We find ourselves at the Universal Fruit & Nut Co. by way of Canada

The 10th week of queer things we’ve been up to and into

Sort Of created by Bilal Baig and Fab Filippo. We’ve really enjoyed getting to “know” Bilal Baig’s Sabi, a non-binary first-gen Pakistani millennial, as they navigate work, love, friends, and family in Toronto. This is one of those scripted shows that is directly inspired by a person’s lived experiences, which is why it resonates in a deeper, richer way than most of the “sitcoms” that we watch. The show is full of heart and humor (Sabi’s bestie 7ven is hilarious), giving us a slice of an extended family, chosen family, and community that we love in Canada (that was one of the things we adored about Kim’s Convenience). While we’re not sure how we feel about the second season’s cliffhanger, we’re thrilled that there will be a Season 3. 

Edge of Seventeen by David Moreton. Made in 1998, set in 1984, Edge of Seventeen is a sweet little coming-of-gay (or cumming-of-age) story with a stellar 80’s soundtrack that includes gems from Eurythmics to Bronski Beat. This new-to-us flick follows Eric as he messily gropes his way through some first-time experiences toward his sexuality. Lea DeLaria is a very Lea dyke “elder” named Angie who holds together an eclectic queer family, first loosely at a shitty amusement park restaurant and then confidently at the Universal Fruit & Nut Co. (such a great queer bar name), where Eric finds chosen family alongside his gay-ass self. Shout-out to Lea’s pug Diva, who steals the show in just two short cameos. 

Miss Colombia by Lido Pimienta. Lido, a queer Colombian who lives in Canada, melds electro-pop with the traditional sounds of their Afro-Indigenous-Colombian cultures. Lido’s songs, like Eso Que Tu Haces, Nada and Te Queria, are bright and infectiously danceable while lyrically tackling themes of racism and misogyny. It’s no surprise Lido’s previous album, La Papessa, won the Polaris Music Prize in 2017, a Canadian prize for recorded music. We might be a bit late to the Lido party but we are upright and listening now.

Heather

Queer women film database by Aria Velz. Amie introduced me to this database because she knows that I have far too many spreadsheets filled with all kinds of film information (mostly horror and history related), which are just languishing in my digital closet (aka my rickety, nearly self-destructing laptop). So, Aria’s searchable database of queer women in film gave me a spark of possibility—even though I have not yet figured out the behind-the-scenes magic of turning a spreadsheet into a searchable database. While Aria’s list is not exhaustive, nor do I share all of Aria’s film recommendations, I really appreciate that Aria made this list accessible and searchable for those of us who want to more easily find a sapphic film to watch, whether it’s one made between 1980 through 2000 that has a happy ending, or one in which no queer women die at all.

One of my past projects (now languishing in my computer cobwebs) that I’d love to see get a new life is this website and film database we put a ton of resources into concepting, creating, and building 10+ years ago: FilmStory. 

Screenshot of now-defunct website FilmStory, by H. Petrocelli & A. Pascal.

FilmStory was an interactive website that let people explore the relationship between film and history (both history portrayed in film and film as a socio-historical document) and find films to watch in cool interactive ways, from a map of production countries to historical categories. We ran out of resources to keep the website up due to its more complex engineering and features, but I’ve always wished I could find a way to get the content back out there for people to use.

Amie

Daffodil study, artwork by Amie Pascal (2022)

What’s a better match for wistful, hopeful springtime (now in the Northern Hemisphere) than queer poetry? Let’s start with some words that are very here and now, rooted in today and reaching for tomorrow.

Root Rot, a poetry chapbook by Rhienna Renée Guedry. Just released into the world, this debut collection and accompanying playlist by my brilliant friend and comrade Rhienna is both urgent and steadfast, as sure as the changing tides and wild waters that surge around us. Go get a copy right meow.

Looking back, we have a poetry legacy as long as our mother Sappho is lez. There is a lot to love in the poetry and the life of Elsa Gidlow, who is a lesbian legend born towards the end of the 1800s and living out and proud well into 1986. 

On a Grey Thread, poetry by Elsa Gidlow. Elsa published explicitly sapphic writings under her own name, including her autobiography (which is on the docket to read). Her poetry, such as found in this 1923 collection, is so very explicitly lesbian that it surely made it hard for others to closet her life or #GalPal her relationships… but, I daresay, they probably still tried.

Episode by Elsa Gidlow

I have robbed the garrulous streets,
Thieved a fair girl from their blight,
I have stolen her for a sacrifice
That I shall make to this mysteried night.

I have brought her, laughing,
To my quietly sinister garden.
For what will be done there
I ask no man’s pardon.

I brush the rouge from her cheeks,
Clean the black kohl from the rims
Of her eyes; loose her hair;
Uncover the glimmering, shy limbs.

I break wild roses, scatter them over her.
The thorns between us sing like love’s pain.
Her flesh, bitter and salt to my tongue,
I taste with endless kisses and taste again.

At dawn I leave her
Asleep in my wakening garden
(For what was done there
I ask no man’s pardon.)