RFD (magazine)
Encyclopedia
RFD is a reader-written magazine
focused on queer
country-living and alternative lifestyles. It was founded in 1974http://www.clga.ca/Material/PeriodicalsLGBT/inven/oov/r1.htm, and has been edited at various locations and by different groups over the course of its existence. The magazine is published on a quarterly basis from New England. While not originally, it is now associated with the Radical Faerie movement.
The magazine was founded after a group of gay men in Iowa attempted to purchase an advertisement in the countercultural Whole Earth Catalog
about the organizing of a gay-centered commune, Running Water
. The editors of Whole Earth rejected the request on the basis that they did not run gay advertisements. The initial organizers of the commune decided to start their own magazine.
According to Donald Engstrom, one of the early Iowa-based founders, the collective wrote to and sent copies of the early issues to every gay campus group they could find and to gay friends far and wide. The first issues of the magazine continued in this "pass along" basis with very passionate response from readers hungry for a gay publication out of the mainstream. The magazine billed itself as a "A Country Journal By Gay Men" (Issue #12). The early founders, described in issue #6 as "a collective of Iowa faggots" published RFD for its first two years. The magazine was then published in Wolf Creek, Oregon
for many years before moving to Running Water
in the early 1980s. It moved from Running Water
to Short Mountain Sanctuary in Liberty, Tennessee in the mid-80's. It has since moved from Short Mountain to a small collective associated with Faerie Camp Destiny in New England in 2009.
Khrysso Heart LeFey reminisces on his websitehttp://www.radfae.org/khrysso/bitofeyhistory.html, the following:
"RFD had not originally been about Radical Faeries—it had been in existence for years, created originally for rural gay men, but it has, in the last nearly twenty years, come to be synonymous with the RFs. Many think that RFD stands for "Radical Faerie Digest," but those who were there then insist that it was taken from just what everyone else thinks of when they hear the initials: "Rural Free Delivery." It was for and about rural “sissies”. A continuing source of delight for me is that in each issue, RFD is also assigned an additional meaning (Really Feeling Decadent and Ranting For Days are possibilities). . ."
The connection between RFD and the faeries has been strengthened by the fact that one of the best known semi-annual gatherings of Radical Faeries takes place at Short Mountain Sanctuary, the gay men’s intentional community that has also been the headquarters for RFD for years."
Among the notable writers featured in RFD have included the poet Essex Hemphill
.
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
focused on queer
Queer
Queer is an umbrella term for sexual minorities that are not heterosexual, heteronormative, or gender-binary. In the context of Western identity politics the term also acts as a label setting queer-identifying people apart from discourse, ideologies, and lifestyles that typify mainstream LGBT ...
country-living and alternative lifestyles. It was founded in 1974http://www.clga.ca/Material/PeriodicalsLGBT/inven/oov/r1.htm, and has been edited at various locations and by different groups over the course of its existence. The magazine is published on a quarterly basis from New England. While not originally, it is now associated with the Radical Faerie movement.
The magazine was founded after a group of gay men in Iowa attempted to purchase an advertisement in the countercultural Whole Earth Catalog
Whole Earth Catalog
The Whole Earth Catalog was an American counterculture catalog published by Stewart Brand between 1968 and 1972, and occasionally thereafter, until 1998...
about the organizing of a gay-centered commune, Running Water
Running Water
Running Water may be:* Running Water, Tennessee, former name of Whiteside, Tennessee* Running Water, South Dakota, a community in Bon Homme County, South Dakota* "Running Water" from the 1983 album The Present...
. The editors of Whole Earth rejected the request on the basis that they did not run gay advertisements. The initial organizers of the commune decided to start their own magazine.
According to Donald Engstrom, one of the early Iowa-based founders, the collective wrote to and sent copies of the early issues to every gay campus group they could find and to gay friends far and wide. The first issues of the magazine continued in this "pass along" basis with very passionate response from readers hungry for a gay publication out of the mainstream. The magazine billed itself as a "A Country Journal By Gay Men" (Issue #12). The early founders, described in issue #6 as "a collective of Iowa faggots" published RFD for its first two years. The magazine was then published in Wolf Creek, Oregon
Wolf Creek, Oregon
Wolf Creek is an unincorporated community in Josephine County, Oregon, United States, just off Interstate 5. Its ZIP code is 97497.There are a number of creeks in Oregon named Wolf Creek, after the wolves that were once abundant in the state. Wolf Creek post office was established 1882, while a...
for many years before moving to Running Water
Running Water
Running Water may be:* Running Water, Tennessee, former name of Whiteside, Tennessee* Running Water, South Dakota, a community in Bon Homme County, South Dakota* "Running Water" from the 1983 album The Present...
in the early 1980s. It moved from Running Water
Running Water
Running Water may be:* Running Water, Tennessee, former name of Whiteside, Tennessee* Running Water, South Dakota, a community in Bon Homme County, South Dakota* "Running Water" from the 1983 album The Present...
to Short Mountain Sanctuary in Liberty, Tennessee in the mid-80's. It has since moved from Short Mountain to a small collective associated with Faerie Camp Destiny in New England in 2009.
Khrysso Heart LeFey reminisces on his websitehttp://www.radfae.org/khrysso/bitofeyhistory.html, the following:
"RFD had not originally been about Radical Faeries—it had been in existence for years, created originally for rural gay men, but it has, in the last nearly twenty years, come to be synonymous with the RFs. Many think that RFD stands for "Radical Faerie Digest," but those who were there then insist that it was taken from just what everyone else thinks of when they hear the initials: "Rural Free Delivery." It was for and about rural “sissies”. A continuing source of delight for me is that in each issue, RFD is also assigned an additional meaning (Really Feeling Decadent and Ranting For Days are possibilities). . ."
The connection between RFD and the faeries has been strengthened by the fact that one of the best known semi-annual gatherings of Radical Faeries takes place at Short Mountain Sanctuary, the gay men’s intentional community that has also been the headquarters for RFD for years."
Among the notable writers featured in RFD have included the poet Essex Hemphill
Essex Hemphill
Essex Hemphill was an American poet and activist. He was a 1993 Pew Fellowships in the Arts.-Biography:Essex Hemphill was born April 16, 1957 in Chicago and died on November 4, 1995 of AIDS-related complications...
.