Rain drips off the brilliant marigold leaves of the fagus trees all around me, and I slump, exhausted, under a thirty-five pound backpack loaded with a week’s worth of cold weather clothing and camera equipment. It’s late spring, mid-season for Tasmania’s premiere hiking trail, The Overland Track (parks.tas.gov.au), yet my guided group trip seems to have caught a burst of bad luck, gleaning day after day of frigid rain from the otherwise stunning alpine landscape. Suddenly, on the steep, craggy slopes of Mount Ossa, the highest peak in the state, the sky opens up like a gift from the divi ..read more

The appeal of the deli extends far beyond sandwiches alone. It embraces a world of culinary treasures, from hearty soups and stews to decadent salads brimming with fresh produce and savory toppings. Organized and first presented by L.A.’s renowned Jewish museum the Skirball Cultural Center, before traveling to the New-York Historical Society, the recent “I’ll Have What She’s Having”: The Jewish Deli exhibition, named for Meg’s Ryan’s fake climax scene at Katz’s Deli in When Harry Met Sally, paid moving tribute to an iconic culinary story born of diaspora. Historic photographs and artifacts dep ..read more

How does one categorize Chella Man (chellaman.com), who at age twenty five has already dipped his toes into so many disciplines, from visual art to fashion to acting to writing to activism, all while shattering the intersectional representation ceiling as queer, trans-masculine, half-Chinese, Jewish, and deaf? “I honestly feel like ‘artist’ is an all encapsulating term,” he muses via Zoom, “because it’s so broad and general, plus now I identify more and more as a philosopher because I’m asking more and more questions of myself or whatever is next for me.” Recently selected as one of Forbes’ “3 ..read more

The LEXUS International Gay Polo Tournament is more than just a sporting event, it’s a huge collaboration between several organizations and a passionate community raising visibility of LGBTQ+ people in a very important way. For the last 13 years, Gay Polo League, under the leadership of Chip McKenney, has organized matches and tournaments for LGBTQ+ polo players and allies around the world. This year, 16 polo players collectively from the USA, England, France, Germany, Canada, Peru, and Argentina came together in West Palm Beach to battle it out for two ultimate prizes, the Senator’s Cup and t ..read more

Nostalgia travel is a real thing. For nearly a century, research from MIT to Harvard (both in the Boston vicinity) has proven nostalgia improves quality of life and wellbeing and makes you happy. Nostalgia is why people travel to the same place over and over again. It feels good. This may explain why my recent trip to Boston was emphatically nirvanic. Boston and I have history. I lived in Beantown while attending Emerson College two decades ago, so returning to my former stomping ground was not only moving, I was inspired rediscovering a renowned city that shaped my formative years. Bosto ..read more

Rhode Island’s Annual PrideFest Celebration & Illuminated Night Parade will take place Saturday, June 15, 2024, at District Park in Downtown Providence with this year’s theme being “THRIVE.” Rhode Island’s first Pride was held in 1976 with fewer than 100 participants, and this year’s PrideFest will attract more than 50,000 people during the day and 70,000 people for the Illuminated Night Parade. The event is also New England’s largest LGBTQIA+ marketplace & business expo with over 200 vendors, exhibitors, and non-profit organizations represented. The vendor exhibition is a ka ..read more

Another of the Inns’ proud queer employees, Chef Lou Ruscitto-Donato, oversees one of the resort’s most unique attractions, Aurora Cooks!, a clever, engaging hybrid of restaurant, dinner party and TV cooking show. In the Finger Lakes region of Cayuga County, New York sits the tiny burg of Aurora.  Here, visitors can enjoy an unexpected 350 acre oasis of hospitality collectively known as The Inns of Aurora (391 Main Street, Aurora NY. Tel: 315-364-8888. innsofaurora.com). Located about 30 minutes from Cornell University and Ithaca College, the town of Aurora’s storied past has clear i ..read more

The Sullivan Catskills Visitors Association and Bethel Woods Center for the Arts will come together once again to create the second annual spectacular Catskill Cuisine event. The immersive culinary experience-filled weekend will bring forth an extravaganza of different events taking place from May 10 – 12, 2024. Catskill Cuisine’s inaugural event last year was met with great success and this year’s event will be even more outstanding, spanning the whole weekend. “Bethel Woods was honored to host Catskill Cuisine last year,” said Eric Frances, CEO of Bethel Woods Center for the Arts and Chair o ..read more

Reboot your earbud style and help the planet with Urbanears Boo Recycled Plastic Earbuds. Made from 97-percent recycled plastics taken from bottles, air-conditioner units, and other materials, these water-resistant wireless earbuds come with up to 30 hours of playtime and a splash-resistance USB-C charging case. For a smaller overall environmental impact, their full-charge capacity is limited to 90 percent, which extends the lifetime of their internal battery and therefore of the product itself. Count on nicely tuned sound quality, Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity, easy touch controls, and dual nois ..read more

Rechargeable devices are an integral part of our lives, but there are always some that require the old familiar C, D, 9V, and other batteries we associate with single use. Utah-based Paleblue aims to replace those one-and-done batteries with its line of fast-charging, super-long-lasting batteries that recharge up to four at a time via a USB port. The Paleblue Batteries Sustainability Kit is the perfect starter set, with eight AAs, eight AAAs, four USB charging cables, and four recycled-plastic travel cases (solar charger kits are also available). Each Paleblue battery can divert up to 1,000 si ..read more