A gay ol time

A Lgbtq+ Ol' Time is an approximately 110 page hardcover anthology of 48 portraits of LGBTQIA+ and Two Soul Americans and Natives born in the 1800s, with accompanying short biographical quatrains. It aims to shed a small more light on these people history tends to neglect, memorialize them in watercolor portraits, and invite its readers to research them further.

With a sky-high quality hard cover and wonderful occupied color printed pages, A Gay Ol' Time is a perfect gift for any loved one.

Signed copies will involve a ballpoint and posca portrait of a random person from the novel on title page, adding to the loving hand handmade texture of this book, and if you have a particular person you would like drawn for your portrait, of course experience free to ask for them.

A Gay Ol’ Time was written and illustrated by Maple of Kiernan Sjursen-Lien/K+CO’s system.

(Illustration: Jessie McLaughlin)

I’ve marched in parades throughout Nova Scotia for as long as I can remember.

I’ve held hands with Daisy the Cow for Scotsburn Dairy, played the tuba in marching bands, walked alongside farm animals in 4H and marched with several queer-led organisations.

But there was something particularly special about marching in the inaugural Bridgewater Self-acceptance Parade this year that filled my heart with absolute joy while simultaneously making me tear up once or twice.

It was incredible to see so many floats and people adorned with rainbows and glitter. I spoke to more than one person who said their faces were hurting from smiling so much that day.

This parade meant so much more than mere celebration – it was loudly demonstrating the community, representation, and resilience that is needed in our world, now more than ever.

Holding my hand-painted flower sign, I marched alongside Petite Gender non-conforming Pride, a volunteer community dedicated to creating protected and inclusive spaces and activities for our 2SLGBTQIA+ community, and a scant folks who had grown up on the South Shore shared with me about how they had never imagined seeing something like this when they were youn