News - April 4th, 2012

As much as I love writing about food and queer issues, I am still a big lover of the arts.

Luckily, I have had the opportunity to write about the subject and some rather interesting individuals in that field.

The Coast recently published an article I wrote about a series of lectures on contemporary sculpture happening here in Halifax. Over at Xtra, I had the chance to interview photographer/publisher Amos Mac.  Mac publishes Original Plumbing, a magazine about and for trans men, but it’s his photographs that I can’t get enough of.

Crop Top Soldiers, by Amos Mac

I’m a big fan of Michael Cyril Creighton’s Jack In A Box webseries, so it was great to have the opportunity to talk to him. On the international side of things, I had the chance to interview gay jazz crooner Steven Gallavin.  I even wrote a quick blurb about a wonderful short film called“This Is What Queer Looks Like” for my Down East blog.

I’m still writing about food of course.  I had a great time writing about what to eat for under $12 for The Coast.   As I had mentioned in a previous post, I recently interviewed Michael Ruhlman on the topic of charcuterie for East Coast Living.

News - February 12th, 2012

Blood. It’s in you to eat.

At least, that’s what my story in The Coast examines. Blood, tripe and all sorts of offal goodies are becoming more and more commonplace in Halifax eateries and around the world. Many thanks to Deep End Diner Eddie Lin for his quote in the aforementioned article.

Speaking of all things vital, I recently had the opportunity to write two separate stories for Xtraabout health issues and health care. The first was a story about Shelley Taylor, who runs Pass The Herpes, a blog and forum dedicated to the discussion of the disease and the stigma surrounding it. I also wrote a profile about prideHealth, an organisation based in Halifax that is looking to make things better and easier for queer people to access health care. I had previously written about prideHealth in my daily blog.

News - January 31st, 2012

I am a big fan of the blog Gawker. Admittedly, Gakwer is not the New York Times, or the Globe & Mail, but it does do a pretty good job at dissecting pop culture and newsworthy events. It’s a little funny, a little snide and often very pointed.

So when I saw this last week, I knew I had to write about it.

The author of the blog post, Brian Moylan, had posted his own Grindr profile on the website. For those who don’t know what Grindr is, it’s an application found on smart phones that uses GPS to locate other people who use the app, namely, gay men and men who have sex with men. I thought it was a great way to look at a number of topics: privacy, journalistic ethics, and how people forget that the online world is an inherently public space. I even called Moylan and interviewed him about his post, his reasons for it and more. The interview, as well as my ideas around these topics, were published in Down East on Xtra.

In the meantime, also in the pages of the same magazine, I had the chance to interview Fred Connors, a recently announced candidate for mayor. Connors, who is known to Haligonians as the owner of FRED., the salon/cafe/artspace on the corners of Agricola and North, is also known to be a bit of a mover and shaker in local political circles. My interview with Connors covered many topics, some of which were later published in a Q&A in Open File.

Image via Gawker

News - Jan 16, 2012

One of the best things about working in journalism is gaining access to the people you admire, whether they be artists, writers or just plain fascinating.

I recently was asked by East Coast Living to write an article about charcuterie, so I thought, “Why not talk to the man who has helped make charcuterie so popular lately?”

And so, I had the chance to interview Michael Ruhlman, author of “Charcuterie” as well as various other wonderful books, and the co-author of Thomas Keller’s cookbooks. Ruhlman’s book on the subject was so popular that he created “Charcutepalooza”, an online event where bloggers around the world discussed their own charcuterie escapades.

The upcoming issue of ECL hits newsstands this spring.

Over at Down East, I had the occasion to interview an artist named Jaime Carrera, whose videos I enjoyed so much, I wrote about them twice.

Down East also accords me the chance to talk about pop culture happenings, as in the case of a recent book by bon vivant Simon Doonan, entitled Gay Men Don’t Get Fat. Um, sure?

Image from “Passing” by Jaime Carrera and Tyler Jensen.

News - December 11, 2011

I had the recent opportunity to interview Costas Halavrezos for The Coast. Costas recently celebrated his first anniversary at the Historic Halifax Market as The Spice Man. I’ve interviewed Costas before for Passable, including when he first opened up his stall at the market.

In the same issue of The Coast, I was asked to write about the Tawaak Housing Association, which provides affordable housing for aboriginal individuals and families. It was part of their annual Give Guide.

Over at Xtra, I recently wrote an op-ed about the 23rd anniversary of World AIDS Day. The article is a first person account of how people with HIV/AIDS have affected me in my life.

I have a few more projects coming up and getting ready to hit the presses, so stay tuned!