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# Rob Browatzke

Words Are My Thing

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://browatzke.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [Blog](https://browatzke.com/blog/)
- [The Legend of the Pride Pity Fuck](https://browatzke.com/the-legend-of-the-pride-pity-fuck/) - At the turn of the millennium, queer folk everywhere tuned in weekly to watch Queer as Folk. In Season Two, the character Ted, maybe a little older, a little shyer, a little less gym-my than the rest, has a Pride to remember when an absolute god of a man picks him up from Babylon and
- [The Edmonton Queens: GoDiva](https://browatzke.com/the-edmonton-queens-godiva/) - Picture it. Fairview, 1985. A tickle trunk filled with old Halloween costumes, clothes, and his grandmother's wigs introduces a young Dan to a world of imagination and dress up. From playing Granny Clampett in an elementary school play, to dressing up a hillbilly to go dumpster diving for furniture, to dressing up for the evening
- [My Forty-Ninth Year](https://browatzke.com/my-forty-ninth-year/) - My 49th year began with the unofficial kickoff of what would become a "two gay bar summer." This was never something we had planned or even wanted; rather, it was a situation that circumstances forced us into, and we simply had to make the best of it. Looking back, for the most part, I think
- [From the Vaults: March 21, 2010](https://browatzke.com/from-the-vaults-march-21-2010/) - Sunday, March 21st, 2010. Last Saturday, at the age of 63, George James Valentine Schafer passed away in his home. Ross called me around 2:00, not too long after he found out Chris had found the body when he got home. I went right down to the bar, on the way calling Ida, Craig, etc.
- [The Edmonton Queens: Leah Way](https://browatzke.com/the-edmonton-queens-leah-way/) - Who better for our first in a series of Who's Who of Edmonton Queens than a three-time Empress and the host of this year's Celebration on the Square? We talked to Leah Way about her time in the Edmonton drag scene and what we can expect from this year's Pride and Coronation. Leah Way has
- [The Edmonton Queens: Bianca](https://browatzke.com/the-edmonton-queens-bianca/) - Onto a stage she slides, graceful and elegant, sequin-clad from head to toe. She sparkles in the spotlight, and she glows as the applause thunders. And then she crosses her eyes and makes a joke about pills and vertigo. She is Bianca. In the Edmonton drag scene these past few years, there are some queens
- [A Question of Manhood by Robin Reardon](https://browatzke.com/a-question-of-manhood-by-robin-reardon/) - This was not the Robin Reardon I am used to reading. Most of Robin's books are set in the here-and-now. This is set in 1972, and 1972 was a very different time for gay guys. Further, most of Robin's books are from the point of view of a gay guy. Not this time though. Paul
- [Songs for the New Depression by Kergan Edwards Stout](https://browatzke.com/songs-for-the-new-depression-by-kergan-edwards-stout/) - Gabe Travers is dying. He knows it. He is surrounded by the people he loves, his mother and her new wife Pastor Sally, his best friend Clare, his lover Jon. These are the people who have clung to him through the years, who have stood by him through bad decisions and bitchy remarks. Dying, he
- [The Revelations of Jude Connor by Robin Reardon](https://browatzke.com/the-revelations-of-jude-connor-by-robin-reardon/) - It's the story of a boy, growing up evangelically Christian, and fervently believing in his religion, and how he reconciles that religion to the growing realization he is gay. At the same time, he is dealing with being orphaned and left in the care of his older brother; being deserted by his childhood friend after
- [The Evolution of Ethan Poe by Robin Reardon](https://browatzke.com/the-evolution-of-ethan-poe-by-robin-reardon/) - Ethan Poe is an outlier. He doesn't feel he fits in with any groups at his school, partly because of his Goth appearance (inspired by his distant relative Edgar Allan), partly because he's gay. The only person that knows the latter though is his friend Jorja, a fellow outlier, and one who is constantly praying
- [The Edmonton Queens: Vanity Fair](https://browatzke.com/the-edmonton-queens-vanity-fair/) - You've seen her on stage as a busty blond (Dolly), a sexy redhead (Reba), or a vodka-soaked brunette (Liza). Those are just three of the faces of Vanity Fair, candidate for Empress of the Imperial Sovereign Court of the Wild Rose and a true Edmonton Queen. In the mid-90s, a young gay boy named David
- [The Future of the Gay Bar](https://browatzke.com/the-future-of-the-gay-bar/) - Does the gay bar still have a place in this more accepting world? For years, the gay bar was an oasis. Only there could gay men and women find like-minded others. Only there could they find revelry and romance without fear of reprisal. It was in those gay bars that they plotted their revolution: a
- [Grindr in a Relationship](https://browatzke.com/grindr-in-a-relationship/) - Grindr in a Relationship At what point of a new relationship do you deactivate your Grindr account? Let's say you're actively seeking a relationship and you meet up with someone who's also actively seeking a relationship. You go to Starbucks, you talk, everything is going well. You grab dinner, drinks, get to know each other.
- [From the Vaults: April 22, 2026](https://browatzke.com/from-the-vaults-april-22-2026/) - Inspiration is worth the price of a subscription. More, even. Because that "green circle" Close Friends shot was just half-assed. Literally—full pictures. Him squatted down, legs spread, back arched. That image was only available for an additional donation to his PayPal or Venmo. There have been other asses. Real asses—tasted and tongued asses. Massive, meaty
- [The Letter Q by various](https://browatzke.com/the-letter-q-by-various/) - This isn't a novel. This is a collection of letters, written by some of the greatest queer authors of the day, to their younger selves. As such, I don't recommend sitting down and reading it from cover to cover. Keep it tucked away in your backpack or purse or briefcase, and pull it out when
- [A Fool Among Fools by John Terracusso](https://browatzke.com/a-fool-among-fools-by-john-terracusso/) - It's a year in the life of an ad exec in mid-1980s New York. Twenty-nine is a tricky year – you're too young to be old, but you're too old to not have accomplished SOMETHING. You have your family, sure, and your relationships with them are good, mostly. You've had a boyfriend, but now you're
- [A Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham](https://browatzke.com/a-home-at-the-end-of-the-world-by-michael-cunningham/) - This is the story of three people who make a life together. Three friends who become a family. This is the story of Jonathan and Bobby, friends, brothers, lovers, and Clare, the woman who shares their hearts, their bed, and bears their baby. When Jonathan and Bobby become friends in middle school, it is to
- [Fairy Tales by Peter Cashorali](https://browatzke.com/fairy-tales-by-peter-cashorali/) - Fairy Tales:Traditional Stories Retold for Gay Menby Peter Cashorali If you're a romantic, if you believe in love at first sight, if you believe, like Snow White, that one day your prince will come, then this book is a must-read. Peter Cashorali takes stories we grew up on and twists them for gay men. Beauty
- [Selfish and Perverse by Bob Smith](https://browatzke.com/selfish-and-perverse-by-bob-smith/) - Take a writer's assistant / writer from LA, introduce him to a salmon fisherman / archaeologist from Alaska, then introduce them both to an actor / sex god fresh from prison and you have the makings of one helluva love triangle. Nelson isn't particularly happy with his job as a writer's assistant, nor is he
- [Shirts and Skins by Jeffrey Luscombe](https://browatzke.com/shirts-and-skins-by-jeffrey-luscombe/) - It's been a while since I came across a book that pulled me in and kept me hooked. Jeffrey Luscombe's SHIRTS AND SKINS did though. The book is written as a series of individual stories, seen through the eyes of Josh Moore, a young boy who grows up with his family in the poorer part
- [A Secret Edge by Robin Reardon](https://browatzke.com/a-secret-edge-by-robin-reardon/) - Jason Peele is your typical high school student, with one exception. He's gay. Maybe. It's something he's just beginning to accept, and on this path to acceptance, he encounters both hurdles and helpers. Hurdles include jilted girlfriend Meg, a conservative and concerned uncle and homophobic bullies Jimmy and Dane. They're balanced out by a supportive
- [Thinking Straight by Robin Reardon](https://browatzke.com/thinking-straight-by-robin-reardon/) - Coming out is hard enough. Coming out when you're family is conservative and Christian is even harder. When Taylor Adams' parents find out their son is gay, they ship him off for a six-week stay at "Straight to God" in the hopes that he can be saved. Now Taylor had had no problems with balancing
- [Memorizing You by Dan Skinner](https://browatzke.com/memorizing-you-by-dan-skinner/) - I wanted a quick, painless, and easy read, one that would give me a couple hours of light-hearted and romantic enjoyment before bed, one that wouldn't keep me up with thoughts and feelings, one that wouldn't penetrate me. I picked this one; I was wrong in every way. Sure, it was romantic, the story of
- [Gulliver Takes Manhattan by Justin Luke Zirilli](https://browatzke.com/gulliver-takes-manhattan-by-justin-luke-zirilli/) - Ok, first off, you should know I'm a little bit in love with the city of New York, always have been, always will be. So, small wonder that when I received my copy of “Gulliver Takes Manhattan” in the mail, saw the skyline glowing on the cover, small wonder I was already a little in
- [Trouble Boy by Tom Dolby](https://browatzke.com/trouble-boy-by-tom-dolby/) - Some of the most surprising and enjoyable reads I have had lately have been the result of simply walking into my local bookstore, heading over to the gay fiction, and seeing what cover strikes my fancy. The Trouble Boy, by Tom Dolby, was one of these. It was a quick read, relatable, entertaining, and one
- [Don't Let Me Go by JH Trumble](https://browatzke.com/dont-let-me-go-by-jh-trumble/) - I've been going through the gay fiction section of my local bookstore pretty fast lately, and some reads have been better than others, and then along came one that punched me in the stomach even as it proceeded to rip my heart out of my chest. Don't Let Me Go by JH Trumble is the
- [Dancer from the Dance by Andrew Holleran](https://browatzke.com/dancer-from-the-dance-by-andrew-holleran/) - This is he story of gay life in New York in the late 70s, from the tenements of the Lower East Side to the beaches of Fire Island, from the bars and the baths to the avenues and the parks, all the places where gay men cruised for cock and love. It is a story
- [Beautiful People by Simon Doonan](https://browatzke.com/beautiful-people-by-simon-doonan/) - You may have seen the BBC series, but still, read the book. Its subtitle: My Family and Other Glamorous Varmints, says it all. Simon Doonan looks back on his life and the people in it. If you've seen the show, you know some of the characters; they're here, though different, perhaps more real. His flamboyant
- [User Offline](https://browatzke.com/user-offline/) - You showed up on my Grindr again. Seeing your beautiful face is never a bad thing, but in this case, you've been gone nearly two months now. I was deep-diving into my starred profiles, and I hadn't toggled Online, and there you were: a reminder that we now live in a world without you. How
- [Iron in his Thighs, indeed](https://browatzke.com/iron-in-his-thighs-indeed/) - No one is groomed into being gay... but there's definitely some media moments that can nudge a gay kid out of the closet. This new series deep dives into a few of those for me.
- [Rags to Riches to Gay](https://browatzke.com/rags-to-riches-to-gay/) - No one is groomed into being gay… but there’s definitely some media moments that can nudge a gay kid out of the closet. This new series deep dives into a few of those for me.
- [Right-Click to Forever](https://browatzke.com/right-click-to-forever/) - I talk a lot about my GAY history, but one thing I don't often write about is my GUY history.Today, I found out someone I used to see every week passed away last month. Motivated to find a certain picture of him from "back in the day", I deep dove into a folder that I
- [Post-Mortem Dance Floor](https://browatzke.com/post-mortem-dance-floor/) - It’s not enough for our lives to flash before our eyes before we go, whether that’s a slow-motion fall through memories or a rapid-fire sensory overload of every thing we’ve ever done. No, what we need is the sense that when it’s time to leave, we will find ourselves again with all of those we’ve lost.
- [Edmonton Pride Parade Returns](https://browatzke.com/edmonton-pride-parade-returns/) - When I came up to Calgary from Lethbridge in June '97 for my first parade, well, let's just say I wish I remembered more. The vodka was freely flowing the night before at Boystown, and a boy with icy blue eyes kept me up late, and the parade is a blur. I do know that
- [A Long Day's Journey into Gay Nightlife](https://browatzke.com/a-long-days-journey-into-gay-nightlife/) - "How did you get involved in gay nightlife?" It's come up so many times in the last month, and again just now, so I thought I'd explore the question deeper here. This wasn't the plan, not that I'm sure I had one, but I didn't sit around in high school or uni thinking about my
- [My Forty-Sixth Year](https://browatzke.com/my-forty-sixth-year/) - It began and ended like it always does, with my May Long Weekend Drag Show for Mental Health. 2023 was a much smaller scale in some ways than 2022's massive fundraiser marathon show, but both shows were the opportunity to celebrate with friends while raising money for great causes. Pride Month 2022 was different than
- [Edmonton Queer History Links and Resources](https://browatzke.com/edmonton-queer-history-links-and-resources/) - I've always enjoyed learning about those who came before me, ever since I went to the book launch for Darrin Hagen's The Edmonton Queen. The last few years, this interest has turned into a vocation, and for those of you who also want to dive into our collective queer history, here are some great places
- [Why.](https://browatzke.com/why/) - Twice last week I was asked, "why do you do it, EVO, gay bars, why?" This was after conversations about the changing nature of gay nightlife, the ongoing and eternal combination of construction and crime, the $20,000 in vandalism the new space has been hit with in just four months, and all the other headaches
- [Grief at the Gay Bar](https://browatzke.com/grief-at-the-gay-bar/) - They are places for joy, freedom, liberation, celebration, but for many, they are also a place for grieving. A community that comes together regularly at the same watering hole finds family there, and when that family suffers loss, it's around that watering hole they gather, to share the stories and the tears, to ask the questions, sometimes to find the answers.
- [Lost Boys Episode Five: Tim](https://browatzke.com/lost-boys-episode-five-tim/) - My brother was fifteen when I left him. He was mad about it. I know he was, because years later, he trapped me in a dark corner of The Roost and told me all about it. I was just there to drink and watch the drag show, but instead, I got to just drink and
- [My Life Among the Lesbians](https://browatzke.com/my-life-among-the-lesbians/) - TLDR: Rob loves his lesbians.
- [Lost Boys Episode Four: Adam](https://browatzke.com/lost-boys-episode-four-adam/) - The check-in window at Down Under was the first place I saw him. I probably heard him coming down the stairs and headed to that window to greet him before he could push the annoying buzzer that even after just three months, I had grown to loathe (it always went off in the middle of
- [My Big Gay Nightlife Silver Jubilee: The Georgia](https://browatzke.com/my-big-gay-nightlife-silver-jubilee-the-georgia/) - Today marks the 25th anniversary of my career in Edmonton gay nightlife beginning. Twenty-five years! They passed in a blink really. Then, I was fresh out of university in Lethbridge, just freshly moved back to the area, and all I wanted was a gay job. Connection and community, those were what I needed to find,
- [Lost Boys Episode Three: Mike](https://browatzke.com/lost-boys-episode-three-mike/) - Last Seen: Winter 1998 Strictly speaking, we were never supposed to meet. You see, I was volunteering with Lethbridge's Gay and Lesbian Peer Support Line (it was 1997, this was pre-acronym). The PSL had a policy: no one-on-one meets. The purpose was two-fold - the safety of volunteers and the protection of vulnerable callers. But
- [Lost Boys Episode One: Paul](https://browatzke.com/lost-boys-episode-one-paul/) - There was nothing else in the world except that kiss
- [Lost Boys Episode Two: Ashley](https://browatzke.com/lost-boys-episode-two-ashley/) - Last Seen: February 2011 What I loved about Ashley was how he’d often enjoy just sitting at the bar, same as me, even as our friends danced and flailed about. I hadn’t enjoyed a dance floor for years at that point, and even though I didn’t mind just sitting there with my beer and watching
- [Lost Boy, Lost Girl](https://browatzke.com/lost-boy-lost-girl/) - She was at the bar this weekend and it broke my heart. I remember him at seventeen, the infectious high-energy he filled the Roost with. He shouldn't have been there, of course, not at that age, but we didn't know he was seventeen until he celebrated his eighteenth birthday. By that point, the damage was
- [2023 Year in Review: Reconnection, Renaissance, and still Really Queer](https://browatzke.com/2023-year-in-review-reconnection-renaissance-and-still-really-queer/) - The year started off in a grand and glorious way, getting a Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal from our once and hopefully future premier Rachel Notley. There have certainly been awards and recognitions in the past that I've received and appreciated, even as they might make me feel old or trigger imposter syndrome. This
- [2023 Year in Review: Evolution's Up and Down](https://browatzke.com/2023-year-in-review-evolutions-up-and-down/) - The down time of the pandemic feels so long ago, it's hard to believe that this was our first full year of operation since 2019. Ten weeks of 2020 followed by months of closure and a few brief attempts at reopening, followed by moths of closure and a few brief attempts at reopening, followed by
- [First Dance at the Discotheque for Deviants](https://browatzke.com/first-dance-at-the-discotheque-for-deviants/) - The Croatian Center was far from central Lethbridge, but that was where they held them - these monthly gay dances. There were no gay bars, of course, not there in mid-90s southern Alberta where fundamentalist Christianity butted heads against Mormonism and neither wanted anything to do with gays. I was terrified, hopeful, so many things.
- [hyperblue](https://browatzke.com/hyperblue/) - Let it never be said I'm not timely with listening to music! In the case of the debut album from Edmonton artist Ben Hartt, I'm only a couple decades late! Really, there's no excuse. I knew this album existed. How could I not, with that face gracing the cover of both Times.10 and Outlooks Magazine?
- [We've Been Here Before](https://browatzke.com/weve-been-here-before/) - I came of age and came out in the Alberta of the mid 1990s. Delwin Vriend was taking the Klein government to court because of their complete unwillingness to offer gay and lesbian Albertans the same protection against discrimination enjoyed by the rest of the province. I was living in Lethbridge at the time, sandwiched
- [Daddy Issues in '9 Princes in Amber'](https://browatzke.com/daddy-issues-in-9-princes-in-amber/) - Recently saw the news that they're developing Roger Zelazny's Amber Chronicles for the screen, and I've rarely been so excited. The ten book series of Corwin and his son Merlin are filled with adventure, romance, philosophy, politics, and the drama that is family.I started reading these books in the mid 80s, I guess? I was
- [Old Dr. Homo](https://browatzke.com/old-dr-homo/) - It was the spring of 2005. I was managing Buddys, a gay bar here in Edmonton. A new crop of little gaybies was starting to frequent the bar, and because they saw me there 4-5 nights a week, we became part of each other's lives. They were 18, 19, 20, ish, and I was there
- [To Stop The Tide](https://browatzke.com/to-stop-the-tide/) - Today on the beach, I watched a kid playing in the sand, He scooped up sand in pre-shaped plastic containers and then dumped them out: stars, a turtle, and a series of boxes. The tide, on its way in slowly, lapped at the first, so he added to his little kingdom a giant wall to
- [Resolved](https://browatzke.com/resolved/) - While I typically don't do New Year resolutions, I thought 2023 should start off with some promises to myself, to set the tone for the coming twelve months When triggered, I will take five deep breaths before reacting, to allow myself to assess intent rather than simply responding to impact. While its true people need
- [Stepping Up](https://browatzke.com/stepping-up/) - Today I climbed up the 1048 steps to the top of Koko Head and drank in the views of Waikiki and Hanauma Bay. While there, it occurred to me how amazing things are since 12 steps changed my life. When I was drinking, my world was very contained. My work was on 106 Street, my
- [My History in Gay Bars, Part One](https://browatzke.com/my-history-in-gay-bars-part-one/) - The first gay bar I went to was The Roost. I was only freshly out, visiting Edmonton from Lethbridge where I was going to University. I don’t remember much about that first visit. Had I known then how pivotal a role gay bars would play in my life, chances are I’d’ve paid more attention. As
- [My Pride Timeline](https://browatzke.com/my-pride-timeline/) - [Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="2" gal_title="All images"] ​My first Pride festival was 1997. Was it Lethbridge's first? I don't remember one in 1996, and I certainly would have gone. Lethbridge in 1997 was a very different place than it is now, with a giant Pride Fest happening at a major mainstream downtown club. Then, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance
- [TBT: Down Under Gay Men's Bathhouse](https://browatzke.com/throwback-thursday-down-under/) - Down Under was a gay men's bathhouse that opened in Edmonton in 1998. The weeks leading up to the opening were filled with a great public outcry about what a business LIKE THAT would do the neighborhood. I was completely unaware of that outcry, living as I was in Lethbridge at the time. For me,
- [TBT - Watching Him Die: A Gay Bar Moment](https://browatzke.com/throwback-thursday-watching-him-die/) - In 2007, I started working at Boots, a gay bar here in Edmonton.This wasn't the first time I'd worked there. I'd worked there in 2000, but quit to work at The Roost. I'd gone back in 2003, but quit when we started publishing Fresh Magazine and the owners at Boots thought they could control content
- [#FBF - The Start of EVO: A Gay Bar Moment](https://browatzke.com/evolutionwonderlounge1/) - With EVO's ten year anniversary coming up, it really isn't too soon to start looking back at the moments and people who have made us what we are.
- [The Stardust Lounge: A Gay Bar Moment](https://browatzke.com/stardustlounge/) - One spotlight was maybe not big enough for two stars like Binki and Vanity. The show had catapulted them to the top echeleon of Edmonton drag
- [#TBT: The Last Day of Boots - A Gay Bar Moment](https://browatzke.com/tbt-the-last-day-of-boots-a-gay-bar-moment/) - That Boots would outlive longtime owner Jim Schafer seemed unlikely, but we made a go of it, me and Ross. The grief over Schafer's loss was woven into every night though, and the financial reality of the situation became clearer every day. Still, it was, as much as possible, business as usual, which meant, in
- [Some recent articles](https://browatzke.com/some-recent-articles/) - I recently had some articles sent out into the Internet that I thought I'd share here in one spot:The first is a guide to queer Edmonton, part of a series of articles for Explore Edmonton on queer life in Alberta's Capital City. The second is very similar, but has a focus on LGBTQ+ travelers -
- [TBT: The First Baths](https://browatzke.com/tbt-the-first-baths/) - I mean, it wasn't. Really.The first baths was F212. It was December of 1996, and I was still woefully naive and inexperienced when it came to gayness. We were in Vancouver, me and the man who would become my ex, visiting the man who was recently his ex, and the ex suggested going to the
- [Memoir Course: Letter to Younger Self](https://browatzke.com/memoir-course-letter-to-younger-self/) - You're always going to remember your first time.You never planned on it happening that night. You never planned on it happening at all really. It wasn't something you never really thought about doing. Sure, other people did it, and sure, maybe it seemed fun, but you were just happy drinking and dancing.This is what's going
- [Wanna Dance?](https://browatzke.com/wanna-dance/) - I'm at that stage of lockdown where I'm meandering down side streets of nostalgia. Remember school slow dances? The boys are all on one side, the girls on another, until someone makes that first move, and suddenly everywhere is pairing off as chaperones make sure the couples are a balloon-width apart. These dances are rites
- [Throwback Thursday: The First Boy](https://browatzke.com/throwback-thursday/) - Falling for a straight boy is never a good idea
- [Back to School: A Coming Out Project](https://browatzke.com/back-to-school/) - I recently signed up for a Gay Male Memoir Course through UCLA, because 3.5 jobs isn't enough right? The first assignment was just a piece about an early on moment in our coming out stories. For those of you who know me, it's no surprise I landed on that high school straight ex: If anyone
- [45 45s at 45](https://browatzke.com/45-45s-at-45/) - Inspired by a recent Facebook post from my friend Brian, I thought I'd try to visit the 45 songs that have impacted or defined my life to date. ​So here goes, in no particular order Don't Cry For Me Argentina Miami Mix - MadonnaRight Here Waiting - Richard MarxYa Never Know - Little Shop of
- [Journey into Journaling](https://browatzke.com/journey-into-journaling/) - On Sept. 25, 1993, I sat down on the stairs outside my junior high school and wrote a letter to my closest friends. I began to unravel a bunch of lies as I talked myself into coming out to them. This letter became the first entry in what is now 7000+ pages or journals, spanning
- [Last Call is Coming](https://browatzke.com/last-call-is-coming/) - Jesse Sterling liked dick.There was no denying that. If there was a twelve-step program, he’d be standing there saying, “My name is Jesse Sterling and I’m a cockaholic,” and he would have been saying it proudly.Jesse sucked his first dick at thirteen, and he was hooked. All those after school specials about drug dealers who
- [Starting Over](https://browatzke.com/starting-over/) - “The lockdown is over!” Those are the first words of this new romance, set to take place in a hopefully not so distant future when the events of the book aren't superspreaders. The world was paused for the coronavirus, but for Kent Campbell, his world has been paused a lot longer. When he was
- [An Update](https://browatzke.com/an-update/) - So with a dozen different lockdowns and unending restrictions and variants, I have needed something to pass the time. It should be no surprise that I've a love of local queer history, and I've been working on two different projects that are chronicling some of that. I recently wrote a piece for one of those
- [A Sobriety Milestone](https://browatzke.com/a-sobriety-milestone/) - There have been many milestones in my sobriety journey: a day, a week, a month, a year, two years, five years, ten years…and today is another. June 17, 2016, marked the day I was longer off-coke than on-coke. October 13, 2022 marks the day I’m longer sober than drunk. It’s a bit arbitrary. The groundwork
- [A Confession:](https://browatzke.com/a-confession/) - I've been a bad, bad writer. Somehow, I managed to put out two books during the pandemic, and don't get me wrong, I am fuckin proud of both of them. (Legit - check them out: Starting Over and Finishing Last, available now on the Big A) But I haven't written a word since. Not the fourth
- [Day 314](https://browatzke.com/day-314/) - If you watched Buffy, you know that behind the door marked 314, something evil lurks. I'm feeling that today. Today is 314 days since the last time our club had a crowded dance floor, the last time my body vibrated with the music, the last time I looked out over a sea of handsome, smiling
- [Coming Out](https://browatzke.com/coming-out/) - Every year, National Coming Out Day happens on October 11. This year, I thought I'd revisit my coming out story. It was 1993. Picture, if you can, a world without cell phones, social media, or even the Internet. There were hardly any out celebrities to look up to. Queer characters on TV and in movies,
- [My Mental Health Journey](https://browatzke.com/my-mental-health-journey/) - So apparently the day before National Coming Out Day is World Mental Health Day and that seems very fitting. The below entry talks about how linked my coming out journey and my mental health journey were. However, that coming out journey did end (as much as it ever ends. Really, coming out happens all the
- [Last Last Call](https://browatzke.com/last-last-call/) - Alex's adventure in Wonderland began in earnest in the fall of 2012. It was never supposed to be a multi-volume story, but a publisher request for a second volume led to Through the Mirrorball a few years later. And that was that. Alex, as a character, had found sobriety, maturity, and a happy ending, and

## Pages

- [BIO](https://browatzke.com/) - Rob Browatzke has been writing for as long as he can remember, and is pretty darn excited for someone else to be reading his stuff finally! When it comes to gay bars and booze and drugs and drama, he knows what he's talking about. He came out in the mid-90s, and liquor and drama went
- [Books](https://browatzke.com/books/) - Cruising the Downtown is the latest work from the Edmonton Queer History Project, which Rob has been working with since 2021. This collection of people, places, and moments pivotal to Edmonton's queer history was edited by Senator Dr. Kristopher Wells. Pieces were written and edited by several members of the collective. Rob worked on many
- [Contact Me](https://browatzke.com/contact-me/) - For any questions, comments or bookings feel free to contact me.
- [Cookie Policy (CA)](https://browatzke.com/cookie-policy-ca/)

## Categories

- [Uncategorized](https://browatzke.com/category/uncategorized/)
- [Musings](https://browatzke.com/category/musings/)
- [Lost Boys](https://browatzke.com/category/musings/lost-boys/)
- [My Gay History](https://browatzke.com/category/musings/my-gay-history/)
- [Things That Made Me Gay](https://browatzke.com/category/musings/things-that-made-me-gay/)
- [Reviews](https://browatzke.com/category/reviews/)
- [From the Journal Vaults](https://browatzke.com/category/from-the-journal-vaults/)
- [Who's Who](https://browatzke.com/category/musings/whos-who/)

## Tags

- [sobriety](https://browatzke.com/tag/sobriety/)
- [addiction](https://browatzke.com/tag/addiction/)
- [queer history](https://browatzke.com/tag/queer-history/)
- [Edmonton](https://browatzke.com/tag/edmonton/)
- [queer Edmonton](https://browatzke.com/tag/queer-edmonton/)
- [gay history](https://browatzke.com/tag/gay-history/)
- [LGBT](https://browatzke.com/tag/lgbt/)
- [gay](https://browatzke.com/tag/gay/)
- [music](https://browatzke.com/tag/music/)
- [memoir](https://browatzke.com/tag/memoir/)
- [birthday](https://browatzke.com/tag/birthday/)
- [gay pride](https://browatzke.com/tag/gay-pride/)
- [gay bars](https://browatzke.com/tag/gay-bars/)
- [cocaine](https://browatzke.com/tag/cocaine/)
- [recovery](https://browatzke.com/tag/recovery/)
- [coming out](https://browatzke.com/tag/coming-out/)
- [high school](https://browatzke.com/tag/high-school/)
- [slow dancing](https://browatzke.com/tag/slow-dancing/)
- [first dance](https://browatzke.com/tag/first-dance/)
- [first crush](https://browatzke.com/tag/first-crush/)
- [Hercules](https://browatzke.com/tag/hercules/)
- [The Mighty Hercules](https://browatzke.com/tag/the-mighty-hercules/)
- [gay gaze](https://browatzke.com/tag/gay-gaze/)
- [grief](https://browatzke.com/tag/grief/)
- [death](https://browatzke.com/tag/death/)
- [Longtime Companion](https://browatzke.com/tag/longtime-companion/)
- [Titanic](https://browatzke.com/tag/titanic/)
- [gay boys](https://browatzke.com/tag/gay-boys/)
- [online cruising](https://browatzke.com/tag/online-cruising/)
- [Rags to Riches](https://browatzke.com/tag/rags-to-riches/)
- [Sasha Mitchell](https://browatzke.com/tag/sasha-mitchell/)
- [Bridget Michele](https://browatzke.com/tag/bridget-michele/)
- [mental health](https://browatzke.com/tag/mental-health/)
- [social media](https://browatzke.com/tag/social-media/)
- [gaybooks](https://browatzke.com/tag/gaybooks/)
- [mmromance](https://browatzke.com/tag/mmromance/)
- [Queer As Folk](https://browatzke.com/tag/queer-as-folk/)