A decade ago, Paul Bellini was a Troll, Rolyn Chambers was fresh on the beat and Britney Spears was featured in Sushi. As the fab years pass, some things change and some blondes are still overexposed.

I didn’t become a part of the fab family until a year later, when a story I submitted was published in the literary issue. It was a cute tale positing that Stephen King’s prodigious output was due to a muse who, in classic horror story fashion, abandons King to possess a hustler.

The excitement of seeing my name on the same cover as Felice Picano was addictive, and shortly after that I was lucky enough to secure a position as an intern. Even luckier was that my arrival coincided with the launch of fabmagazine.com; with a background in web design, I became a bridge between the print and online teams. And I learned. Learned about the scene, gay life, politics and to have a sense of humour. One of my favourite issues was the Satire issue, in which I wrote a piece wherein artist and provocateur Keith Cole was presented with a Governor General’s Award. I sat in Woody’s on the day it came out and watched as the after-work drinkers poured in and pored over the new issue of fab. There were expressions of disbelief and shock followed by peals of laughter when the subterfuge sunk in. Today, Keith Cole is a Dora-nominated actor and the choreographer of Sky Gilbert’s ambitious new play Dancing Queen — and he’s about to present his master’s thesis at OCAD. Sometimes satire is prescient.

Conditions at fab changed, and it was time to move on, but a few years of freelance led to a golden opportunity when Pink Triangle Press purchased fab and I was hired to help the magazine thrive in its new home. Four and half years later it is again time to move on — but not far. PTP has an ambitious web project in the works, and my years in the trenches make me a natural to help bring the scene-driven listings and events section of Daily Xtra to fruition. fab will now be in the capable hands of the effervescent Phil Villeneuve, also an intern many, many years ago. With luck, this will leave me with more time to pursue my first love — writing — so I can continue to chronicle all the details and dirt of our big gay scene. And when I get to cover Keith’s acceptance of his Governor General’s Award, I’m hoping he will be blond.

Drew Rowsome
editor@fabmagazine.com