Big news in Toronto queer media today, with word coming out that Xtra is going to do away with fab.
I’ve got a long history with both, with some of my writing appearing in each and my co-producing Writing Outside the Margins with Xtra. I remember arguments and debates with numerous editors of each. fab! brought something to the community…not something I always wanted or appreciated, but it did also do a lot for the community.
Can you tell I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with both?
Honestly, I haven’t paid much attention to either in recent years, mostly because fab lost, for me, its relevance when it was bought by Xtra. They needed to be separate. They needed some antagonism. Not the whole enemy thing they was there for a while, but they needed to play off each other. Once they were packaged under the same umbrella, fab became superfluous.
Energies and resources are better spent on one publication, not two “different but same” mags.
