From the Editor: What To Do This Winter?

This is our final full issue of 2022. 

It is not a sad occasion, mind you. It certainly closes out a year full of great stories and changes at Lavender Magazine. 

Let me take this opportunity to thank you for reading this magazine. For engaging with us. For taking a ride with us along the way. 

Of course, we have one more issue to publish for 2022 – our Pride Pages. Look for that to come out in a couple of weeks.

However, let’s talk about this issue – our 2022 “Winter What To Do” edition. 

For those seeking to get away from our climate, we have some ideas from St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida. The Tampa Bay area is still open for business and vacationers alike! We also discuss being a solo traveler – even among a group of LGBTQ travelers. 

If you’re looking for a place to permanently get away from it all, there is a place in the Palm Springs area that will welcome us for the best years of our lives. 

If we’re the kind to stick around this winter, there’s a guide for “what to do” this winter. Not just Holiday festivals, but performances and so forth. Don’t worry, we have you covered!

Plus, we offer some piping hot cocoa to go along with your moments of winter relaxation.

Winter is all about transition. One such transition is happening in January with the retirement of Jane Ramseyer Miller as Artistic Director of One Voice Mixed Chorus. For over two decades, she was the heart, the soul, and the driving force at One Voice and across the choral community. 

Before I send you forth onto this final issue of 2022, I must turn my focus on Colorado Springs. 

On November 19, a person with a gun entered into Club Q and began shooting at patrons just before midnight. Five people were dead; dozens wounded. 

Again, we are faced with an act of violence in our community. It is not enough that we are faced with daily hatred and violence for who are for someone to create more mayhem and chaos by targeting the LGBTQ community – period.

I ask that our community continue to send support to the our people in Colorado Springs. Just as we did in every tragedy against us. This cannot happen again!  

With that said, I wish you the best of the Holidays. No matter how you spend them, please enjoy what they bring to you. May there be joy and light for you, your family, your friends, and the people in your community. 

Again, thank you for reading this magazine!