LQ Current Supporters

The End Result Projects – home renos, furniture, exterior, interior – Janet Weigelt 604-649-9121 (I’ve hired her for renos on my house, and she’s excellent. -editor)

LQ Past and In-Kind Supporters

• Gay and Lesbian Business Association of BC
• Honeysuckle Rose Cottage
• Jett Grrl Bike Studio
• Lesbian Luxury Adventure Vacation
• Sounds and Furies Productions

Tuesdays: Surrey Coffee Group 7PM @ Java Hut @ 64th Ave & 152
1st Wednesday of the Month: Vancouver Outdoor Club Monthly Meetings 7:30 pm, common room of the Sitka Women’s Housing Coop at 1550 Woodland St. Lesbian outdoor activities. Event planning, presentations, socializing & meeting new members. http://www.outdoorwomen.ca/

Wednesdays—Mildred Women’s Volleyball League Women’s volleyball league running from October to February. Games are played on Wed nights in Burnaby. Register in August. 604-684-9872 x2002

Last Thursday of the Month Valley Girls Dinner at Frogstone Grill in Maple Ridge Connect via yahoogroup: http://groups.yahoo.com/valleygrrls

Last Friday of the Month: Queer Women on the Drive 7-9 pm Seniors Lounge of Britannia Community Centre. All ages, including children if supervised by an adult. 604-684-5307

Friday Nights: Fruity Flick Fridays 103-1033 Davie St. for LGTB folks aged 45+. Free movie night hosted by the Centre’s Generations Project.

Some Saturdays—Women’s Dance @ Waldorf— dates vary so check http://flygirlproductions.com/ $5 B4-10 $10 after

Saturdays & Mondays—Not So Strictly Ballroom same-sex dance classes
http://www.gayvancouver.net/nssb

Saturdays—Country Dancing—quarterly hoe-down for same sex dancers who like country music. Get on the mailing list at cnwdance@telus.net

First 3 Sundays of the Month - W-Group – Social group for LBTQ women in the West End info at www.groups.yahoo.com/group/whangdoodle/

First Wednesday of every month – Vancouver Front Runners Women’s Run once a month Women’s Run. Meeting place is the lobby of the Roundhouse Community Centre at the corner of Davie and Pacific Boulevard at 6:30 p.m. http://www.vancouverfrontrunners.org/

The print copy was supported by advertizers and was distributed at Vancouver area queer locations, and at women’s dances in the Fraser Valley, Vancouver and Kelowna.  The stacks of papers left at coed queer settings such as the Centre and Little Sisters were vandalized on at least two occasions in these locations (ostensibly by persons who were anti-lesbian or mysogynist, rather than anti-queer, as neighbouring queer publications were untouched) by being reversed so that the title was not visible or hidden under stacks of papers.  Papers in the one straight location it was distributed in, CCEC credit union, were unaffected.

The print version was discontinued as of LQ 13 for reasons discussed in that issue.

My beloved’s family has really stepped up as well, which is a pleasant shock from a family she thought were essentially homophobic. Fourteen relatives on her side are attending, none of which have less than a five hour drive ahead of them to get here.

It’s beyond words to describe what all this means to us. Despite, or perhaps because of all this good fortune, organizing a lower-budget lesbian Wiccan (but ‘broom-closeted’) wedding and reception for 60 guests is no picnic, even if we’re not getting all Martha Stewart about it. Accordingly, I am swamped and was grateful that my call put out to the e-subscription list turned up pieces by Claire Robson, Emily Boyce and mysterious writer ‘Shep Wildwood’.

The resulting issue seems to have a distinct focus on a topic dear (and near) to lesbian hearts—breast health. We have butch bra shopping tips, a review of poetry about a woman and her breasts, a talk for lesbians on breast and other cancers and a piece on bicycle repair. Okay, bicycle repair isn’t directly about breasts, but I’m sure bicycling is good for them. Healthy body, healthy breasts. If you’re a lesbian and are thinking about writing something for LQ for December’s issue, contact me by November 1st for writers guidelines. You don’t even have to use your own name—ask Shep Wildwood…

- Sophia Kelly—Publishing Editor

Jett Grrl Bike Studio is Commercial Drive’s newest bike shop – and Vancouver’s only lesbian owned and operated one. Jett Grrl was started in the summer of 2005 by Tracy A. Myerson, a certified bicycle mechanic, whose mission is “to make the world a friendlier and more equitable place for women cyclists”. She started it as a reaction against a male-dominated, profit driven industry.

“Who you are walking into a shop determines what type of service you will get.” Myerson says. “Women are automatically assumed to know nothing about how a bicycle works, given that mechanics is an historically male dominated subject. As such, we are often treated with some degree of condescension, kept in the dark about what is being done, sold parts we don’t really need, and generally getting second rate service. Layer onto that being a visibly queer gender-bending dyke. I think we all know where that is going to get us!”

As if that is all not enough, add to that what type of bike you are riding – walk into a shop with an old or inexpensive bike, and you can be sure you will NOT get the same attention as someone with some fancy bling bling machine. Then there is the next question – are you a “roadie” , or a “free-ride dude”, do you have a “fixie” or a “cruiser bike”? WHO CARES!

“The bike world has so much “Attitude”, it’s ridiculous. Most people have 2 wheels, with a seat to sit on, handlebars to steer, and pedals to make it go. The bicycle is one of the most amazing inventions of all time. It affords people – for very little money – a HUGE amount of freedom to move thru the world. They make no impact on this planet, are great for your health, and are relatively simple to maintain.”

Myerson founded Jett Grrl to be different from all that. While Jett Grrl is a full service repair shop, Myerson’s first love is teaching. She runs a series of bike repair workshops for women, aimed at educating – and empowering – women on their bicycles. As we all know, knowledge is power. Myerson feels that even if you don’t actually want to do the repairs yourself, at least you should be armed with enough information to walk into a shop and feel confident about what you do need. “It leaves us far less susceptible to be taken advantage of.” she notes.

Information on Jett Grrl bike studio’s classes and services is available at
http://www.jetgrrl.com, or by phone at 604-255-5097.

Have you ever taken a look through your drawers and wondered about the bras in there? You have six different sizes and none of them seem to fit right. An undershirt won’t work for sports. You need a new bra.

You’ve tried and tried to go it alone… You went to the department store and surreptitiously took three or four different styles and sizes of sports bras into the dressing room, hoping to guess the right one. You tried them on and bought the one that seemed to fit the best. It wasn’t right, you knew it at the time, but you didn’t know what wasn’t right or what you needed to do to adjust it to make it fit.

Well this could be a thing of the past.

I know a place where you can go and buy the right bra in the right size that will fit you and feel good. Not only that but you’re in and out in less than 15 minutes. No more wandering aimlessly through the bras at the Bay. No more funny looks from the sales clerks at Sears wondering why that young man (oops young lady) is in this department.

Diane’s is a lingerie shop on Granville street. I finally bit the bullet and went in there. The lady asked me if I would like some help and I said “yes?” She asked if I knew what size I was and I said “no not really”. I used to be a B but that was a long time ago and now with menopause and the extra weight things aren’t what they used to be.

She took me in the back change room and pulled my shirt tight around my chest, eyed me up and brought out a couple of all purpose bras. She said “try these on and let’s see”. I got the first one on, a bra that I thought was much too large for me, what was she thinking? Oops, I guess she does know what she’s doing, it fit pretty good. She came into the dressing room and did a few adjustments and loosened one strap and tightened the other.

Wow, this does fit, how about that. I won’t look at the size… I won’t look at the size… I wonder what size it is? OMG I’m what? a D? no it can’t be… well it does fit good and seems to be the right size. I know, it must be a European size, that’s right… European sizes.”

She said “I have this in a few colours, White, mauve and black.” “Black please” I said. Well that wasn’t bad. In and out in less than 15 minutes. If I just slot it into the same spot in my mind as going to the doctor and getting that pap thing then having them size you up isn’t so bad. So if you have ever need a bra and want to be in and out in less than 15 minutes try Diane’s at 2950 Granville Street in Vancouver.

(Diane’s is owned by a straight woman)*Shep Wildwood is a name composed of the name her first pet and a street she lived on.