Curve articles from February 2005

Curve archives from February 2005

Let's talk about sex.(frankly speaking)
February 1, 2005... When a woman I used to date once introduced me to a group of women I didn't know as her "ex-girlfriend," I uncomfortably smiled and shook their hands. But I had never really considered the woman my "ex." After all, we had dated only a few times...

Tune in, Melissa.(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2005... Thank you so much for the wonderful article on Melissa Etheridge (Vol. 14, #7). I was thrilled to hear her take on the current state of the record industry. It really is sad that there are so many struggling artists that are so talented and may...

Victoria Brownworth saved my life.(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2005... I would like to say thank you to all the wonderful people who make CURVE possible. I also send a special thank you to Victoria A. Brownworth for an article she wrote that may very well have saved my life. I have spent the last seven years...

Can Curve come out to play, continued.(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2005... I read Becky Rodriguez's letter about CURVE's mailing wrapper (Vol. 14, #7). I feel the same way about the black wrapping that CURVE comes in. It pretty much does feel like you're getting porn. Not that I have a problem with porn, but I'd...

Holy matrimony.(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2005... After last year's special weddings issue, CURVE was flooded with letters from readers who took the plunge. Many of you ventured out to San Francisco, New Mexico, New York and Massachusetts, while others traveled by plane, train and automobile...

Sing it out.(Out in Front)(Blair Hansen)(Interview)
February 1, 2005... Blair Hansen may be a rising teen rock musician, but she's no junk-food pop tart. The 18-year-old classically trained Castro Valley, California, native, whose self-titled debut album was released last year and who's been celebrated at music...

Rosie's branching out.(curvatures)
February 1, 2005... IN FRONT OF A SOLD-OUT AUDIENCE LAST OCTOBER, Rosie O'Donnell and her partner, Kelli, were the first-ever recipients of the Family Pride Coalition's Family Tree Award, honoring those who steadfastly work to advance the rights of lesbian and gay...

Can't think straight on QVC.(curvatures)
February 1, 2005... DESIGNER DIANE WHITE'S jaunty, distinctive hat with the diagonal brim, called the side cap, was recently featured on Oprah Winfrey's "Million Dollar Idea Challenge" and on QVC's nationwide product search. It turns out, though, that the slogan...

Pass me a Dittie.(curvatures)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... BARBARA CAREY, THE CREATOR OF the hairagami, walked down the tampon aisle not too long ago marveling that the products available--from tampons to pads--lacked a little, shall we say, je ne sais quoi. "It's no surprise women feel cursed," says...

Lesbian murdered in Sierra Leone.(curvatures)(Sierra Leone Lesbian and Gay Association )
February 1, 2005... FANNYANN EDDY, WHO TWO YEARS ago formed the Sierra Leone Lesbian and Gay Association (SLLAGA), often worked late at her office in Freetown, the capital of the former British colony in West Africa. She would spend hours planning the next lesbian...

Reba comes out to play.(curvatures)
February 1, 2005... IS COUNTRY STAR REBA MCENTIRE A lesbian? Alas, no, but her soccer-mom TV character was mistaken for one on an episode of her self-titled WB sitcom when Wendy Malick (Just Shoot Me) guest-starred as a lesbian sports agent named Sadie who mistook...

We're moving on up.(curvatures)(Kate Kendell)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... THIS PAST SEPTEMBER, KATE KENDELL, EXECUTIVE director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (www.nclrights.org), was named one of California's Top 100 Most Influential Attorneys by The Daily Journal. Kendell was praised for her devotion to...

Baby sitter please!(curvatures)(gay parents)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... 61% Number of black, female, same-sex households that include kids 38% Number of white, female, same-sex households that include kids

Vegas, baby!(curvatures)
February 1, 2005... IF YOU THOUGHT GETTING A CHANCE TO SPOT JORJA FOX FILMING A SCENE from CSI was the only reason to go to Vegas, think again. Girl Bar, the nation's longest running lesbian dance club, is heading to Vegas for once-a-month dinner and dance parties...

I'd like to thank the [begin strikethrough]academy[end strikethrough] community ...(curvatures)
February 1, 2005... TOO LATE FOR THE EMMYS, TOO early for the Oscars. How about the Ohana Awards? Put on by the Asian Pacific Islanders for Human Rights (APIHR)/'Ohana House, the L.A.-based Ohana Awards honored community members for their service to the Asian...

Atlanta goes androgynous.(curvatures)
February 1, 2005... YOU'VE STILL GOT TIME to be in the aisles when designer Jarbas Pereira puts a whole new queer spin on fashion with the dazzling Atlanta display of Androgyny. To be held February 27 at the Ferst Center for the Arts at Georgia Tech, Androgyny...

Hydration nation.(curvatures)
February 1, 2005... BY DRINKING VENUS WATER FOR WOMEN, the newest product available from Woman on Top, you'll help keep not only yourself healthy, but other women as well. Besides getting purified drinking water that's not made by some big conglomerate like...

Pucker up, buttercup.(curvatures)(same sex marriage)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... AT HIGH NOON LAST OCTOBER 16, women from across the country and globe locked lips for 12 seconds in front of Provincetown, Mass., Town Hall. As if that weren't enough, the event merited a Guinness World Record for number of women kissing...

Open studio.(Erica Cho)(Brief Article)(Interview)
February 1, 2005... "Guerrilla art" is how Erica Cho describes her work, which sounds almost comical, coming from the gentle, feminine, almost ethereal voice floating through the phone receiver. "I don't really privilege one audience over another. The more spaces...

Should I date my stalker?(lipstick & dipstick)(lesbians)
February 1, 2005... Editor's note: Remember Donny and Marie, the ubiquitous singing siblings who were a little bit county, a little bit rock 'n' roll? Well, we've done them one up with a pair of lesbian best friends--Gina Daggett and Kathy Belge--who are a little...

Operation: get away.(ask fairy butch)
February 1, 2005... EVERYONE KNOWS THAT WHEN a relationship turns sour, it's time to go. And when it starts turning really sour--like, stalker-sour--it's time to really go, in which case you burn all paper trails and adopt a new last name. Dating is never...

Coming out as trans.(ask fairy butch)
February 1, 2005... Dear Fairy Butch: I am a 20-year-old butch dyke and I'm in love with a beautiful, open-minded, terribly sweet Danish girl I met on the Internet. She says she wants to come to America to meet me, and I believe she really likes me, maybe...

It's all about the D Word.(lesbofile)
February 1, 2005... Same City, Different Sex In case you haven't heard, last fall Sex and the City star and Emmy winner Cynthia Nixon was outed by the New York Daily News when sources close to Nixon confided that she had been dating a woman since January. The...

She said.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... "I was court-ordered to Alcoholics Anonymous on television. Pretty much blows the hell out of the second 'A,' wouldn't you say?" >> Paula Poundstone on The Late Show "I have this theory that lesbians start certain fashion things. I used...

Philadelphia freedom: you might not think you're much of a history buff, but there's more to Philadelphia than the Liberty Bell--it really is the city of sisterly and brotherly love.
February 1, 2005... I admit it: When it comes to politics, I can get a little obsessed. Labor Day West Wing marathon? I'm there. C-SPAN broadcasting Ann Richards' 4 a.m. address to the Democratic convention delegates from Delaware? Count me in. Camille Paglia...

What do lesbians do in bed? You think you know everything about lesbian sex, but what if you're just coming out and you know, well, very little? You've finally got the other girl--now what do you do with her? One dyke answers the age-old question: what exactly is lesbian sex, and how do you know when it's begun?(Cover Story)
February 1, 2005... Girl Sex Sure, we're not all about sex, but sometimes a healthy debate over what defines it is essential. Our annual sex issue has that and plenty more, from dating tips, surefire Valentine's gifts, singleton confessions and all things...

Show me love: six new ways to pick up chicks.
February 1, 2005... I'll never find love! I wish there were more ways to meet lesbians! Single siren, have you cried these words? Are you sick of sifting through the array of "no-fats-no-femmes-love-candlelight" personals for the acronym that might fit you?...

Is sex better when you're single?
February 1, 2005... It's Saturday night. I've just spent an eventful evening sweating it out on the dance floor with a bunch of tattooed 20-somethings who were doing their best to look ironic. Now I'm back at home, the hangover is already looming like an unpaid...

Think outside the chocolate box: your best bets for Valentine's Day gifts.
February 1, 2005... Somewhere between the sweaty single hookups of youth and the wedded bliss of middle age (or 22, if you're like some of us) is the courting period, a rite of passage in which each Valentine's Day is a critical make-or-break test of your...

The look of love: folk rocker Laura Love almost didn't live past puberty. But thanks to some divine intervention, she's released nine albums, raised a toddler with her partner of 10 years and written a tell-all about growing up with a mentally ill mom.(Interview)
February 1, 2005... At THE AGE OF 12--AT HER mother's request--Laura Love decided to hang herself. Before tightening the noose around her own neck, her mother asked her first to hang the family cat, Sugar Plum, in a tragic last act of murder-suicide. Love did the...

Heavenly Creature: though she's a fixture in queer films, including the upcoming Donut Hole, Melanie Lynskey plays it straight--sort of--for prime-time television.(Interview)
February 1, 2005... Imagine BEING PULLED OUT OF ENGLISH CLASS AT AGE 15 TO AUDITION FOR THE coveted role of a teenaged matricidal lesbian. That's what happened to Melanie Lynskey more than 10 years ago, when she scored one of the leading roles in Heavenly...

Our miss Congeniality.(Kashish Chopra)(Interview)
February 1, 2005... Long before manufacturer-wannabe Julie promised (and then failed) to become the first Indian supermodel on America's Next Top Model, Kashish Chopra was making a name--and a face--for herself across the country. A beauty queen, an Indian...

Achy breaky hearts.(sapphic screen)(Video Recording Review)
February 1, 2005... JUST IN TIME FOR VALENTINE'S DAY, three films and a television series are out on DVD, all in which lesbians lose love and find it again in the arms of another woman. Oh, l'amour! Incidental Journey (Creative Films) Taiwanese lesbian...

DVD picks.(sapphic screen)
February 1, 2005... DOCUMENTARIES: In Good Conscience: Sister Jeannine Gramick's Journey of Faith (Out of the Blue Films): Director Barbara Rick documents the journey of an American nun who ministers to queer Catholics, is ordered to stop and attempts to...

Virgin alert.(Q & A: Deborah Kampmeier)(Interview)
February 1, 2005... Deborah Kampmeier's psychologically penetrating indie film Virgin tells the story of Jessie (The West Wing's Elisabeth Moss), a troubled teen who wakes from a drug and alcohol binge with no memory of the evening before. When she discovers she's...

Tasty fish out of water.(in the stacks)(Once Upon a Dyke: New Exploits of Fairy Tale Lesbians Stories)(Book Review)
February 1, 2005... ROXANNE REAVER TAKES ON Hollywood and a bevy of dyke writers rewrite kids' classics for a very grown-up audience, in two new must-reads. Once Upon a Dyke: New Exploits of Fairy Tale Lesbians Stories, Barbara Johnson, Karin Kallmaker,...

Other page-turners.(in the stacks)(book reviews)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
February 1, 2005... IN BOOKSTORES NOW: Girls Will Be Boys Will Be Girls Will Be..., ed. J.T. Bunnell and Irit Reinheimer (Soft Skull): Finally, the gender coloring book we all came to love in its original DIY clip-art photocopied incarnation is out in a...

A reading rainbow.(Q & A: Jacqueline Woodson)(Interview)
February 1, 2005... Acclaimed, vibrant and generous, as well as commercially successful, Jacqueline Woodson is the author of more than 25 children's novels and picture books, many sensitively dealing with controversial topics such as child abuse, imprisoned...

Music for dreamers.(music watch)(Sound Recording Review)
February 1, 2005... WHETHER YOU'RE A HOPELESS romantic or a more jaded, Valentine's-Day-is-a-holiday-created-by-greedy-greeting-card-companies cynic, we can't help using the season of love as an excuse to highlight a few new releases that'll help you set the mood...

Other licks.(music watch)(Sound Recording Review)
February 1, 2005... ON CD: Renee Olstead, Renee Olstead (143/Reprise): This surprisingly mature and impressive debut recording from the 14-year-old actor-singer is a beautiful collection of American standards, including "Summertime" and "Midnight at the...

On the road again.(Q & A: Chris Pureka)(Interview)
February 1, 2005... Chris Pureka sings about open roads, drinking on porches and misfired romances. While this may seem like well-worn territory, she takes the back roads, with the listener sitting shotgun, Pureka's storytelling lyrics and haunting voice seeming...

I'm awake now.(dyke drama)
February 1, 2005... WHAT HAS FOUR LEGS, HAS SEX ON the first date and then never has sex again? Give up? A lesbian couple. Remember the term "lesbian bed death"? I wish I didn't. For those of you who missed the '80s or were too busy having sex to read about...

Meditation on a new year.(brownworth)(Column)
February 1, 2005... I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THE new year for months. The need for that clean slate, fresh-start impetus of a new year was really bearing down on me by the end of 2004. The new year holds such promise--2004 was fraught with such turmoil that I am...

Evening the playing field.(tech girl)(electronic games)
February 1, 2005... IN THE VIRTUAL GAMING WORLD, real-life female programmers have always seemed to take a back seat to the busty, lusty Lara Croft-esque digital women created by their male counterparts. That may no longer be the case. Last fall, five female...

Gadget alert.(tech girl)
February 1, 2005... TRANSLATION FOR BEGINNERS The slim, pocket-sized Franklin 5-Language European Translator (a cool $24.95 at www.franklin.com) boasts instant access to 210,000 total translations to and from English, French, German, Spanish and Italian, plus...

Top ten: reasons Pamela Means rocks.(Interview)
February 1, 2005... MORE THAN JUST AN INCREDIBLY talented musician, Pamela Means is an incredibly dedicated woman, not just to her fans or her craft, but also to her convictions. She's political, philosophical and, as fellow artist Ani DiFranco declares, "You've...