I am sunburnt and burnt out, overlooking a bog on a property somewhere between Nanaimo and Ladysmith. The house I am staying at was built by a couple who met through CiTR in the early ‘80s, right around the time the station got their FM license and Discorder was founded. I think about this property a lot, and the coincidence of having friends whose parents met through CiTR around the time Discorder was just a spark in the minds of its first editors, Jennifer Fahrni and Mike Mines.
I have written this Editor’s Note before — the “what’s Discorder for” note — with each variation a bit more confident. This is my second full year with Discorder, the twentieth issue I’ve worked on, and every month I learn more about the magazine, the contributors who fill it up, and the community who support it. It’s no secret that Discorder continues to exist, despite increasing production costs, because it is a training ground for writers, photographers and illustrators. Discorder is “that magazine from CiTR 101.9FM.” But it can also be a resource.
Since our symbolic reformat last year, we have asked our readers to observe and reconsider their surroundings through articles that address event accessibility, lack of diversity in festival line-ups, the stigmatization of the opioid crisis, areas of gentrification, and more. We continue this theme in the September issue with an article on sexual assault and accountability in music scenes; a reprint of “Vancouver Mural Festival: The Present Is A Gift For Developers” by Jesse McKee and Amy Nugent; and an interview with Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, the filmmaker of c’əsnaʔəm: the city before the city. There are also plenty more interviews, previews and reviews to feast on.
This month, there is a lot of news from our extended CiTR family, including Nardwuar’s 30th Anniversary radio marathon and concert [page 08], a reformatting of Discorder Radio [page 20], and exciting newlyknotted announcements below.
So, cheers! To brushing off the charred bits of our summer selves, and getting back to work.
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