Gays in the Woods

& we’re back for season 2! Today I’m so delighted to share a conversation with somebody who showed me what rural queer community could look like in my own backyard: Elizabeth Snyder. Elizabeth has been helping to create spaces for rural queer people to connect over party lines & dance floors for over 35 years. On community corner, I talk about divesting from police in rural communities, & sharing our work on this & other issues.

In our 1st season finale, I talk to my friend D about starting a queer-positive arts venue in a small town, & keeping it alive on the internet while we’re all sheltering in place. We’ll be taking a month long hiatus after this episode, & will be back in time to celebrate Pride on the pod in June! In the meantime, please find Gays in the Woods on facebook or find me on twitter or instagram @emlfc, & let me know if you or somebody you know should be on a future episode!

This episode is a little bit different. This week instead of interviewing somebody else, I decided to record an audio diary of my queer experience of aloneness, both during this pandemic & more generally.

I sat down with my poetry crewmate (& more recently, fellow local pandemic support group admin) Tammy MacKenzie — AKA dimorphic — to talk about some of the many things they care about, & why the community needs a bus driver to help us stay safe in these trying times, even though school’s out & we’re all staying home. Links to resources mentioned throughout this episode will be in the show notes posted on the Gays in the Woods facebook page.

This week Emmet talked to Holly Brown, who founded the group known as Rainbow Union Dundas & Grenville, & is looking to pass the torch. You can get in touch with Holly at hollybrown.rudg@gmail.com. This is also our very first episode as a member of the Upford Network. Can’t quarantine that away from me!

My buddy Fish tells us about his experiences moving to a small town as a punk from the city. Are nosey neighbours a plus when you’re trying to make friends? How does Perth Pride compare to Capital Pride? What makes for a positive coming out experience — & does that term even make sense to either of us? & where can a punk set up a drum kit around here? Fish shouts out Algonquin College, Fiddleheads Thursday open mic, & Peter’s restaurant. Emmet shouts out a guy named Peter & a non-guy named Jacob. On community corner, you’re invited to the Pie Day event happening at St. Paul’s United Church on March 14th from 1-4pm.

Welcome to the very 1st episode of Gays in the Woods, in which I (Emmet, 33, they/them) explore rural queer life, starting from my own backyard. For Family Day, let’s meet my poetry aunt, b!WILDer, and hear about her experiences over 12 years with the Lanark County Live Poets Society (LiPS), including many adventures at the (perhaps soon to be renamed less colonially) Canadian Festival of Spoken Word. We also talk about b!’s recent foray into comedy, & her upcoming show at Curious & Kind in Almonte on March 21st. On this episode’s Community Corner, you’ll learn about the upcoming Housing Forum at the Carleton Place Arena on February 20th. You can find Gays in the Woods on Anchor, Spotify, & Facebook. You can find me on twitter at @emlfc. If you have a topic or guest suggestion for the show, I’d love to hear from you via social media or the traditional rural communication method of starting a rumour about me doing what you think I should already be doing & waiting for me to hear it & get back to you.