In Montreal, if it ain’t snowing, then there’s a festival going on somewhere. Founded in 1993 on the principles of diversity, solidarity, and openness, Divers/Cite is one of the most beloved of Montreal’s forty annual festivals. A seven-day LGBT music and arts festival, Divers/Cite’s motto is “All Together Different,” which…
Author: Mark Thompson
A member of Authors Guild, Society of American Travel Writers (SATW), and New York Travel Writers (NYTW), Mark Thompson is an editor, journalist, and photographer whose work appears in various periodicals, including Travel Weekly, Metrosource, Huffington Post, Global Traveler, Out There, and OutTraveler. The author of the novels Wolfchild (2000) and My Hawaiian Penthouse (2007), Mark completed a Ph.D. in American Studies. He has been a Fellow and a resident at various artists' communities, including MacDowell, Yaddo, and Blue Mountain Center.
Travel Destinations
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Summer in the San Juan Islands
Most people who know about the San Juan Islands in the Pacific Northwest know the Washington archipelago for orca whale watching and sea kayaking. Recently designated with national monument status, the archipelago encompasses more than 400 islands and nearly 500 miles of shoreline. One of Lonely Planet’s top destinations in…
Restaurants
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Follow the Red Balloon to Asbury Park’s Pascal & Sabine
Perhaps it was the Lumiere, a lovely libation comprised of Fords gin, St. Germain, and Chartreuse with tasting notes of lime, lavender, violet, and orange that opened the memory. Or maybe the escargots, an even dozen of those gastropods that have been eaten since prehistoric times, yet perfected by the…
Fragrances
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Le Paradis de l’Homme by Hayari Parfums
Olfactory memory takes you home, which for Parisian couture designer Nabil Hayari is the fragrance of the Atlas Mountains. Stretching across Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, the mountains are home to a number of plant species unique to Africa, including the Atlas cedar and the Algerian oak. Hayari launched his fragrance…
Food & Dining
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New York’s Garden Party to Celebrate 31 Years
For years, The Center‘s annual Garden Party has been the kick-off event to NYC Pride Week. What started as a fundraiser in 1984 with one catering company has evolved into the largest LGBT food festival in the country and one of the most celebrated tasting events in the culinary world….
Restaurants
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Living la dolce vita at Asbury Park’s Porta
Doors are to be opened – and the best ones offer a subconscious welcome. The word in Italian is “porta,” which is the name of one of Asbury Park’s most reliable and innovative restaurants. There are doors all over Porta, leaning outside the iconic blue warehouse and hanging from its…
Fragrances
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Bluff by Lubin
Years ago, we knew a boy who smoked Marlboros, wore a belt buckle in the shape of Texas, and slept with his cowboy hat on the pillow. The Marlboro man – at least in his head. Even before the cowpokes of Brokeback Mountain or the Village People, cowboys have been the…
Fragrances
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Daddy Spray: Aveda Men Pure-formance Aroma
Hard to imagine, but some men seem to have an aversion to fragrance – unless it’s bacon or gasoline. If your father is one of those males perfectly content to slap on some Old Spice or Brut once or twice a year, then it’s time you helped him evolve his…