THE

Virginia Tech’s LGBTQ Magazine Spring 2018, Issue #8 Letter from the Editor

Four issues. Seventy Stories. 3,240 copies.

And yet there is still so much more to do. THE

I can’t believe that this is my final Letter from the Editor as the editor-in-chief of The Interloper. I came onto the magazine [email protected] first as the Sex/Health Editor (fun fact: I actually applied to be the managing edi- tor and didn’t get the gig) for issues #2-3, Editorial then the social politics editor for issue Editor-in-Chief Maggie Nanney #4, then finally as EIC for issues #5-8. As I look back over our past issues, I am so proud of our publication. While we may be small—often with a staff of no more Features Editor Rachel Hargrave than 12 at a time—we have done so much Arts & Entertainment Editor Miranda Mauldon in terms of sharing the news, opinions, and experiences of people within the LGBTQ+ Sex & Health Editor Jessica Herling community here at Tech and beyond. Social Politics Editor Andrew Pregnall If you were to ask, some of my favorite stories Campus News Editor Colie Touzel have included Hoa Nguyen’s “Quest for the Female Condom” (issue #3) where she went Creative Writing Editor Melissa Velez Nazario around town and asked pharmacists, store managers, and floor workers where she Creative could find female condoms (spoiler alert: no where in town sells them...shocker). Andrew Design Director Sarah Gugercin Pregnall’s tribute to “Orlando” in issue #5 is both horrowing and solemn as we pay respect Contributing Writers to those slain in the horrible attacks in the Pulse nightclub in 2016. Rachel Hargrave Phoebe Gregg, Rachel Hargrave, Whitney Hayes, Tobias Sweeney, offered a beautiful trio of pieces spanning Maggie Nanney, Colie Touzel, Miranda Mauldon, Philip Ray, three issues regarding queerness in music, that I don’t know what the future holds for Mariana Sierra, Christopher Paul Byerley, Taylor Kelso, Zarin Mukul ultimately ending with a playlist on WUVT’s The Interloper. We haven’t yet announced a Spotify (that you should totally check out!) new EIC at this point, but maybe where we Contributing Artists Ella DiPalermo’s writing in issue #6 still should be moving is away from a head of the brings tears to my eyes as she writes about the magazine. I’ve always hated taking credit for Aline de Souza, Mariana Sierra trials of transitioning while in conservative the magazine’s successes, as it really is the Tennessee. In the same issue, Amanda Phillips hard and dedicated work of every writer, edi- Special Thanks and Jonathan Banda offer a witty yet critical tors, artist, donor, and reader that has made analysis of queer theory and jargon. And, of the magazine what it is. Maybe where we are VT Printing course, I would be remiss if I didn’t men- moving is more of an online weekly model. tion the wonderful poetry and art that we’ve Maybe only once a year in print. I don’t know. been able to feature including “First Thirsty We don’t know. But the one thing I do know is Thursday in Blacksburg” by Lisa Summe, that as I leave the magazine, I leave it in good “In Max’s Bathrooms” by Devin Koch, and care here at Virginia Tech. Never would I have the artwork by Aline R.S.S. de Souza. thought that I would find my family in a little, rural conservative town in southern Virginia, This issue follows the traditions of where but The Interloper has become my home. we have been as a magazine while reflecting on where we can and should go from here. In solidarity, It honestly scares me a little bit in the fact Maggie

Masthead 1 Owning Up

Table of Contents towritten Mistakesby Maggie Nanney

“I hate to admit it, but this issue of The Features Campus News Interloper almost didn’t happen.” 3 Owning Up to Mistakes: Reflections, 25 Fun Home Lessons and Growth of The Interloper 29 VT LGBT Caucus Leader Steps Down I wrote that line last semester as the opening sentence to my “Letter for the 16 A Transman’s Guide to Biology 35 More Than a Name: Loca