rage notes
PUBLISHER Jay S. Jones
jay@ragemonthly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Bradley L. Hart
brad@ragemonthly.com INTERIM EDITOR Joel P. Martens
editor@ragemonthly.com ART DIRECTOR Cesar A. Reyes
cesar@ragemonthly.com COPY EDITORS David C. Vera, Randy Hope DISTRIBUTION Dax Carlisle
ADVERTISE WITH US TRADITIONS Well it’s definitely looking a lot like Christmas out there—the music is playing in the
stores, on elevators, everywhere you go . . . This year I am pondering what it means to enjoy the actual holiday. I have always worked during Christmas and this
is only the second time in the last 20 years I actually have it free. Travelling on the one day I had free, Christmas day, seemed silly, so I usually host a brunch and have a few people around who need a place to hang their stocking—at least for that day. It has always been a nice simple and quiet way to spend Christmas, some good food, a little Cham- pagne and good friends with whom to share it. This year is another milestone; I am heading back to Wisconsin for a little nostalgia in the north woods with my large
family—for the first time in a very long time—all of them, brothers and sisters, their kids, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews and my first grandniece. There will be a lot of people, a lot of noise, constant, frenetic motion and of course lots of food. I have a curious blend of excitement and nervousness happening around it—I am so used to a low-key holiday, I hope that I don’t need a prescription to get through it! A long winter’s nap comes to mind… I also love spending time in the snow (I still ski every year) but I really love the luxury of choosing whether or not I
do it. We have options here in Southern California, be it snow, or any other weather choice, they are usually two or three hours away. We can ski, swim or get a sunburn in the middle of December or January when the Santa Anas blow through. Back home there is no such choice, when it turns cold there, you know it and it lasts! I still remember standing outside in the minus 20 degree weather shopping for Christmas trees, not being able to
feel my fingertips or toes and thinking, “I could really die right here, frozen solid in a snow bank until the spring thaw!” Conversely, my first Christmas tree shopping experience here in SoCal was at Home Depot, 16 years ago in shorts and flip-flops. It was 80 degrees, the sun was out in one of those blinding days we have and I was sweating up a storm as I picked through the Noble Firs. I had what I would call a major paradigm shift—an epiphany. You know the kind, it’s when your reality suddenly changes… I just couldn’t wrap my brain around the intensity of the sun, an evergreen tree and the sweltering heat—you’re supposed to freeze your tush off while selecting your snowy Christmas tree, I just couldn’t handle it and I left with my head spinning. I did manage to go back and buy the darn thing (this time in the evening when it was cooler) and managed to
continue with what is my favorite Christmas tradition. I invite my friends over for homemade cream of potato soup (from Granny’s recipe), homemade cookies, some wine, my special mulled cider and I make them decorate my tree! It’s loads of fun and takes all evening because I have a ton of glass ornaments which I have been collecting since I was very little—hello gay boy with a penchant for sparkly things! We eat, drink and make merry and inevitably somebody drops one or two of the ornaments and looks at me with a face waiting to be yelled at. I always say that “it’s part of the experience” and hand them another (usually the largest and most delicate one I can find) which freaks them out a little bit more. Hello evil streak. At any rate, the best part of the holidays for me, is about creating traditions that are lasting and include friends.
I started out with one in which my family of origin played center stage. When I moved on from that one, I created another in which my family of choice (which grows and changes a little bit every year) is on the main stage. Get out there and take a risk, invite someone into your home and create a tradition that makes you happy for the holidays.
Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year!! Joel Martens, Interim Editor
10 RAGE monthly | DECEMBER 2011
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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Martin Alonzo, Blake Beckcom John Bilow, Bill Biss, Jared Cox, Jessica D’Nalga, Brad Hart, Randy Hope, William Kelly, Lisa Lipsey, Stephanie Arwen Lynch, William Meyer, Paul Montero, Tony Reverditto, Marcellas Reynolds, Sylvia Rodenmeyer, John Solleder, Jizzona Straynger, David Vera
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Beth Biggs, Dennis Covey, Wander Aguiar, Jay Jones, Joel Martens, and Jonathan’s Photography
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