Just because you aren’t on the Mountain right now doesn’t mean you can’t be a part of your very own music and magic making group of friends. I promise you won’t regret it.

Soda tastings are great if you’re underage, you and/or your friends don’t drink alcohol, or you just want to mix it up. Also, soda’s way cheaper than wine. Wine tastings are so 2000 and late.

Need a break from all the transmisogyny and cissexism of the world? Want to come to California to hang out with a few hundred other queer women and folks on a mountain? Then I’ve got some super great news for you!

Welcome to Straddler Nation, a brand-spankin’-new series in which two rockstar meet-up group captains talk to folks building Autostraddle communities IRL around the world. For their first installment, they talked to some folks who started or are taking the reigns over their local groups.

Black queer women are magical. We’re innovators of style, technology, science, art, music, and all other sorts of badassery. This year for Black History Month, we’ve included another 50 Black trans and queer women that you absolutely must know about.

A Q&A with Julia Nunes and behind-the-scenes photos from her new “Make Out” video.

“A-Camp was sort of a turning point for me. We were talking about building a year-round Autostraddle community and it was decided that I’d be the coffee roaster. I was like, ‘Well, guess I better get good at this coffee roasting thing.’ You can’t have mediocre coffee in a queer commune. I started actually writing a business plan the next weekend.”

“I asked Riese if she thought I would ever have sex again if I started wearing kaftans from World Market and she said no.”

Affirming private messages. A peek into the vices and virtues of your favorite commenters. The lingering sense that you’re a part of something really special and full of love. THIS IS AUTOSTRADDLE SOCIAL AND I WANNA BE YOUR FRIEND ON IT.

The rise of social media and the triumph of trolls has led many popular websites to shut down comments or let them spiral into extinction. NOT US.

The QTPOC Speakeasy is throwing a house party/pajama jam on Mt. Feelings and everyone’s invited! Come for the throwbacks, stay for the dance-off. We even put together a mini-playlist for you, bb.

“13. All feminist concerns are transgender concerns, period.”

dapperQ just came out with their second list of 100 most stylish individuals, and boy, does it deliver on the dapper!

Welcome to a deluxe two-in-one review of the sixth and seventh episodes of season two of Orphan Black! These would have been up sooner, but things like A-Camp, A-Plague, and A-Pain of Returning to the Hetero World have sidelined me. So what did I miss? ALL THE THINGS, apparently.

“I began to step back. Not because of low confidence, or a fear of public speaking, or an inferiority complex — all of them were about my story, and my skin, and my inability to find a way to belong in spaces for people of color without first justifying and laboriously explaining both.”

I figuratively locked Grace Ellis and Shannon Watters in a dark room and made them talk a little bit about their creative process in celebration of today’s AMAZING launch. Also: preview art!

Straddler On The Street turns one year old today, so we captured Vanessa and insisted she let us interview her instead of vice versa like usual. The results are predictably full of floral print and feelings.

“I wore my A-Camp staff shirt to the grocery store in Berkeley and TWO people stopped me to ask me how this year’s Summer Camp went.” Meet Ivy, our last Calendar Girl of the year!

Luckily, we were able to drown out our A-Camp sorrows over some retail therapy at the Mall of America, and a few drinks on Bourbon Street.

These necklaces look really impressive and they’re really easy. Can you use glue? Then you’re golden.