This episode is the first of a three part series about first love. Specifically, the messy, inconvenient, heartbreaking chaos that first love often inspires for people in high school as well as all the sweetness, optimism and exciting feelings of discovery both about ourselves and that special someone. Mix in the big feelings of emerging sexuality and you can understand why so many of these interviewees remember this time in their lives like it was yesterday.
Read MoreEnjoy this bonus episode of the podcast series Nuances: Our Asian Stories.
Hosted by Lazou, Nuance's latest season is titled Queering Premodern Asia and each episode explores different aspects of sexual diversity in premodern Asia with commentary and personal stories from guest scholars and artists.
Lazou reached out recently and, because our podcasts have a lot of themes in common, we decided to share an episode of each other’s pod with our listeners.
Just so you know, Lazou’s structure of the episodes: first a guest scholar talks about some really interesting queer history of ancient Asian cultures and then, after that, a guest talks about their own personal history and experiences. As you may have guessed, this is my favorite part of the episode.
This first episode of the Queering Premodern Asia series is titled “In search of Prince Charming…and his King!” and the first half is full of swoon-worthy love stories of gorgeous male lovers of kings and saints! Then there is a conversation between Lazou and guest Edmond Chan, a native of Texas who is also a professional musician and scholar. Edmond's conversation with Lazou is really real and raw and it sounds a lot like a Fruitbowl interview so check it out and, if you like the show, subscribe to their feed!
Read MoreYou graduated high school. You packed up all your things and you’re moving into a dorm room or your first apartment. Finally, you have the chance to define life on your own terms. For many queer people, leaving our family and getting our own place is the chance to finally seek out the experiences we’ve always wanted but weren’t allowed to have when every move, every decision we made was scrutinized by the family that we grew up with.
In this final volume of our “Firsts” series we hear from Fruitbowl contributors about a variety of firsts: first “intimacies,” first boyfriends, first gay bars, first kisses; coming out, going in again, coming out a second time; all the things we wanted to do for so long and finally got the chance.
Read MoreThese days, thanks to technology, it’s easier than ever to hook up; but no app can provide the rush you feel when you lock eyes with someone in person and you know, without any verbal communication, that there is a mutual interest. In this episode, our interviewees share first-time stories of cruising as well as other anecdotes about the art of cruising and what we’ve lost now that it has become less common.
Read MoreLet’s end Pride 2024 with a bang! For this episode, Dave is taking a break from his series on First Times and he’s selected a few of his favorite moments when interviewees shared profound thoughts about queerness, community, identity and, of course, there are a lot of things to say about sex. So put your rubbers on because tea will be spilled, mics will be dropped and truth bombs will be detonated.
Read MoreThere’s a tendency to devalue first times that originate online. There’s no meet-cutes; no love at first sight. Often, the getting-to-know-you window happens remotely. Most of them are one-offs we will never see ever again. But, like it or not, this is the way most of us find first time partners now though there are signs that dating apps are losing users and people are starting to rely more on in-person opportunities.
The most compelling part of first time internet hookups is when we finally act on the desire that burns deep inside of us and we decide to finally follow through. Expectation collides with reality. We might meet sex partners who have the potential to excite us and fulfill all of our fantasies or they could be spectacular flame outs that send us into shame spirals. Most hookups land somewhere between these two extremes. We just never really know which it will be. Either way, they’re proof of the boundless optimism and fierce bravery of queer people.
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