Yes, this week is 10 years of me writing for The WOW Report…
I’m surprised to say, it’s the longest I’ve worked ANYWHERE, except for myself as an artist.
I started out as a designer and art director in New York working for magazine like Vogue, Vanity Fair and House & Garden at the tender age of 21.
I met WOW co-founders Fenton Bailey & Randy Barbato in the mid-80s in NYC. We lived around the corner from each other in the East Village and across the park from the Pyramid Cocktail Lounge, where RuPaul & Lady Bunny first landed in town. Fenton & Randy were then in a band, The Pop Tarts, and I designed their logo which recently POPPED up again on the cover for their 80s hit song Money Success Fame Glamour, as seen (and heard) on Rupaul’s Drag Race All Stars 8.
They we also my DJs for a party Bad Boy at Danceteria. We stayed in touch all these years. A doze years ago I designed their 400 page coffee table tome The World According to Wonder and we are now currently working on a new book (not yet revealed) written by TWR’s Stephen Rutledge, edited by Andrea James.
My first post for the blog June 26, 2013, “DOMA’s Doomed”… but We’ve Got Hope!, paved the way for legalizing gay marriage;
In United States v. Windsor, the Defense of Marriage Act (or DOMA) was ruled unconstitutional as a
“deprivation of the equal liberty of persons that is protected by the Fifth Amendment.”
A fitting day to start I’d say, as June 26 is also my mother’s birthday. Happy Birthday! She’s 83 on Monday.
After 10 years and over 10,000 posts (5,000 about Trump,it seems) I do feel more confident as a writer, even though I could still use a good copy editor (Sorry ’bout all the typos.)
I want to give a couple of shout-outs; one to photographer Ruben Natal-San Miguel who has shot scores of Queens and stories for The WOW Report. This Pride he’s visited every borough in NYC which you can see at on the Wow Report. And to my brother, Tad Speegle who has sent me tons of great story ideas for over the years, and has a great eye for WOW Report stories, Thanks, Tad.
I’m just super grateful to be a tiny part of the WOW family, and it’s a BIG tent now that Drag Race is global, Queen of the universe, RuPaul’s Dragcon, etc. It really does make me proud that what started out as Fenton & Randy’s pop culture obsessions has served the LGBTQ community in so many ways, for going on four decades now.
