qtb mixtape #05: gay.

A Pride playlist exclusively featuring queer and trans artists, from me to you.

If there’s one thing I’ll do on a neighborhood walk, it’s creeping into someone’s yard to take a photo of their flower bed. (Photo: Joe Erbentraut)

Pride Month is almost here and, sure, I am experiencing some mixed emotions and a fair amount of burnout heading into the festivities this year. I know I’m not alone with this. It’s a little bit of a classic all-work-no-play scenario and a lot of bit of exhaustion with the political realities of living in this country as an openly, visibly queer, nonbinary person.

Still, I’m feeling reenergized as the seasons are changing and those sunny days are rolling through more and more lately. I’m so proud to be releasing the second edition of my zine just in time for Pride Month and excited to be popping up and doing readings from it at a few local events in the coming weeks. The outdoor farmers’ market—my absolute favorite thing about the summer—has returned in my hometown, my peonies are just about ready to pop, and it’s finally warm enough to blast bops from the car with the windows down. Things could be much worse.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the cost of visibility as a queer person right now. The incredible two-part documentary Pee-wee as Himself just premiered on HBO Max and the movie delved powerfully but painfully into how Paul Reubens was “as out as a person could be” before his moment of major fame in the ‘80s. He shared a home and a fluffy black cat with a gorgeous man named Guy for many years. They were living their best queer lives—loudly and openly.