Line dancing is to most New Yorkers what a queer club might be to people living in rural Texas: Something they know exists in some far-off place but carries with it a tinge of discomfort. What a lot of people in this corner of the country don’t realize is that there is actually a rich tradition of queer clubs and line dancing converging—and there’s one collective determined to carry on that legacy. 

Stud Country was founded by Bailey Salisbury and Sean Monaghan, two friends who met in the punk scene at the California College of the Arts in Oakland. Together, they’ve created a wildly successful, nation-wide queer party where people can strap on their boots, learn how to line dance, and be surrounded by other queer people. Line dancing at Stud Country can happen to the sound of classic country songs, but it also happens to tracks by Britney Spears, Troye Sivan, and Ariana Grande.

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Salisbury and Monaghan started Stud Country in California, and since 2021, they’ve been throwing events in New York City—most prominently at the Brooklyn Bowl—several times a year. If you’re like me and aren’t completely sure what line dancing is, it’s essentially a choreographed dance that you do in a line and consists of steps you repeat in synchronicity with others around you. The electric slide and cha cha slides are types of line dances, but there are many other lineages and genres to the dance, including the more traditional, country-centered line dancing that Stud Country was founded on. 

When you go to a Stud Country event in New York, you can expect it to be a place to socialize, make friends and, per Salisbury and Monaghan, “get really sweaty.” You don’t need to know how to line dance already, but you definitely need to be eager about learning. They’ll guide you through two-step, how to partner dance, and if you decide you like it, you can come back again and again until you can call yourself a legit line dancer. 

There’s a whole queer lineage that’s been around for 40 years. We’re very connected to this history, a lot of people think it’s a novelty, but it’s not.

Line dancing became popular in clubs as early as the 1950s, and like most dance styles that involve any form of physical contact, it has a pretty rigid set of rules around gender. But queer line dancers throughout the country have been quietly subverting the genre for years. According to some sources, the queer obsession with line dancing began around the ’80s and ’90s, when tracks like “Achy Breaky Heart” brought country music into the cities where a lot of queer people congregated. “There’s a whole queer lineage that’s been around for 40 years,” Monaghan tells Time Out. “We’re very connected to this history, a lot of people think it’s a novelty, but it’s not.”

Although it might not seem like it for those of us who don’t know much about line dancing, it can actually be a pretty sexy genre. You build up tension and rapport while dancing in synchronicity with other people, and the tension climaxes when you choose a partner to dance with. But beyond the physicality of it all, queer line dancing can be a spiritual way for people to stay connected to their heritage without having to perpetuate gender roles that don’t feel authentic to them.

Salisbury and Monaghan want to continue the legacy of queer line dancing because they found so much of themselves and their own community there. The previous generation of line dancers are getting older and some of the queer clubs that were central to the line dancing community have been shut down. In fact, the closure of Oil Can Harry’s, the oldest gay club in L.A., is part of what prompted Salisbury and Monaghan to start Stud Country. They feel the responsibility to create an intergenerational space that honors the experience of queer elders, while also launching line dancing in the queer community into a new era that feels fresh. “We wanted to dig up the history and find the dances,” Salisbury said. “We wanted to create a space where our friends would also come to and not feel weird.”

Like many genres that are rooted in some sort of tradition, line dancing’s survival is contingent on its willingness to change with the times. So while you’ll hear all the classic country songs, you’ll also get contemporary country, ’90s country, alternative rock, and iconic gay club songs. Part of Stud Country’s goal is to show people how expansive line dancing can actually be. Talking to Salisbury and Monaghan, I get the sense that the sky’s the limit. 

Of course, I had to ask if they think Beyonce’s newest album Cowboy Carter will bring a resurgence of line dancing in queer communities. Although they can’t say for sure, they said that it might re-invigorate younger people to try it out and that they’re already starting to see more interest from queer people of color who want to learn how to line dance.

But beyond any fads, Stud Country wants to tear down notions of what line dancing should be. “At Stud Country, you get to choose what you do,” Monaghan says.

Stud Country’s next event in New York will be on April 30 at the Brooklyn Bowl. You can check out their full calendar and other updates on their website, or you can follow them on Instagram.

* This article was originally published here

Global leaders and progressive officials observed Earth Day at Prince William Forest Park in Triangle, Va., on historic grounds that hold the stories of the many populations that inhabited them. 

Indigenous Americans and freed slaves once cultivated the land there, known as “Batestown,” before federal development under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration Program. This year, in honor of the April 22 holiday, President Joe Biden announced pioneering efforts to help solve the climate crisis. 

“On this day 54 years ago, with literally toxic rivers burning, air filled with pollution, millions of Americans from every age and background rallied together to stand for our environment and for future generations,” Biden said in his opening remarks. 

“The United States can and must lead the world in transforming our energy systems away from fossil fuels,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) at the event. “The Solar for All program—that I successfully championed—will not only combat the existential threat of climate change by making solar energy available to working class families, it will also substantially lower the electric bills of Americans and create thousands of good-paying jobs. This is a win for the environment, a win for consumers, and a win for the economy.”

Just last week, Biden initiated efforts to preserve 13 million acres of Western Arctic land. On Monday, he declared $7 billion in awards through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Solar for All Program. According to the White House, funds will be dispersed to 900,000 households for rooftop solar paneling, decreasing homeowners’ utility bills by $400 a year. 

Biden said the investment would “cut more than 5 million metric tons of carbon pollution annually.” He’s inviting other citizens to join his cause through the newly launched ClimateCorps program. Enrollment is open to all but geared toward training the younger generation in clean energy jobs. 

The EPA investments add to Biden’s ongoing support for sustainable energy initiatives. During his speech, Biden shared sentimental connections to Earth Day when he introduced the first climate bill in the Senate and served alongside Gaylord Nelson (D-WI), the official credited for creating Earth Day. 

“All these years later, as president, I was able to sign into law the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the most significant [climate] investment ever anywhere in the history of the world, and we’re just getting started,” Biden said proudly. 

Through federal programs, the IRA makes billions available in loan distributions to encourage business owners and families to use clean energy sources. The legislation is projected to cut 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions for the country by 2030 and save up to $1,000 in energy costs for the average American. 

“Last year was the Earth’s hottest year on record, and over the last two years, natural disasters and extreme weather in America have caused $270 billion in damages,” Biden said. “The impacts we’re seeing, due to decades in the making because of inaction, are only going to get worse, more frequent, ferocious, and costly.”

His fears resonate with Democratic progressive Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), who introduced the Green New Deal in Congress several years ago. The policy, which passed in the House of Representatives but failed in the Senate, urges government agencies to stimulate economic recovery, eradicate poverty, and reduce carbon emissions and ecosystem degradation through affordable housing projects. 

Although legislators did not move forward with the bill, Ocasio-Cortez and Markey have been passionately pursuing viable alternatives to solve the growing issue at hand.

“Over just the past few months, President Biden has paused new natural gas exports, vastly expanded the conservation of our public lands in Alaska, and has overseen tens of billions of dollars in climate investments across the United States,” Ocasio-Cortez said at the event.These efforts, propelled by the administration, signal larger investments to come as Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris welcome environmental activists to the White House this week for a water summit. The two have indicated a national goal to protect, restore, and reconnect 8 million acres of wetlands and 100,000 miles of the nation’s rivers and streams.

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* This article was originally published here

Here’s an important spring PSA: Pink petals are at their peak at Brooklyn Botanic Garden right now. The garden’s cherry esplanade and cherry walk are now in peak bloom.

The blooms will likely last another week or so before they begin floating down to the ground, creating a pastel carpet of petals, according to BBG’s director of horticulture, Shauna Moore. So make sure to get there this week or weekend.

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Brooklyn Botanic Garden is home to one of the best cherry blossom displays in the city. It maintains a vast collection of flowering cherry trees—26 species and cultivars, to be exact!—that bloom at different times during the spring season. Typically, cherry blossom season runs until mid-May. 

Though some of BBG’s trees are past their peak bloom, the garden’s Prunus × dawyckensis species still are in pre-peak, meaning there’s plenty of time to enjoy those whitish blooms. The garden offers a Cherry Watch tracker on its website, so you can see a map of all the trees and exactly when they’ll be in their finest form.

Tickets to BBG cost $22/person and you can book them online in advance here.

If you can’t make it to BBG this year, here are a few photos that’ll make you feel like you’re there among the flowers. 

* This article was originally published here

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Donald Payne Jr., of New Jersey, died Wednesday after a heart attack this month that left him hospitalized, officials said. He was 65.

In a statement, Gov. Phil Murphy called his fellow Democrat a “steadfast champion for the people of New Jersey.”

“With his signature bowtie, big heart, and tenacious spirit, Donald embodied the very best of public service,” Murphy said in a statement. “As a former union worker and toll collector, he deeply understood the struggles our working families face, and he fought valiantly to serve their needs, every single day.”

Payne had previously served as president of Newark City Council in New Jersey’s largest city, and on the Essex County Board of Commissioners.

Payne’s office had said his heart attack was connected to complications from diabetes. Payne’s father, Donald Milford Payne, held the congressional seat before him. When the elder Payne died in 2012, the younger ran successfully in a special election to succeed him.

He had won reelection six times since. The district covers parts of Newark and its heavily populated suburbs.

A New Jersey colleague, Democratic U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, called Payne a “truly great public servant” who liked to call him “Uncle Frank” and had fought to raise awareness for diabetes and colorectal cancer prevention and to replace lead pipes in Newark.

Payne’s survivors include his wife, Beatrice, and their three children, Murphy said.

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* This article was originally published here