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Last December I was contacted by an old pal of mine named Kaj Hasselriis, whom I’d met at the age of 17 when I first moved to Winnipeg. Kaj is a fantastic person & our friendship is unique and greatly valued. Not only is he a friend but a very talented and adventurous free-lance writer, who although is right now living in Paris, was at the time residing in Toronto. At the time he was writing for the publication Xtra! & he wanted to know if I’d be interested in doing a possible feature.
Though I’d done some previous media before with regards to projects I’ve worked on, I was particularly interested in taking him up on his proposal because, for one, I love and value Kaj, but two, because I appreciated the opportunity to share a little bit about my story. Kaj’s interest was primarily in asking me about my experiences in growing up queer in a small town, only to leave & return again almost 15 years later, in my case, for professional development. Something about timing of this year and all that I have experienced personally, professionally and creatively made the opportunity seem not only fitting but somehow serendipitous.
It was a lot of fun, as well as enlightening for me to consider his questions about my background & for that I’m really pleased. Also, while he made no promises that the article would even see the light of day, I felt a sense of accomplishment in having a platform to share but a piece of my life with a friend.
Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised to eventually learn that the feature made it into the Ottawa publications. Thank you Kaj, for sharing the opportunity with me, as well to Darren Holmes for providing the photograph.
