Curve articles from November 2005

Curve archives from November 2005

Is corporate diversity real?(frankly speaking)
November 1, 2005... Is "corporate diversity" actually improving the American workplace, or have big corporations simply coined the phrase as a slogan, hoping to cloak their practices with a veil of political correctness? In either case, as gays and as women, we...

We do love uniforms.(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2005... I have only read a few issues of your magazine, most recently the [15th anniversary] edition (Vol. 15, #3). I brought it onboard in preparation for... a 6-month deployment to "the sandbox" (Iraq) and back.... Anyhow, your publication...

The trouble with Gwen.(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2005... Congratulations on another great issue (Vol. 15, #5)!... I loved all the articles and interviews... but with one small exception: why is straight, married Gwen Stefani on the cover? Why not a gorgeous dyke musician such as Beth Ditto from the...

Demand your gay TV.(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2005... There are now two cable channels programmed specifically to the gay market: the Logo Channel and Q Television. However, Comcast Cable (a major cable provider in the Midwest) does not offer either one to their subscribers. I'm hoping that you...

We take requests.(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2005... Thank you for including Mary Gauthier in your August Music Issue. I first heard her songs a few years ago over the Internet on BBC Radio 2. I have been looking for articles on her ever since. I think she's fantastic and hope to read more about...

Online success.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2005... We both really enjoyed Kate's Lacey's article, "5 Reasons to Unplug" (Vol. 15, #5). We had a good laugh because we've both run into (and dated) the specific types of insane dykes you've mentioned! However, as a committed lesbian couple who met...

Questionable corporations.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2005... I would like to clarify a few things about the Subaru ad in your June 2005 (Vol. 15, #4) issue. The ad came from Subaru of America, or SOA. SOA is a great company... [but] there are no Subarus made in Cherryhill, N.J., which is where SOA is...

By any other name ...(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2005... I'm a bit confused about the "Six Rules for Dyke Tykes" article (Vol. 15, #5). As a trans-boy, I'm very familar with transgender language, and I'm pretty sure that a "tyke" is often used for someone who's MTF and a dyke. With the "T" meaning...

Missing Andrea Dworkin.(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2005... I want to thank Victoria A. Brownworth for her wonderful tribute about Andrea Dworkin. Unapologetic in her demands for the safety of all women, Andrea was a front-lines crusader who paid little care to her critics. Her passing leaves me grieved...

Who's on first?(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2005... TALK ABOUT AN OOPS: OUR ARTICLE on the Amazon Dragons (Vol. 15, #5), an all-lesbian dragon boat team in Portland, Ore., forgot to mention the sport's Chinese origins. We received several e-mails from Asian dragon boat paddlers around the world...

Women's advocate.(Olivia Wang )
November 1, 2005... Olivia Wang is one of those activists who seems to have always known exactly what she wanted to do. The out lesbian lawyer was named one of 2005's 21 Leaders for the 21st Century by Women's eNews for her work to change the lives of incarcerated...

Stitching a handmade revolution.(Austin Craft Mafia to hold exhibition)
November 1, 2005... BALANCING SOMEWHERE BETWEEN the fashions of faux-bourgeois society and home-ec sewing patterns from yesteryear, the Texas-based Austin Craft Mafia offers contemporary (and super dyke-friendly) crafters a reprieve from the otherwise kitschy and...

Karina Lombard is still hot.(Brief article)
November 1, 2005... KARINA LOMBARD (YES, THAT'S THE OFT-LAMENTED Marina from The L Word) turned up in two unlikely places this summer. First she joined the cast of USA's cult TV hit, The 4400. Then she appeared in a gender-bending spread in Playboy (pictured...

Lesbians launch CA's first Indie Music Fest.(California, Danielle LoPresti, Alicia Champion)
November 1, 2005... IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO GET YOUR tickets to the Second Annual San Diego Indie Music Fest (www.sdindiemusicfest.com)--a 12-hour extravaganza with over 30 artists and bands on four different stages, including headlining pop-punk phenom Veruca Salt,...

I want my queer TV.(Q Television Network launches new shows)(Brief article)
November 1, 2005... In honor of its first birthday, premium cable channel Q Television Network (www.qtelevision.com) recently debuted a hefty lineup of new shows including Brunch, co-hosted by Queer Eye for the Straight Girl alum Honey Labrador. Like QTN's live...

Melissa is back (and sexy).(Melissa Etheridge)(Brief article)
November 1, 2005... DONE WITH CHEMO, MELISSA Etheridge is rockin' again with a new greatest hits album climbing the charts. She's also supporting other breast cancer survivors, recently helping to raise over $122,000 at Rock the Cure, hosted by L.A.'s Hard Rock...

Movin' on up.(Patricia Evert appointed at Gill Foundation's Leverage Center)(Brief article)
November 1, 2005... PATRICIA EVERT--THE woman who helped raise more than $55 million dollars toward HIV/AIDS services and education during her seven-year tenure at Gay Men's Health Crisis--has been named director of the Gill Foundation's Leverage Center. The Gill...

Bookworms on the red carpet.(Lambda Literary Awards)
November 1, 2005... LESBIAN AUTHORS HAD THEIR RED carpet moment last June at the 17th Annual Lambda Literary Awards, a gala reception and awards ceremony in New York City. Emceed by the indefatigable comedian and Broadway actress Lea DeLaria, the awards were...

Rainbows and lollipops: Lesley Gore comes out.
November 1, 2005... WHEN I HOSTED THE NATION'S FIRST (and then, only) lesbian radio program, Amazon Country (WXPN-FM), in the 1970s, I often played a song by Lesley Gore: "You Don't Own Me." Gore had recorded the song in 1964 when she was only 17. The song had a...

Fruity flies and the gay gene.(curvatures)(Brief article)
November 1, 2005... DURING THE HEAT OF SEDUCING a virgin maiden, the fruit fly eschews flowers and chocolates for a personalized concerto of rapturous melodies meant to seduce its object of desire. It produces a sensual, heart-wrenching song by furiously rubbing...

Open studio.(Rachael Ann Stoppello's paintings )(Brief article)
November 1, 2005... Rachael Ann Stoppello's paintings combine surrealism and ethereal lighting to balance wondrous whimsy with somber themes. "Government Cruelty" depicts a foursome of disturbingly adorable drunken bullets dressed in stars-and-stripes patterned...

Bois, bois, bois.(International Drag King Extravaganza, Winnipeg, Manitoba)(Brief article)
November 1, 2005... DRAG AFICIONADOS FROM AROUND the globe ventured to Winnipeg, Manitoba, last month for the Seventh Annual International Drag King Extravaganza (IDKE). A four-day spectacular of gender-bending fun, IDKE 7 (www.idkewinnipeg.com) included drag...

Is she cheating or just rude?(dating)
November 1, 2005... Dear Lipstick and Dipstick: I've met this beautiful woman I want to date, but she's confused me. What does she mean when she says she'd like to get to know me without the pressure of dating?--Dateless in Seattle Lipstick: It means she's 95...

A strapping femme.(ask fairy butch)
November 1, 2005... Dear Fairy Butch: I hear that you're the all-time strap-on queen, so please, for the love of all that is sacred in this world, help me. I am a femmey, frilly, tough genderqueer dyke. My new girlfriend and I are having fun, but now she wants me...

5 gaydar failures.
November 1, 2005... Your gaydar is buzzing for the cute girl with the crew cut in overalls, only to shrink away when she locks lips with her boyfriend (and not in that cute bisexual girl way, either). How could you have been so wrong? In these complex social...

Come out, come out, wherever you are.(Jessica Cabo, Mena Suvari, Nicole Kidman )
November 1, 2005... THERE ARE MANY STAGES OF COMING out. There's the accidentally caught holding hands with your girlfriend stage. There's the openly snogging her on national TV stage. And then there's the "no comment" stage. Guess which one is most fun? ...

She said, she said.
November 1, 2005... "Instead of recycling the gender status quo, queer women should model new values to represent femininity and masculinity. Nurturing butches to be sensitive, vulnerable, [and] deferential while empowering femmes to be strong, outspoken and...

Never a Swiss miss: ready for an authentic spa vacation? Visit Europe's most spectacular wellness destination.(Switzerland)
November 1, 2005... Spas are all the rage in the United States and by now most of us seem to be familiar with terms like "watsu" and "glycolic facial." But Europeans will tell you that spas aren't just about a shinier, prettier you: Originally, they were designed...

No Shrinking Violet: actress Jane Lynch comes out, talks trash and tells us why we all need a little therapy.(Interview)
November 1, 2005... When POWER UP announced its annual Ten Amazing Gay Women in Showbiz this summer, it was filled with Hollywood hotshots like Showtime vice president Gwen Marcus, Nip/Tuck director Jamie Babbit and Herbie auteur Angela Robinson. But one name...

The Top 30 Companies for Lesbians.(CAREERS SPECIAL)
November 1, 2005... So much goes into making a great company that this year we've decided to expand our list--it's twice as big, in fact, and we've consulted twice as many resources to make sure that we hit all the bases. This year PepsiCo tops our list of Top 30...

Is your company missing? A few companies that didn't make the list may or may not surprise you.(CAREERS SPECIAL)
November 1, 2005... American Airlines: If we could name someone to this Top Companies list it'd be American Airlines. Heck, last year Betty Young, who leads AA's national LGBT sales and marketing group, one of the first such groups in a Fortune 500 company, made...

Women's work.(CAREERS SPECIAL)(Brief article)
November 1, 2005... BEING LESBIAN-OWNED ISN'T a guarantee that a company is a great place to work, but we admit we're partial to queer higher-ups. Here are three up-and-coming dyke-owned ventures. QUEER STUFF ENTERPRISES: A family-run business founded by...

Your money, your life.(Money Without Matrimony: The Unmarried Couple's Guide to Financial Security)(I Do ... Don't I?)(Estate Planning for Same-Sex Couples)(Self-Employed Tax Solutions)(The Accidental Entrepreneur)(How to Start a Home-Based Mail Order Business)(Business as Unusual)(Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Workers' Rights at Wal-Mart)(Book review)
November 1, 2005... Grab this handy reading list and head to your local bookstore to get a financial clue. Legal and Financial Planning Money Without Matrimony: The Unmarried Couple's Guide to Financial Security, Sheryl Garrett and Debra A. Neiman...

Gender trouble: there's a whole new fight against workplace discrimination brewing.(CAREERS SPECIAL)
November 1, 2005... We've come a long way since 1964--the year that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act made employer discrimination on the basis of race, national origin, sex or religion a federal crime--but sexual orientation and gender identity (defined by...

Girls with moxie.(LifeMoxie!, education consulting firm)
November 1, 2005... I'll be the first to admit it: I've joined a cult. OK, there's no spiked Kool-Aid or admonitions to give my money to a new spiritual leader. Quite the opposite, in fact. I've become an acolyte of LifeMoxie!, a California-based education and...

Courtroom drama: attorney, rocker, producer--is there anything she can't do?(Dina LaPolt )(Interview)
November 1, 2005... At 26, New Paltz, N.Y., native Dina LaPolt was lead singer for the lipstick lesbian band Irresistible Impulse. The next year, she enrolled in law school and today, 39-year-old LaPolt--the daughter of an artist and a prison administrator--is the...

Confessions of a fraud: the art of self-promotion.(self publishing)
November 1, 2005... Anais Nin, Virginia Woolf and Gertrude Stein were all maverick writers who believed in their craft enough to resort to self-publishing, but none of them did it by assuming enough personalities to give Sybil a migraine. For me, multiple...

Best lesbian place to work: forget the Fortune 500. Most dykes would kill to work for Olivia.(CAREERS SPECIAL)
November 1, 2005... Judy Dlugacz was a "pink diaper baby," a child of socialists who grew up watching some of the brightest and most outspoken political activists engage in incisive debate in the living room of her childhood home. Her dad was a CPA and her mom was...

The accidental environmentalist: Kim Carlson found out the environment was good for business.(CAREERS SPECIAL)
November 1, 2005... Minneapolis-based entrepreneur Kim Carlson was an environmental activist long before she knew the meaning of the word. "I read Silent Spring by Rachel Carson for a book report in the fifth grade and I was appalled by the poisons in our...

The need for speed: taking to the skies.(Michelle Veillon, pilot)(Interview)
November 1, 2005... "You're in a line of 50 airplanes trying to get off the ground," Michelle Veillon begins eagerly. "Everybody's waiting, and someone's keyed the mic [that connects air traffic control and all the pilots] and says, 'I'm fucking bored.' And the...

We're in the money: venture capitalist Melissa Bradley teaches lesbians a thing or two about business.(CAREERS SPECIAL)(Interview)
November 1, 2005... Melissa Bradley is a busy woman. "I live and die by my BlackBerry," she says over the phone. She's technically on vacation, but really she's working before she heads to Cape Cod with her family. The 37-year-old is president and founder of New...

Top 10 lesbian power couples: admit it, you envy them.(CAREERS SPECIAL)
November 1, 2005... 1. Talk of the Town Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, together 11 months Could there be a more famous lesbian couple than Emmy Award-winning DeGeneres and sitcom star de Rossi? After stumbling through several public breakups, our...

Paying the Rent: Idina Menzel and Tracie Thoms team up to bring lesbian love--and the queerest Broadway show--to the big screen.
November 1, 2005... Every year, if we're lucky, something magical comes along to light up the holiday sky in a way that reminds us to take stock and count our blessings, rather than focus on the hustle and bustle of gift buying, party invites and turkey hangovers....

Dyke psychics.(Suzanne Deakins)
November 1, 2005... Halloween was creeping up and a chilly breeze sent a shiver up my back. As I pushed my bicycle toward my favorite coffee shop I saw the sign: "Free Psychic Readings Today." With some trepidation, I decided to see what the cards had in store....

Short-term romances.(sapphic screen)
November 1, 2005... WHO SAYS IT HAS TO LAST TWO HOURS TO BE GOOD? This summer a spate of sexually charged lesbian-themed short and feature films sizzled on the gay and lesbian film festival circuit. With humor, pathos and a dash of kink, these films celebrate the...

Girl groups we adore.(music watch)(The Woods, Sleater-Kinney )(Burn, Fruit )(Get Cool, The Catch )(Turning Into Beautiful, Ferron )(The Cookbook, Missy Elliott )(Brasil, Salome de Bahia )(Sin Sick, Minton Sparks )(Walk in the Park, Dena DeRose )(Rarities, Indigo Girls )(Are You Wigglin?, Gravy Train!!! )(Voice, Alison Moyet )(Still Life, Amee Chapman )(Sound recording review)
November 1, 2005... PUNK VETERANS SLEATER-KINNEY, Australian pop sensation Fruit and garage-pop newbie the Catch may be at varying stages of their careers, but they're all redefining what it means to be a "girl group" in the music business today. The Woods,...

You're leaving me for who?(dyke drama)
November 1, 2005... NO BREAKUP SMARTS LIKE THE ONE where a girl leaves you to slip into someone more comfortable. It's like losing a contest you didn't even know you were in. You feel so stupid. Why didn't you see it coming? It's the kind of pain that makes a dyke...

So you want to be an activist?(brownworth)(Column)
November 1, 2005... WHEN I WAS 6 I DECIDED ON MY career: I was going to be a doctor, a cross between Albert Schweitzer and Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman doctor. I wanted to help people. In high school and college I worked at the very hospital where...

Bloggers exposed.(tech girl)(Chis Hampton, co-founder of WYSIWYG (www.wysiwygtalentshow.org) and other blog stars)(Column)
November 1, 2005... "I BASICALLY HAD A STORY ABOUT an ex-girlfriend that I thought was funny," says Chris Hampton, longtime blogger and co-founder of the WYSIWYG Talent Show, a small-operation all-blogger performance event tucked away in Manhattan's East Village....

Top ten: reasons we love Johnny Mozzarella.(Maryanne Cassera performs as drag king Johnny Mozzarella)
November 1, 2005... IT'S TRUE, PORTLAND DYKES ARE agog for one dude--Johnny Mozzarella. The drag king alter ego of activist Maryanne Cassera, Johnny Mozzarella is a hip-swiveling ladies' man out to change the world one performance at a time. Here's why we're agog,...