and Ava Gard~
ner) whose ravishing looks, charm, and
flair for drama were matched only by her
colorful and tragic life. She embodies the
perfectionist yearning for achievement and
self expression that when not gained in life
is hoped for in immortality-a
very Vien~
nese sentiment. Consider taking a tour
with the likes of guide Nikolaus Konig,
who can regale you with tales of everyone
from Mozart to certain ladies of leisure or
create your own itinerary at wien.info.
NOV/DEC
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69
FINDING THEFRAULEINS
Vienna is home to an estimated 170,000
lesbians and gay men and, unlike many
European cities, does not attempt to con~
ceal the contributions made to public life
by this visible minority. After all, the leg~
endary warrior Prince Eugene of Savoy
(17th century) was known to prefer in~
timate relations with his own sex; Franz
Schubert ( 18th century) is rumored to
have had no interest in women; a gay male
architect couple designed the Vienna State
Opera; and Emperor Franz Joseph himself
had a gay brother. Unfortunately, promi~
nent Viennese lesbians have not made it
onto the pages of history-lesbian
rumors
about Marie Antoinette, who was born an
archduchess of Austria, notwithstanding.
Today, the LGBT center is the "Villa;'
or the Rosa Lila Villa on Linke Wien~
zeile. The Rainbow Parade (regenbogen~
parade.at) along the Ringstrasse, attracts
over 100,000 visitors each June and is
one of the largest Pride parades in the
German~speaking world. The lovely and
central Heldenplatz becomes a Pride Vil~
lage of food stalls, arts and crafts tents,
and stage shows, perfect for mingling and
people~watching. The other big gay calen~
dar event is the Life Ball (lifeball.org), an
70
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2014
impossibly glamorous AIDS fundraiser
that has the city's elected officials and hoi
polloi turning out in their most outre eve~
ning wear to support the cause.
Viennese women are attractive, tend to
speak English, and love to socialize-so
there's no excuse not to go out and meet
the girls. For politically minded women,
the Frauencafe (frauencafe.com), founded
in 1977 as a feminist collective, is one of
the last~standing women's coffeehouses in
Europe and worth a visit. The Frauenzen~
trum Bar-commonly
called FZ-regu~
larly hosts women~only parties and events.
The G.Spot parties on the first Friday of the
month (pinked.at) are popular, as are the
Las Chicas women's nights held at S~Club
Vienna. I dropped in to one on my visit and
found the women diverse in age and style,
welcoming, and very friendly to talk to. If
you' re not into clubbing but want a more
intimate venue with food, Cafe Willendorf
inside the "Villa" is a solid choice, and in
summer the courtyard garden is open for
dining (cafe~willendor£at), but it gets very
busy, so you may need to make a reservation.
Labris Bar & Lounge is the place to go for
happy hour chill~outs, the latest lesbian DJs,
and karaoke night (labris.at). •
,,...
S
onoma County. Weve heard about it, loved its wines, and
kept it on the to~do list for ages. But there's no better
time than the present to acquaint yourself with the buzz~
ing vineyards and fertile valleys that form this Northern
California haven of wine, women, and tasting tables.
The Russian River region of Sonoma County has long been a
sanctuary for lesbian and gay travelers, who flock here for week~
end and vacation getaways from San Francisco and beyond. But
unlike Palm Springs, that other California gay getaway, Sonoma
offers a verdant landscape layered with centuries~old redwood
trees and picturesque winding roads that lead from one charming
town to another.
The homo heart of the county is the town of Guernevillealso the best place to celebrate Sonoma County Pride each June
(sonomacountypride.com). Situated about 85 miles north of San
Francisco International Airport, this town of just 4,500 residents
is a surprising hub of gay~owned and gay~friendly businesses.
The bulk of them line River Road, a.k.a. Highway 116, which
flows right over the Russian River and into this part~hippie, part~
hip community of low~key Californians, many of whom visited
You'll understand the instant appeal. A good place to start your
explorations is "The Fun Store;' the woman~owned Guerneville 5
& 10 (guerneville5and10.com), where you can browse the eclec~
tic merchandise (greeting cards, flip~flops, water colors and acryl~
ics) and chat with the local ladies, who'll give you the scoop on
Sonoma's must~dos. High on their list is always a walk through
the nearby, utterly amazing Armstrong Redwoods State Natural
Reserve, with trees as tall as skyscrapers, some of which sprouted
back in 600 A.O.
Guerneville's quirky streak is perfectly embodied by the dual
outpost that serves up diner fare by day as Pat's, and Korean bar~
beque and other authentic, affordable Asian delights by night as
Dick Blomster's Korean Diner. (For those in need of a vintage
dive bar, hit Pat's Bar, next door, by night.)
This seemingly sleepy hamlet can impress even the biggest food~
ies, thanks to chic restaurants like the artisanal Big Bottom Mar~
ket (bigbottommarket.com) and Boon Eat + Drink (eatatboon.
com). Chef~owner Crista Luedtke founded one and co~founded
the other-and literally brings the best of farm~fresh Sonoma to
her tables. For flavors right out of nearby Bodega Bay, head a few
doors down for oysters on the half shell, soft~shell crab, and more
great seafood at Seaside Metal (seasidemetal.com).
Next door, share tales and cocktails with the lovely gays and •
gals at the Rainbow Cattle Company (queersteer.com), where
you'll find strong drinks at cheap prices and weekly parties and
potlucks for mixed queer crowds. Just off River Road, you can
shack up at the gay~centric R3 Hotel (ther3hotel.com) and enjoy
its Triple R Bar & Grill's splashy pool bar and summer barbeques.
For laid~back, relaxing accommodations, check into the High~
lands Resort (highlandsresort.com), a peaceful hillside hideaway
whose lovely owners, Lynette and Ken, proudly welcome lesbian
and gay guests-who, by the way, comprise 98 percent of the High~
lands' clientele. There you can also arrange for a Touch of Heaven
(massageintheredwoods.com) massage under the soaring redwoods.
Part of Guerneville's beauty is its prized location in the heart of
Sonoma County, wedged between Monte Rio (another compact
LGBT outpost) and happening towns like Rio Nido, Healds~
burg, and Sebastapol. The latter is certainly worth a visit for its
thriving arts scene, and for a bite at the remarkable Zazu Kitch~
en + Farm (zazukitchen.com). With tantalizing dishes like beet
ravioli, home~cured meats, and backyard pumpkin tikka masala,
Zazu has been a true hotspot since its August 2013 opening.
FEATURES/
Head east to Santa Rosa's St. Francis Winery ( stfranciswinery.com) for a taste of''America's No. 1 Restaurant;' according to
OpenTable. The wines themselves are divine, and the $50 wine
and food pairing is among the region's ultimate culinary experiences. Coppola Winery (francisfordcoppolawinery.com) is worth
the scenic jaunt northward, and in warmer months is a great place
to rent a poolside cabine (changing room), take a break from the
bocce courts, and sip delicious unoaked chardonnay and other
fantastic varietals.
Of course, since Sonoma is bountiful wine country-and
a more affordable, some say friendlier version of nearby Napa
County-any
visit here should allow ample time for meandering drives through the valley, pausing for tastings at some of
the world's finest vineyards. LGBT-geared Out in the Vineyard
(outinthevineyard.com) hosts tours and events throughout the
year, and Sonoma County Tourism (sonomacounty.com/activities/ gay-travel) has plenty of tips, listings, and practical info to
plan your visit. GayRussianRiver.com and GaySonoma.com are
more resources to help round out a trip to this flourishing California retreat.
But perhaps the best practical tip for Sonoma visitors is to pack
light and be ready to check luggage at the airport-because
the
best of the best wines always find a way back home.
(sonomacounty.com/ activities/ gay-travel) •
TRA
super-easy,
super-healthy
MEALS, SNACKS,
DESSERTS& DRINKS
L
os Angeles-based cook, writer and actor Tess Masters has come out with a book of 100 gluten-free,
vegan recipes, The Blender Girl, including an easyto-make, mouthwatering Sugar-Free No-Pumpkin
Pie. A favorite indulgence of Masters' partner, who was suffering
from cancer and "couldn't eat anything sweeter than a carrot,"
this recipe-and
many others in this book-offer
healthy alter-
natives for any time of year, but especially the holidays, when
we're most likely to want to eat everything in sight-whether
it's
naughty or nice. Masters' guilt-free Mint Chip Ice Cream (made
with spinachl), Dark Chocolate Sauce, Holiday Eggnog, and Hot
Chocolate with Hazelnuts make for a happy and healthy holidays
indeed. (theblendergirl.com)
74
CURVE
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2014
th
efore I traveled to Alsace for
the 60th anniversary of the
Route des Vins d'Alsace, the
region's 170 kilometer wine
trail, I knew only a little about
this pocket of northeastern France: Alsace is
a sleepy border region that was contested in
World War II, it produces a scary breed of
dog, and the white wine is too sweet for my
palate. In what turned out to be one of my
favorite trips to France-if not Europe-I
was to learn and enjoy a whole lot more.
The harmonious and pleasant atmo~
B
sphere in Alsace belies a fascinating and
turbulent history that began with the Celts,
continued with the Romans, the Holy Ro~
man Empire (which produced the glorious
city of Strasbourg), the Habsburgs, and the
Protestants. From the 17th century onward
control of the region alternated between the
Germans and the French countless times.
Today, Alsace is a part of France, but it
enjoys some laws, a language, and many
customs that are significantly different from
the parts of the country with a truly Gallic
identity. French may be the official language,
but Alsatian, which is a Germanic dialect,
is also spoken; and-unlike the people in
many other parts of France-Alsatians are
tolerant of tourists and will speak English to
English speakers. In fact, the region is very
safe and hospitable, a German work ethic
predominates, and even though France's
smallest metropolitan region is its third
most densely populated, Alsace retains the
picturesque tableaus of agricultural villages
plucked from a storybook, with the church~
es, castles, mountains, forests, lakes, and
vineyards to prove it.
WHERE TO STAY
Stay in Strasbourg, a fascinating and
magical city that becomes a fairytale landscape in the winter and a bucolic scene
in the summer. The Hotel Regent Petit
France is a charming option, conveniently
located in La Petite France, a historic and
charming quarter filled with half-timbered
houses with sloping Alsatian roofs, which
used to house tanneries in their steeply gabled lofts. The River Ill (a branch of the
Rhine) runs through La Petite France,
adding to its charm, and it even runs right
through the Hotel Regent. This 72-room
5-star establishment has all the charm of
the historic city center it overlooks. The
building itself is 300 years old but has
been renovated to contemporary stylish
standards, and is within easy walking
distance of the Ponts Couverts (covered
bridges) and the Great Lock. All 72 rooms
at the Hotel Regent offer lnstagram-worthy views of the river, the town's traditional architecture, and its many outdoor
restaurants, such as La Corde a Linge. (regent-petite-france.com)
Also in Strasbourg is the Hotel Cour
du Corbeau (cour-corbeau.com), which is
76
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2014
equally historic (it was a 16th century inn),
equally charming, and has a very cosmopolitan vibe-contemporary
design with
Louis XV accents. This is a lovely place to
rest your head, either at the beginning or
the end of your Strasbourg sojourn.
Once I was out of the city and onto
the wine trail and its picturesque villages,
Peche de Vigne B&B (pechedevigne-rodern.com), at the colorful address of 31
Rue de Pinot Noir in the little town of
Rodern, could not have been a more authentic choice of accommodation. Built
around a central cobblestone courtyard,
this quiet B&B offers nine roomy chambers, each decorated with a theme and
offering a charming home base in the
heart of wine country, within walking distance of some notable wineries. And the
petite dejeuner each morning was just great.
For something completely different on
the wine trail, and for those who want all
the bells and whistles of a resort-along
with some gambling-the
Casino Barriere
de Ribeauville (lucienbarriere.com) is the
place for entertainment, nouvelle cuisine,
and hydrotherapy on a grand scale.
DRINK AND DINE
Alsatian cuisine borrows quite a bit
from the Germanic countries that sur~
round the region, so pork, veal, duck, and
beef are the staple meats, and you should
try them accompanied by a serving of
the local sauerkraut (sCtrkrCtt)
or a side of
spaetzle(a type of fried noodle). Wash it
down with a local beer such as Fischer
(Alsatian breweries date back to 1260)
and don't forget the kougelhopffor dessert!
Baked goods are very popular in Alsace,
from the iconic pretzel, to the gingerbread
(pain d'epices)spiked with ginger, cinna~
mon, and star anise, a rich and delicious
treat with foie gras, which has been pro~
duced in the region since the 17th century.
So central is eating and drinking to the
Germanic way of life that you really can't
go wrong at any restaurant here, but one
of the real joys of this region are the "win~
stubs:' A combination of pub, cafe, and bis~
tro, they are small, typically family~owned,
and serve local comfort food, from sau~
sages to seafood to tarteflambee (an Al~
satian pizza made with cream instead of
cheese). An authentic, top~notch version
of this is to be found at the Pfifferbriader
(winstublepfiff.com) and at Le Tire~
Bouch on in Strasbourg (letirebouchon.fr).
But let's not forget the wine, that wine I
thought was too sweet. Well, on this trip I
learned the difference between sugar and
fruit, and discovered that one of my fa~
vorite varieties of bubbles- Cremantscomes from this very region. While 80
percent of Alsatian wine is white varietals
with a Germanic influence, most of these
wines are actually dry, delicate, fruity,
floral, and spicy. Alsace is an oenologist's
paradise. Here you can find decent and
pleasurable wines for reasonable prices
from a very old wine region.
There are many wineries in Alsace
where you can romance the grape: I fell in
love with the Sylvaner, with its balance of
minerality and tropical fruits, at the Do~
maine Albert Seltz vineyard in Mittelber~
gheim (albert~seltz.fr). This erudite and
noble family of vintners (Seltz Sr. offered
his cellars as an underground railroad for
refugee Jews during World War II) offer
up the secrets of Alsatian winemaking,
including optimal food pairings, at an out~
door picnic in the surrounding hills.
For an all~female affair, a visit to the
Domaine Weinbach in beautiful Kayser~
berg to discover the Alsace Grands Crus
is an absolute must. This lovely vineyard
with a chateau to match (it was established
in 1612 by Capuchin monks) is now run
by two generations of women: mother
Colette and daughters Catherine and Lau~
rence Faller. Together, they have produced
some of the region's finest Rieslings, Pi~
nots Gris, and Gewurztraminers-wines
with as much finesse and elegance as the
women themselves. The wines are served
in the top restaurants in Alsace. And
they've been organic and biodynamic since
1998! ( domaineweinbach.com/ en)
But my heart belongs to bubbles, and
it was a thrill to drink one of my favorite
Cremants d'Alsace in the vineyard from
which it comes-the
Willm Estate in
Barr, in northern Alsace. This delicious
and easy~drinking dry sparkling wine
gives many Champagnes a run for their
money and now I know why: The beau~
tiful vineyards produce carefully tended
grapes that thrive in a sunny microclimate,
shielded by the lovely Vosges Mountains.
(alsace~willm.com)
NOV/DEC
2014
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77
2014 STATEMENT
OF OWNERSHIP
Publication Title: Curve.
Publication No.: 0010-355.
Filing Date: Oct 1, 2014
Issue Frequency: Monthly Exept Bi-Monthly Jan/
Feb, Apr/May, July/Aug & Nov/Dec
Number of Issues Published Annually: 8
Annual Subscription Price: $59.90
Complete Mailing Address: PO Box 467 New York
NY 10034.
Contact Person: Silke Bader
Telephone: (415) 871-0569
Publisher: Silke Bader PO Box 467 New York NY
10034
TOURS AND SIGHTS
Back in Strasbourg (ot-strasbourg.fr),
the sights are plentiful but the Cathedral of
Our Lady of Strasbourg is undoubtedly the
jewel in the crown of this city. One of the
most important structures dating from the
Middle Ages, it was the highest monument
in western Europe until the 19th century.
The cathedral's spire, completed in 1439,
is 466 feet high, and the entire structure,
which is one of the most beautiful examples
of High Gothic architecture, has much to
marvel at-whether you're religious or not.
The stunning rose wheel, the soaring fa;:ade
sculpted from pink sandstone quarried
from the Vosges, stained glass windows that
all tell a story, and an astronomical clock
make this not just an ordinary church but
one of the finest cathedrals in Europe. (cathedral-strasbourg.fr).
To understand how ordinary folks lived
throughout the ages in this region, visit the
78
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2014
Alsatian Museum (musees.strasbourg.eu ).
The exhibits of popular arts and crafts with
re-created interiors of traditional Alsatian
dwellings charmingly bring to life centuries-old customs through furniture, decor,
dress, and house wares.
No matter where you go in Alsace, custom and tradition have been preserved in
the most delightful and picturesque ways,
and you don't have to visit a museum to
experience them. The charming city of Colmar, which is a thousand years old, looks like
it was plucked from a renaissance or medieval storybook. You might never have heard
of it before, but you'll be in the town that is
the birthplace of Bartholdi, the sculptor of
the Statue of Liberty-and the pastry chef
who invented those colorful little macaroon
cookies everyone adores! I visited in the
summer, when the vineyard-dotted foothills were a vibrant green, but I'd return in
the winter just to see the Colmar Christmas
markets, which replicate traditions dating
back to the 16th century. (ot-colmar.fr/en)
Another way to step back in time is to visit
the Confrerie Saint-Etienne in Kientzheim
Castle (confrerie-st-etienne.com), a dressy
but convivial affair dating back to the 14th
century, when a guild of notable locals,
whose task was to oversee the quality of the
local wines (tough job), met for their annual
feast. Today, this ritual is performed for an
audience, and even though it's a "brotherhood;' it did feature a woman in the lineup
when I visited. This sermon on wine (which
of course includes a tasting) is recommended! Afterward, drop in at the excellent and
atmospheric Cote Vigne (cote-vigne.fr) in
Kientzheim for another Alsatian dinner. •
Editor: Merryn Johns PO Box 467 New York NY
10034
Owner(s): Avalon Media LLC Po Box 467 New York
NY10034
Si Ike Bader PO Box 467 New York NY 10034
Publication Title: Curve. Issue Date for Circulation
Data: Nov 26. Extent and Nature of Circulation:
Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding
12 Months: A) Total No. Copies Net Press Run:
50,854. B) Paid
Circulation. (By Mail and Outside the Mail) (1)
Mailed Outside-County Paid Subscriptions Stated
on Form 3541: 11,342; (2) Mailed In-County Paid
Subscriptions Stated on Form 3541: 0; (3) Paid
Distribution Outside the Mails Including Sales_
rough Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors,
Counter Sales, and Other Paid Distribution
outside USPS: 24,737; (4) Paid Distribution by
Other Classes of Mail_ rough the USPS: 2,250. C)
Total Paid Distribution: 38,329. D) Free or Nominal
Rate Distribution by Mail and Outside the Mail:
(1) Free or Nominal Rate Outside-County Copies
included on Form 3541: 0; (2) Free or Nominal
Rate In-County Copies included on Form 3541: 0;
(3) Free or Nominal Rate Copies Mailed at Other
Classes Mailed_ rough the USPS: 67; (4) Free
or Nominal Rate Distribution Outside the Mail:
11,556. E) Total Free or Nominal Rate Distribution:
11,623. F) Total Distribution: 49,954. G) Copies
Not Distributed: 900. H) Total: 50,854. I) Percent
Paid 76.73%. Extent and Nature of Circulation/No.
Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing
Date A) Total No. Copies Net Press Run: 47,012. B)
Paid Circulation. (By Mail and Outside the Mail) (1)
Mailed Outside-County Paid Subscriptions Stated
on Form 3541: 10,388; (2) Mailed In-County Paid
Subscriptions Stated on Form 3541: 0; (3) Paid
Distribution Outside the Mails Including Sales
_ rough Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors,
Counter Sales, and Other Non-USPS: 22,911; (4)
Paid Distribution by Other Classes of Mail_ rough
the USPS: 1,125.C) Total Paid Distribution: 34,425.
D) Free or Nominal Rate Distribution (by Mail and
Outside the Mail): (1) Free or Nominal Rate
Outside-County as Stated on Form 3541: 0; (2)
Free or Nominal Rate In-County Copies included
on Form 3541: 0; (3) Free or Nominal Rate
Distribution Mailed at Other Classes_ rough the
USPS: 42; (4)
Free or Nominal Rate Distribution Outside
the Mail: 11,429. E) Total Free or Nominal Rate
Distribution: 11,469. F) Total Distribution: 45,894.
G) Copies Not Distributed: 1,118.H) Total: 47,012.
I) Percent Paid: 75%. Publication of Statement of
Ownershio: Nov/Dec 2014
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79
TLOOKtSTARS
Heavenly Holidays
Venus cooks up a storm with three other planets in sizzly Scorpio this
holiday season. By Charlene Lichtenstein
Adele Exarchopoulos from Blue Is the
Warmest Color turns 21 on November 22.
SCORPIO ~
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Charlene
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istheauthor 1/✓
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toAstrology1/✓
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(Simon
& Schuster)-1/✓
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Nowavailable
asanebook.1/,
(Oct. 24-Nov. 22)
The Sapphic Scorpio
is a smooth operator
with the ability to blend
into the background
or take charge at any
time. Her preference
is to be the power
behind the throne and
for this reason she
tends to enter careers
where she can play the
puppeteer to some
hapless marionette.
She can be found
in a variety of back
office, powerbroker
positions such as
advisor to presidents
(and despots) or in
positions that require
persistent investigative
skills, such as journalist,
detective, doctor
(especially psychiatrist),
policewoman,
mechanic or inventor.
80
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2014
Aries (March 21-April 20)
Leo (July 24-Aug. 23)
Sagittarius (Nov. 23-Dec. 22)
Lambda Rams have much more
on their plate now than usual.
In fact your plate is more of a
serving platter full of delectable
dishes. Your eyes are bigger
than you-know-what and as the
months progress, the question
is, "How many lovelies can you
Lionesses will love to lounge
around the house this holiday
season. But that doesn't mean
that you become a hermit.
Throw open your door and
welcome in a bevy of bodacious
beauties who stuff your bird and
deck your halls. Whoo hoo! Get
A secret love affair will be
exposed. A secret admirer will
make herself known. If you
are hiding in the closet, step
out. If you are lying, reveal the
truth. And guess what? You
will find it liberating, affirming
and empowering. The holiday
pile on before you get way in
over your head?" Well, maybe
that's your plan ...
ready for your entourage and
be the perfect hostess with the
mostess fun times.
season demands transparency.
And that might include
cellophane peekaboos.
Taurus (April 21-May 21)
Virgo (Aug. 24-Sept. 23)
Capricorn (Dec. 23-Jan. 20)
Don't take your relationships
Do you have something
important to say, Virgo? Well
go ahead and say it. And say it
with passion. Your words and
opinions can shift the tectonic
plates and improve life for all
of us. If not you, then who? If
Gal pals want to get in on your
act, Capricorn, and you should
let them. Not only do they have
great ideas to help bring in the
holiday season, they help you
expand your social circle with
acquaintances and influentials.
Do you have a pet project that
for granted, Taurus. A little
extra attention can go a long
way to pleasing your lovergrrl
so focus on the "her" and now.
Single bulls seem to attract any
woman they desire. But how
many ladies do you currently
desire all at the same time?
Let's not even begin to count!
not now, then when? Of course
you can also just express
yourself by whispering sweet
nothings in her ear.
needs to get off the ground?
Ask for help. The more hands,
the better.
Libra (Sept. 24-Oct. 23)
Aquarius (Jan. 21-Feb. 19)
Finances become more
important to you this holiday
season, which can mean that
While others concentrate on
office festivities or vacation
plans, Aqueerians should use
you either have money to burn
or still a bit of money you need
to earn. Love and lust may
cost more than you realize.
Whatever your bottom line
looks like, be cognizant of your
holiday budget and don't waste
this time to plot and plan their
next big corporate move. Not
only can you charm the big
bosses, you can also showcase
your talents to those who
matter. They say it's lonely at
Gemini (May 22-June 21)
There is nothing drearier than
a holiday consumed by work.
But there is a silver lining to
this dark cloud, Gemini. Once
you have mastered the tasks of
your day job, you will achieve
a certain nirvana. Become a
master of your universe. It
comes with perks. Or rather,
perky co-workers who burn the
midnight oil with you.
funds on trashy endeavors.
the top but I rather enjoy that
position.
Cancer (June 22-July 23)
Let the party season begin.
Everything points to festivities,
fun filled girly romances and
even an artistic project that
gives you the cache to inch
past the velvet ropes. You are
filled with inspiration, charm
and a bit of punk. Don't hide
in your shell, Cancer. Plug into
the party circuit and set the
scene on fire. Let's hope that it
is not a short circuit.
Scorpio (Oct. 24-Nov. 22)
Pisces (Feb. 20-March 20)
All eyes are upon you Scorpio.
You are in everyone's sights.
Get out of town and see what
the world can offer you in
terms of adventure, mischief
and general mayhem. There
are lusty women waiting for
you across the globe. Be sure
that you have enough time to
explore every one of them.
What are you waiting for? Get
Even the powers-that-be are
taking notice of you. Here is
your long awaited opportunity.
Will you dazzle or blind?
Take a breath, compose your
presentation and let the fates
carry you to the next level.
Power is intoxicating and
downright sexy.
up and get going, guppies!
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NOV/DEC 2014 VOLUME 24#8
~BEST
" '
PLACES TO WORK
2014
for LGBT Equality
NOV/DEC
2014
FEATURES
~o
OBJECTS OF DESIRE
Red is the color of the holidays,
even when it comes to interior
design. By Melanie Barker
~2
HER LITTLE SECRET
You can thank us later for this
easy way to eliminate Lesbian
Bed Death. By Melanie Barker
n
FABULOUS FOODIE
FEMMES
Five female restaurateurs revea
their approaches to the culi
arts, just in time for the holi
By Lisa Tedesco & Merryn
Johns
55
THE LOOK OF LOVE
This Antwerp-based lesbian
photographer is making images
to enjoy for 2015. By Melanie
Barker
58
RETURN OF OUR
FAVORITE ROCK STAR \
Who doesn't hav€ Melissa
Etheridge firmly planted on a
lesbian pedestal of must-hear
music? By Laurie Schen~
6~
WHO IN THE WORLD JS LP?
One of the greatest lesbian
singer-songwriters you never
heard of, that's who! By Kelly '
McCartney
67
ALL YOU CAN
EAT AND DRINK
From Vienna to Sonoma
to Alsace, our pick of gre
destinations for wining a
dining. By Merryn Johns
Kelsy Chauvin
COVER
PHOTO
BY JOHN
TSI
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
IN EVERYISSUE
4
EDITOR'S NOTE
6
CURVETTES
8
FEEDBACK
10
THE GAYDAR
80
STARS
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
TRENDS
REVIEWS
9
BEAUTY
Delicious beauty products that
create spa time at home.
26 MUSIC
Pop provocateur Sinead
O'Connor is back at last with a
rollicking good album. By Kelly
11 LES LOOKS LIKE
Meet a dedicated lesbian
author, minister and new mom.
14 LESBOFILE
Our favorite celesbians
behaving very badly
VIEWS
14 OUT IN FRONT
Meet our community leaders.
14 IN CASE YOU MISSED
IT ... LGBT news from across
the country. By Sassafras
Lowrey
16 POLITICS
Happy holidays indeed, but
spare a thought for those
less fortunate, including the
lesbian homeless. By Victoria A.
Brown worth
18 THE TWO OF US
Our monthly profile of captivating lesbian couples who
live, love and work together.
20
LIPSTICK & DIPSTICK
22 SCENE
You had to be there! Our
reviews of the best LGBT
events and girls' nights
around the country.
2
CURVE
NOV/DEC
2014
McCartney
28 FILM
We smoulder over sizzling
lesbian short Camp Belvidere.
Plus our reviews of two
must-see lesbian films. By Lisa
Tedesco & Marcie Bianco
32 BOOKS
The UK's favorite lesbian
author, Sarah Waters, has
finally returned tolesbian themes with her new
novel The Paying Guests,
and we couldn't be happier.
By Tiffany Lowana
35 FOOD & DRINKS
The holidays are upon us.
What to serve our guests, and
ourselves? Here are some tips
for the best tipples and nibbles
for your holiday table.
RONTtMERRYN'S
MEMO
curve
THE BEST-SELLING
So111ed1i11g's
<Jooki11g
0
ne of the wonderful things about fall is its accompanying seasonal
produce-and
the cooler weather that makes cooking less of a chore
and more of a pleasure. When winter and the holidays arrive, the
mandatory ways to socialize and celebrate tend to revolve around food
and drink. That's why we make our November/December Holiday
issue the tastiest one of the year.
This year's Holiday issue is particularly
mouthwatering: We take a sneak peek at
the sexy and romantic L-calendar for 2015;
we bestow a bounty of advice, as well as
books and recipes from fine foodie females,
including My Drunk Kitchen's Hannah
Hart; we salivate over Sarah Waters'
overdue return to lesbian literary themes;
we get up close and personal with pop
provocateurs LP and Sinead O'Connor;
we review some essential lesbian viewing
perfect for cuddling up with your girl; we
lap up the season's most sensual spa and
beauty products, and yummy edible and
drinkable gifts. After all that indulgence, Jill
Goldstein's self-esteem-boosting fitness plan
is a gift indeed.
It's important to remember that it's not
a luxe life for everyone all the time, or for some people, ever: The images of enjoyment
in these pages might be unattainable for a good percentage of our community. Victoria
A. Brownworth has something to say about the growing problem of homeless LGBTsteens, veterans, the elderly-who can slip through the cracks and escape our notice,
especially at this time of year. Awareness is the first step to helping others, and maybe you
can find the time or the money to help this year, starting in your very own neighborhood.
It's always a pleasure, then, to celebrate the achievements of someone whose humble
beginnings could not predict her eventual success. Our cover story featuring out lesbian
rock icon Melissa Etheridge-new
wife, new life, and a solid album release (now there's
a gift idea!)-is the very inspiring cherry on the top of this holiday cake. Enjoy our last
issue for 2014, and I'll see you next year with more fabulous ideas from Curve!
!z
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
merryn@curvemag.com
NOVEMBER
2014
»
LESBIAN MAGAZINE
VOLUME
24 NUMBER
PUBLISHERSilke Bader
FOUNDINGPUBLISHER Frances Stevens
EDITORIAL
EDITORIN CHIEF Merryn Johns
SENIORCOPY EDITOR Katherine
Wright
CONTRIBUTINGEDITORS Melanie Barker, Kathy Beige,
Marcie Bianco, Victoria A. Brownworth, Gina Daggett,
Lyndsey D'Arcangelo, Sheryl Kay, Gillian Kendall, Dave
Steinfeld
PROOFREADERAmber Kinnear
EDITORIAL
ASSISTANTS
Caitlyn Byrne, Lisa Tedesco, Cora ShayePope, Erin Wilson
OPERATIONS
DIRECTOROF OPERATIONS Jeannie Sotheran
EVENTS& MEDIA RELATIONSCOORDINATORRobin Perron
ADVERTISING
NATIONALSALES
Rivendell Media (908) 232-2021, todd@curvemagazine.com
ART/PRODUCTION
ART DIRECTORSRicardo Calvi Vivian
SOCAL MEDIA
MANAGERBel Evans
INTERNLucy Doyle
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Melany Joy Beck, Jenny Block, Kelsy Chauvin, Jill Goldstein,
Kristin Flickinger, Adrienne Jordan, Gillian Kendall,
Kim Hoffman, Francesca Lewis, Charlene Lichtenstein,
Sassafras Lowrey, Kelly McCartney, Emelina Minero, Dana
Piccoli, Laurie K. Schenden, Stephanie Schroeder, Janelle
Sorenson, Rosanna Rios-Spicer, Stella & Lucy, Yana TallonHicks, Sarah Toce, Jocelyn Voo
CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATORS & PHOTOGRAPHERS
Steph Brusig, Meagan Cignoli, Syd London, Cheryl Mazak,
Maggie Parker, Robin Roemer, Leslie Van Stelten
CONTACT INFO
Curve Magazine
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PHONE(415) 871-0569
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LETTERSTO THE EDITOREMAIL letters@curvemagazine.com
Volume 24 Issue 8 Curve (ISSN 1087-867X) is published 8 times
per year (January/Febrary, March, April/May, June, July/August,
September, October, November/December) by Avalon Media,
LLC, PO Box 467, New York NY 10034. Subscription price:
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Publication of the name or photograph of any persons or
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Lack of any representation only signifies insufficient materials.
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4
CURVE
NOV/DEC
2014
8
Curve's online selection of must-do, must-try, must-have extras.
EDITOR'S
PICK
CULTURE
THE BIRTHPLACE OF LESBIAN CHIC
A new documentary celebrates the legendary
Sunday nights at Cafe Tabac in New York City.
Imagine a lesbian bar so chic and glamorous
that even rich and famous culture-makersMadonna, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Queen
Latifah-would climb to the top of the stairs to
join the party. Did it ever exist? Read more on
G curvemag.com
REVIEWS
BOOKS
EVENTS
LOCAL
TAKING FIRE BY RADCLYFFE
Radclyffe's "First Responder"
series is turning out to be an
excellent and powerful departure from her more traditional
romances. Thoroughly enjoying
the exploration of powerful
WHOOPI GOLDBERG AT NEW YORK'S
women in difficult roles. Read
HALLOWEEN PARADE
more on
G curvemag.com
The legendary comic will be the Grand Marshall of the 41st
Annual Village Halloween Parade. Did you know that New
THE HIDDEN PANDEMIC
When will it end? It is more deadly than
Ebola, more prevalent than cancer, more
incurable than AIDS. It is pandemic-meaning it has spread to every continent, meaning
that no one is immune. It is violence against
women. According to the American Public
Health Association "Violence against women
(VAW) is a global threat. It is pervasive across
all cultures and economic groups. Worldwide, women living in economically disadvantaged areas are at an even greater risk.
According to WHO (2013), 35% of the total
female population is impacted by this grave
York City's Village Halloween Parade is the largest public
participatory event in the United States? So who better than
an Academy Award-winning actor and New Yorker to be the
Grand Marshall for such an occasion that encourages the
boldest, brightest-and
sometimes the scariest-expres-
sions of ourselves? Read more on
NEWS
INTERNATIONAL
G curvemag.com.
threat." Read more on
LIFESTYLE
WEDDINGS
~
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~
~
~
~
~
CHOOSING RITUALS & POLISH FOR YOUR
~
UNFORGETTABLECEREMONY
~
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~
Maybe you and your partner are totally into Chinese food
or love the same pizza joint. Maybe you're both fans of
Japanese anime. But how similar are your backgrounds?
If ever there was a time to highlight the unique aspects
of your cultural heritage, and the fantastic journey that
brought your two worlds together, it would be at your wedding! Read more on G curvemag.com
~
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We have some of the leading voices in our community
sharing their thoughts on
love and romance, parenting and politics, and sex and
spirituality-not to mention
our huge collection of lesbian fandom.
~
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G curvemag.com
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NOV/DEC
2014
CURVE
5
TIFFANYLOWANA
LAURIESCHENDEN
JILL SLOANE
GOLDSTEIN
MARCIE BIANCO
Sydney-based Tiffany Lawana
has a Bachelor of Professional
and Creative Writing and was
the editor of Curve's Australian
sister magazine, LOTL. For
Curve she has interviewed
Orange Is the New Black's
Laura Prepon, Taylor Schilling
and Lea DeLaria, plus Rosie
O'Donnell and Heather Peace.
For this issue, she interviews
three-time Booker nominated
Sarah Waters on page 32. "I
had read that Sarah is quite
shy, even rigidly guarded. Yeah,
by her own admission she is reserved. But a few minutes into
the interview, laughter seemed
to be key-with it, there were
no defenses. It was actually
one of the most generous interviews I've had."
Laurie Schenden is a filmmaker
and journalist who worked for
20 years at the Los Angeles
Times. Follow her documentaries on Facebook at Saving
Grace Films. She recently
completed An Unexpected
Win: Title IX and the Pinckney
Pirates, and is in post-production on Unstoppable: Icons of
the 20th Century, featuring five
famous lesbians. This month
she interviews legendary rocker
Melissa Etheridge on page 58.
"I was surprised when Melissa
Etheridge told me she was
going to 'take a break' from her
career, until her new team cha Ilenged her to write an album.
The result is a return to the
music that makes girls cry."
"Whenever I don't want to exercise I play a little mind game
with myself," says Jill Sloane
Goldstein, an avid fitness enthusiast. "I'll think, 'In one hour,
I can still be sitting here or be
done with a workout and feeling so much better.' Knowing
that the time is going to pass
either way, nine times out of
ten I get moving." It's this kind
of self-motivation that keeps
her fit. The freelance writer is
dedicated to raising her twoyear-old son, but makes time
to exercise each day through
running and weight training.
Jill has combined both her
strengths, writing and fitness,
into Curve's fitness advice column on page 22.
Marcie Bianco, lesbian-feminist
PhD, is the senior news editor
at VProud.tv, and a contributing writer at Mic, AfterEllen,
Lambda Literary, and Curve.
She also makes frequent
appearances on Huffington
Post Live to talk about all
things feminist and LGBT.
Marcie recently published an
essay regarding the "satirical
aesthetics" of HBO's Girls in a
collected volume, and she is
currently at work on a memoir
about lesbian academic affairs,
two excerpts of which have
already been published. This
issue her reviews appear on
pages 30 and 34. Follow her on
Twitter at @MarcieBianco.
6
CURVE
NOV/DEC
2014
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ANORO
S1YlE
SPEClt\L now that she has a TV show,
clCkASSSTUFF
amazing wife and a baby on the
YOU'LL
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way.Talk about having it all!
-Annette Collingwood,
STAR
Toronto ON.
MAKER
YOUTH SUPPORT
I'm writing to say that I appreciate the editorial Curve has
been running in the magazine
and on your website that is
aimed at queer youth. I always
heard that your magazine was
for older lesbians so I find it
encouraging that there are
articles for people under 30 as
well. We are often overlooked
when it comes to serious information and quality content
and it's good to see a mag like
Curve stepping up to the plate.
The stories on genderqueers,
studs, and trans people are
also really cool. - Kirsten B.,
PERRY'S PEAK
I was thrilled to find Linda
Perry on the cover of Curve
[Vol.24#7]. Thank you for
giving this amazing woman the
exposure she deserves within
our community. I am a big fan
oflesbian music and while
we have music icons with a
high profile such as Melissa
Etheridge, k.d. lang, and Brandi
Carlile, I have always felt that
Perry never received the attention she deserves, even though
she has done it all, from leading
her own hit band to contributing to the careers of other top
musicians. She's someone we
need to be proud 0£ especially
Minneapolis MN.
Editor's note: Curve isfor everyone, no matter what age, background or gender expression.
Posts from our Facebook fans
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
facebook.com/curvemag
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Loving Linda Perry!
Powerful ! -Jorg Haufbler
the text book definition of
bad ass ..... -Carlos Osorno
She is bad ass -Meggie Ortiz
And now she and her wife
are going to have a baby!!!
So exciting. -Jenny Fish
congratulations linda and
sara!!!! -Che Cotton
So cool. Luv her n Sara
-Deborah Conrad
Love her! -Lisa AlbrightWilson
IN GRATITUDE
Tara and I wanted to thank
you so much for the beautiful article and pictorial in
this month's Curve magazine
[''A Thousand Words" by
MerrynJohns, Vol.24#7]. We
are so honored and feel very
proud to be representing our
community! Truly grateful
She's awesome!! -Linda
Guzman Hall
Good goddamn christ I love
her. -Lisa Curtis
She rocks my sax off
-Melissa Deforke
Congrats Sara and Linda on
their baby! -Cecily Riley
Love Linda Perry!!! -Linda
Deeringwater
I have so much love for
Linda Perry!!! -Leigh Loffe/1Dawson
that you told our story in such
a magical way. Wishing you
and your awesome publication
continued success! We're likely
going to buy out this side of
California's copies when it
hits the newstands in our area
*wink*.
- Heidi Margocsy and Tara
Baxter, Petaluma CA
WHAT'S
THE
BEST
THING
ABOUT
HOLIDAYS?
45%
Eating and drinking
myself merry
22%
Reuniting with family
and friends
I 3Qo Taking my girl home to
meet the family
3%
17%
Revisiting my faith
Nothing. I hate the
holidays
WRITE
Curve magazine, PO Box 467, New York, NY 10034
letters@curvemagazine.com
US! 510.380.7487
curvemag.com/letters
Send to:
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Fax:
8
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Online:
2014
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TRENDS/
BEAU
Spa For the Senses
LUSCIOUSPRODUCTSTO TANTALIZEYOUR
FACEAND BODYTHIS FALL. BY MELANIE BARKER
It's a Lush Lite
LUSH Cosmetics has plenty of sweet body treats for
Christmas including the Holly Golightly bubble bar, Yog
Nog soap, Candy Mountain bubble bar, and Snow Angel
bath melt. These self-preserving, mostly vegan bath
products include delicious ingredients such as cinnamon
leaf oil, clove bud, nutmeg cocoa butter, and aromas such
as vanilla and almond marzipan-sure to put you in the
mood for the holidays. ($8-$11, lushusa.com)
PHYTO-C
SUPERHEAL"'
0-Live Serum
NET 30ml
t1EJ.30WJ
On Your Soapbox
on
NATURAL
LEMONGRASS
,ACE
soOY
SOUL
soapbox·
,....
Bathe and luxuriate in rich and buttery
artisanal soaps-and save the world at the
same time. These ethical, cruelty-free,
vegan-certified, environmentally friendly
bars of hope come in delicious fragrances
such as orange, lemongrass, cinnamon and
spearmint. SoapBox works with local bar
soap makers around the world to empower
communities, not create aid dependence.
Through soap, water development, and
vitamins, each bar of soap contributes to
saving 24,000 lives. ($5, soapboxsoap.com)
lhenigO
Olive leaf extract is the key ingredient of Phyto-C's O-Live
Serum and we were beyond impressed by its healing powers.
First used medicinally by the ancient Egyptians, this ingredient
goes to work immediately. Just a few drops on dry skin on face
and hands made lines disappear, refining and firming the skin.
It's one sure way to deal with holiday stress and arrive at your
engagements looking like your better self. ($130, phyto-c.com)
,.\.loha, Tub Time!
'lhe Ro~1,I Tt•eatment
The Brits know about luxury and Temple Spa offers
the most luxurious spa skin products we've ever
tried. Their award-winning anti-aging Skin Truffle is
a miracle cream made with diamond powder, black
truffles, champagne extract, strawberries and cocoa
butter, in a rich cream that gives your skin an instant
glow. The Body Truffle made with rose quartz, silk,
gold, cashmere and long-life mushroom is by far
the most impressive body butter we've used. These
splurge-worthy products prove
that your body is your temple.
($85 and up, templespa.com)
Escape the cold with your honey in a
bubble bath made with Hearts and Stars
Lilikoi Luxury Bath & Body Gel. Hawaiian
passionfruit is the key to this tropical
blend, which also features lemongrass,
aloe vera, grapeseed extract and hemp
oil to create a refreshing foam that will
rejuvenate your skin, your senses and
have you imagining you're at a spa in
Maui. ($20, hearts-and-stars.com)
HEARTS
&STARS
LoYe l Tnde1•the Yines
Enjoy the ambience of Mediterranean
living in your own bath and bedroom.
Olavie's Tuscan Fig Diffuser with its
notes of juicy fig, tangy rhubarb and
aromatic white cedar is a perfect way to
bring the scent of the holidays into your
home. But our favorite Olavie product
is the Antioxidant Body & Massage Oil
with the sweet and precious extract
of Chardonnay grape seed extract to
soothe and moisturize your favorite
lady. ($45 and up, olavie.com)
NOV/DEC
UI koi Luxury
BATH & BODY GEL
2014
CURVE
9
NDS/
THE GAYOAR
p
I
%
~
~
!~e~ o~~!~~wRone?
Let our gaydar help
you decide who's hot, who's not, who's
shaking 1tand who's faking it in lesboland.
BY MELANIE BARKER
~
Lesbians are fired from
a St. Louis Catholic
Girls school after the
faculty finds out they're
a married couple.
Jesus H. Christ, when
will discrimination in
education end?
We couldn't love Julianne
Moore any more than
we do for her heartfelt
portrayals of gay women.
Now she's playing
opposite Ellen Page in
Freeheld
Ellen DeGeneres visits
Chelsea Handler in the
shower for her show's finale
asking why she was never
a guest. "Is it because I'm
a lesbian?" "No," retorts
Handler. "I didn't even
know you were a lesbian. I
thought you were married
to Ryan Seacrest." Zing!
The Mindy Project
sees Mindy Kalin
fantasizing for a
second that she
and Brennan can be
lesbians together. Nice
try, we guess
Millions of
dollars spent
on a "lesbian
Obesity"
study finds out
that a good
number of
dykes weigh
more-and
are happierthan straight
women.
Duh,tellus
something we
don't know
A-lister Emma
Stone plays her
edgiest film role
yet as Michael
Keaton's lesbian
daughter
=-7
Jenny Shimizu
marries long-time
girlfriend Michelle
Harper right after
Angelina Jolie
marries Brad ...
Congrats to both
couples!
J
l
Iggy Azalea may be
under siege from
her exploitative exboyfriend but onstage
it's all about girl-ongirl and getting down
with Nicky Minaj,
Jennifer Lopez and
Rita Ora
WJ
It's all
happening on
the Continent
as Miss Spain
comes out on
lnstagram.
Bienvenidos,
chicas!
A court in Rome, Italy
also approves the
adoption of a child
by a lesbian couple in
the first such ruling.
Eccellente!
The High Tribunal of
Bogota, Colombia
takes a stand in favor
of a transwoman to
gain exemption from
military service and
permits a lesbian
couple to adopt a
child. Bueno!
Queer graphic artist
Kimberly Linn
comes out with a
line of cute lesbian
emoticons that
are thumbtastic,
including this
homage to Tegan
&Sara
0
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10
CURVE
NOV/DEC
2014
NDStGOSSIP
p
~ LESBOFILE
~
~
Our favorite show spawns real love, marital bliss
abounds, and Lindsay makes a (rumored) lesbian
comeback. BYJOCELYN
voo
~
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'
Life Imitates Litchfield
For the maybe five people left on the
Martina's Match
There's all the cliche ways you can
planet who haven't binge-watched their
ask the love of your life to marry you. Yet
way through the Netflix insta-hit Orange
somehow, Martina Navratilova can get
exes, and quite probably her first serious
Is the New Black, let me bring you up to
away with it.
female love-coincidentally
speed: the year-old dramedy revolves
"Originally it wasn't the idea to do it at
the fact that Jenny Shimizu-one of Jolie's
got hitched
only a few days later.
around Piper Chapman, who is sentenced
the U.S. Open, on the Jumbotron and all
to 15 months in a women's facility. There,
that, but then it was, 'Why not? I've seen it
stylish woman-of-town Michelle Harper,
she is reunited with her ex-girlfriend and
in movies," the tennis legend told People.
wed at the New York City Clerk's office
has to deal with her feelings of attraction,
Secluded in a TV suite, the 10-time U.S.
Shimizu and her girlfriend of two years,
in decidedly not low-key ensembles: the
despite being engaged to a man. But
Open champ presented her girlfriend of
former Calvin Klein model in tailored mens-
forget about what's happening on the
eight years Julia Lemigova, a former Miss
wear, the socialite in a voluminous Olivier
small screen for a second. Turns out there's
USSR,with a ring between the two men's
Theyskens gown. The pair's magnetism,
as much action happening behind the
semifinal matches at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
the way Shimizu tells it in a New York Times
scenes-at
Still, the engagement was broadcast on the
interview, was total serendipity. "I didn't
big screen-with
believe it myself until I saw it."
least for one person.
Back in May, Lauren Morelli, one of the
writers for Orange, penned an op-ed for
Mic declaring that, a mere five months
much supportive fanfare
from lucky attendees.
"We've come from similar backgrounds
after she'd gotten married to her longtime
and experiences in life and we've both
boyfriend, she'd flown to New York to start
overcome a lot," Navratilova said. "We both
at Orange-and,
dreamt big and we both made it, so it's
almost concurrently,
realized that she was gay. "In Piper and
Alex," she wrote, "I'd found a mouthpiece
pretty cool!"
Game, set, match.
That was the fall of 2012. And now,
Lohan's Leanings
We haven't heard much about Lindsay
Lohan in a while, but we're throwing the
redhead a bone here because, hey, who
doesn't love a comeback?
for my own desires and a glimmer of what
my future could look like."
And upon eating up the stunning photos, we can barely believe our eyes either.
Jenny and Jolie
Wed-Separately
Though the party-hardy actress has
reportedly been involved with a new older
roughly two years later, Morelli has filed for
While the greater part of the media
(seemingly amicable) divorce. The catalyst?
was busy gasping about Angelina Jolie's
She's now allegedly dating actress Samira
stealth wedding to Brad Pitt ("She wore a
really high-profile women and she prefers
Wiley, who plays Poussey on the show.
dress with her KIDS' DRAWINGS on it!" "He
to be with women any day over men."
We can't wait to see where this story arc goes.
12
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NOV/DEC
2014
FORGOT his TIE!"), we were mooning over
man, a source tells Radar online that "she
was in several relationships with some
Who are we to disagree?
TRENDS/
"Honestly, I thought
we might get one more, but
I knew that this could be the last
season ...lt's time, in a way. In terms
of the story, I think we could have done
another. But I'm happy that we're saying
goodbye in a particularly strong season,
and I'm pleased that we're gonna go
out with a bang." - Anna Silk to
EW on the end of Lost Girl
SHEs
s1PROFILE
IN CASE
YOU
MISSED
I'C...
~
Dulce Garcia
SanFrancisco
BayArea» SexualHeathActivist
She's been called a fierce femme, and Dulce Garcia
considers the designation a badge of honor. "It came
from living my life with conviction and resilience,"
says Garcia. "Because I'm a queer woman of color,
there are many oppressions I face, yet I also hold a lot
of privileges, and it's my responsibility to use them
toward true liberation and social justice."
Being a fierce femme allows her to live with
purpose-and
without apology-through
focused her attention on serving gay youth, originally
at De Ambiente (In the Scene), the only program of its
kind in California, and one of a handful nationally that
serve the needs of Latino LGBT youth. While there,
she was involved with HIV prevention and other sex
education programming. "Working with queer youth
has not only allowed me to witness their resilience
but to learn from them," she notes. "Young people are
really smart, and if adults would just take a second
to listen to them, they will tell you what their needs
are, in order to feel safe in the communities they live,
learn, and work in."
Today, Garcia continues her efforts as the health
educator for the Bay Area at the California Health
Collaborative, where she evaluates and implements
bilingual breast and cervical cancer screening
education workshops for the Every Woman Counts
program. Her goal is to target uninsured and
under-insured low-income women, so they'll have
access to free mammograms and free pap smears.
She's also joined San Francisco Women Against
Rape (SFWAR)as the bilingual Spanish community
education consultant, working with staff to provide
rape-prevention education and outreach to Spanishspeaking communities, and to support them in
identifying ways to confront and end sexual violence.
Still, at the end of the day, the kids are not very far
from Garcia's thoughts. "Do I want the right to marry?" she asks. "Yes. But is it my main concern, or the
struggle I focus on? Not at all. I'm more concerned
about queer youth of color having access to health
care, housing, and safe learning environments." By
14
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NOV/DEC
2014
I ~i~~tf
~i~!~ ~1~r~ ~ ~s~i~ ~ !f
~~s~~air
Lytess, and that Monroe and Lytess lived together
for two of the seven years they worked together.
Lytess says that Monroe was often naked at home,
but was also very insecure: "She was afraid of giving
up all that had made her as Marilyn the sexiest girl:
dresses, make-up, moves. Because she thought she
had nothing to give except sex appeal. In fact it's interesting because she really hated sex!"
life's com-
plexities and intersections. Over the years, Garcia has
Sheryl Kay
•
THIS
YEAR,
LILY
TOMLIN
WILL
be one of five performers who
annually receive the prest1g1ous
Kennedy Center Honors Although
several gay men have won the
award 1nthe past, Tomlin will be
the first out lesbian to be chosen
The Kennedy Center Honors are
awarded to l1v1ngartists for their
l1fet1mecontribution to American
culture through the performing
arts.
CHRISTINA
FONTHES,
A
British c1t1zenand lesbian act1v1st,
has safely returned to Br1ta1nafter
a trip to v1s1ther family 1nthe
Democratic Republic of Congo,
during which her mother stole
her passport to keep her 1nthe
country and held her hostage
to "cure her of her gayness"
Fonthes got the Br1t1shembassy 1n
Kinshasa to apply for emergency
travel documents, but she wasn't
allowed to remain 1nthe building,
and later was seized by the police,
who returned her to her family
Fonthes took to Twitter, posting,
"I'm NOT m1ss1ngMy passport has
been stolen BY MUM, and I need
to return to the uk asap" With the
support of her partner, Jessica
Creighton, a sports Journal1stfor
BARB
WEBB,
WHO
WORKED
at Marian High School 1nBloomfield
Hills, Mich, teaching honors
chemistry and coaching sports,
was fired after she told school
off1c1alsthat she was pregnant
Webb, who has been with her
partner, Kristen Lasecki, for five
years, believes the "nontraditional"
pregnancy 1swhat led to her being
terminated The Catholic, all-girls'
Marian High School has a "morality
clause," however, parents and
alumni are publicly protesting the
dec1s1onto fire Webb
COLOMBIAN
LESBIAN
ANA
Le1derman gave birth to her 4- and
6-year-old children via art1f1c1al
1nsem1nat1on,
and her longtime
partner, Veronica Botero, who
was not a b1olog1calparent, had
no custodial or legal rights over
the children-until recently In a
s1gn1f1cantstep toward LGBTQ
rights, a Colombian court granted
adoption rights to Botero
Currently, this ruling only applies
to gay couples when one partner
1sthe b1olog1calparent, but it's
believed that this ruling could
1nd1catea w1ll1ngnessto move
toward adoption rights for all
same-sex couples 1nthe country
By Sassafras Lowrey
-
Planning our financial future
Wants to
open an IRA
\
Wants to
open a B&B
/
When it comes to finances, we don't all think alike. That's why a meaningful discussion can
lead to a more secure future. Talk to each other about your financial priorities, then stop by
and talk with us. We're here to listen and help provide the guidance you need to create a plan
of action. Let's start a conversation today. Visit wellsfargo.com/theconversation.
Together we'll go far
© 2014WellsFargoBank,N.A.Allrightsreserved.
ECG-1207567
The Invisibles
It's time to help our lesbian homeless.
BY VICTORIA A. BROWNWORTH
Thanksgiving.
Hanukkah.
Solstice.
Christmas. 'Tis that season again-and
the quest for holiday dollars is going full
throttle. Brick and mortar stores have been
playing "O Holy Night" since Halloween,
Thanksgiving is known increasingly as
the eve of big discount sales, and it's even
worse online, where it's been Christmas
since September.
Still, the holiday season is not all consumerism run wild. This is also the time
of year when we are most likely to notice
the poor and homeless among us. Service
organizations receive the majority of their
donations at the holidays, when people are
feeling generous.
But what about the homeless in our
own community? We don't think about
LGBT people being homeless, but a surprising number are-it's just that they're
even more hidden than the rest of America's homeless.
In fact, LGBT people are among the
fastest-growing
homeless demographic
16
CURVE
NOV/DEC
2014
in the nation (after veterans), particularly those in the 15-to-30 age range overall,
and women over 40.
There are 1 million chronically homeless adults in the U.S., according to the
most recent U.S. Census. Yet that number
does not remain static. The Department
of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) estimated in its 2012 report that
between 2.3 and 3.5 million people will be
homeless for a portion of each year. That's
one in every hundred Americans. How
many are LGBT2
The numbers are worse for children,
probably because when single mothers
become homeless, so do their children.
HUD stipulates that 1.7 million kids under 18 are homeless in the U.S., and the
majority-58 percent-are teens. Most of
them are on their own. The National Gay
and Lesbian Task Force reports that approximately 40 percent identify as LGBT.
So, although gays and lesbians constitute only about 10 percent of the popula-
tion, and trans persons less than 1 percent,
LGBT teenagers represent close to half of
the homeless teens in the U.S.
For several months in the late summer
and autumn of 2008, I reported an investigative series on homelessness among
LGBT teens in Philadelphia for the Philadelphia Gay News. (The prize-winning
four-part series ran in November and
December and was titled "Hiding in Plain
Sight: Homeless LGBT Teens, Our Hidden Minority:' The series can be found
under that title at epgn.com.) The series
required me to spend many nights on the
streets of Philadelphia and countless hours
in abandoned squats, shelters, and drop-in
programs. The stories I heard about how
LGBT teens wound up homeless were disturbingly similar. They were either forced
out of their families of origin or felt too
restricted in those families to stay. Nearly
every kid I interviewed had met the same
fate: prostitution. One young lesbian had
become pregnant and her girlfriend left her.
VIEWS/POLI
A young African- American who had AIDS,
and whose sweet, dreamy, drugged-up face
is as clear to me now as it was when I sat
next to him six years ago, had been infected
by tricks who refused to use condoms.
It wasn't my first investigation into
queer homelessness. I'd done another series on adults for PGN and sat on city
steps with several older lesbians-decades
older than I was-who had fallen on hard
times and ended up on the streets, fearful of shelters and targets for rape. As a
reporter for The Advocate, I wrote about
how AIDS had forced many gay men into
homelessness (Jan. 15, 1991, issue 568). I
wrote a book, Lost in America, on juvenile
prostitution, which was as much about
homelessness and LGBT youth as it was
about anything else.
I've written often about homelessness
because I live in Philadelphia, the poorest of America's 10 largest cities, and you
can't separate homelessness from poverty.
The 2010 Census found that 35 percent of
Philadelphians lived at or below the poverty level, with nearly half of that population in what the U.S. Dept. of Health and
Human Services calls "deep poverty" living on half as much as the federally set
guidelines for poverty.
The poverty numbers for my city,
the fifth-largest in the richest nation on
earth, are the same as those for India, the
world's poorest nation, according to a Pew
Research study released in September.
In January 2014, I reported on how the
number of people being turned away from
homeless shelters in Philadelphia had tripled in just the past three years.
Michelle Obama has made veterans' issues a primary focus of her efforts as first
lady, and that has helped draw attention
to the fact that 10 percent of America's
homeless are veterans. A disturbing number of those veterans are lesbians.
Female homelessness-not
just among
veterans (thank you for your service, now
take your PTSD and chronic unemployability to the streets, please)-has been on
the rise since the Great Recession in 2008,
which impacted women hardest, particularly women 40 and older. A 2012 study
in Philadelphia showed an 18 percent
increase in homeless women in my city
alone. San Francisco has seen not just a
spike in homelessness, and among women
in particular, but increasing conflict between business owners and the homeless
in Union Square and downtown on Market Street.
I have been seeing several homeless
women in the same places for years now. I
know they are lesbians because I have talked to them. I also know they have nowhere
else to go.
As terrible as LGBT teen homelessness is, homelessness among the elderly
has become an increasing problem, which
will only get worse as more and more baby
boomers hit Social Security age. The majority of the elderly are women. And as the
poorest demographic of all Americans,
they are the most vulnerable to the dangers of homelessness. Older women are
invisible in America, the poor are invisible,
the homeless are invisible. Imagine the invisibility of homeless lesbians.
Homelessness concerns me because I
know how devastating it can be, and how
hard it can be to extricate yourself from it.
I was homeless in my early 20s for
nearly a year. I ended up on the streets
the same way many women do: I moved
to a city right out of college where the
only people I knew were work colleagues.
I struggled to make enough money for
a place to live. I bounced around on the
sofas of friends and acquaintances, spent
some unpleasantly wakeful nights in the
local shelter, and eventually was able to
find a room in an SRO hotel in the city's
skid row. There I shared a bathroom with
20 other people and prayed every night
that no one would come into my room
while I was sleeping.
The women on either side of me were
also lesbians, also lost, though not, I think,
as temporarily as I was. One was in her
40s, settled into her homeless life with a
cat in her room. The other was, like me, in
her early 20s, but had a drug problem and
was already prostituting hersel£ because
she could not hold a job.
I was fortunate. I got off the streets, left
that city, moved to one where I was able
to get a job that paid enough for me to get
an apartment. But I struggled for several
years afterward, living on the margins,
often on the verge of eviction. Homelessness takes a toll, and it can be hard to play
catch-up with your own life.
Homelessness feels desperate. Then it
feels hopeless. When you don't have the
normal routines of home and work and
friends and family, you begin to lose touch
with normalcy itself. I saw it in the teens
I interviewed-many
were drugged up
every day, and few had a focus or a plan
to get out. I saw it with devastating clarity
in the older homeless lesbians I talked to.
They had mostly given up, no longer cared
about bathing, never mind searching for
help. The discrimination they each experienced in the homeless system just added
to their desperation.
And so here we are, holiday season.
HUD says one kid in 50 is homeless. One
in every hundred Americans is homeless.
An unknown number of lesbians-from
teens to women over 40-are homeless.
So what are we doing about it? While
there are increasing numbers of programs
for LGBT youth, it's still not nearly enough.
An estimated 5,000 homeless LGBT teens
are living in New York City as I write this.
How are we as a community providing for
lesbians who are without access to shelter
space-because those spaces are reserved
almost exclusively for women with children,
because they are the most desperate? And
what about our most at-risk population,
older lesbians? In the recently released film
Love Is Strange, Alfred Molina and John
Lithgow star as a longtime couple who become homeless at 70.
There were probably always homeless
LGBT people. I've been reporting on them
for 25 years, since just after my own homelessness ended. But now we know they are
there, though we didn't before. And the
issues that drive people from their families and jobs and relationships remain
distressingly constant: homophobia, discrimination, self-medicating through substance abuse.
So this holiday season, talk to your local shelter and your local LGBT center.
What is being done for the queer homeless in your area? What is being done at
your local women's shelter to reach out to
lesbians? What outreach is available to gay
and homeless vets?
These are our people, too. These could
have been us, could still be us, with only
one wrong step on that ladder oflife. So as
we deck the halls and light the candles and
over-gift everyone who already has more
than enough, we need to take some time to
look around us, to seek out the most invisible members of our community. This holiday season, give thanks for the roof over
your head, and ask what your community
is doing to be sure no one is on the streets
as New Year's chimes in 2015. •
NOV/DEC
2014
CURVE
17
VIEWS/
TWO OF
FttDING
PtOPlt
ISAWAY
OFTAKING
CARt
OFTHtM.
THtRt
ISONt
UNIVrnSAl
RrMrnY,
AND
THAT'S
A
GOOD
PlATt
OFFOOD.
''
HOW
THEY
MET
ready to go on vacation, they don't have to
COLLEEN: We met through a mutual friend
sit down and say, "You get the passports
is a way of taking care of them. There is
who I had worked with. We were friends for
together and I will make sure we have the
one universal remedy, and that's a good
especially in my family, that feeding people
right clothes for the weather." We just know
plate of food. I use the hospitality industry
our own strengths and stick to that. And
as an outlet for my inherent desire to take
ONLIFE
BEFORE
THEY
BECAME
CHEFS
we have very strict rules about bringing
care of people.
COLLEEN: I was a sponsored skateboarder
work home.
some time before becoming a couple.
COLLEEN: Although today's statistics
and a jazz DJ before I really found a home
in the kitchen.
COLLEEN: It wouldn't be nearly as satisfying
would say otherwise, women have always
to be a sole proprietor. Being able to share
been the cooks. My grandmother and my
JEANA: I was going to be an accountant
your work life with your partner is amazing.
mom are both great cooks. I learned from
before I went to culinary school.
We have a very full plate. So it's great to
watching the two of them.
have constant support from the person
HOW
THEY
ENTERED
THERESTAURANT
BIZ you're sharing your life with.
WHY
THEY
FITSOWELL
TOGETHER
COLLEEN: I started cooking as a high
COLLEEN: We love all the same things. We
school job. The restaurant business really
HOW
THEY
RESOLVE
DIFFERENCES
have the same dreams and we don't hold
chose me. I was moved into a chef position
COLLEEN: We have resigned ourselves to
each other back from being a little daring
at a very young age, and even though I
the fact that we just don't have the liberty
sometimes. I know that I can count on
tried to go to school for film, the business
to have an all-out fight. We certainly have
Jeana to encourage me through a crazy
just kept drawing me back.
things we both feel strongly about-but,
motorcycle trip through Vietnam, and that
overall, we don't have time for petty
she can count on me to support her in
arguments.
getting that Julia Child tattoo she always
JEANA: I started working as a hostess in
college at Outback Steakhouse. Before
wanted.
I knew it, I was headed up the corporate
JEANA: We have definitely mastered the
chain. I had to work kitchen shifts as a part
30-second, "I'm sorry, I probably wasn't
of my management training. After my first
being considerate toward your feelings"
pressure that most couples have from being
kitchen shift, I was hooked. Not long after
in different places in their lives. We met
that, I quit college and made the choice to
conversation. And whatever the conflict
was, it's squashed. We never look back and
when we were young cooks and came up
pursue a future in the restaurant business.
we never bring up stuff from the past.
together. Every success that I have on my
ONWORKING
TOGETHER
ONWHY
WOMEN
MAKE
GREAT
CHEFS
have done it together.
JEANA: Just like when a solid couple gets
JEANA: It has been my experience,
(good2gotaco.com) •
JEANA: Plus, we don't have the added
resume I share with Colleen, because we
NOV/DEC
2014
CURVE
19
s, LIPSTICK+OI
PSTICK
Need a Nose
Ring Now
Mom won't let tweener get pierced.
BY LIPSTICK & DIPSTICK
Dipstick: Nose piercings are so gay, aren't
resistance. Just ask my mom. She'll tell you
they, Lipstick?
we had many a tussle as I tried to spread
Lipstick: Yes they are. Every sister I know
has her nose, eyebrow, tongue, or belly
it all in hindsight and let me tell you, if I
my wings. These days, glory be, I can see
Dear Lipstick & Dipstick:
I need advice. I am 15 and
came out to my mom last
Christmas. This happened
right around the time I was
supposed to get my nose
pierced. My mom said she
was saying no because I am
gay and it would make me
even gayer. My birthday is
right after New Year's and I
really want my nose pierced.
How can I explain to my mom
that it won't make me look
more gay?-Tenacious Tween
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
20
CURVE
NOV/DEC
2014
could do it all again, I'd try to hold on to
button pierced. Typically, the piercing
my youth and innocence a little bit longer,
happens during inauguration.
and listen to my mom a little bit more.
Dipstick: It's right after the vegetarian
prom with that cute senior guy was a bad
primer and the regrettably short haircut.
idea and I should, instead, spend Saturday
Lipstick: And just before the animal-shelter field trip, if I remember right. Tenacious
that one.
Especially when she told me that going to
night with my girlfriends. Boy, did she nail
Tween, here's a big high five for being so
Dipstick: Lipstick is used to getting what
out and proud! Now, here's my arm. Hook
she wants, so I bet if you keep walking with
yours through mine and imagine we're on
her long enough, she'll give you a tip or
a little walk, just you and Lipstick. I know
two about how to turn your mom around.
you feel like a full-size adult, ready to pave
your own path and make all your own
Lipstick: That's if I thought the ship
choices. At 15, I, too, was raring to go and
needed a new course. This one is headed
quick to throw a tantrum in the face of
in the right direction, albeit captained
by a fearful, obstinate skipper. Cool your
Lipstick: Ouch. No kidding. These kinds of
jets about getting the piercing, young'un.
questions are a punch to the gut. Majorly
Unfortunately, yo mama still has the right
Stressed, DO NOT END THIS LIFE. There
to make and enforce the lion's share of
is so much beauty and love outside your
the rules. At least for a few more years.
current constraints. What you and your
What you should address, however, is
girl need to do is figure out a way to leave
the ridiculously homophobic place she's
India. Get in touch with the International
coming from. Nothing is going to make
Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission
you gayer or straighter, and what she really
(iglhrc.org) and talk to someone there
cares about is how people see you, and, in
about steps you can take to make a move.
turn, her. While most parents go through
The present climate there makes it nearly
their own "coming out" after a child steps
impossible for you to be happy, healthy,
from the closet, it's our job to challenge
and safe.
"Blue Roses "
this phobic angst with honest conversation and living in our truth. Be respectful
Dipstick: Remember when we were on
and come from a place of love. It'll likely
tour and we met that lesbian from India
shock the hell out of her. Maybe she'll even
who was in an arranged marriage? She
change her mind. Remember, you're only a
spent most of her life pretending to
teenager once, and you'll get a lot further
be straight, and she snuck out on her
with sugar than salt.
husband to come to our reading. Our col-
Dipstick: Even though I do think your
surreptitiously
mom is being a pinhead, I hate to admit
only connections to the LGBT world. She
it-because
sure was brave. But no matter how hard it
umns and a few lesbian websites that she
it's going to make me sound
old and conservative-but
I'm actually
perused at work were her
is, even in places like India, you can find
with Mom on the piercing. For different
like-minded people who will love and ac-
reasons, of course. It's not that I don't think
cept you for who you are. I know that there
you should express yourself, it's just that I
have been some recent setbacks for gay
don't like nose piercings. The way they sit
rights in India, but there are also gays and
in your nose makes it look like a booger is
allies who are fighting for your right to love
about to drop off. lck. Besides, nose rings
right there in Mumbai. It may be daunting
are on their way out, so there's no sense in
at times, but it's the fight that every com-
getting one now. Wait until you're 18 to see
munity with gay rights has to go through.
if they're still in fashion.
Call an LGBT helpline like Qashti (971-1282081; 971-128-2307) and talk to someone
Dear Lipstick & Dipstick: We live in India
who knows what you're going through. It's
and are facing all sorts of troubles. With
not easy. We know that. But please don't
the kind of atmosphere we have in our
give up. The world needs you.
families and in our surroundings, we
can never be together. This is causing a
Lipstick: If you ever think about do-
stress in us. Don't know what to do. Feel
ing anything drastic,
like ending this life. -Majorly
get in touch with us
Stressed in
Mumbai
again-immediately!
Dipstick: All I can say is, this puts the
question about nose piercing in perspec-
Do you have a burning
question for Lipstick
tive, eh, Lipstick?
& Dipstick? Write to
ask@lipstickdipstick.
com
"melodies that will
break your heart"
RollingStone.com
NEWALBUMIN STORES
& ON TOURNOW!VISIT:
RACHAELSAGE.COM
Don't Doubt YOurse(f,
Just Dolt
Is your own worst enemy you? Learn how to conquer
your self-doubt this holiday season. ev JILL SLOANE GOLDSTEIN
I recently came across an article about
a business school professor who asks her
incoming class the same question each
semester: "How many of you in here feel
that you are the one mistake that the ad~
missions committee made?" Every year,
about two~thirds of the students raise
their hands. It's quite the perplexing phe~
nomenon, considering that each student
needs a top~notch dossier in order to gain
entrance. And yet, despite their excellent
grades, recommendations, and personal
essays, year after year the majority of those
students feel as though they don't deserve
to be there.
22
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NOV/DEC
2014
Sound familiar:' It's commonly known
as Impostor Syndrome. Chances are, we've
all felt it. In fact, sociologists who've been
studying it since the 1970s cite that over
70 percent of their subjects feel it at some
time or another. Impostor Syndrome can
be defined as "a collection of feelings of
inadequacy that persist even in the face of
information that indicates that the oppo~
site is true. It is experienced internally as
chronic self~doubt:'
Although the classroom and the work~
place seem to be the most fertile fields in
which Impostor Syndrome can take root
and flourish, it's actually the gym that ap~
pears to be the most lush environment for
our insecurities. It's the place where we're
most likely to draw psychologically harm~
fol comparisons based on appearance
alone. Despite the fact that we all possess
the ability to exercise, walking into a sea
of tanned, Adonis~like bodies draped over
machines with elaborate computer screens
and pulley systems can bring even the
strongest mind to its knees. We immedi~
ately assume that everyone around us was
either born looking amazing or they were
quicker to master the fitness game than
we'll ever be. We encounter inner dialogue
that sounds like this: "I have no business
VIEWS/
""
Many people will tell you not to even
let those naysayer ideas take shape, but
I find that acknowledging them helps to
rationally dispel them and take their pow~
er away. Logically speaking, there was no
reason I couldn't follow the instructor at
my own pace, despite my nerves; I had the
same hands and feet that everyone else
brought to class. And surely there were
dumbbells available that would rival my
son's weight, if not the countless grocery
bags I schlep each week. You get my drift.
It turns out, the mind's fearful thoughts
are not necessarily the most well~reasoned
ones, and that becomes evident only when
we acknowledge them.
Another helpful tactic in overcoming
self cynicism is to give yourself cred~
it where credit's due. When it comes to
fitness, it is far too easy to criticize your
body and your abilities, ultimately creating
a barrier to progress. But truly, what pur~
pose does it serve, other than to decrease
your drive and willingness? Our brains
will always quit on us before our bodies
will. We simply don't want to continue.
We're outside of our comfort zone, and,
quite frankly, that doesn't feel so good. So
we shrink in the face of what's left to do, in~
stead of reveling in the accomplishment of
what's been done. Shifting focus onto what
weve achieved will help create the motiva~
tion that will see us through to the com~
pletion of an exercise. Try it the next time
you go running-finishing
that third mile
will not be nearly as difficult once you give
yourself credit for already conquering two.
It probably seems counterintuitive to
walk into an already intimidating situation
and make yourself vulnerable by seeking
guidance, but in the face of self~doubt even
the smallest bit of advice can go a long way.
So ask a trainer for help. (Or if that ter~
rifies you, hop onto YouTube and watch
fitness videos. There's certainly no shortage
of them.) Learning how to use a new ma~
chine or how to do an effective squat will
begin to structure your future workouts.
After even the briefest tutorial, exercises
will become familiar, something you can
navigate with a semblance of control. Now,
like me, you'll probably steer clear of the
ACTUAllY,
TH
t
GYM
APPtARS
TO
BrTH[MOST
lUSH
tNVIRONMtNT
~OR
OUR
INS[CURITltS.
''
being here and they're going to see through
me ... see how little I'm capable of' And we
get discouraged-really
discouraged-as
we stomp on our confidence levels. Then
we begin to think that we don't even de~
serve to hold that membership card, which
feels as fraudulent as our first fake IDs.
We become exercise impostors.
Well, before you rip off your sports bra
and go running for the closest exit, know
that there are manageable ways to over~
come these feelings. Recall that Impostor
Syndrome is ': .. feelings of inadequacy
that persist even in the face of information
that indicates that the opposite is true:'
We all have the physical ability to exer~
cise-it's our brains that tell us otherwise.
So it's our brains that require the work. I
recently joined a friend as a guest at her
high~end gym. I've visited countless clubs
in my day, but this one unraveled me. All
around me there were young women who
seemed flawless, if not in appearance then
in the way they carried themselves. Con~
fidence oozed as they socialized outside
the studio, awaiting the start of their new
cardio ~ bar~ Pilates~ infused~ ab~bus ting~
circuiMraining~HIIT
class (OK, so the
name wasn't that fancy, but the descrip~
tion was). Everything about the environ~
ment suddenly made me doubt mysel£
despite my fitness experience. As I began
to shrink back and reconsider taking the
class, I started an inner dialogue that actu~
ally proved helpful in shaking me back to
logical ground. It began with letting in my
negative thoughts.
FITN
spots I like to call "oh hell no" -say, the free
weight room, where men bench~press your
entire body weight during their warm~ups.
Theres no pressure to learn every corner of
the gym or every exercise known to man.
Stick to areas that feel comfortable. You'll
find that the more adept you become at
one thing, the more confidence you'll have
to try something new.
Many of these tactics will work for you,
even though some may not. It's certainly
an individual process. But here's a bit of
universally sound advice when Impostor
Syndrome takes hold: Get off the hamster
wheel of critical thinking and look around
you-you'll
probably see some women
huffing through their push~ups or sweat~
ing on the treadmill as another mile clocks
by-and
ask yourself what makes them
better or more able than you. In the quiet
and calm of the moment, you'll realize the
answer is: nothing. They too started exer~
cising at some point, without being com~
pletely in the know. They too had inner
thoughts and insecurities to face. They too
had weight to lose, arms to tone, muscle
to gain. The only thing that separates you
from anyone else in that gym is mental and
physical effort. You're not unique in your
vulnerability, but if you're standing back in
fear, you're alone in letting it paralyze you.
(jillsloanegoldstein.com)
4 FEARLESS
TIPS
FOR
BEATING
IMPOSTOR
SYNDROME':
1
1. Confront your negative
thoughts: You'll soon realize
they're just not logical
2. Give yourself credit: Don't
criticize yourself, congratulate
yourself on your success so far
3. Go for the win: Acknowledging
your achievements makes going
that extra mile so much easier
4. Seek advice: From your trainer
or even the Internet; information
can put your fears in perspective
NOV/DEC
2014
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23
T
aste Seattle Food Tours, owned by
West Seattle residents and lesbians
Felicia Watson and Roen Ako, aims
to share the unique culture of Seattle
neighborhood, Alki Beach. Roen, who
serves on the board of the Greater Seattle
Business Association (GSBA), the city's
LGBT chamber of commerce, was recently married to her partner Felicia; they were
one of the first couples married in Hawaii
after the Hawaii Marriage Equality Act
made same-sex marriage legal in Roen's
home state. Both women share a passion
for great food and they have partnered
with local, artisanal businesses that offer
24
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NOV/DEC
2014
superior and unique products that showcase Seattle's rich food scene.
Alki Beach was the preferred destination for Seattle's sun-seekers this summer,
where they came to enjoy summer days
at the beach, soaking in breath-taking
panoramic views of the Seattle cityscape
and the Olympic Mountains. But along
with natural beauty, Alki Beach also offers a thriving neighborhood foodie scene.
This summer, Taste Seattle Food Tours
launched a unique biking foodie tour
along Alki Beach as a fun activity aimed at
both visitors and locals alike.
Cruising along the Alki bike trail with
its views of Puget Sound, Elliot Bay, and
Bainbridge Island was a great way to
burn off calories from all the goodies consumed along the way at five eateries such
as famed food truck Marination, Slices
pizzeria, Ampersand Cafe, Seattle's oldest fast-food restaurant, award-winning
Salty's, and Alki Spud Fish and Chips,
which has been on Alki Avenue since
1935. Tours were helmed by a knowledgeable guide who offered insight into
Alki's colorful past and present incarnations, pointing out hidden gems from
quirky public art to a working lighthouse.
(taste206.com) •
U
prising of Love is a coalition formed
by many individuals and organizations-from
Melissa Etheridge to
the United Nations-that
banded together around the issue of Russian President
Vladimir Putin and his support of anti-homosexual propaganda laws that resulted in
violence and discrimination against LGBT
people leading up to, during, and after the
Sochi Winter Olympics.
On September 15 Uprising of Love
held a benefit concert for global equality at the Gershwin Theatre in New York
City. Hosted by Jane Lynch, the concert
featured performers such as Sting, Chely
Wright, Patti LuPone, Billy Porter and
Kathy Najimy, who highlighted the issue
of global LGBT discrimination.
J. Bob Alotta, Executive Director of
the Uprising of Love coalition member
the Astrea Foundation ( astreafoundation.
org), spoke about Astrea's mission for the
evening, which included highlighting the
organization's role in providing support to
80 countries and 43 states.
"This is a time where, while even though
there are many laws in place, it doesn't
mean they are implemented. We consid-
er ourselves to be a racial justice, a gender
justice and an economic justice organization. Those things are inextricably linked.
We're not really interested in a single issue
because we don't live single-issue lives.
LGBTI folks all over the world are organizing in ways that are multifarious.
"I've always joked that Astrea surely is
a woman because she doesn't get credit for
any of her work;' said Alotta. "I am really
hoping that the benefit will broaden our
reach so that we can intersect across our
various niches and get to know each other:'
(uprisingoflove.org) •
NOV/DEC
2014
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25
The Intention and Interpretation
of SinCad O'Connor ~
Music's provocateur is back with a new album.
BY KELLYMCCARTNEY
M
ahatma
Gandhi
once
said,"To believe in something, and not to live it,
is dishonest:' It's a high
bar, to be sure, and not everyone clears it
in the same way that Sinead O'Connor
does. Passionate ...principled ...bold ...brazen ...thoughtful...tendentious:
All these
descriptors easily apply to the Irish singer/ songwriter, whose shaved head and
dauntless spirit have been rocking more
than a few people back on their heels since
1987. In 1990, her hypnotic rendering of
"Nothing Compares 2 U" left anyone and
everyone who came near it breathless. I Do
26
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NOV/DEC
2014
Not Want What I Haven't Got, the album
which yielded that stunning cut, continues to stand as one of the best albums
of the '90s, even as some of the issues it
addressed-most
notably, police brutality
and racism-continue
to ring out as heartbreakingly now as they did 24 years ago.
Since that time, O'Connor has released
albums of torch songs, ancient Irish melodies, and reggae, while riding a steady
current of pop rockers. She also tore up
a picture of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live and retired from music.
Though that first act of defiance will live
on in infamy, the latter exploit was, thank-
fully, short-lived. Through it all, O'Connor
has continued to animate her music with
the issues she believes in and cares about,
whether they are rooted in social justice,
feminism, or something else entirely. Even
O'Connor's love songs, which fill her new
album, I'm Not Bossy, I'm the Boss, seem
somehow political, if only on a personal
level. These aren't your tween's puppy love
songs, though O'Connor begs to differ. "I
think, on this album, there are quite a few
'oh, baby baby' songs. I despise politics and
I don't really consider myself a political
artist. Perhaps I might be a spiritual artist, and there are times when I get involved
REVIEWS/
with the church business and all that, but
I don't see that as political as much as it
is spiritual. So I'm very anti~politics, as it
happens;' she emphasizes. 'Tm happy to
sing 'oh, baby baby' songs as much as 'fuck
the Vatican' songs:'
Indeed, that pro~spirituality leaning fac~
tors obviously and heavily into O'Connor's
life and art, as does her stance against pol~
itics and religion. What tethers them all
together and spirits them into the world is
the power of the spoken word-a power
that O'Connor takes very seriously and
wields very thoughtfully. It's also a pow~
er, she contends, that founded the science
of prayer. "The fact is, God trusted us too
much and gave us free will. We don't know
how to look after ourselves, and It can't in~
tervene unless we ask It, and religion has
us talking to the wall;' she explains. "So,
we're in trouble. That matters to me, obvi~
ously, because there's a way of fixing things
very, very quickly, which is asking in the
right place. And that's what I mean about
the power of the spoken word. 'Intention'
is one way of putting it, because if you're
asking, hopefully you have some belief that
what you're asking for will happen. And
that's intention:'
Sexuality is another
subject that
O'Connor has never shied away from.
But, in "Daddy I'm Fine;' when she sings
about how she wants to "stand up tall with
my boobs upright" and "fuck every man in
sight" (from 2000's Faith and Courage), it
feels like personal empowerment rather
than self~objectification-a
distinction
that O'Connor tried to help Miley Cyrus
understand last fall via an open letter to
the young upstart. Even still, O'Connor
claims that the distinction comes from
the execution, or the interpretation, rath~
er than from any specific intention on her
part. "I don't think it's conscious. I sup~
pose, if that's how it comes across, it's just
the way I must be;' she muses. 'Although
I'm quite potty~mouthed, in terms of how
I write or talk about matters of sexuality, I
suppose secretly I'd be very similar to the
character in 'The Vishnu Room' (from I'm
Not Bossy). I think of sex as quite a sacred
thing, whether it's a one~night thing, or
a relationship, or whatever. Whether it's
neat or whether it's filthy, that's beside
the point. To me, it's a sacred thing and I
actually think of it as lovemaking, which
everybody slags me off for as very corny.
But that's where I sit, I suppose, with those
things. The way that I talk-especially
when I write-is
very much not what I
actually, really am like. My mouth is a lot
more adolescent, perhaps, than my heart:'
The character in "The Vishnu Room'' is
one of several female voices that O'Connor
amplifies on I'm Not Bossy. Writing out~
side of herself is a practice that she began
on her last outing, How About I Be Me?,
as a means to explore other emotional
landscapes and take a break from mining
her own. She says, "It's brilliant, actually,
because it gives you a lot more freedom.
It's kind of like being a puppet master,
MUSIC
you know2 The puppet can do and say all
kinds of stuff you would never do or say:'
One of those other female characters plays
a role in several songs. O'Connor notes, "
'Take Me to Church' is what I would re~
fer to as her eureka moment:' Though this
character has occupied earlier songs that
were full of longing for the object of her
desire, here she faces a personal reckoning.
"She finally gets what she wants, which is
five minutes with the guy, and it turns out
he is frightening;' O'Connor explains."She
then has to ask herself, 'How did I get here,
into this frightening situation? How did I
not know I was with somebody frighten~
ingr' She realizes that perhaps she's had
longings, and she wonders what were they
for, and she comes to the conclusion that
it was actually herself she was longing for:'
The moral of the story: Be careful what
you wish for.
After all that's been said and done, are
there things that O'Connor herself does
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REVIEWS/
MUSIC
HOT
LICKS
))BYMIAJONES
& KELLY
MCCARTNEY
wish for-ideas about her that she may~
be wishes people would let go of? Not
really. No. "I don't think I'm entitled to
wish for people to let go of anything;' she
says. "I don't spend too much time wor~
rying about what other people think of
me, to be honest. It's very low on my list
of priorities. So, there's nothing I would
particularly wish, one way or the other:'
That insouciance may well be indicative
of a wiser whole than the sum of all the
rambunctious parts of her past. Although
the words "passionate and principled, bold
and brazen, thoughtful and tendentious"
all still apply, the first word that comes to
her mind when describing herself as an
artist now is "mature:' O'Connor observes,
"Perhaps I'm at a phase in my life, and in
being a woman, where a certain maturi~
ty comes over things:' I'm Not Bossy, I'm
the Boss evinces that-and
the fact that
Sinead O'Connor, in all her shaved~head
glory, still and always lives her beliefs right
out loud. (sineadoconnor.com) •
Mary
Lambert
Heart
OnMySleeve
(Capitol
Records)
Best known as the voice behind the lump-in-throat-inducing refrain on
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis's "Same Love," Mary Lambert has established
herself as a solo artist on the rise with her EP Welcometo the Age of My Body.
Her full-length album debut.Heart on My Sleeveis filled with raw emotion,
honesty and some surprising cross-genre musicality. Album opener "Secrets"
is an infectiously upbeat, catchy pop tune with decidedly non-poppy lyrics
revealing some of Lambert's personal struggles like bipolar disorder and weight
issues. There's a smile behind her voice, handclaps, horns and a great interlude
with an operatic solo sung on top of trip-hop beats. The feeling of carefree
acceptance is fleeting and soon the sunshine is chased away by storm clouds.
Track two, "So Far Away," is a better indication of the album's overall theme of
heartache, loneliness and making mistakes. "Rib Cage" is a standout track with
dark, brooding overtones and powerfully understated guest vocals from rhyme
slingers K. Flay and Angel Haze. Lambert's cover of Rick Springfield's "Jessie's
Girl" adds distinct layers of longing, insecurity and sadness that transform the
song into something new. Many of these songs will be used as the beautifully
sad soundtrack to a breakup and "Sum of Our Parts" should be listened to in the
final stage of the grieving process. Wearing your heart on your sleeve makes
you vulnerable, but also brings you closer to your personal truth. [M.J.]
Sinead
O'Connor
I'mNotBossy,
I'mtheBoss
(NettwerK
Music
Group)
Ever since she stormed onto the scene, Sinead O'Connor, the brash personality,
has garnered more attention than Sinead O'Connor, the brave artist. The
point that many people miss is that they are two sides of the same being and
they merge in her music, whether in her dismantling of Irish folklore or in her
revealing of personal frailties. For O'Connor, the personal and the political are
not separate, and that's the stance she takes on this new set. Musically and
thematically, I'm Not Bossy is a familiar form in which longtime fans will find
immediate comfort. From "How About I Be Me" on down, O'Connor peels back
the layers of love and life from various perspectives-the other woman, the
lonely lover, the uncertain bride, the lost girl, the defiant badass. In whispers
and in growls, O'Connor lays it all down, and gloriously so. [K.M.]
28
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NOV/DEC
2014
R
emember how excited you
were when you packed your
bags for summer camp and
headed off to the woods to
make life-long friends? Well, it's that time
again, only now you don't need to leave the
comfort of your own home to enjoy a hot,
steamy summer night with the sexy short
film, Camp Belvidere.
Director, producer, writer and actor Astrid Ovalles brings us a captivating story
of two women finding love at a summer
camp for girls in the 1950s. One is the
camp's nurse, Gin (Ovalles) and the other is an 18-year-old camp counselor, Rose
(Molly Way).
Along with an abundance of passion
comes a tale full of confusion and pain.
Rose desires Gin but Gin knows how
troublesome and unaccepting the world
can be, especially in the '50s, for a lesbian
relationship to work. She tries to push
Rose away to save her from a life of torment and seclusion even though she feels
the same yearning.
Ovalles, fascinated by 1950s lesbian
pulp fiction, brings us a film that brings
forth the struggle of the era. Camp Belvidere has a dynamic dose of raw emotion,
taken to a level of utmost intensity, from
the brilliant chemistry and acting portrayed by Way and Ovalles. Not to mention they have extreme eye candy status.
From writing an influential script to
producing, directing and staring in the
film, Ovalles proves to be a force to reckoned with.
What made you decide to make it a
period piece set in the 1950s?
I've always had a fascination with the
lesbian pulp fiction of the '50s. I was really
drawn to the colorful characters and the intense romance that the novels portrayed. I
really craved to see something like that done
on film; something with a little grit, and a
little pain, but also very romantic, beautiful, and picturesque. One day on vacation I
couldn't stop thinking about this character
that popped into my head. I knew some
things about her. I knew she was reserved
and glamorous but also held a lot of pain inside. I needed desperately to see her come to
life...then Gin was born. Next thing I knew
she was in a cabin and it was a really hot day
and this whole thing happened with this
irresistible young woman (and that's how
Rose was born!). From there I started brainstorming with a couple of friends (Anna
Kolantis and Emily Martin) about where
the story could go and how these characters
could relate to each other, all the while staying realistic about our budget. Sure enough,
several months later we had Camp Belvidere. It was important to the story that we
keep it in the 1950s because I knew that the
struggle these particular characters had to
face would not have had such high stakes if
it had taken place in the present, or even the
'60s. I really like to put my characters in a lot
of trouble when I write, I like to see them
suffer and then persevere. Another reason I
wanted to keep it [set] in the '50s is because
I honestly love doing vintage set design and
costumes and that was a ton of fun.
NOV/DEC
2014
CURVE
29
There is a large and growing fan base
for this film and a lot of buzz online.
What do you think is attracting audiences to this film?
I TRltO
TOWRITE
THIS
STORY
FROM
THE
PERSPECTIVE
OFA
HARDCORE
MOVIEGOER
AND
TRUE-BlUE
lESBIAN.
I tried to write this story from the per~
spective of a hardcore moviegoer and true~
blue lesbian. I knew that a lot of lesbian
films I had watched were "nice" or "sweet"
or "depressing" and I wanted something
that was a little twisted, a little sexy, a little
painful, and that didn't make me want to
shoot myself in the end. It was nice to be
able to play a lot with Gin's character be~
cause I think she has all of those elements
within her and I think people are drawn
to characters like that. I know that I am.
Then, as human beings, we always want to
understand how we relate to one another
and we want to feel like our complexity is
not being overlooked. So then you throw
in some complex characters that want to
fuck (or sleep with) each other but can't
because they're in this messed up situation
with all kinds of adversity... and people
seem to love it!
The chemistry between you and your
co-star is electric. How was it working
with each other? Was this your first
time playing a lesbian?
How difficult was it to balance various
roles (writer, producer, director, and
character lead)?
Overwhelming at times but I honestly
enjoyed it tremendously. It allowed me to
learn and utilize a lot about the many arts
that collaborate in a film, and of course
seeing everything come together in the
end was extremely rewarding. I learned a
lot about music, set design, costumes. It
was like being in Cher's closet! When on
set, I had Oriana Oppice as my co~director
and she would focus on the acting while
I made sure the picture was what I had
imagined. Luckily we had Victor Suarez
as our director of photography and he's
got magic in his eyes so I was able to trust
him with the picture while I played Gin.
During pre~production I did think I was
going to lose my mind a few times, but as
luck would have it I seem to have my men~
tal faculties somewhat intact still.
Writer-director Astrid Ovalles
30
CURVE
NOV/DEC
2014
I'm happy that the chemistry between
Gin and Rose came through. I was honest~
ly worried that it wouldn't because Mol~
ly and I had been spending a lot of time
together just hanging out as friends and I
thought then the novelty would wear off
and that it wouldn't translate on screen,
but thankfully it worked out. When I cast
Molly in the role I felt right away that we
had chemistry and I knew that she was
bold enough to play Rose. Working on set
with her was tons of fun. We have many
stories about smeared lipstick and vintage
bras getting stuck in things.
Gin is my first lesbian role, as long we're
not counting my days of playing a lesbian
since birth. It was so very refreshing to be
able to tell a story that I relate to whole~
heartedly. I can step into a lot of charac~
ter's shoes regardless of their sexuality but
I'll admit that playing a lesbian was way
more fun ... so I've decided to play a lesbi~
an always. (campbelvidere.com) •
REVIEWS/
Fl
HOT
PICKS
)) MARCIE
BIANCO
& LISA
TEDESCO
Who's
Afraid
ofVagina
Wolf?
Oirecteo
byAnna
Margarita
Albelo
The2013lesbiancomedy hit Who'sAfraid of VaginaWolf?is now availablefrom WolfeOnDemand.
com. Winnerof multipleawards,this gemof a film features an all-star cast-L Word alumsGuinevere
Turnerand JaninaGavankaralongsideAgnesOlech,Carrie Preston,and CelestePechous-ledby Anna
MargaritaAlbelo,who also directedthe film.
'ALESBIAN
FEEL
GOOD
COMEDY
... LAUGH
OUT
LOUD
FUNNY'
nN1
A Sapphichomageto Who'sAfraid of Virginia Wolf? by EdwardAlbee,the film is a contemplativeyet
comicaltake on a questionthe mediasays is plaguingwomenthese days:Canwe haveit all?According
to Albelo'scharacter,Anna,havingit all includesthree goals:makinga movie,gettinga girlfriend,and
losing20 pounds.Thefilm opensas Annaturns 40, and our seeminglycarefreeprotagonist-who
drinks, smokes,and lives in her friend'sgarage-turns pensiveas she considerswhy she has been
unableto negotiatea satisfactory balancebetweenher life and her work. Thefilm follows Annaas she
confronts all the psychologicalblockages-fromher relationshipwith her motherto her propensityfor
choosingshinyyet vapidgirlfriends-that havepreventedher from havingit all, all along.
Havingsacrificed lovefor a career,which itself has been unsuccessfulup to this point,Annadecides
to invert the strategy: makea movieto woo a girl. Thegirl she has in mind is KatiaAmour (playedby
Gavankar),a cool, detachedgraduatestudent with a tongueskilledat academicjargon, as well as
other things. KatiabecomesAnna'sdanglingcarrot, as well as her muse.
Anna soon learns that muses-those catalysts for artistic output since antiquity-are nothing
but an illusion. Anna's coming of age is therefore inspired by the reality of her own midlife crisis,
and the film spectacularly employs conventional as well as literary tropes to explore, as well as
satirize, such dramatic moments.
Albelois a breath of fresh air in the relativelystale cinematiclandscapeof lesbianfilmmaking.Who's
Afraid of VaginaWolf?is intelligentand hilarious,both in its use of Albee'splay as a frame narrative
and in its manyallusionsto literary and pop culture. Theacting is superb, especiallyGuinevereTurner's
own deadpantake on ElizabethTaylor'sMartha.A spectacularparody.[M.B.]
Feminin/Feminin
Written
an□ oirecteo
byCnloe
Robicnauo
Move over Blue Is The Warmest Color. A new lesbian web series with a
quintessentially French twist has created a lot of buzz in Canada.Feminin/
Feminin,a dramatic comedy about the lives and loves of six Montreal
women in their 20s, filmed in French and with Englishsubtitles gives us the
real French lesbian film fix.
Written and directed by Chloe Robichaudand produced for a website
geared and dedicated to lesbians called Lez Spread The Word, the Feminin/
Femininweb series incorporates two different styles of filmmaking in
cinema verite style.
"Feminin/Femininpresents a series of tableaus of different women aged
18 to 42," says Robichaud."Each episode taking us into one of their lives
through a mix of tributes, portraits and playful allusions."
If you are looking for something similar to our precious L Wordthen this
isn't the show for you. Robichaudwanted to avoid the stereotypes and
all-around cliches that most lesbian series thrust upon us. Feminin/Feminin
proves to be different and breaks new ground.
"This is a series about how women love," says Robichaud."It's daily life in
eight ten-minute capsules. My hope is that, in these women, many will see
their own reality reflected, whether they are homosexualor not."
Whether you caught the screening at Montreal Pride or not, this web series
definitely deserves a chance. [LT.]
NOV/DEC
2014
CURVE
31
ven if you haven't read
Sarah Waters, chances are,
you still know who she is.
Not only can she actually
afford to write full~time,
she has joined that dazzling group of writ~
ers who have usurped the celebrity usually
reserved for movie stars. With her three
Man Booker nominations, the statuesque
Waters is literary and popular, loved by
lesbians and straights.
The Paying Guests is her sixth novel,
the only one set in the 1920s, and was the
toughest to write, monopolizing her iron~
clad 9~to~5 workweek for about four years.
Is that because this one is more charac~
ter~driven than her others:' "I think the
characters almost came first, so, inevitably,
they drove the book. In a sense, that made
it a tougher novel for me, because I had to
do a lot of work to get to know the charac~
ters and let their story emerge from their
personalities:' Somewhere along the way,
Frances Wray became Waters' favorite ere~
E
32
CURVE
NOV/DEC
2014
ation. "I like her a lot ...she is very fearless.
She speaks her mind, which we don't al~
ways do in the world:'
It is 1922, and genteel south London
is peopled with the broke and the dead.
Frances lives with her mother. But Frances
is not the" whiskery spinster daughter" you
might envision. She fires up beautifully at
galling men and once threw her shoe at
an MP. Impoverished by her late father's
debts, Frances has no choice but to take in
lodgers-Leonard
and Lillian Barber are
the paying guests. But theirs is not a sati~
ating marriage; so, in her kimono, which
keeps coming strangely undone, Lillian
turns to Frances.
Those who looked for and failed to find
Waters' trademark lesbian carnality in her
last novel, The Little Stranger,won't be dis~
appointed here. The Paying Guests is thick
with sex-female flesh "crimsoning in the
heat" -and signals Waters' return to the
theme that purrs across her fiction. "Often
they're books in which a kind of passion
breaks through the surface of something
and kind of causes trouble. This one is
about ordinary people whose lives are
turned upside down-first
by desire, re~
ally, and then by the tragic consequences
of it:'
Time travel is Waters' thing. "Each of
the novels has grown out of the one before
it, very much. There were those three Vic~
torian ones, and I wanted to make a move
then but I didn't want to come into the
contemporary world. I went to the '40s for
two, and then became interested in what
preceded the '40s, so slipped back to the
'20s. It's the past, really, that interests me.
Because I'm mainly telling lesbian stories
too, I'm fascinated in how their lives have
changed over the years:' In this attempt
to faithfully reanimate our lesbian sisters'
stories, research, she says, is as much a fo~
cus as the writing itself.
Waters never meant to be a writer. Born
in 1966 in Wales, her father an engineer
and her mother a housewife, the Cance~
REVIEWS/ BOOKS
rian didn't start writing until she was 29.
Little-person Sarah wanted to be an archeologist and grown-up Sarah became an academic. If she hadn't written her PhD thesis,
"Wolfskins and Togas: Lesbian and Gay
Historical Fictions, 1870 to the Present;'
who knows if we'd ever have seen her first
knockout, Tipping the Velvetr She stumbled
upon the expression "tipping the velvet" as
she researched pornography-it's Victorian
slang for cunnilingus. At the same time, she
stumbled on a thought: Could she-would
she-write fiction that would finally give a
voice to the lesbians of the past:'
Waters speaks to me from her bookcharged attic study-"an orderly mess" and it is here that you would find the
book she wishes she had written: The
Talented Mr. Ripley. "You know, the Patricia Highsmith:' I thought about it a
lot when I was writing The Paying Guests
because she's so brilliant with tension and
suspense:' Perhaps the first book to really wow her is crowded in there too. "The
White Mountains, that first book in John
Christopher's trilogy, The Tripods, is a
book that sticks in my mind. It's postapocalyptic ... and he imagines a whole
world. I was very taken with that
idea. I was about 10:'
The Paying Guests is "a lesbian
love story that's also a crime story:' Waters then goes on to tell me
that she is reserved. But, like any
good crime story, she opens up in
the most unexpected ways. She remembers her stunned scintillation
when Virago accepted Tipping the
Velvet after 10 other publishing
houses had rejected it. How did she
celebrate:' Her laughter becomes
elastic. "My partner at the time
was in a choir-very lesbian. I got
the news and I got on my bike and
I cycled round and met her after choir and
had a drink at the local pub. I can't believe
I'm telling you that! It's such a lesbian story!"
We're both laughing now."That's a great story;' I say."It is;' she says,"It really is, isn't it:"'
Since 2002, her partner has been her
writing ally,Lucy Vaughan. They share their
London home with a badass cat. "Did you
ever see Bad Girls:"'Waters asks. "Well, you
remember Yvonne Atkins:' Our cat actually
looks like Yvonne Atkins. She's hard. Real
tough. Yeah, Lucy named her Atkins:'
Art galleries, London gazing, and films
are Waters' other grand passions. She has
particularly talked about her love of the
screen-big and small. Her career acme,
she says, was "when Tipping the Velvet was
adapted for TV. It's mad to say that. It was
such a long time ago!" (A screen adaptation
of The Paying Guests, you ask:' There has
been "a bit of interest:' And no, Waters has
not started on her next novel yet. "Maybe in
the new year:') As for music:' 'Tm not really
into music in terms of keeping up with it. I
mean, if you saw the contents of my iPodcheesy old disco classics!"
When asked how she'd describe herself,
there is no hesitation before her almost
inaudible, almost stealthlike, 'Tm a bit of
a worrier. I wish I could shake that one
off:' Then, to the next question comes a
walloping "What:"' that sounds more like
an exclamation than a question. "What:"'
she says again, the literary giant's brain
taut with concentration. "If I had to define
my life using a book tide:' An imaginary
one, or one that already exists:"'"Whatever
you like;' I say."Oh gosh! Oh God! Well it
wouldn't be War and Peace, or anything as
dramatic as that. Oh God, that's too hard,
and it's a really good question! Umm, I
would say something like A Quiet Excitement:"'That's good;' I say."Reallyt she says,
'J\.re you sure:"'This from the woman who
once said that she had "this superstitious
idea that worrying will stop bad things
from happening. When I'm on an airplane
I feel I have to concentrate really hard to
keep it in the air:'
What is the worrier's worst fear:' "That
one day I'll run out of stories to tell. And
that probably will happen. It won't be the
end of the world though. I've written six
novels that I love. I like to think I'll write
at least six more, but who knows:'
Who knows:"'
This is not to say that Waters
lacks confidence-exquisitely,
far
from it. "I think you get a kind of
confidence in middle age that you
don't have when you're younger. I'm
in my late 40s now, which is not unpleasant. You get very kind of, just
not giving a fuck anymore. I mean,
if I wanted to listen to Billy Joel on
my iPod or something, I would have
worried about being horribly uncool a few years ago! But now I just
think, Fuck it-if I want to listen to
Billy Joel, I'm going to listen to Billy
Joel:' (sarahwaters.com) •
NOV/DEC
2014
CURVE
33
HOT
READS»
BYMARCIE
BIANCO
& RIABUSCH
Francine
Prose
Lovers
attheChameleon
Club,
Paris
1932
(DecKle
Eoge)
Nothing comes between the Fuhrer
and his nut cutlets. Hitler, like most
fastidious vegans with a short fuse for
vulgarity, devours half his nut cutlet
before pushing the plate away and
proceeding to lecture Lou Villa rs on
Blythe
Rippon
Barring
Complications
(Viva
Puolisning)
What are the odds that fiction can
outmatch reality in this debut novel
about the U.S. Supreme Court's decision
on marriage equality? Blythe Rippon's
Barring Complicationsdoes just that,
delivering an impressive, captivating tale
that combines history, politics, and a
tender lesbian romance.
Here is the setup: The Supreme
Court has decided to hear a case about
gay marriage. Victoria Willoughby, the
newest justice (and rumored to be a
lesbian), must now navigate courtroom
politics, the press, and her own feelings
34
CURVE
NOV/DEC
2014
the merits of veganism as the proper
dietetics of the great German empirejust as Lou's lover, Inge Wallser, has said
he would. Francine Prose's protagonist,
Lou Villars, meets Hitler in Lovers at the
ChameleonClub, Paris 1932,Prose's
engaging 20th novel. The scene is Berlin
on the eve of the 1936 Olympics. The
lesbian lovers are Hitler's special guests
and he has a job for them-for Inge,
Germany's great auto-racer, and for
Lou, the disgraced Joan of Arc of French
auto-racing. It is a job that eventually
costs both of them their lives.
Prose based the character of Lou
Villars on the real-life Violette Morris,
promising young French athlete turned
Nazi collaborator who was featured in
Georges Brassa'i"s Lesbian Coupleat
Le Monocle, 1932.This impressionistic
black-and-white photograph captivated
Prose so much that she decided to make
the mysterious tuxedoed butch woman
the focal point of her plot about the rise
of Vichy France in the 1930s.
From Lou and Inge;to Gabor Tsenyi, a
Hungarian mama's boy based on Brassa'i,
the photographer who took the infamous
photo; to the wealthy baroness Lily de
Rossignol,who patronizes Tsenyi and
employs Lou to race her family's line of
cars-the novel's cast of characters paint a
portrait of the creative and deviant classes
in this landmark case-but her biggest
challenge will be Genevieve Fornier, the
brilliant, out lead counsel for the LGBT.
By then going decades back in time,
to when both the main characters were
at Harvard Law, Rippon reveals the
history of so many of us who had to
choose between pursuing a promising
career and being out and proud. This
backstory shows clearly why the
Supreme Court's decision in favor of
marriage equality was historic. From the
opening scenes introducing the justice
and then the counselor, this reader was
hooked. In clear, crisp prose, the book
entertains us with convincing and likable
characters, courtroom intrigue, and an
important story to tell. [R.B.]
circulating in and around Paris in the '30s.
Structurally, Lovers is a compilation
of narratives laid out in distinct chapters
that flow chronologically. Yet there is
no palimpsest effect. These narratives
about Lou overlap rarely if at all, so
you never experience a conflict of
perspective in the retelling of an event.
Furthermore, every narrator swears
omniscience when it comes to Lou's
fall. What is lost through this seamless
chronological flow is the opportunity
to complicate the moral quandary at
the heart of the novel, the opportunity
to challenge large, baggy metaphysical
concepts like "truth" and the difference
between "history" and "fiction."
The fact that we come to know Lou
through others' voices produces an
inverse learning effect: We learn more
about these other characters than we do
about Lou herself. They all describe her
as a sad, emotionally underdeveloped,
masculine lesbian whose desperate
attempts to find the love she never got
from her parents in others, especially in
other women, is a sign of her immaturity
and the reason behind her downfall.
Perhaps this narrative strategy is a part
of Prose's brilliant endgame, for the very
photograph that inspired her is what the
reader is inevitably left with: an image.
[M.B.]
REVIEWS/
For
Christmas:
POM
Wonderful
Did you know that
November is National
Pomegranate Month and
fresh pomegranates are in
season through January? So,
the holidays are the perfect
time to enjoy this antioxidant
rich, nutritious and colorful juice,
especially in a cocktail. For something
simple, top Brut Champagne with a
splash of POM Wonderful for an easydrinking Poinsettia Cocktail, or try the
POM Cosmo below
(pomwonderful.com)
POM
Cosmo
byChef
Amy
Ephron
ORINKS
For
Thanksgiving:
Napa
orBordeaux
We recently discovered the big, bold
Uproot reds and were blown away. The
2012 Grenache ($46) is loaded with
cherry, strawberry, vanilla and spice, while
the 2011Cabernet Sauvignon ($78) is
bursting with raspberry, cherry, blackberry
and chocolate, perfect with roasted
meats and holiday sides (drinkuproot.
com). To impress guests with a French
red but without the price tag to match,
the Chateau Les Paris 2011,Sainte-FoyBordeaux for $13 is unbeatable. With simple
fruits, violets and red cherry, this elegant
and affordable drop goes down a treat. For a
crisp and quaffable budget white perfect as an
aperitif or with turkey breast, the Verdillac 2013
Bordeaux at $10 is a steal. (bordeaux.com)
1-1/3 oz. POM Wonderful juice
1-3/4 oz. vodka
1/3 oz. orange liqueur
1/3 oz. fresh lime juice
Pour ingredients into a shaker
filled with ice. Shake and strain
into glass. Garnish with a twist
of lime. Serve and enjoy!
For
New
Year's
Eve:
St-Germain
Liqueur
There's nothing like a simple Champagne
cocktail featuring the classic St-Germain
liqueur, made from hand-picked elderflower
blossoms and presented in a beautiful belle
epoque bottle to see out the old and ring in the
new (stgermain.fr)
Bottom~ Up!
Celebrate this special time of year
with these beautiful beverages.
BY MELANIE BARKER
St-Germain
Champagne
Cocktail
1/2 part St-Germain
Top with Brut Champagne
Pour ingredients into a chilled fluted glass and
stir lightly. Float half a strawberry as a garnish
and get ready to toastl
~)DRINKS»=
For
Halloween:
Ketel
One
Get rid of the chill with one of the most reliable
and versatile vodkas on the market.
The
Great
Pumpkin
1"½oz. Ketel One Vodka
½ oz. Baileys Caramel Irish Cream
½ oz. pumpkin liqueur such as Hiram Walker
1 cinnamon stick
Combine Ketel One Vodka and Baileys Caramel
in a mixing glass. Shake with ice. Add pumpkin
liqueur and shake again. Strain into a rocks
glass over ice. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.
NOV/DEC
2014
CURVE
35
JAPANESE
SHORTBREAD
Also known as "the macaroon of the East"
these Cha No Ka green tea wafers are ad~
dictive! Part delicate candy, part cookie,
they make a change from shortbread or
gingerbread during the festive season. De~
vised by three Japanese culinary masters,
and using the highest quality Okoicha
green tea from Kyoto, these wafers con~
ceal a fine layer of white chocolate and go
well with a glass of eggnog or Champagne.
Beautifully presented they make the per~
feet gift or treat for those with a taste
for the exotic. Available from importers
of fine foods such as Dean & Deluca.
(malebrancheJp)
Tasty 1-lolidays
From snacks to sweets, satisfy the cravings of
friends and family with a few of our favorites.
BY MELANIE BARKER
~Afooo»
CHOCOLATES
FROM
WINE
COUNTRY
Napa Valley's artisan chocolatier Chris
Kollar has come up with quality, grown~
up chocolates very different from your
average Whitman's Sampler. These are for
the serious chocolate connoisseur with a
palate more refined than a simple "sweet
tooth:' Our favorites: the White Chocolate
Coconut Snowballs, Almond and Choco~
late Rocher Christmas Tree adorned with
Crispy Pearls, a Cocoa Pod Christmas
Ornament so solid you may need to reach
for the nutcracker, and the signature Kol~
lar's Truffles with seasonal flavors such as
cinnamon, chestnut, blackcurrant and red
wine. (kollarchocolates.com)
36
CURVE
NOV/DEC
2014
REVIEWS/
FOOD
NEVER
INAJAM
Everyone loves to end a dinner party with
a good cheese plate, so serve your favorite
cheeses and charcuterie with a side of jams
and chutneys from Three Little Figs. This
little company from food-centric Oregon
makes sophisticated, wine-friendly combinations simply bursting with flavor: The
Cheese Please Pack includes Balsamic
Fresh Fig, Cabernet Cracked Pepper, and
Tomato Tapas Jam; Sapphic sommeliers
will smack their lips at the Wine Lover's Trio of Grown Up Grape, Cabernet
Cracked Pepper, and Peach Prosecco Bellini. Not only do these jams complement
your favorite dairy or bevvy, they're great
spread on fresh-baked baguette, on grilled
sandwiches, or as sauces for chicken and
pork. (threelittlefigsjam.com)
PASS
THE
POMEGRANATES
PLEASE
Pomegranates are a wonder-fruit, and a
pretty and colorful addition to holiday
dishes. For a tasty appetizer, try making
Pomegranate Ceviche by Joanne Weir, executive chef and restaurateur Copita Tequileria y Comida, San Francisco at home.
This and other great recipes are on the
POM website (pomwonderful.com).
THE
HOLIDAYS
CAN
BE
SUCH
ADRAG!
...especially if you're vegan. But never fear,
here's something queer! Mistress Ginger's
LGBT vegan cookbook Mistress Ginger
Cooks is a fantastic ( and funny) resource
to have at hand or a great gift for the vegan you love. Mistress Ginger (cabaret star
Justin Leaf) serves up a sense of humor
at a stressful time, and her recipes such as
Gingersnatch Cookies, Pop My Cherry
Scones, and French Kissed Toast provide
hours of fun in the kitchen-and
satisfy
your cold weather cravings.
NOV/DEC
2014
CURVE
37
■
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February13-24,2015
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PARADISE
RESORT
May2-9,2015
All your accommodations, meals, beverages,
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ROOMS AS LOWAS $1,399 PERPERSON
FEATURES/
ST LE
LOOK
SHARP
odern, designsavvy sex toy
company Crave
has unveiled its
latest product: the
world's first rechargeable vibrator
necklace. The Vesper vibrator is
designed as a distinctive and elegant
piece of jewelry-and as a strong,
sleek and silent sex toy. "In the spirit of
continuing to elevate and re-imagine
what a sex toy could be I was inspired
by the idea of bringing together
function and fashion," explains Ti
Chang, lead designer and co-founder
M
of Crave. Conceived in San Francisco,
where technology and pleasure
regularly intersect, the Vesper is made
from stainless steel and features one
button operation with multi-speed
settings. It's also splash proof, USB
rechargeable, and has a warming
feature. The nickel-free plating, which
comes in a choice of silver, rose,
gold or 24K gold-plated is perfect for
engraving, making this one hell of a
spicy and sophisticated gift for your
significant other. Dare we say this is
one way to "get nailed" these holidays?
(lovecrave.com)
NOV/DEC
2014
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39
FEATURES/
ST
IGNITE BENCH
THE PERFECTPLACE FOR A
PASSIONATEENCOUNTER
NESSA CHAIR
CLASSIC, ELEGANT,
CONTEMPORARY
.,____
or many, red is the color
Portuguese for red, specifically a type
a woman's body are echoed in the
of emotion, passion, seduction and
of crimson dye). This bold hue will
elegant silhouettes of the Colete Sofa
energy. It's also a key color of the
give your home a touch of holiday
magic - and kindle a flame in your
and Nessa Chair. Other feminine
flourishes in Morais's design aesthetic
lady's heart. Designed by Janet
Morais, Koket's creative director,
include dramatic gemstones, subtle
no better way to make your home
cosy than by adding a splash of scarlet
the range is aimed to please women
fabrics and textures. Each piece of
to your interior design scheme in the
form of a carefully selected accent
and exudes empowerment with an
enticing and exotic aesthetic you
furniture has a touch of the grande
dame or femme fatale about it and
piece. Interior design label Koket has
won't find at many major furniture
is one way to set the scene for your
released a luxe line of furniture in
retailers. How can key interior design
holidays in seductive style. *Prices
a gorgeous "vermelho" (the word is
pieces be feminine? The curves of
upon request. (bykoket.com)
festive season, suggesting joy and
warmth. As the mercury drops, there's
metallics, deep jewel tones and exotic
NOV/DEC
2014
CURVE
41
LOVELYLINGERIE
FOR LADIES IN
LONG-TERM
RELATIONSHIPS.
BY MELANIE BARKER
42
CURVE
NOV/DEC
2014
FEATURES/
/2
id you know that there's a
designer lingerie to your girlfriend's door
simple and discreet way to
in a box filled with rose petals. Choose
liminate Lesbian Bed Death?
mes in a little black box and
from a variety of styles including thongs,
briefs and boy-cut undies by popular
it's delivered to your door once a month,
brands like Agent Provocateur and
batteries not required. Sexy lingerie to
Maison Close. Sprinkle those rose petals
spice up a relationship may be cliche, but
on the bed as she tries them on ... and you
a clever company called Enclosed has
know how to do the rest! The perfect gift
come up with a new twist: a subscription
for longterm lovers, brides-to-be, or even
service that delivers your choice of stylish
yourself! (theenclosed.com)
ST
The adorable insta-star
Han ah Hart has us wanting
second and third helpings.
oop! Boop! Mmmmmm:' Weve all come to recognize
those familiar sounds by now! And to love and adore
Hannah Hart, that cute and punny girl who is making
her way up to mega~big~time status. Hart, the star of
the wildly popular YouTube show My Drunk Kitchen,
where she prepares dishes in the style of Thanksgiving
Pie on page 47, has gone from being online, to being on screen, and
now is available in print with her cookbook, My Drunk Kitchen: A
Guide to Eating, Drinking & Going With Your Gut. This out~and~
proud lover of the ladies has become a superstar in the LGBT and
online communities, with hundreds of thousands of followers all
over social media. There seems to be no stopping her from dish~
ing up more and more success-and we're totally OK with that!
Did you ever think, in your wildest dreams, that your little Butter Yo Shit video would catapult you into YouTube
stardom?
Not even a little bit! I started out as a translator~proofreader
working at a translation firm about three years ago, and the video
was really just for a friend of mine, and people seemed to like it.
An inadvertent calling was born.
With your YouTube channel, your film, Camp Takota, and
now your book, My Drunk Kitchen: A Guide to Eating, Drinking & Going With Your Gut, how does it feel to be bouncing
around in these different media categories?
It all feels pretty incredible. I'm actually a little bit excited to slow
things down, just because it has been a whirlwind for the last three
years. I am also, like, really happy to also have such a positive recep~
tion thus far, and am overly blessed for that and need a moment to
take it all in. To be totally honest, nothing makes me happier than
making videos or writing words. It's hard to answer "Which do I
prefer, which do I gravitate toward?" I kind of feel like I have the best
job in the world. So I would say YouTube is probably my bread and
butter, no pun intended. Sorry, pun fully intended, I'm not going to
lie to you! Some people say it's a condition!
46
CURVE
NOV/DEC
2014
How was it co-hosting the Streamy Awards show among
your on line peers, and taking home one of those coveted
statues for your comedy series?
I think it was pretty cool. I think that, ya know, obviously, with
an awards show, it's run by people who aren't necessarily part of
the online community. It's always gonna have a couple hiccups, I
think. It would be really cool if someone within the community
itself would make an awards show for the community itself, which
would maybe have different types of awards-like, Best Reply to
a Flame. Ya know what I mean? Like, stuff like that. It's really really weird for all of us to be ranked against each other because, at
the heart of it, that's not what the Internet is all about. Were not
doing that. It's supposed to be a lateral playing field, and, ya know,
capitalism and Hollywood are trying to make it into something
that it's not ... so ... it was great hosting the awards show!
PATRICK STEWART! So bad! I would love to cook with Patrick Stewart. I think hes amazing. But also James Franco and Seth
Rogen, people that seem cool. ELLEN! I would love to cook with
her. I would love to be in the same room with her, even for a minute.
All of those celebrities and role models that kind of crafted my life.
Our readers wouldn't mind knowing what you look for in a
woman, or in a partner.
Oooh. What do I look for in a woman or partner? I look for
somebody who is independent but kind. Like someone who has a
good relationship with themselves and is a good friend, but not, like,
in a co-dependent way. Someone who is self-sustaining but also loving, if that makes any sense! Like, I could never date me, because I
am, like, the most needy, clingy person in the entire world. I need to
date the opposite of me.
Did you get all of that, ladies? So if you're a Stage 5 clinger,
Following you on lnstagram, Facebook, Twitter, and You-
sorry, you don't make Hannah's cut. Hannah Hart's new book,
Tube, we can get a glimpse of your life when you're not in
My Drunk Kitchen: A Guide to Eating, Drinking & Going With
front of the camera. Do you enjoy reading your tweets and
Your Gut, is now on sale wherever books are sold. You can also
feedback from fans?
catch new episodes of My Drunk Kitchen on YouTube every
Ya know, I really try and pay attention, and, to the best of
my ability, respond to as much of it as possible. Like, the sheer
numbers have exceeded anything like how they were in the past.
Internally, it just makes me feel really incredible. I kinda wish everybody had people rooting for them all the time, and I wish this
was a feeling that I could bottle up and give out to everyone-be
like, "Here's what it's like when you have a group of people who
are supporting you and believe in you:' It's just incredible. It's hard
to say anything else.
Thursday night. (hannahhart.com)
----~
THAIISGIVIIG
PIE
INGREDIENTS
• One fully baked store-bought cheesecake
• One can of cherry pie filling
• Holiday-related baggage that is manifesting in this
weird way right now
If your fans don't have your book already, what can they look
forward to finding inside it? Are there any favorite recipes?
The book is actually made up of like, a hundred or so never-before-seen recipes. So I really encourage people to get it, because there aren't any recipes that have been on MDK-except
for lately I've started doing some things from the book. Basically,
the book is broken down into four parts: Part 1, Kitchen Basics,
is about the basics of life, like your ingredients, from which you
begin to make a meal in your life. Part 2 is about "adultolescence;'
which is like adulthood and adolescence, in between. Ya know,
right after college and you start to journey out on your own. Part
3 is called So This is Love, and it's about love, sex, and dating, with
my armchair advice for relationships. Part 4 is about family and
the holidays.
INSTRUCTIONS
First and foremost, accept that the holidays suck. Or at least
they do in my opinion. I feel like the holiday season is that time
of year where you get together with people you only see 10
percent of the time, but you're supposed to go and be together for this holiday thing .... Anyway, this year for Thanksgiving
don't bottle up all of your holiday-centric angst for an inappropriate outburst before/after/during the meal-try this instead!
• Close your eyes.
• Take a deep breath
• Put your hand on top of the cheesecake.
• Releaseyour breath and ...
• Press down.
A lot of celebrities are making appearances on your show. Is
there anyone in particular you'd want to cook with?
And then pour cherry goop inside the hand shape and serve!
NOV/DEC
2014
CURVE
47
hiladelphia might have been on the road to foodie fame
a decade before culinary couple Marcie Turney and
Valerie Safran entered the scene, but their impact in
the last several years has been undeniable. Both origi~
nally from the Midwest (Safran was born in Indiana,
Turney in Wisconsin), they moved to PA at young age
(Lancaster for Safran and the Poconos for Turney). Together as a
couple for 13 years, they have built a veritable culinary empire locat~
ed in Midtown Village, beginning with Open House home wares
in 2002, and continuing with Lolita BYOB Mexican restaurant in
2004, Grocery in 2006, Bindi new age Indian restaurant in 2007,
Verde artisanal chocolates in 2009, Barbuzzo Mediterranean kitch~
en and bar in 2010, and Little Nonna's Italian in 2013. Lolita closed
in 2013 for a full~scale renovation and reopened in spring 2014
with the addition of a full liquor license. Bindi closed in 2011 and
was transformed into Jamonera, an Andalusian tapas and wine bar,
which opened in 2012.
"We love that Philadelphia is a city, but it's very manageable;' says
Safran."It's a city that has thrived over the last decade and continues
to grow. For us there was a huge opportunity to grow our business~
es in the center of a major city that is still affordable in the grand
scheme of things. We love everything about Philly-the support
from the community, the diversity of the neighborhoods, especially
the neighborhood we call home, Midtown Village and also the abil~
ity to walk everywhere easily is pretty great:'
The particular neighborhood that Safran and Turney call
home-13th
Street, now referred to as Midtown Village-was rel~
atively undeveloped and noMoo~chic when they began with their
"little housewares store': Open House, 12 years ago. Safran and
Turney's enterprises grew along with the neighborhood. "We were
able to grow and continue to open our businesses because of combi~
nation of things-local support, we still have the same locals in our
shops and restaurants every day, a great location-we get a mix of
locals, business people, convention people and now that this area has
become a destination. So all of those things coming together along
with the two of working hard in our businesses every day has really
created a unique success for us:'
Safran and Turney love Philly, and Philly loves them back.
Turney emphasizes that it's the customers, along with hard work,
who have helped build their empire. "We started on this block
over 11 years ago and built our customer base one by one, by one
restaurant at a time. It took time to build, but you slowly gather
this customer base that supports you and wants you to succeed
as much as you want to succeed and they're the reasons we do
succeed:'
For the most part, they were well received from the get~go.
"Ultimately, we know that if you offer a quality meal with great
service, the rest will work itself out. When it comes to restaurants
nowadays, they come and go very quickly, so we know that we
have to really deliver on all fronts. That is how we approach each
new restaurant as we open them and so far, so good!"
Even when it came to foodie trends-locavore,
sustainable, or~
ganic, farm to table-support,
not trendiness, was the key. "From
the very beginning, it was always important to support the great
farmers and farms that we're so fortunate to have surrounding us
in this region;' says Turney. "We have a group of farmers that we
order from for all the restaurants and we've always felt we should
be doing as much as we can to support them:'
"Marcie has always used local products before it was ever a trend,
so that has been part of her cooking that people have always seemed
to love and appreciate;' says Safran."We certainly are aware of trends
in the restaurant industry, but again, it is really the day~to~day con~
sistency on delivering on a great meal-food, service, beverage, mu~
sic, lighting, etc. We are in it for the long haul with the restaurants
and we always want to keep things interesting and relevant. Lots
of trends happen in the restaurant industry, whether it is a foodkale!-or something else, so we look for ways to incorporate new
things into our menus every season so that we stay fresh and the
customer stays interested:'
And people are interested, including food critics. Turney feels
that her restaurants have been fairly reviewed and that the posi~
tive notices have helped draw customers. But any raves are justi~
fied! I can vouch for that, having eaten the most innovative Indian
at Bindi, the most interesting Mexican at Lolita, in my many years
of dining out.Turney has a flair for authentic ethnic fare.
"I've always loved all types of food, all types of cuisine and the cul~
ture behind any given cuisine;' says Turney. "Every year, I try to learn
something new-a few years back I took a butchering class; prior to
launching our own line of chocolates I went to an academy in Chicago
to learn how to do hand~dipped chocolates and ganaches-of course,
you'll never know everything, but I constantly want to learn and it
helps keep it interesting!"
Even when they opened Lolita in 2004, Safi-an,who had formerly
been a Spanish teacher and loved all things Mexican, contributed what
she knew about the cuisine (you can order "Valeria's Chopped Salad"
with shaved corn, jicama, pepitas, avocado and a buttermilk~herb
dressing, and check out Jamonera's Papa Fritas on page 44). Turney,
who loves immersing herself in cookbooks and learning new culinary
techniques, goes beyond replicating a cuisine to offer a modern inter~
pretation for an American palate. "I remember Marcie telling me that
she would go to the spice shop near her culinary schools and just walk
around and look at all the different spices and items. She really loves to
learn about new foods and applies them to her cooking:'
Just before you fantasize that you and your girlfriend could also
build such an empire, Turney reveals that she and Safran rise at 7 a.m.
and work until midnight every day, and even then they never seem
to have enough time. "Luckily we have a lot of great people working
for us who help run the show-and we're fortunate because many of
them have been with us for many years;' says Safi-an."We are finally
at a point where we both realize we need to slow down. We are lucky
to be as successful as we are, but also realize there is more to life than
work. We take little trips here and there to get away and that really
helps to let us completely forget about the businesses for a little bit:'
With all this success one wonders about homophobia, sexism,
jealousy even, but if anything, women especially have really stepped
up and supported the couple's ventures. And you can expect them to
grow their empire even further. "We just built out a second space floor
above our restaurant Barbuzzo;' says Turney."lt's a 3,000~square~foot
space with its own kitchen, a 22ft long Italian marble chefs counter,
a separate bar. It will be used as a private events space, but its also
been designed as a place where I can cook, test dishes for our restau~
rants, work with my chefs, prep-the space will also be home to my
collection of over 1,000 cookbooks, which are currently stored in
our apartment!"
This winter, the couple will
also open another restaurant
along 13th Street-a
classic
American eatery called Bud and
Marilyn's, named after Turney's
grandparents, who opened a
restaurant in 1950 called The
Spot in Ripon, Wisconsin. "It's
a busy, but exciting time!" says
Turney. Indeed, so when you're
next in Philly, find the time to
pull up a chair at one of chef
Turney's many tables.
( 13thstreetphilly.blogspot.com)
NOV/DEC
2014
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49
Christine Manfield's new
essert book brings the heat.
elebrated Australian chef Christine Manfield is most~
ly known for her highly regarded restaurants, which
she has run in Sydney and in London from 1993 to
2013; for her high~quality, gluten~free, all~natural
range of spice products and accompaniments; and
for her culinary events-from
gastronomic travel
tours to extravagant charity dinners. But she is also known for six
impeccably assembled and presented cookbooks focusing mostly
on spice. Her latest venture offers up something cool and sweet
instead: Dessert Divas presents 45 show~stopping recipes, the
spice of which is in the name of the desserts or in the sweet spice
ingredients, such as cinnamon and nutmeg.
Whatever she is doing, Manfield is a perfectionist, and passionate
about travel. When I spoke to her, she'd just returned from a cruise
around the coast of Turkey, during which someone else cooked for
her, and she was delighted by the easy, Mediterranean style of din~
ing. During the trip she was also relaxing after a stellar career as a
restaurateur-she'd
recently closed her final restaurant, Universal,
in Sydney, Australia. "It was always my swansong, my exit strategy;'
she says. "I promised myself that when I turned 60 I didn't want to
be a restaurateur, and it was so exciting and so empowering to be
able to go out on an absolute high:'
She hasn't missed the hard slog in the kitchen; besides, she's as
busy as ever, "redirecting my energies into a whole other range of
projects. When you reach senior status you can afford to do that;'
laughs Manfield. While she is a leading light in the Australian culi~
nary scene she has always kept "one foot in the world, staying con~
nected to the whole global scene" and her network of colleagues and
friends around the world. She keenly follows culinary trends such as
foraging, farm to table, sustainable ... "It's always been there but it's
trending now;' says Manfield. "You work with what's around you;'
she says, noting that"Today's focus on produce and the provenance
of produce, making as much as possible, your own butter, cheese,
charcuterie;' is really a return to past tradition.
She's skeptical, however, when she hears about foodie fads: "Foraging in Singapore, like in an urban jungle, for fuck's sake. I mean,
you know, give me a break;' she laughs. "The true ethics of good
cooking have always been there, but this has given us an opportunity
to shift the focus onto the food, and even the plating of food to give
it a more relaxed style. For example, you can use your hand to throw
stuff onto the plate in a way-how it lands is how it stays. That's a
style that quite a lot of younger chefs are adopting, and that's mimicking a lot of what's coming out of the Nordic region, in Copenhagen in particular:'
But there is nothing thrown-onto-the-plate about Manfield's 'clivas:' Even though she wanted to "introduce a bit of playfulness and
whimsy when it came to dessert" -every dessert has a name and
a personality, sometimes contrived around the ingredients that are
used. Often they have a double meaning, such as Bite the Pillowthese are brilliantly structured and composed dishes to end even the
most elegant meal. But Manfield's sense of humor prevails as much
as her perfectionism: One of her favorite desserts is Crackberry.
"When you see the actual photos with the name, it makes sense,
such as Crackberry, which has a little dusting of icing sugar, clever, I
£Uess,without bein2: offensive:'
The commercial ice creams of her native Australia also get a nod,
such as Gaytime Goes Nuts-that
dessert, named after a butterscotch and honeycomb popsicle from Down Under, was featured
in the finals of MasterChef Australia and became a sensation as far
away as India. "I give an introduction to each recipe, how the name
came about, what it means, but it's open to interpretation;' says
Manfield. "It's really to break down the seriousness of desserts:'
There are cheese desserts, and of course chocolate gets the biggest chapter in the book-"No self-respecting dessert menu leaves
chocolate out of it;' says Manfield, who hopes to appeal as much to
the home cook as to chefs. "When you look at the book, each 'diva'
is broken down into components to construct that actual diva dessert-the Gaytime has 15-but each of those components are complete recipes in themselves;' says Manfield. "These can each be made
as simpler desserts if you wish. You don't have to do all of it; you can
make elements. Every one of those divas is laid out in front of you,
so there's no flicking backward and forward through the book to find
the components:'
For example, you could conceivably make any of the ice cream
components that are throughout the book and just enjoy it as ice
cream. For Thanksgiving dessert, Manfield recommends using some
of her marshmallow recipes; and for New Year's Eve dessert, anything with meringue would be fun, especially her Carmen Meringay.
Manfield's next move is more exotic travel-she'll be traveling
around Australia and New Zealand for six weeks running pop-up
dessert bars; she'll be continuing to host gastronomic tours to India,
Spain, Morocco, Tunisia, Bhutan, and France; and there's another
book in the works as well. (christinemanfield.com)
CHRISTINE
■INFIELD'S ....-...
..CIACIBEIIY
..
A lemon yogurt cream dessert with blackberry jelly and
sauce, meringue dots and nougatine collar wafers.
"This term was coined in the Noughties for people addicted
to their Blackberry phones when they first hit the market. I
have placed blackberries on top of the construction here
to resemble the buttons of these mobile phones. Finished
with a little dusting of icing sugar, you'll have a cheeky bit of
whimsy that puts a smile on everyone's face," writes Manfield
in Dessert Divas.
~
<(
::e
Cf)
Dessert Divas by Christine Manfie/d with photography by
z
Anson Smart is published by Lantern.
0
Cf)
z
<(
NOV/DEC
2014
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51
From the Netherlands to New
York City, Linda Steen puts
good health on the plate.
BY MERRYN JOHNS
inda Steen's taste buds developed at the tender age of
8 when her father, a well~known chef, would feed her
oysters for lunch. There have never been-nor
will
there ever be-Pop
Tarts and Hot Pockets in this
busy lady's life. Not even when she's preparing meals
and snacks for the kids of her celebrity clients. Steen's
emphasis is on pure, delicious, and beautiful food, wherever she is
in the world and for whomever she cooks: whether that's herself
and her long~term partner, or for the Dutch royal house.
I had the pleasure of lunching with Steen at Jean~Georges
Vongerichten's restaurant, Nougatine, in New York City recently
to find out what I could learn about her approach to the culi~
nary arts, and little tricks such as how to order well from a menu
( naturally, I wanted everything she had ordered and she wanted
none of mine, except the watermelon salad. I paid extra attention
to everything she said after that!). What Steen shared with me
has actually changed the way I eat. Farmed protein is firmly off
my menu and antioxidant~rich leafy greens such as kale cram my
fridge. And Steen gave me a great tip for making kale salad: To
soften up this tough green, don't cook it or douse it in dressingsimply squeeze it with lemon juice and massage a ripe avocado
into it. Chef Steen knows what she is talking about: She is mostly
vegetarian and tends to purchase produce only from greenmarkets
where she can be sure of the provenance of the food. But her for~
mal culinary training, which led to an ll~year career as she worked
her way up from assistant sous chef to chef du cuisine, means that
her approach to food is anything but boring. The healthiness of her
dishes is only matched by their taste and their presentation. Steen
has run two highly acclaimed and busy restaurants, cooked for Eu~
ropean dignitaries, and worked as a VIP chef at the 2011 Shanghai
World Expo. In New York, you can find her cooking for the finan~
cial and showbiz elite (her ND As prevent her from revealing exactly
whom, but we can tell you that out athlete Jason Collins loves her
muffins); holding cooking classes; catering for weddings, parties,
and private dinners; and presiding over fascinating evenings called
Date~and~Cook, where singles learn to cook and meet other singles.
This globetrotting gourmand never stops thinking and learn~
ing about food (one of her favorite books is Food: The History oj
Taste), builds her cuisine on a bedrock of French and Italian cook~
ing, and is continually inspired by the ingredients she has sampled
while traveling in 62 countries. An adventurous eater she never~
theless sticks to some basic rules: Animal protein should be kept
to a minimum and always be free~range or wild caught; produce
should be organic, and grown and raised sustainably.
It's a bonus that Steen is also out and proud and regularly
supports and organizes LGBT events-her most recent was the
120~person USA Gay Pride float for Amsterdam Pride's canal
parade in August.
HEALTHY
TIPS
FIDMATDPCHEF
• Carbs are OK in the morning, but avoid after breakfast
• Replace carbs at night with protein-rich quinoa pasta and
fiber such as elephant beans
• Fight cancer-forming cells by eating salads made with
tomatoes and parsley
• Give your brain a boost with raw almonds, avocado,
broccoli, and fish
• Don't deprive yourself of food: rather, eat yourself healthy
• For inspiration, check out the healthy heart cookbooks by
Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., MD
Read more tips from Linda Steen at curvemag.com
NOV/DEC
2014
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FEATURES/
NOV/DEC
2014
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____________________
TheDinah.com
_.
IJ Club Skirts Dinah Shore Weekend
((•~•»
'fl
~·
@DinahShore
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ml
a'•"·"@..m! j ™'.!!!!!!!
I #DinahShore I
888-92dinah
60
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2014
FEATURES/
COVER
I'vegottamakethis music
becauseI'mjust realizing
somethingsaboutmyself.
proudly displays a portrait of her four beautiful children, Etheridge admits she was ready to give up on love after her last relationship. "I said, I'm just going to have fun if I want to have
fun, but I'm done having relationships."
Etheridge met Linda Wallem in 2001, when the writer from
Cybill and That '70s Show called about a TV show she
wanted to do.
"It didn't work out, but we became best friends," says
Etheridge. "So when everything fell apart with the last relationship, I asked her to come help me, because now I had
four children in my house-and just me [laughs]. She had
been working in New York on Nurse Jackie, and she had
some time, so I said, 'Come stay with me. It's a big house."'
"In that process of making kids' lunches, talking to
teenagers, driving to and from this and that, love happened. We fell in love."
Etheridge calls it "the exact opposite of the way I'd
always fallen in love, which is, meet that sexy girl, and
ooh, and hopefully you can become friends and stay
together for a long time."
"I had been through cancer and everything with
her. I'd been through her breakups, she'd been
through my breakups. She made me laugh like nobody else. And then, there's the attraction, the
whole package. I just said, 'Who am I waiting for?'"
The song she wrote and sang to Wallem on
their wedding day, the love song "Who Are You
Beckett, Etheridge's 16-year-old son, got to go on the road
Waiting For?," is on her new album.
with her before school started in August. It's important, she says,
While they could have married sooner in
to give balance to their lives.
New York, because they have an apartment
"You want to give them kind of a normal experience," she says.
there, Etheridge wanted to wait until it was le"Yet, they know that strangers talk to me, that's part of their life."
gal in California.
While Etheridge says all four of her children are musically tal"People who are against gay marriage
ented, "I think they see how much work it is. My youngest, Johnnie
don't understand the implications of what
Rose, has a little bit of that sparkly stuff, but we'll see as life goes on."
it does to the family-not being able to file
While she is excited to tour and perform the new songs (the alfor joint custody, not being able to have a
bum was released on Sept. 30), her kids are always on her mind. "It's
partner's insurance cover the children or
important for me to show my children that if I'm going to spend time
the other person, all these things that are
away from them, it's because I'm doing what I love. I try to teach my
rights that straight couples don't even
kids, love what you do." (melissaetheridge.com)
know they have."
FAMEAND
FAMILY
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Austria's capital has a character
to Sigmund Freud. A city with
and a culinary and cafe culture
along the Danube. This cul-
and a history as opulent, attrac-
a past, which is to say a very
worth sinking your teeth into-
tured and tolerant city saw civil
tive, diverting, and delicious
rich history, Vienna offers tales
especially in the summer, when
unions for same-sex couples
as one of its iconic cakes or
of imperial intrigue, artistic
the city celebrates Pride and
pass into law in 2010 and is a
infamous inhabitants-from
achievements, more statuary
enjoys refined outdoor leisure
lovely destination to visit at any
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
than you can shake a stick at,
in its manicured parks and
time of the year.
WHERETO EAT
BEDDING DOWN
I stayed at the 25hours Hotel, and
its very name indicates that this is a fun
choice, a good foil for the Habsburg aesthetic, which permeates much of the city.
25hours is not stuffy or historic, but a hip,
chic, relaxed choice of accommodation
with compact rooms decorated charmingly if a little eccentrically. It also has common spaces in which you can spread out:
the lobby, a great restaurant with an outdoor terrace, and a lovely rooftop bar with
views of the more antiquarian Vienna. The
hotel's restaurant, 1500 Foodmakers, does
a fresh and fantastic breakfast, lunch, and
dinner with efficient and engaging servers.
( 25 hours- hotels.com)
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You are spoiled for choice in this city famous for its hospitality, but here are a few
gems that are most certainly not tourist
traps: Glacis Beisl is historic and elegant
casual dining, with a lovely old garden and
pergola for summer and a cozy tavern-style
interior for cooler months (glacisbeisl.at).
Motto (motto.at) is a very trendy place
popular with gays, not least because it was
where Helmut Lang waited tables before
his ascent in the fashion world. If you like
contemporary dining with a nightclub ambience (DJs after 8:30), Motto is where to
get your night off to a good start.
To experience the latest in new Viennese
cuisine, a special dinner at Medusa is in order. This lovely design-centric restaurant on
three Boors is world class, with a wide variety of dishes and even a good place to stop
for a cocktail (medusarestaurant.at).
It would be remiss of you not to try the
famous Wiener Schnitzel, a classic dish
that originated in the 19th century: Legend
has it that Count Joseph Radetzky brought
the recipe-a deliciously breaded veal cut
let fried in clarified butter and served with
a wedge of lemon-back to Vienna from
the Italian territories under Habsburg rule.
Many restaurants in Vienna do this dish
well, but the best is Plachutta's Gasthaus
zur Oper (plachutta.at). Try it with a glass
of Gemischter Satz, a traditional Viennese
blended white wine.
Coffeehouses abound in Vienna, and
are associated with the city's rich artistic
and intellectual history. For dessert or a
pick-me-up, don't miss coffee and cake
at Cafe Landtmann (landtmann.at),
a
gorgeous and historic place popular with
locals as well as tourists. (Franz Landtmann's patrons have included Sigmund
Freud, Marlene Dietrich, and Hillary
Clinton.) It offers an authentic Viennese
coffee-tasting experience in a classic and
tasteful coffee salon that has been operating since 1873. Try the world-famous Vienna coffee (topped with whipped cream)
and choose from a decadent selection of
beautifully decorated desserts and pastries
( the apple strudel is to die for!).
TALKOF THETOWN
The best way to work off calories and
get from one cultural attraction to the next
is to bike or walk. Vienna is an easy city to
navigate, thanks to the Ringstrasse, a three~
mile boulevard that loops around the city
and connects most of its major attractions.
A visit to the Kunstkammer at the Kuns~
thistorisches Museum is a must. (khm.at)
This is quite literally a chamber of art and
wonders, reopened in 2013 after a decade
of renovations. If you love tchotchkes, this
is the place for you: Feast your eyes on 2,200
items in 20 rooms: a solid gold saltcellar
by Benvenuto Cellini, the Krumlov Ma~
donna, beautiful bronze figurines, intricate
docks, curios, and scientific instruments.
The Viennese are a people with intelligence,
aesthetics, and ambition to have assembled
such prized collections.
The Belvedere (belvedere.at) boasts
500 years of art history, from the Mid~
dle Ages to the 20th century, including
The Kiss, an immensely popular painting
by Gustav Klimt. Much sightseeing re~
valves around magnificent monuments to
Vienna's astonishingly
rich architec~
tural, musical, military, and religious
history, but for something feminine and
intimate, visit the Sisi Museum in the
Hofburg Palace (hofburg~wien~at). The
Imperial Apartments are worth wandering
through to acquaint yourself with the life~
style of the Habsburg dynasty, including
the 19 state and private rooms of Emperor
Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth. The
royal couple did indeed live in splendor
and luxury: He had an audience chamber;
she had a gym in her bedroom, which no
doubt contributed to her legendary beau~
ty. Elisabeth, referred to by the Viennese
as "Sisi;' is an adored figure (portrayed on
film by Romy Schneider and Ava Gard~
ner) whose ravishing looks, charm, and
flair for drama were matched only by her
colorful and tragic life. She embodies the
perfectionist yearning for achievement and
self expression that when not gained in life
is hoped for in immortality-a
very Vien~
nese sentiment. Consider taking a tour
with the likes of guide Nikolaus Konig,
who can regale you with tales of everyone
from Mozart to certain ladies of leisure or
create your own itinerary at wien.info.
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FINDING THEFRAULEINS
Vienna is home to an estimated 170,000
lesbians and gay men and, unlike many
European cities, does not attempt to con~
ceal the contributions made to public life
by this visible minority. After all, the leg~
endary warrior Prince Eugene of Savoy
(17th century) was known to prefer in~
timate relations with his own sex; Franz
Schubert ( 18th century) is rumored to
have had no interest in women; a gay male
architect couple designed the Vienna State
Opera; and Emperor Franz Joseph himself
had a gay brother. Unfortunately, promi~
nent Viennese lesbians have not made it
onto the pages of history-lesbian
rumors
about Marie Antoinette, who was born an
archduchess of Austria, notwithstanding.
Today, the LGBT center is the "Villa;'
or the Rosa Lila Villa on Linke Wien~
zeile. The Rainbow Parade (regenbogen~
parade.at) along the Ringstrasse, attracts
over 100,000 visitors each June and is
one of the largest Pride parades in the
German~speaking world. The lovely and
central Heldenplatz becomes a Pride Vil~
lage of food stalls, arts and crafts tents,
and stage shows, perfect for mingling and
people~watching. The other big gay calen~
dar event is the Life Ball (lifeball.org), an
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impossibly glamorous AIDS fundraiser
that has the city's elected officials and hoi
polloi turning out in their most outre eve~
ning wear to support the cause.
Viennese women are attractive, tend to
speak English, and love to socialize-so
there's no excuse not to go out and meet
the girls. For politically minded women,
the Frauencafe (frauencafe.com), founded
in 1977 as a feminist collective, is one of
the last~standing women's coffeehouses in
Europe and worth a visit. The Frauenzen~
trum Bar-commonly
called FZ-regu~
larly hosts women~only parties and events.
The G.Spot parties on the first Friday of the
month (pinked.at) are popular, as are the
Las Chicas women's nights held at S~Club
Vienna. I dropped in to one on my visit and
found the women diverse in age and style,
welcoming, and very friendly to talk to. If
you' re not into clubbing but want a more
intimate venue with food, Cafe Willendorf
inside the "Villa" is a solid choice, and in
summer the courtyard garden is open for
dining (cafe~willendor£at), but it gets very
busy, so you may need to make a reservation.
Labris Bar & Lounge is the place to go for
happy hour chill~outs, the latest lesbian DJs,
and karaoke night (labris.at). •
,,...
S
onoma County. Weve heard about it, loved its wines, and
kept it on the to~do list for ages. But there's no better
time than the present to acquaint yourself with the buzz~
ing vineyards and fertile valleys that form this Northern
California haven of wine, women, and tasting tables.
The Russian River region of Sonoma County has long been a
sanctuary for lesbian and gay travelers, who flock here for week~
end and vacation getaways from San Francisco and beyond. But
unlike Palm Springs, that other California gay getaway, Sonoma
offers a verdant landscape layered with centuries~old redwood
trees and picturesque winding roads that lead from one charming
town to another.
The homo heart of the county is the town of Guernevillealso the best place to celebrate Sonoma County Pride each June
(sonomacountypride.com). Situated about 85 miles north of San
Francisco International Airport, this town of just 4,500 residents
is a surprising hub of gay~owned and gay~friendly businesses.
The bulk of them line River Road, a.k.a. Highway 116, which
flows right over the Russian River and into this part~hippie, part~
hip community of low~key Californians, many of whom visited
You'll understand the instant appeal. A good place to start your
explorations is "The Fun Store;' the woman~owned Guerneville 5
& 10 (guerneville5and10.com), where you can browse the eclec~
tic merchandise (greeting cards, flip~flops, water colors and acryl~
ics) and chat with the local ladies, who'll give you the scoop on
Sonoma's must~dos. High on their list is always a walk through
the nearby, utterly amazing Armstrong Redwoods State Natural
Reserve, with trees as tall as skyscrapers, some of which sprouted
back in 600 A.O.
Guerneville's quirky streak is perfectly embodied by the dual
outpost that serves up diner fare by day as Pat's, and Korean bar~
beque and other authentic, affordable Asian delights by night as
Dick Blomster's Korean Diner. (For those in need of a vintage
dive bar, hit Pat's Bar, next door, by night.)
This seemingly sleepy hamlet can impress even the biggest food~
ies, thanks to chic restaurants like the artisanal Big Bottom Mar~
ket (bigbottommarket.com) and Boon Eat + Drink (eatatboon.
com). Chef~owner Crista Luedtke founded one and co~founded
the other-and literally brings the best of farm~fresh Sonoma to
her tables. For flavors right out of nearby Bodega Bay, head a few
doors down for oysters on the half shell, soft~shell crab, and more
great seafood at Seaside Metal (seasidemetal.com).
Next door, share tales and cocktails with the lovely gays and •
gals at the Rainbow Cattle Company (queersteer.com), where
you'll find strong drinks at cheap prices and weekly parties and
potlucks for mixed queer crowds. Just off River Road, you can
shack up at the gay~centric R3 Hotel (ther3hotel.com) and enjoy
its Triple R Bar & Grill's splashy pool bar and summer barbeques.
For laid~back, relaxing accommodations, check into the High~
lands Resort (highlandsresort.com), a peaceful hillside hideaway
whose lovely owners, Lynette and Ken, proudly welcome lesbian
and gay guests-who, by the way, comprise 98 percent of the High~
lands' clientele. There you can also arrange for a Touch of Heaven
(massageintheredwoods.com) massage under the soaring redwoods.
Part of Guerneville's beauty is its prized location in the heart of
Sonoma County, wedged between Monte Rio (another compact
LGBT outpost) and happening towns like Rio Nido, Healds~
burg, and Sebastapol. The latter is certainly worth a visit for its
thriving arts scene, and for a bite at the remarkable Zazu Kitch~
en + Farm (zazukitchen.com). With tantalizing dishes like beet
ravioli, home~cured meats, and backyard pumpkin tikka masala,
Zazu has been a true hotspot since its August 2013 opening.
FEATURES/
Head east to Santa Rosa's St. Francis Winery ( stfranciswinery.com) for a taste of''America's No. 1 Restaurant;' according to
OpenTable. The wines themselves are divine, and the $50 wine
and food pairing is among the region's ultimate culinary experiences. Coppola Winery (francisfordcoppolawinery.com) is worth
the scenic jaunt northward, and in warmer months is a great place
to rent a poolside cabine (changing room), take a break from the
bocce courts, and sip delicious unoaked chardonnay and other
fantastic varietals.
Of course, since Sonoma is bountiful wine country-and
a more affordable, some say friendlier version of nearby Napa
County-any
visit here should allow ample time for meandering drives through the valley, pausing for tastings at some of
the world's finest vineyards. LGBT-geared Out in the Vineyard
(outinthevineyard.com) hosts tours and events throughout the
year, and Sonoma County Tourism (sonomacounty.com/activities/ gay-travel) has plenty of tips, listings, and practical info to
plan your visit. GayRussianRiver.com and GaySonoma.com are
more resources to help round out a trip to this flourishing California retreat.
But perhaps the best practical tip for Sonoma visitors is to pack
light and be ready to check luggage at the airport-because
the
best of the best wines always find a way back home.
(sonomacounty.com/ activities/ gay-travel) •
TRA
super-easy,
super-healthy
MEALS, SNACKS,
DESSERTS& DRINKS
L
os Angeles-based cook, writer and actor Tess Masters has come out with a book of 100 gluten-free,
vegan recipes, The Blender Girl, including an easyto-make, mouthwatering Sugar-Free No-Pumpkin
Pie. A favorite indulgence of Masters' partner, who was suffering
from cancer and "couldn't eat anything sweeter than a carrot,"
this recipe-and
many others in this book-offer
healthy alter-
natives for any time of year, but especially the holidays, when
we're most likely to want to eat everything in sight-whether
it's
naughty or nice. Masters' guilt-free Mint Chip Ice Cream (made
with spinachl), Dark Chocolate Sauce, Holiday Eggnog, and Hot
Chocolate with Hazelnuts make for a happy and healthy holidays
indeed. (theblendergirl.com)
74
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th
efore I traveled to Alsace for
the 60th anniversary of the
Route des Vins d'Alsace, the
region's 170 kilometer wine
trail, I knew only a little about
this pocket of northeastern France: Alsace is
a sleepy border region that was contested in
World War II, it produces a scary breed of
dog, and the white wine is too sweet for my
palate. In what turned out to be one of my
favorite trips to France-if not Europe-I
was to learn and enjoy a whole lot more.
The harmonious and pleasant atmo~
B
sphere in Alsace belies a fascinating and
turbulent history that began with the Celts,
continued with the Romans, the Holy Ro~
man Empire (which produced the glorious
city of Strasbourg), the Habsburgs, and the
Protestants. From the 17th century onward
control of the region alternated between the
Germans and the French countless times.
Today, Alsace is a part of France, but it
enjoys some laws, a language, and many
customs that are significantly different from
the parts of the country with a truly Gallic
identity. French may be the official language,
but Alsatian, which is a Germanic dialect,
is also spoken; and-unlike the people in
many other parts of France-Alsatians are
tolerant of tourists and will speak English to
English speakers. In fact, the region is very
safe and hospitable, a German work ethic
predominates, and even though France's
smallest metropolitan region is its third
most densely populated, Alsace retains the
picturesque tableaus of agricultural villages
plucked from a storybook, with the church~
es, castles, mountains, forests, lakes, and
vineyards to prove it.
WHERE TO STAY
Stay in Strasbourg, a fascinating and
magical city that becomes a fairytale landscape in the winter and a bucolic scene
in the summer. The Hotel Regent Petit
France is a charming option, conveniently
located in La Petite France, a historic and
charming quarter filled with half-timbered
houses with sloping Alsatian roofs, which
used to house tanneries in their steeply gabled lofts. The River Ill (a branch of the
Rhine) runs through La Petite France,
adding to its charm, and it even runs right
through the Hotel Regent. This 72-room
5-star establishment has all the charm of
the historic city center it overlooks. The
building itself is 300 years old but has
been renovated to contemporary stylish
standards, and is within easy walking
distance of the Ponts Couverts (covered
bridges) and the Great Lock. All 72 rooms
at the Hotel Regent offer lnstagram-worthy views of the river, the town's traditional architecture, and its many outdoor
restaurants, such as La Corde a Linge. (regent-petite-france.com)
Also in Strasbourg is the Hotel Cour
du Corbeau (cour-corbeau.com), which is
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equally historic (it was a 16th century inn),
equally charming, and has a very cosmopolitan vibe-contemporary
design with
Louis XV accents. This is a lovely place to
rest your head, either at the beginning or
the end of your Strasbourg sojourn.
Once I was out of the city and onto
the wine trail and its picturesque villages,
Peche de Vigne B&B (pechedevigne-rodern.com), at the colorful address of 31
Rue de Pinot Noir in the little town of
Rodern, could not have been a more authentic choice of accommodation. Built
around a central cobblestone courtyard,
this quiet B&B offers nine roomy chambers, each decorated with a theme and
offering a charming home base in the
heart of wine country, within walking distance of some notable wineries. And the
petite dejeuner each morning was just great.
For something completely different on
the wine trail, and for those who want all
the bells and whistles of a resort-along
with some gambling-the
Casino Barriere
de Ribeauville (lucienbarriere.com) is the
place for entertainment, nouvelle cuisine,
and hydrotherapy on a grand scale.
DRINK AND DINE
Alsatian cuisine borrows quite a bit
from the Germanic countries that sur~
round the region, so pork, veal, duck, and
beef are the staple meats, and you should
try them accompanied by a serving of
the local sauerkraut (sCtrkrCtt)
or a side of
spaetzle(a type of fried noodle). Wash it
down with a local beer such as Fischer
(Alsatian breweries date back to 1260)
and don't forget the kougelhopffor dessert!
Baked goods are very popular in Alsace,
from the iconic pretzel, to the gingerbread
(pain d'epices)spiked with ginger, cinna~
mon, and star anise, a rich and delicious
treat with foie gras, which has been pro~
duced in the region since the 17th century.
So central is eating and drinking to the
Germanic way of life that you really can't
go wrong at any restaurant here, but one
of the real joys of this region are the "win~
stubs:' A combination of pub, cafe, and bis~
tro, they are small, typically family~owned,
and serve local comfort food, from sau~
sages to seafood to tarteflambee (an Al~
satian pizza made with cream instead of
cheese). An authentic, top~notch version
of this is to be found at the Pfifferbriader
(winstublepfiff.com) and at Le Tire~
Bouch on in Strasbourg (letirebouchon.fr).
But let's not forget the wine, that wine I
thought was too sweet. Well, on this trip I
learned the difference between sugar and
fruit, and discovered that one of my fa~
vorite varieties of bubbles- Cremantscomes from this very region. While 80
percent of Alsatian wine is white varietals
with a Germanic influence, most of these
wines are actually dry, delicate, fruity,
floral, and spicy. Alsace is an oenologist's
paradise. Here you can find decent and
pleasurable wines for reasonable prices
from a very old wine region.
There are many wineries in Alsace
where you can romance the grape: I fell in
love with the Sylvaner, with its balance of
minerality and tropical fruits, at the Do~
maine Albert Seltz vineyard in Mittelber~
gheim (albert~seltz.fr). This erudite and
noble family of vintners (Seltz Sr. offered
his cellars as an underground railroad for
refugee Jews during World War II) offer
up the secrets of Alsatian winemaking,
including optimal food pairings, at an out~
door picnic in the surrounding hills.
For an all~female affair, a visit to the
Domaine Weinbach in beautiful Kayser~
berg to discover the Alsace Grands Crus
is an absolute must. This lovely vineyard
with a chateau to match (it was established
in 1612 by Capuchin monks) is now run
by two generations of women: mother
Colette and daughters Catherine and Lau~
rence Faller. Together, they have produced
some of the region's finest Rieslings, Pi~
nots Gris, and Gewurztraminers-wines
with as much finesse and elegance as the
women themselves. The wines are served
in the top restaurants in Alsace. And
they've been organic and biodynamic since
1998! ( domaineweinbach.com/ en)
But my heart belongs to bubbles, and
it was a thrill to drink one of my favorite
Cremants d'Alsace in the vineyard from
which it comes-the
Willm Estate in
Barr, in northern Alsace. This delicious
and easy~drinking dry sparkling wine
gives many Champagnes a run for their
money and now I know why: The beau~
tiful vineyards produce carefully tended
grapes that thrive in a sunny microclimate,
shielded by the lovely Vosges Mountains.
(alsace~willm.com)
NOV/DEC
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2014 STATEMENT
OF OWNERSHIP
Publication Title: Curve.
Publication No.: 0010-355.
Filing Date: Oct 1, 2014
Issue Frequency: Monthly Exept Bi-Monthly Jan/
Feb, Apr/May, July/Aug & Nov/Dec
Number of Issues Published Annually: 8
Annual Subscription Price: $59.90
Complete Mailing Address: PO Box 467 New York
NY 10034.
Contact Person: Silke Bader
Telephone: (415) 871-0569
Publisher: Silke Bader PO Box 467 New York NY
10034
TOURS AND SIGHTS
Back in Strasbourg (ot-strasbourg.fr),
the sights are plentiful but the Cathedral of
Our Lady of Strasbourg is undoubtedly the
jewel in the crown of this city. One of the
most important structures dating from the
Middle Ages, it was the highest monument
in western Europe until the 19th century.
The cathedral's spire, completed in 1439,
is 466 feet high, and the entire structure,
which is one of the most beautiful examples
of High Gothic architecture, has much to
marvel at-whether you're religious or not.
The stunning rose wheel, the soaring fa;:ade
sculpted from pink sandstone quarried
from the Vosges, stained glass windows that
all tell a story, and an astronomical clock
make this not just an ordinary church but
one of the finest cathedrals in Europe. (cathedral-strasbourg.fr).
To understand how ordinary folks lived
throughout the ages in this region, visit the
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Alsatian Museum (musees.strasbourg.eu ).
The exhibits of popular arts and crafts with
re-created interiors of traditional Alsatian
dwellings charmingly bring to life centuries-old customs through furniture, decor,
dress, and house wares.
No matter where you go in Alsace, custom and tradition have been preserved in
the most delightful and picturesque ways,
and you don't have to visit a museum to
experience them. The charming city of Colmar, which is a thousand years old, looks like
it was plucked from a renaissance or medieval storybook. You might never have heard
of it before, but you'll be in the town that is
the birthplace of Bartholdi, the sculptor of
the Statue of Liberty-and the pastry chef
who invented those colorful little macaroon
cookies everyone adores! I visited in the
summer, when the vineyard-dotted foothills were a vibrant green, but I'd return in
the winter just to see the Colmar Christmas
markets, which replicate traditions dating
back to the 16th century. (ot-colmar.fr/en)
Another way to step back in time is to visit
the Confrerie Saint-Etienne in Kientzheim
Castle (confrerie-st-etienne.com), a dressy
but convivial affair dating back to the 14th
century, when a guild of notable locals,
whose task was to oversee the quality of the
local wines (tough job), met for their annual
feast. Today, this ritual is performed for an
audience, and even though it's a "brotherhood;' it did feature a woman in the lineup
when I visited. This sermon on wine (which
of course includes a tasting) is recommended! Afterward, drop in at the excellent and
atmospheric Cote Vigne (cote-vigne.fr) in
Kientzheim for another Alsatian dinner. •
Editor: Merryn Johns PO Box 467 New York NY
10034
Owner(s): Avalon Media LLC Po Box 467 New York
NY10034
Si Ike Bader PO Box 467 New York NY 10034
Publication Title: Curve. Issue Date for Circulation
Data: Nov 26. Extent and Nature of Circulation:
Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding
12 Months: A) Total No. Copies Net Press Run:
50,854. B) Paid
Circulation. (By Mail and Outside the Mail) (1)
Mailed Outside-County Paid Subscriptions Stated
on Form 3541: 11,342; (2) Mailed In-County Paid
Subscriptions Stated on Form 3541: 0; (3) Paid
Distribution Outside the Mails Including Sales_
rough Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors,
Counter Sales, and Other Paid Distribution
outside USPS: 24,737; (4) Paid Distribution by
Other Classes of Mail_ rough the USPS: 2,250. C)
Total Paid Distribution: 38,329. D) Free or Nominal
Rate Distribution by Mail and Outside the Mail:
(1) Free or Nominal Rate Outside-County Copies
included on Form 3541: 0; (2) Free or Nominal
Rate In-County Copies included on Form 3541: 0;
(3) Free or Nominal Rate Copies Mailed at Other
Classes Mailed_ rough the USPS: 67; (4) Free
or Nominal Rate Distribution Outside the Mail:
11,556. E) Total Free or Nominal Rate Distribution:
11,623. F) Total Distribution: 49,954. G) Copies
Not Distributed: 900. H) Total: 50,854. I) Percent
Paid 76.73%. Extent and Nature of Circulation/No.
Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing
Date A) Total No. Copies Net Press Run: 47,012. B)
Paid Circulation. (By Mail and Outside the Mail) (1)
Mailed Outside-County Paid Subscriptions Stated
on Form 3541: 10,388; (2) Mailed In-County Paid
Subscriptions Stated on Form 3541: 0; (3) Paid
Distribution Outside the Mails Including Sales
_ rough Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors,
Counter Sales, and Other Non-USPS: 22,911; (4)
Paid Distribution by Other Classes of Mail_ rough
the USPS: 1,125.C) Total Paid Distribution: 34,425.
D) Free or Nominal Rate Distribution (by Mail and
Outside the Mail): (1) Free or Nominal Rate
Outside-County as Stated on Form 3541: 0; (2)
Free or Nominal Rate In-County Copies included
on Form 3541: 0; (3) Free or Nominal Rate
Distribution Mailed at Other Classes_ rough the
USPS: 42; (4)
Free or Nominal Rate Distribution Outside
the Mail: 11,429. E) Total Free or Nominal Rate
Distribution: 11,469. F) Total Distribution: 45,894.
G) Copies Not Distributed: 1,118.H) Total: 47,012.
I) Percent Paid: 75%. Publication of Statement of
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79
TLOOKtSTARS
Heavenly Holidays
Venus cooks up a storm with three other planets in sizzly Scorpio this
holiday season. By Charlene Lichtenstein
Adele Exarchopoulos from Blue Is the
Warmest Color turns 21 on November 22.
SCORPIO ~
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Nowavailable
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(Oct. 24-Nov. 22)
The Sapphic Scorpio
is a smooth operator
with the ability to blend
into the background
or take charge at any
time. Her preference
is to be the power
behind the throne and
for this reason she
tends to enter careers
where she can play the
puppeteer to some
hapless marionette.
She can be found
in a variety of back
office, powerbroker
positions such as
advisor to presidents
(and despots) or in
positions that require
persistent investigative
skills, such as journalist,
detective, doctor
(especially psychiatrist),
policewoman,
mechanic or inventor.
80
CURVE
NOV/DEC
2014
Aries (March 21-April 20)
Leo (July 24-Aug. 23)
Sagittarius (Nov. 23-Dec. 22)
Lambda Rams have much more
on their plate now than usual.
In fact your plate is more of a
serving platter full of delectable
dishes. Your eyes are bigger
than you-know-what and as the
months progress, the question
is, "How many lovelies can you
Lionesses will love to lounge
around the house this holiday
season. But that doesn't mean
that you become a hermit.
Throw open your door and
welcome in a bevy of bodacious
beauties who stuff your bird and
deck your halls. Whoo hoo! Get
A secret love affair will be
exposed. A secret admirer will
make herself known. If you
are hiding in the closet, step
out. If you are lying, reveal the
truth. And guess what? You
will find it liberating, affirming
and empowering. The holiday
pile on before you get way in
over your head?" Well, maybe
that's your plan ...
ready for your entourage and
be the perfect hostess with the
mostess fun times.
season demands transparency.
And that might include
cellophane peekaboos.
Taurus (April 21-May 21)
Virgo (Aug. 24-Sept. 23)
Capricorn (Dec. 23-Jan. 20)
Don't take your relationships
Do you have something
important to say, Virgo? Well
go ahead and say it. And say it
with passion. Your words and
opinions can shift the tectonic
plates and improve life for all
of us. If not you, then who? If
Gal pals want to get in on your
act, Capricorn, and you should
let them. Not only do they have
great ideas to help bring in the
holiday season, they help you
expand your social circle with
acquaintances and influentials.
Do you have a pet project that
for granted, Taurus. A little
extra attention can go a long
way to pleasing your lovergrrl
so focus on the "her" and now.
Single bulls seem to attract any
woman they desire. But how
many ladies do you currently
desire all at the same time?
Let's not even begin to count!
not now, then when? Of course
you can also just express
yourself by whispering sweet
nothings in her ear.
needs to get off the ground?
Ask for help. The more hands,
the better.
Libra (Sept. 24-Oct. 23)
Aquarius (Jan. 21-Feb. 19)
Finances become more
important to you this holiday
season, which can mean that
While others concentrate on
office festivities or vacation
plans, Aqueerians should use
you either have money to burn
or still a bit of money you need
to earn. Love and lust may
cost more than you realize.
Whatever your bottom line
looks like, be cognizant of your
holiday budget and don't waste
this time to plot and plan their
next big corporate move. Not
only can you charm the big
bosses, you can also showcase
your talents to those who
matter. They say it's lonely at
Gemini (May 22-June 21)
There is nothing drearier than
a holiday consumed by work.
But there is a silver lining to
this dark cloud, Gemini. Once
you have mastered the tasks of
your day job, you will achieve
a certain nirvana. Become a
master of your universe. It
comes with perks. Or rather,
perky co-workers who burn the
midnight oil with you.
funds on trashy endeavors.
the top but I rather enjoy that
position.
Cancer (June 22-July 23)
Let the party season begin.
Everything points to festivities,
fun filled girly romances and
even an artistic project that
gives you the cache to inch
past the velvet ropes. You are
filled with inspiration, charm
and a bit of punk. Don't hide
in your shell, Cancer. Plug into
the party circuit and set the
scene on fire. Let's hope that it
is not a short circuit.
Scorpio (Oct. 24-Nov. 22)
Pisces (Feb. 20-March 20)
All eyes are upon you Scorpio.
You are in everyone's sights.
Get out of town and see what
the world can offer you in
terms of adventure, mischief
and general mayhem. There
are lusty women waiting for
you across the globe. Be sure
that you have enough time to
explore every one of them.
What are you waiting for? Get
Even the powers-that-be are
taking notice of you. Here is
your long awaited opportunity.
Will you dazzle or blind?
Take a breath, compose your
presentation and let the fates
carry you to the next level.
Power is intoxicating and
downright sexy.
up and get going, guppies!
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