Happy Friday, LOOKOUT readers!
I hope your Juneteenth holiday was restful and you had some time to celebrate with friends and family—or just take a day to do nothing!
I spent the holiday (and the whole week, really) driving all around Arizona, so much so that I've logged roughly the length of the United States in mileage on my car. I've been doing this for two reasons:
1- We can't always afford a photographer to take photos for our stories, and instead of paying someone less than what they're worth (a common practice in newsrooms) we simply do it ourselves. I've been photographing people from a forthcoming story that we can't wait for you to read in mid-July.
2- If you remember last week, we mentioned that our third edition of LOOKOUT Magazine is available. Because we have a limited budget, we try to be strategic with where we place our zines that are free to the public. We scout out coffee shops, music venues, tea rooms, libraries, or medical offices in rural and suburban places where we know LGBTQ+ people and their allies visit, and where they feel safe to read about their community. Jake and I have been dropping stacks of magazines in locations just like those in our travels across the state.
Why do we do this? Because Arizona is pretty damn gay. We have the fourth largest trans adult population and the the 14th largest LGBTQ+ population. We exist everywhere around here, and we want to make sure news for our community isn't concentrated in just Phoenix and Tucson.
Do you know of a place where I should put our magazines? Respond back to this email and let me know!
-Joseph Darius Jaafari