Copenhagen: The Backstory

Some three weeks ago, my already hectic life went supernova. It was Tuesday September 23, the Melbourne Fringe Festival was in full swing, and I'd just put that week's issue of MCV to bed. Dragging my weary self home, I found an email from the City of Melbourne waiting for me in my inbox, asking me to call a certain number ASAP.

One short phone call later, I learned I'd been nominated by the committee steering Melbourne's participation in the OUTcities project (part of the cultural stream of the 2009 World Outgames) as their journalist of choice to participate in a three-day press tour to Copenhagen, the games' host city. Copenhagen had suggested a journalist from The Australian, but the steering committee had suggested me, given my strong ties to both the queer and the arts communities. To say I was flattered would be a major understatement. But more importantly: would I accept the nomination?

Damn right I would!

There was just one problem: the press tour was scheduled for a date in October to be determined, and I was heading off to Morocco on the annual Triple R/Intrepid Travel tour on October 20. I was told we could work around that, so I said yes.

One day later, the Outgames team emailed me to say they'd accepted my nomination, and that they'd be in touch with the details of the trip in due course. So far, so good.

One week later, my publisher offers me my ideal job: would I like to step away from editing MCV after 18 months at the helm, in order to create a brand new, fortnightly arts magazine for Melbourne's LGBT community? Hell yeah!

This is where things started to go a wee bit pearshaped.

My deadline for the first issue of the new magazine, which I've christened CANVAS, was very tight. Simultaneously, it rapidly became apparent that taking the 17 days leave necessary to visit Morocco would just not be possible; not if I was going to take my new role and my new magazine seriously. The clincher was another email from the Outgames asking me to fly out to Copenhagen in just under two weeks.

Result? I'm not going to Morocco; another Triple R broadcaster, Breakfaster Sam Pang, is going instead of me. Instead, I put the first, teaser issue of CANVAS together in record time; and also the first issue proper less than one week later. It's a fortnightly magazine by the way: check it out, I'm extraordinarily proud of it.

And then, last Wednesday at midnight, I flew out to Copenhagen via Hong Kong and London. It was my first visit to the Danish capital, and god I can't wait to go back. But you can read all about that in the next post...