Monday, August 06, 2007

pride weekend!

pride weekend in vancouver - very exciting! shiny queer people everywhere, and people dressed up pretty. i went to the dyke march down the drive on saturday, which was fun. it was all pretty low key and DIY. lots of dogs and pushers, maybe a thousand people altogether. it was a totally cool crowd, though it made me miss my vortex *bad*. this is what chicory made of the festival afterwards:
though, honestly, he shouldn't be sulking: he had a constant stream of women fawning over him and great music to listen to. a bunch of us went to the after party at a local hall that night, which was, uh, interesting. the music was a bit odd. but, yes, fun to dress up and go out, y'know.

on sunday was the big pride march down town, which was a much more elaborate and corporate affair. lots of loud music and buff men in tight undies. the parade was*huge* - it took two and a half hours to pass, and the streets on either side were packed with spectators. it was beautifully sunny, and we all fried. (except me cos am anal about sunscreening. note to mother). there were very many cool things:

dykes on bikes


kings


and queens


hockey players

the roller derby

look! they really do have little yellow school buses! they're not usually this sparkly or politically active, though.


proud PFLAGers


filipino queers



bridezilla bush married to war and homophobia, with stephen H the blushing bridesmaid (stephen harper is the canadian PM)

we wandered round the festival tents for a bit afterwards, admiring the many pretty things for sale and the wide range of political and activist communities represented. it was very nice to be in such a huge queer and queer-friendly crowd, as i've had an unusual number of men shouting at me on the street or from cars lately. it's kinda like being at critical mass - sometimes you need to be a big crowd of allies in order to go back to the outside world.

chicory and i have spent a quiet and pleasant day at home today, except for an excursion to trout lake (i'm dogsitting for the weekend). i've read lots of theory (dickens and the death of the mother and why it's anachronistic to use freudian theory on victorian novels) and started an essay plan for my caribbean paper. next i shall read "goblin market" in order to whip up a presentation for tomorrow.

happy pride, everyone!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

so shiny and colourful!

gumtreefid farmer said...

so very shiny!

Anonymous said...

oh I miss Vancouver!

xo vta

Gauri said...

aunty kanty mcsmelly it looks fabbbb. also i wanted to tell you i made another blog: http://everythingbook.blogspot.com so yes this is spam of a sort.

Anonymous said...

Aunty,
What fantastic pictures!!! How completely awsome. I went to the Brighton Pride on Sat, which reminded me a lot of Melbs, kind of eveyones freinds and family watching a very friendly. The theme was shows and there were lots and I mean lots of dorothys...
I missed you all too!!!

Thanks for the pictures, pleased all so well,
M

gumtreefid farmer said...

vta - come back then! how much money have you saved so far?

love


gauroxen - thankyou for your spam. we sppreciate yr patronage.

gumtreefid farmer said...

hardfarmer,

yay for multiple dorothies! i didn't see a single one in vancouver. ripped off!

glad you like the pictures.

vortex nostalgia. . .

Anonymous said...

It is not a matter of money so much as having a job when I get there - I am thinking of doing an TESL course, and have inquired about jobs in Van. Have also browsed craig's housing list longingly...

off to bake cake

vta xoxo

gumtreefid farmer said...

of course. don't worry - you can do it! stick it out.

mmmm, cake. . .

Anonymous said...

takes v long to download so many fotos - broadband not happening - sure it was all wonderful

xg

gumtreefid farmer said...

it was wonderful! you will have to look at work/uni some time, and appreciate all the pretty rainbows and happy ppl.

love

Anonymous said...

filipino queers! how exciting. loved that you took a pic of them. i've trained you well. i found this awesome book in the feminist bookshop up in sydney - it's an anthology by fil lesbians, called 'tibok: heartbeat of the filipino lesbian'. showed it to my mum last night.

oh yeah, and p.s. so i've officially come out to my ma ... and her response pretty much confirmed that she'd known all along anyway.

gumtreefid farmer said...

just for you, sweetpea! (actually! i was all 'gissus the camera, tine has to see this!")

anthology sounds swwwwweet. v. happy for you. should i read it?

congrats on finally coming out! well done! and she knew all along. i'm, um, really really surprised about that. oh yes i am. was it having a little dyke attached to your hip 24/7 that made her twig? or the t-shirts with "queer" on them that she washed and folded? it's a complete mystery.

mwah!