In late 2017 initial, low-key publicity for a charity calendar featuring a range of bearded Newfoundlanders posing as mermen resulted in international media coverage that discussed and commended the non-stereotypical images produced for the project. This article situates the calendar's imagery within the history of regional folklore concerning mermen and mermaids, the socio-cultural character of the island of Newfoundland and, in particular, the milieu of its port capital, St. John's. Through these perspectives, the article analyses aspects of masculinity present in an island society that has experienced significant transitions in recent decades in relation to the decline of its fishery, the increasing workrelated mobility of former fisherpeople, increasing ethnic diversity and immigration, and the breaking down of once strongly held attitudes of Newfoundland as being isolated, homogenous and tradition-based. In terms of Island Studies discourse, this has involved the island's transition from being a relatively autonomous aquapelagic assemblage to an increasingly post-aquapelagic one firmly incorporated within a nation-state. Long viewed as a quintessential "folk setting", Newfoundland is in a state of change that includes the gradual modification of regional stereotypes of masculinity. The revised images and roles presented in the calendar can be seen to represent new, more fluid definitions of masculinity appropriate for an increasingly more cosmopolitan -yet proudly unique -island society.

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While pervasive through much of Cuban society, underground economies take on special significance within the LGBTQI+ community. Not only must we engage in deep contextualization and seek vernacular theorization within everyday life, but we must also consider queer timelines – queer temporalities as part of any analysis while simultaneously abandoning Global North identity categories as they relate to Global South performances. This essay is part of a larger project – a critical queer ethnography of Cuban everyday life – however with a focus on the negotiations of ethics, relationships, and community as a means of survival for individuals who are largely invisible to broader society. Though erased, ignored, and hidden, these individuals share universal characteristics which we must not exoticize in relation to our own experiences: food, sex, and housing are fundamental elements to life, regardless of privilege or legality.

Northern Alberta is a space of conflict, not only in terms of environmental politics, but likewise in terms of regional identity and community sustainability. Using a variety of forms of narrative (drawing from mediated and unmediated sources in image, text, and sound), we can reveal the dominant cultural imaginaries that frame and limit our abilities to progress beyond these conflicts. This is a study of regionalism, nationalism, and identity in a city divided between an imagined Albertan conservatism, a displaced Newfoundland outport, and a cosmopolitan global work-force. It is a study of narrative in everyday life, in an effort to deconstruct divisive attitudes in acknowledgement of a more complex and diverse reality.

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