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CJ Mingolelli (back) & Marco Herrera (front), founders and co-publishers of Fire Island Q News.
CJ will have the additional responsibilities as technology lead, and Marco will have added responsibilities as the creative lead.
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Fire Island Q News:
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A Site for Cherry Grove and Fire Island Pines: Fun and Serious, A Site For Our Gay Communities
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by a staff volunteer
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"Fire Island Q News" is on the Web! Many will probably wonder what this site is all about. Well, in a nutshell, it's about all of us here in the Grove and the Pines. The site was conceived and designed as an all-inclusive place on the Web. The site focus isprimarily on the two gay communities of Fire Island. All members are "volunteers".
The site was conceived by a couple from Cherry Grove, CJ Mingolelli and Marco Herrera. Together with CJ and Marco, there is a group of about 20 people (some of our staff volunteers are pictured below) who have volunteered their time and efforts to make this new endeavor a success. Most of the volunteers are residents of the Grove, and (so far) one volunteer from the Pines and another from Kismet. Hopefully, in the near future "Fire Island Q News" will attract more people from the Pines and other Island towns to volunteer as well. The group consists of mostly men, there are four women in the group. We would be very happy if more of our lesbian sisters would come forward to help, there are so many lesbian related issues to cover that FIQNews would like to present in the site.
CJ and his life partner Marco, worked on an idea, one which is very different from what usually has been seen before in these two "sister" communities of Cherry Grove and Fire Island Pines. The site will have more to offer than just a place to see pictures of beautiful people, or static information. The important part of this concept is - it's a real news site. The site will present realistic serious news and issues of interest, as well as fun reporting.
A brief synopsis of the site's content is the news, features and columns, and areas of community service. Some of the columns presented on this site are reviews on theater, artists, tips and advice, welcoming our new neighbors, just to mention a few. The site will also review historical facts, a juicy soap and a youth line. The "youth line" will be a feature where the young will have a voice - Coco Laxton, will write about her and her friends experiences - about being Gay as a young person. Coco is a young activist, she is part of the Gay Students and Friends Action League in her hometown in Upstate, NY. Coco (niece of CJ and Marco) is a vacationer of Cherry Grove.
We hope the site will serve as a tool for both communities to come closer on all fronts. Some examples of this content are inhenent in the columns - the site will have a column named the "Mindy Mingles," where newcomers will be interview and introduced to both communities. Another one of these sections will be the "Directory" or "Art Section," where local artists from both communities can present their work with a link to a page showing some of their work in our site, and a link to their own site.
We believe the most important thing about this site is - "everyone" is doing this on a "volunteer" basis, with the reward of doing something for fun, while doing a service for the communities we love, based on the ideal that this is a group effort and not just one individual.
If you want to volunteer or know someone who does, contact us by sending a note to our webmaster.
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