Curve articles from August 2004

Curve archives from August 2004

Supersize us.(Frankly Speaking)(Editorial)
August 1, 2004... I hope you've noticed we've made a few changes lately. They're not exactly sudden transformations; we've been planning to unveil them for a while now. At our last staff retreat, one of our loftiest goals was to give you more. More pages, more...

Looking out for homeless queer youth.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2004... I was excited to see your article "Queer Kids: Homeless in America" (Vol. 14, #2). As a program that works in part to address homelessness, we are well aware it is a huge issue for the youth in the LGBTQ community. It was important that your...

Chowin' down in Vancouver.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2004... Did any of your staff actually visit a Tim Hortons in preparation for this article (Vol. 14, #2)? Just so you know, Tim Hortons does not serve burgers. --G. Lamon, Toronto Laurie K. Schenden responds: I ate at a Tim Hortons on the road...

Gettin' hitched in Portland.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2004... Thank you for the great article about Portland for lesbians (Vol. 14, #3). Those of us who live here know what a good thing we have. Your readers would also be interested to know that Multnomah County is the ONLY place in the United States...

Again with the L Word babes.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2004... I have to say one last thing about the big L Word debate. It's really sad that everyone is focusing on what the women look like and not on the fact that there is finally a show out there about us. When Friends came on the air, did you complain...

Purring over pets issue.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2004... I loved the articles about lesbians and their pets, especially "Saving Grace" (Vol. 14, #3). Like Victoria A. Brownworth, I've saved a few animals, as have many of my lesbian friends. I'm a touring musician and a couple of years ago, I found a...

Reptile equivalent of "meow".(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2004... CURVE, how could you? Frances Stevens promised us a "special pet issue," and all we got were dogs and cats! This is species bias! Why, it's right there in print: "Reptile: 2.3 percent" ("Frankly Speaking," Vol. 14, #3)--but there's not a scale...

A power couple to watch.(Out in Front)
August 1, 2004... Just being a former-soldier-turned-musician would be enough of a career twist for most women, but not Juliet Draper. The singer, who had a giant club hit with a remake of Grace Jones' classic "I Need a Man," is also a World Firefighter Combat...

Top ten: reasons we love Melissa Ferrick.(Curvatures)(Biography)
August 1, 2004... PERHAPS NO OTHER LESBIAN musician garners the kind of slavish devotion that rocker Melissa Ferrick does. Her devotees, or Ferrickheads, call in sick when her CDs come out and follow her around the country tallying Ferrick concerts like that...

Barbie rules!(Curvatures)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... A teenager who was sent home from school for wearing a "Barbie Is a Lesbian" T-shirt has received $30,000 in a settlement with the New York City Department of Education, according to PlanetOut.com. Natalie Young, 15, wore the shirt to middle...

Little girls with guitars.(Curvatures)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... EVER DANCE AROUND with a brush and a mirror, singing "Hot Child in the City" and dreaming of what your life would be like onstage... if only you weren't 8? So did Misty McElroy, apparently. A Florida native, McElroy founded the Portland,...

Dire straights.(Curvatures)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Lesbians weren't surprised to find some dyke subtext in the summer camp remake of The Stepford Wives. We'd heard rumors about those pod people all along.

Curve tour 2004.(Curvatures)(Brief Article)(Calendar)
August 1, 2004... We're putting on our cute little retro Pride rings and hitting the open highway for this year's CURVE Tour! If you see us in your neck of the woods, stop by and say hello--we've got a great deal on a subscription for you at these official CURVE...

Canadian girls can't kiss.(Curvatures)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Drama students at Handworth Secondary School in North Vancouver, British Columbia, were shocked to find that lesbian liplocks must be written out of their performances, according to LesbiaNation.com. The play, Broken Theory, deals with drugs,...

They can jump, but can they graduate?(Curvatures)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... 67%: Graduation rate of women on the University of Connecticut basketball team (NCAA champions) over the past six years 27%: Graduation rate for those on the men's team (also NCAA champions) over the same time. Source: Time

Marriage movement cleans up.(Curvatures)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Soap importer Baudelaire Inc. has a curious new marketing strategy: The New Hampshire-based company, which specializes in distinctive bath products from all over the world, now offers a two-for-one special to "any same-sex couple who faxes it a...

Michigan mishugana.(Curvatures)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Headed off to the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival this August, now celebrating its third decade? With three stages of performers, hundreds of workshops, a film festival, crafts area, basketball courts, and daily yoga, fitness and dance classes...

Finding your own bass line.(Horoscopes)
August 1, 2004... THE SOUNDS AND RHYTHMS THAT power our every movement are reverberating throughout the cosmos in high-pitched arias and dull, soothing tones. Music in the summer needn't be a formal score played on a CD or an instrument, but can be more simply...

Like bees to the flower.(Lesbofile)
August 1, 2004... AH, IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN. TAKE A whiff of the sweet smell of gossip, drifting up from the Lesbofile. I just love it when you race right over to me as your first stop when opening the pages of your CURVE. I can't wait to see you, too. Let's not...

Quote unquote.
August 1, 2004... "Katherine brings that revolutionary androgyny that confounds. She can pass for a boy, yet she's totally sexy. I think men respond to her as much as women do." >> L Word creator Ilene Chaiken on actress Katherine Moennig to the Philadelphia...

Show me the money.(2004 Music)(Interview)
August 1, 2004... "I'm sitting at a table with Too Short last week and my homegirl blurts out, 'Yeah, she's the gay Missy Elliott,'" laughs underground rapper/hip-hop/gospel singer Miss Money. "Too Short's looking at me like, 'You gotta be kidding me?' Then he...

She's gotta have it.(Christina Aguilera)
August 1, 2004... These days, it seems like every other young pop and R & B star is flirting with lesbianism. We thought a brief survey of mainstream divas was in order. Christina Aguilera She told a U.K. paper, "Two women are way sexier than two men in...

DIY queen behind the music.(2004 Music)
August 1, 2004... Madalyn Sklar is the feisty founder of GoGirls Music, the oldest and largest online community of indie women musicians. For eight years, their catchy motto ("Cuz chicks rock!") has been inspiring thousands of musicians, from rock to reggae to...

I was a music-school dropout.(2004 Music)
August 1, 2004... Graduation is coming up, and 19-year-old Nellie McKay says she's been having nightmares all week. "I'm back in class and I keep getting the answer wrong, and everybody keeps laughing at me." Sure, we've all had those dreams, right? Sometimes...

Most likely groove girls: the hit list.(2004 Music)
August 1, 2004... We scoured the country to come up with our list of musicians--some gay, some straight (you do the guessing)--who deserve all the accolades thrust upon them. Most Deserving of Overnight Fame Cherie This 19-year-old French singer's...

Oh, the horror!(Sapphic Screen)(Movie Review)
August 1, 2004... LESBIAN THRILLERS have typically been of the faux-lesbo-with-an-ice-pick oeuvre, but a couple of new independent horror films may just change all that. Haute Tension This brutally terrifying French film caused a stir in Europe,...

Other picks.(Sapphic Screen)
August 1, 2004... IN THEATERS: Love Life: Nanci Gaglio's witty short combines slapstick comedy with disability issues and lesbian passion. Shaolin Soccer: Even if you don't like special-effects-laden kung-fusoccer comedies, you must check out this...

Violent times.(Q & A: Chris Russo)(Interview)
August 1, 2004... Chris Russo's experimental films That's Amore and Virgin of the Sea, and her documentary Straight Down the Aisle: Confessions of Lesbian Bridesmaids, have been hits at festivals around the globe. Her short film Size 'Em Up aired on Showtime and...

Genre benders make good.(Music Watch)(Sound Recording Review)
August 1, 2004... Blame Sally Blame Sally www.blamesally.com Sounding like a more mature Jewel--only they're a quarter--Blame Sally offers simple songs meant to be savored. Gentle, resounding ballads make up their prettily packaged debut....

Editor's pick.(Music Watch)(Gail Ann Dorsey, I Used To Be)(Brief Article)(Sound Recording Review)
August 1, 2004... Gail Ann Dorsey, I Used To Be: When Gail Ann Dorsey was a teenager in Philly, she learned guitar, bass, clarinet, drums and vocals and began writing her own musical compositions--and full-length screenplays to accompany them. After a stint at...

Other licks.(Music Watch)
August 1, 2004... ON CD: The Essential Bangles: Skip the Atomic Kitten remake and revisit this all-girl, part-lesbian band with this enjoyable compilation. Bigger: This melodic indie debut from Annie Quick, former front-woman for Stickman Jones, offers...

Lovely Little Things.(Q & A: Toby Lightman)(Interview)
August 1, 2004... One day, critics dubbed her music acoustic-and-soul-drenched pop; the next, Toby Lightman's debut CD, Little Things, cracked the Billboard Top 200. Surpassing other young hotties, like Joss Stone, Lightman became that week's best-selling new...

I Had Brain Surgery, What's Your Excuse?: An Illustrated Memoir.(Writing from the Margins)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2004... Suzy Becker I Had Brain Surgery, What's Your Excuse?: An Illustrated Memoir Workman $19.95 Suzy Becker, author of the best-selling gift books All I Need to Know I Learned From My Cat and My Dog's the World's Best Dog, started...

Back to Basics: A Butch-Femme Anthology.(Writing from the Margins)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2004... Therese Szymanski, Ed. Back to Basics: A Butch-Femme Anthology Bella Books $14.95 Just when I was feeling hungry for some tingly butch-femme intrigue, along came Back to Basics, edited by self-professed butch mystery author...

The Rights of Lesbians, Gay Men, Bisexuals, and Transgender People: The Authoritative ACLU Guide to a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender Person's Rights, Fourth Edition.(Writing from the Margins)(Book Review)
August 1, 2004... Nan D. Hunter, Courtney G. Joslin and Sharon M. McGowan The Rights of Lesbians, Gay Men, Bisexuals, and Transgender People: The Authoritative ACLU Guide to a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender Person's Rights, Fourth Edition ...

Other page-turners.(In the Stacks)(Bend, Don't Shatter: Poets on the Beginning of Desire)(Evolution's Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People)(Book Review)
August 1, 2004... EDITOR'S PICKS: Bend, Don't Shatter: Poets on the Beginning of Desire, edited by T. Cole Rachel and Rita D. Costello: This great collection of poetry for queer young adults reminds us why teens often turn to poetry during the tumultuous...

Piercing silence.(Q & A: Michele J. Hale)(Interview)
August 1, 2004... After her debut novel, Skin, garnered rave reviews, 26-year-old Michele J. Hale probably could have scored a mainstream book deal. But after penning 11 novels, she decided to keep her ventures independent. Now she's back with Eleven, a sexy,...

E-merge.(Out on the Web)
August 1, 2004... IT'S HOT, AND SO ARE YOU. WHETHER you're indoors or out, use your summer downtime to enhance your expression and expand your scope. The tools to claim and share dyke power are literally at your fingertips. Best Shot www.wmm.com ...

Riding a bi-cycle.(Dyke Drama)
August 1, 2004... THE OTHER DAY, A DISTRAUGHT co-worker cornered me and told me she thought her teenage daughter might be a lesbian. She gave me the five-minute version of her daughter's life story and finished by asking me if I thought her daughter was gay....

Fighting for our lives.(Brownworth)
August 1, 2004... THE OPPRESSIVE HEAT OF SUMMER still envelops the nation in its sweltering pall. The crisp, cool days of autumn--and the November election--may seem many air-conditioning bills away. Nevertheless, there is no time to waste. November may be...

Photo play.(Brief Article)(Illustration)
August 1, 2004... Susannah Anderson-Minshall is a disabled artist who juxtaposes found commercial images to make statements about gender, race, politics, environment, disability and sexuality. "(Butter) Flight" uses butterflies to symbolize transformation and...