Every day I wake up, and I read.

I turn on my computer and check my RSS feeds: queer news, international news, arts news, etc. It's what you do when you work as a writer/journalist/blogger. You read to keep up with the world, see what's going on, keep current.

Readers will recognize that often, I will write an op-ed or a short blurb about something I found online. I like to share. But I want to share a little bit more.

In that capacity, here is the first "Reading List," a small collection of curated links to stories that interest queers and the people who love (and write about) them.

First off, an article by pornstar/writer Conner Habib, published on Salon. Habib presents a rather personal (and PG-13 masturbatory) story about discovering his sexuality at highway rest stops. The story is interesting in and of itself, as cruising as a concept is rarely discussed within "mainstream" media, let alone the discussion of men who have sex with men who don't identify as (and possibly don't identify what they're doing as) being gay. He describes it almost like a secret society, all based on sex. He writes:

Once I saw a bag of condoms nailed to a tree with a sign that read, “Be Safe Guys.” It was a kind gesture, but it somehow felt like an intrusion. Because these places weren’t quite places, they weren’t destinations; not for most people. They were away from hookup websites, away from houses, bars, clubs, lives — removed from the world. And when the world crept in, it made the experience less real, less itself.

And although I generally advise against reading comments in such stories, in this case, the comments are almost as entertaining as the story itself. Especially the incredulity at the discovery that such a thing/act/subculture exists.

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During the late '80s and early '90s, many gay male writers began publishing what became known as "AIDS novels": personal stories, both fictional and factual, about how the disease was affecting gay men. The genre died down during the mid-'90s, (books as Dale Peck's Martin and John, published in 1993 is often considered to be one of the first "post-AIDS novel" novels, and the end of the era) and AIDS and AIDS-related stories became less and less read, or considered.

This week, The Atlantic published a first-person account of living with a partner with HIV, or serodiscordance. Read it.

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Last, but certainly not least, I found an old article that the NYT published a short piece about men who wear heels.

Image by Amy Dickerson for NYT

The NYT has always tried to be on top of trends, but really, men wearing heels isn't that new, and it wasn't then.

However, inspired by the idea of men in heels, allow me to offer you a little weekend office dance party, courtesy of Alien Alien.

When I was an undergrad, I spent many a night reading everything I could get my hands on.

I was lucky enough to work in a library, so when it was quiet, I would "stock the shelves," which really meant sitting down on the floors, in the aisles where no one could see me, and doing something dirty and obscene.

I would read poems.

Poems are for flakes. Poems are for pretentious nerds. Poems are for 16-year-old kids who wear too much makeup (of any gender). Perhaps. But so what.

It was on the floor of that library that I started to read Adrienne Rich.

Here was a woman who spoke her mind in the best way she knew how. With spaces and similes, metaphors and anecdotes. This was not a world of flourishes and daydreams; it was of every day. 

Here is one of her love poems.

I wake up in your bed. I know I have been dreaming.
Much earlier, the alarm broke us from each other,
you’ve been at your desk for hours. I know what I dreamed:
our friend the poet comes into my room
where I’ve been writing for days,
drafts, carbons, poems are scattered everywhere,
and I want to show her one poem
which is the poem of my life. But I hesitate,
and wake. You’ve kissed my hair
to wake me. I dreamed you were a poem,
I say, a poem I wanted to show someone…
and I laugh and fall dreaming again
of the desire to show you to everyone I love,
to move openly together
in the pull of gravity, which is not simple,
which carries the feathered grass a long way down the upbreathing air. 

Adrienne Rich passed away at the age of 82. Thank you, Adrienne, for everything that you did and wrote.

Yesterday, The Gossip released a new single, entitled "Perfect World."

Although some may argue that The Gossip have left their DIY-punk roots — especially with their last full-length album, released by a major label and produced by Rick Rubin — but that would be shortsighted. Beth Ditto and her Gossip compadres simply now have access to bigger and better things. They still play from their older catalogue in their shows, and Ditto's voice has probably never sounded better.

Personally, I am waiting for Ditto to officially release a cover of "Vogue." 

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In other music news, Peaches has recently put out a video for her collaboration with Telonius, entitled "Our Love." The video is like streaming video gone MOMA.

I have a confession to make: I love television talent competitions.

Ot at least, the Got Talent series.  

I mean, I loathe all of the Idol series and can't even deal with the schaudenfreude that is the audition process, but in the case of *'s Got Talent, I do admit, I love to watch them. And yes, I do tear up on occasion. 

But this is not about things that make one tear up. It is about things that make us smile.

Case in point: last week on Citytv's Canada's Got Talent, the boys from Boylesque TO performed a rather cheeky -- I'm looking at you, Wrong Note Rusty -- number for the judges (fast forward to the 35:50 mark to see what the boys were up to), including a little glimpse of some beautiful buttocks. The boys have made it through to the next round, and I can't wait to see what they'll pull out of their sleeves/tear-away pants/cummerbunds/jockstraps.

Meanwhile, across the pond, the original version of the show, Britain's Got Talent, has also proved to be rather queer-friendly, with an audition by two male ballroom dancers.

I will admit that I am not a great fan of ballroom dancing. I don't really get how it has become such a huge phenom, especially in the case of Dancing with the Stars. And the performance by these two gentlemen is rife with kitsch and schmaltz, as they dance to "You Raise Me Up" (I vomit a little in my mouth when I hear that song). But the fact that they can still make someone like Simon Cowell smile, even though you know he wants to roll his eyes at the camp-ness of it all (as did I, a little bit), is a testament to the earnestness they present. It's not about how well they dance or the two of them being a "gay dancing duo." It is an obvious and honest expression of hard work and dedication presented by two people who love each other. And for that, I will applaud them. Just don't use that song again, please.

It's no secret that Mondays suck.

You didn't get enough sleep on the weekend, you haven't been to the gym in a few days, and it's grey outside. It's like a giant "WTF" just slapped you in the face.

But it could be worse. You could be stuck in a cubicle with a new co-worker who whines more than a needy beagle.

Like Jack does.

My Monday morning was just made better with a new episode of Michael Cyril Creighton's Jack in a Box. Things can only go up now.

Pitchfork Media, the website every music journalist (and every unfortunate hipster worth his salt) is reading, posted a great article about the burgeoning queer hip-hop community in New York and throughout the rest of the United States.

But this is no story about Cazwell or Chicago-based Big Dipper. Forget Big Freedia's sissy bounce anthems (but not really, that queen makes some kickass jamz). This is about The House of Ladosha, Mykki Blanco and Zebra Katz. These aren't just a bunch of party anthems -- this is intelligent hip hop.

It's nice to see some "mainstream" press recognizing -- and, arguably, understanding -- the significance and role of queers in hip hop: from innovators to behind-the-scene movers, often misrepresented and maligned by a culture that works with them.

Check out Zebra Katz's "Ima Read," a record that would work for underground hip-hop nerds, queens looking for a new record to walk/werk to and more. 

Forget email, gmail and especially hotmail.

Girl, you need She-Mail.

She-Mail is the brainchild of C U Next Tuesdays, a comedy troupe that puts out new comedy vidoes every Tuesday (how apropos).   

(To be read in the voice of Stefan from SNL's Weekend Update) This video has everything: drag queens, cute boys, shade, cocaine, Destiny's Child and more.

Check it out.

The internet is rife with parodies and satires of everything under the sun. If something is trending, someone is going to make fun of it. Most viral videos are some form of parody or satire, whether intentional or not. ("Double Rainbow," anyone?)

One famed parody, written by Adam Ray, was video of a Kermit the Frog puppet watching the "2 Girls 1 Cup" video. The parody video, which has reached almost six million views, is just one example of Ray's ideas about the ridiculousness of pop culture. Hence his latest video, a two-for-one deal mocking not only Carl's Jr, an American fast-food chain known for its "sexy" commercials (I put the term in quotation marks, because really, this is considered sexy?), but also NyQuil, for its sleeptime hallucinogenic qualities.  Seriously, that shit fucks you up.

Or at least, enough that it makes straight boys fantasize about ginger bears rubbing burgers against their hairy man boobs. This is feeder porn disguised as comedy. Gold star.

A bunch of queer and business-minded individuals in Halifax are looking to create an LGTBQ business network and possibly a chamber of commerce.  

This Thursday, the Canadian Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce will be hosting a meet-and-greet at Pipa Restaurant on Argyle St. Darrell Schuurman, the president of the CGLCC, spoke with Xtra via email about the upcoming event. "The event on the 22nd is the first meeting, and is really meant to gauge the interest level for the formation of a Halifax/Atlantic LGBT Chamber of Commerce," he explains. "The goal is to provide an opportunity for the LGBT business community to get together, network, learn and do business." Schuurman goes on to note that he hopes to host monthly events to help foster opportunities for LGBT business. You can find out more information about how to RSVP at their website.

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Speaking of queers and business, it's been reported for a while now that American fast-food chain Chic-fil-A has been backing conservative politicians and groups, leaving many queers upset, not only over their politics, but also about feeling they have to forgo the restaurant's famed snacks and goodies. But RuPaul's Drag Race alum Willam and his friends have decided to say, Fuck it, even if they "make the baby Jesus cry."

This is the trio that should have sung at the end of Bridesmaids.

It's the end of "awards season," but with the Oscars and the Grammys all finished, what does that leave us with?

How about the Hookies?

Organized by escort website rentboy.com, the Hookies (link NSFW) is just like any other awards show, with hosts (Alec Mapa), presenters (including Village Voice queen Michael Musto) and various categories. The only difference is that the nominees are all professionals who work in the sex trade.

Sex workers -- whether they be escorts, working in porn, street-level or wherever -- are often maligned by the very society that seeks out their services. It's kind of nice to see something that celebrates some of the individuals who work in this trade. The scope of the awards is limited -- it is geared toward men who work/have sex with men -- but it's a very public start. 

I know a few Haligonian sex workers who deserve awards. The I Put My Kid Through School Award. The Advocacy Without Judgment Award. Let me know when the nominations for those are coming out.

Limitations aside, the one thing I enjoy the most about this event is the inclusion of people who work in the porn industry.  The fact that many "pornstars" work as escorts, or in various forms of the sex trade, is rarely discussed openly, working as a bit of an open secret within the sex trade. The nominees include individuals such as Kennedy Carter, and there is even a Best Pornstar Escort category.

So who will win for Best Newcomer, Best Top or the penultimate Mr International Escort 2012? It all goes down (or up?) on March 23 in New York City.