Challenging the Ritual, Xtra West #333, May 25, 2006

Tis the season. I just mailed my RSVP to my cousin’s wedding saying that no, sorry, my partner and I won’t be able to spend thousands of dollars to travel to Colorado for the event. It makes sense to me: I’ve seen my cousin twice in the last 30 years and I know nothing about his bride-to-be. My family thinks I’m making some kind of anti-marriage protest. But honestly, I just don’t want to spend the time and money to go. I haven’t attended any other events in my cousin’s life. So why a wedding?

Read the rest on the Xtra website.

America’s Next Top Model, Xtra West #331, April 27, 2006

The worst problem facing queers right now has to be the lack of transgressive PhD topics. Gender, sex, phobias-it’s all been done. Luckily I have found a new gold mine of a topic. I hereby offer it to all you queer academic types for free, along with a catchy title: (Femme)inist Heresy or “Model” Behaviour?: Feminist Femmes’ Fascination with America’s Next Top Model (ANTM).

Read the whole column on the Xtra website.

Mannequins, Geist #56, Spring 2005

When you walk into the Waponahki Museum and Resource Center in Perry, Maine, the first thing you see is a life-sized plaster mannequin of a man dressed in traditional Waponahki clothing—fringed pants, fringed bands around his upper arms, bare torso, long black hair. Someone has stuck a yellow Post-it note on his waist that says, “My name is Fred Moore.”

Download the pdf of the whole piece here.