Published July 27, 2012

The accompanying photo depicts myself and two of my best friends, Helgi Rafn Hermannsson (bottom left) and Bóas Hallgrímsson (right), posing in front of a rather nice waterfall that can be found on a mountain in Tunguskógur forest, by Ísafjörður (fun fact: the fjord that hosts the town of Ísafjörður is actually called Skutulsfjörður (“harpoon fjord”)! The fjord that’s actually called Ísafjör›ur is a two-hour drive away from Ísafjörður, the town. There is a very logical explanation for this, which you can seek out if you’re interested). It was early evening in late June, my family was grilling up some nice treats on a nearby BBQ and a group of us kids thought we would work up an appetite by climbing a mountain and looking at a waterfall.
What a time we had!

(Except, one of our group, my cousin Emma Jóna, was stung by a pair of wasps. That put a slight damper on our otherwise perfect evening. Fuck wasps, they are goddamn annoying).
I feel very fortunate that life has granted me the privilege of being able to hike mountains and look at waterfalls at a whim. The people of Iceland have a lot to be grateful for in general, as does anyone reading this who is fortunate enough to be able to travel to distant countries and read their alt. publications (most people out there cannot afford to take leisure trips. A lot of people out there can’t even read. There is a great discrepancy in the way the Earth’s goods are divided, and this is shameful. We should strive to change this, and for empathy).
Taking hikes, looking at waterfalls and BBQ-ing with family are some of the things that make Icelandic summer pretty great. But there are other things.

-Like our annual Gay Pride festivities, coming up in a couple of weeks. They are pretty great, too. It’s all to easy to forget just how amazing and life-affirming it is that a large portion of the nation—gay, straight or otherwise inclined—shows up every year to celebrate diversity and human rights by marching side by side in a colourful parade. We tried to find some questionable aspects of the festivities to talk about in this issue, like the chance of it becoming an over-commercialized money-hole, because we’re like that, we gotta stay vigilant. And of course there is a chance folks might at some point lose sight of the original point and purpose of Gay Pride.

However, our vigilance is at this time probably better directed to places where LBGT persons still suffer persecution and intolerance. Mayor Jón Gnarr is doing his bit by marching in the Faroese Gay Pride. What are you doing?