Introducing Our New Contributors!

After almost three years (gosh, has it been that long?), dapperQ remains committed to serving as a community resource and we are looking on the horizon, expanding our team to provide you with brand-spankin’ new features, interviews, editorials, and news stories. Joining our blogging family is a super talented group of dapperQs with a wealth of diverse perspectives and experiences. Here are the new crop of dapperQ contributors:

ARIEL

Ariel “Speedwagon” Federow is a performer, fashion junkie, itinerant professor, white person, part-time lesbian developer, raging homosexual, Jew, internet sleuth, lay mathematician, leader of crowds, sometimes activist and lover of old things like Esther Williams movies and telephones that plug into the wall. She likes pop music, the weather, Powerpoint, layperson science, figuring things out for yourself, leading armies of multi-gender holes across North America, telling tall tales, and knowing the rules to break the rules (blame it on being a Capricorn.) She is the reigning dapperQ of the Year, former Miss Jew-S-A, and once almost won a lesbian beauty pageant. Likes: intersectional politics; poor people skills; cute backpacks; how-to manuals; tearjerker movies. Dislikes: transmisogyny; entitlement; weird high-concept foods like “tomato foam.” Visit Ariel’s website for performance schedules, photos, et cetera.

GRAIE

A native St. Louisian, Graie (aka GraietheObservantQueer) recently made the trip down river to the Big Easy – N’Awlins to spend the year being perpetually broke. A Queer, Jewish, social justice educator, and former middle school history teacher, Graie finds great joy in bending gender perception and challenging people to think out side of the accepted “norm”. There are few things Graie loves more than hirs wife, dog, social justice education, coffee, a nice tie, and a fly pair of wingtips.
Fun facts:
  • Graie loves all things Star Wars and has been known to rock a pair of Darth Vader underoos from time to time.
  • Graie collects tattoos, books, and snarky comebacks.
  • Graie keeps kosher and doesn’t really like food. If you’ve ever seen the episode of 30 Rock where Liz Lemon dates Wayne Brady you will understand my first date with my wife.
  • Graie loves strangers! Some of my most memorable human interactions have come from strangers or  friends I don’t yet feel safe with.
JOELLE

Joelle Zigman is probably the proudest (and quite possibly the only) butch feminist queer political radical-minority-rights-activist classical musician you will ever meet.  Originally from Jersey City, NJ, she has forever left the NYC area to spend her life in the south, which is something she would love to talk to you about someday. Her favorite place in the world to be is Houston, TX, though she is currently living in Austin doing the grad school thing. She is an active print and radio music journalist who also runs her own blog, Nuts and Bolts Music, which has lots of neat information and analysis about interesting trends in the music industry. Joelle’s favorite things about being a dapperQ include wearing very affordable size 6 men’s shoes, 50’s style barber shops, cufflinks, and the handkerchief code. “

KAWAN(A)

Blnerd  *  Writer  *  Artivist  *  Non-Profit Aficionado  *  Big & Beautiful Hirsute * PCOS Warrior * P/T Vegetarian * Naturally Kinked * Kahlo Moustache Wearing * House Music Junkie * Fedora Whore * Bi-coastal Harlemite * Fairy Godfutch. Kawan(a) Shane is a budding writer/blogger who loves all things blue!  A studio arts graduate of Hamilton College, Kawan(a) has been called  “an opinionated socially-conscious butterfly” that has a sweet spot for events planning and film.  S/he adores collaborating with others and is proud to have worked with organizations such as House Dance International, Mizan Media and Butch Voices NYC.

Kawan(a) loves a good haircut, X-Men, dark humor, strong-leading women in arts & film, dancing like there’s no tomorrow and of most importantly- jean jackets, vests and fedoras (Oh My!).  Proud progeny of an upstate New York disco-queen and a Brooklyn-born tailor/master carpenter, Kawan(a)presently spends time between New York City, California and “Keep It Weird” Portland, OR.

A long-time subscriber to dapperQ, Kawan(a) believes it’s one of the coolest forums that marry gender-bending politics, academia, pop-culture and men’s/masculine of center (MOC) fashion.  Kawan(a)’s motto:  The day you allow yourself to be who you are, anything is possible.  Swag it forward!

LEE

Lee is often found in plaid and bow ties, although she occasionally branches out to solid colored flannels. All of her seventeen years have been devoted to finding the perfect iced coffee; As such, she is often found at Panera’s, where Paul, the manager, is getting sick of her. When she’s not at Panera’s, she’s probably at school, where she hopes to major in Psychology and Sociology.

RACHEL 

Mr. Rachel Tutera is a feminist and gentleman in her late twenties. She works as an archivist at the Center for Jewish History and a clothier for Bindle & Keep. When she isn’t handling ephemera or 120s wool, she can be found at home in Brooklyn folding chambray shirts, talking to her grandmother on the phone or Tweeting (@handsomebutches).

Tk

With more aliases than Erykah Badu, Tk is a certified master of disguise. Some of her intersecting identities include the romantic who meditates and believes in oneness of the universe; the theses-hungry nerd who wants to learn more than the world can teach her; and the Nigerian immigrant with a Westernized accent and a look of displacement painted across her face. She currently lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba, completing her double degree B.A in Psychology and Gender Studies. She also wants you to remember that real beauty is not physical.

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3 Comments

  • Gawd, this is so thrilling! Welcome to each of you and congrats to our Managing Editor Anita Dolce Vita for giving birth to this brilliant expansion…

  • Hey everyone. This is super interesting website. I finally found the place where i feel belonged. I’m so into dapper fashion as well and for the record, I’m from Singapore. I hope to get to meet you guys someday. Cheers.

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