Hello, dear readers! A small break from our regularly scheduled posting today.

As some of our beloved writers and readers know, half of SAD Mag’s web team (the Alice Fleerackers half) relocated a few months ago to Montreal for a fantastic internship with Drawn and Quarterly. We miss Alice so much, but we’re really excited to bring on the clever and charming Sarah Bakke to fill Alice’s role! SAD Mag’s web team is now comprised of Sarah and yours truly, Megan Jenkins, and we’re delighted with the programming we have scheduled for the next few months. The Queer Film Festival is approaching, and the Vancouver Mural Fest is next month along with the Seattle Art Fair; plus we’ve got darling bookstore reviews coming in monthly, your regularly scheduled Portraits of Brief Encounters, and we’re also excited to be rolling out fiction and poetry in the coming months! What a time to be alive!

Here’s a little primer in the world of Sarah Bakke to get everyone acquainted. Welcome, Sarah, the SAD Mag team is so happy to have you and your brains on board!

Megan Jenkins: How are you today?

Sarah Bakke: Today I am very fine! Tired but excited about lots of things. And I have blueberries and Nanaimo bars in the fridge at home, so I am living a life of luxury at the moment.

MJ: Are you excited to be here?

SB: So excited! Being here is one of the many things I am excited about! My excitement is side by side with contentment and a little bit of nervousness, which I hope will do me good.

MJ: Tell us about yourself!

SB: Always a tricky request. Well, I study visual culture and film at SFU, and I work two jobs, both retail but both very chill and I am constantly surrounded by lovely coworkers. I also volunteer at the Cinematheque, which is probably one of my absolute favourite places and a comfy, cozy, cinematic home. I love riding my bike, whose name is Sally (after Meg Ryan’s Sally Albright), and my favourite song is Dirty Work by Steely Dan. Also, I will pretty much only eat scrambled eggs if they’ve got sriracha sauce on them. Essentially, I can only describe myself through near useless trivia. Whoopsies!

MJ: Where in Vancouver’s arts and culture scenes do you find yourself most at home?

SB: Definitely at any and all movie theatres, especially the independent/art house ones. Also, I see a lot of live music, so hot and stuffy venues are places which I frequent regularly. I love a good, soda-sticky floor! Speaking more abstractly, I am very much at home when scenes mix and mingle with other scenes, like collaborative festivals, or when bands use moving images as visuals at their show, or group art shows. I’m sure there are many other examples which I’m forgetting, but what I’m mostly trying to say is that I love when artists and mediums in Vancouver interact with each other! Keeps things spicy!

MJ: What draws you to that sphere?

SB: I think my love of crossover comes from film, for sure. I love movies because they are a collaboration between so many different art forms, all working to make a greater whole, usually wild and often dazzling. So things like group art shows are interesting to me because all of the different talents and forms can collaborate and create new things, side by side with each other! Also, when I lived in the suburbs, movies and my friends’ art shows were the first cultural events I went to in the city, so they stuck.

MJ: How do you feel about Hawkins cheesies?

SB: I feel the same way about Hawkins cheezies as I do about any and all Costco samples. If they’re in front of me, I’ll take one.

MJ: How do you feel about cats?

SB: Cats are sassy and self-assured so I aspire to be like them.

RAPID FIRE! Answer in five words or less.

Q: Favourite film?

When Harry Met Sally. Also, Harold and Maude. Also, The Aristocats. Shit!

Q: Biggest pet peeve?

Loud chewing, flipped dog ears. (It’s a tie, ah!)

Q: Favourite season?

First half of fall (does that sound pretentious? Can one be pretentious about a season?)

Q: Tea or coffee?

This is hard! Tea.

Q: Fireball or Polar Ice?

Fireball… sort of.

Q: What would your pen name be?

OK… Larissa Hooper, rhymes with Marissa Cooper a lá the OC. Oh my goodness. I am sorry. I did not answer these in 5 words or less! The hot seat is very hot, indeed!

Welcome to the SAD Fam, Sarah! I hope you're ready for zillions of emails and a very full Googie Cal. #googiecal

SAD Online

Meet Sarah, your new Web Editor!