Yay June! With a new month comes a new feature blogger, and this month’s is a good one!

I’d like to introduce you to Kristy of Qween City.  If you haven’t checked out Kristy’s blog yet, what are you waiting for?!  She profiles some awesome women in Buffalo who are doing some pretty badass things and who aren’t afraid to live out their passions in life.  It’s about time that we had a local blog that celebrates everything girl power!

Kristy is super sweet and down to earth and we are lucky to have her in the Buffalo Blogging Network! Make sure to follow Qween City on Instagram, and here’s a little bit more about the girl behind the blog!

How long have you been blogging?

If we’re only counting Internet-based ramblings, I guess I’ve officially been in the game since 2002, with my launch of my first LiveJournal. Talk about the days of oversharing, wooof…
In 2005 I started a fanblog about the underground stand-up comedy scene in Chicago, where I was living at the time. That now exists in tangible form here, and is super embarrassing for me but also, I think, a really fun document of what was going on back then — a lot of those kids went onto jobs in the industry, making the TV and movies we currently watch. Pretty fun stuff.

I was also the co-editor of a daily comedy news blog in Chicago for two years, a contributor to Gothamist’s Chicago branch, Chicagoist, and have created rando stuff like My Sweet Diaries (a precursor to Mortified that never went anywhere). When I moved home to Buffalo in 2012, I assumed managing editor duties of the now-defunct BuffaloComedy.com (but since I’m a psychopathic archivist, those articles can be found in tangible form here). Currently I am the founder and editor of Qween City, a webzine featuring women of Buffalo that we find fascinating and want to have an excuse to chat and hang out with over coffee and/or cocktails.

What made you want to start blogging?

The need for attention and the desire to overshare in hopes of eliciting sympathy from peers. Also, I’ve fancied myself to be a ‘writer’ since I was but a youth. I think I was also trying to make friends in Chicago at the time and it was easy to connect with people over personal LJ entries — I’m IRL friends with several of those people now, almost 15 years later.

My studies were in journalism and literary nonfiction, and while my fantasies of being a newspaperman never came to fruition, I was able to maneuver my interest in chatting with and writing about people into some really fantastic creative projects.

What’s your favorite thing about being a blogger?

Having an excuse to weasel my way into various circles and interests with relative ease. Also, press passes.

What is the meaning behind your blog name?

One of Buffalo’s nicknames is the Queen City, right? Okay, so about two years ago the colloquial, underground rallying-cry “Yas Queen” hit the mainstream at a few different entry points; my introduction was through the great and wonderful and perfect Broad City. Somehow I saw this phrase in the written form (e-stalking Abbi and Ilana one day or something?) and saw it was oft-spelled Qween or Kween. About a year later when I started formulating the idea for what is now Qween City, it just sort of washed over me as the true and correct name of the project. I *almost* went with something like “Buffalo Babe” or something of that ilk, but just… no. Anyway, Qweens are, by popular definition, the raddest chicks in town that everyone wants to be or be around. And that’s what Qween City is about.

What do you love most about living in Buffalo?

It’s really hard to pinpoint this accurately — it’s an intangible thing. I’d like to say the people, or the food, or the weather, or whatever, something like that — but loads of places have those things, and have good/great representations of those things. My family’s nearby, which I love. I love the countryside that surrounds the city. I love the weird little industrial pockets that you can stumble upon by accident. I love the Northeastern part of the country, generally. I love being a border kid. I love that you can pursue your creative interests here and have it actually turn into a viable thing (a.k.a. big-fish-little-pond effect). I love that my pipe dream of living in a crazy factory loft in a downtown metropolitan area was possible here. I love that forward-thinking, inventive people in other parts of the country are getting hip to the area and that young, hungry upstarts are moving here to fulfill their pipe dreams, too. I love that I can still sit outside my residence and have several moments where not a single other soul is around. I love that I can always find a drinking buddy and grab some wings for dinner and not feel even a shred of remorse. Etc.

What’s your favorite local restaurant?

Another great problem to have — I can’t nail down just one!! Can I do a categories thing? I’m gonna do a categories thing.

Classic nouveau-Buffalo greatness: Seabar
People from outta town who want wings: Gabriel’s Gate, Gene McCarthy’s
Where my mom and I like to go: Cole’s
Place I like to linger and happily spend too much money: Raclette’s
Favorite pizza when I can get it: Imperial Pizza
Best oddball spot with bonkers good stuff: English Pork Pie Company/Parker’s Pitch Bar
Best place to get a giant hangover breakfast and not run into anyone I know: Nick’s Place
Favorite spots for celebratory brunches: Providence Social, Toutant
Reliable and comfy spots close to home: Hydraulic Hearth, Undergrounds Coffee House
Favorite place for Asian (three-way tie): Pho Dollar — Sun — Lin
Favorite taco game (at the moment): Caza Azul
Favorite new lunch spot for when I’m out and about: Ru’s Pierogi

Obviously there are a ton more. I eat out a lot and have a slight obsession with restaurants.

What are your favorite seasonal activities?

Summer: regional music festivals, biking, daydrinking in parks
Winter: having people over, holing up in wood-paneled bars, cabin-camping
Spring & fall: long walks, general travel around the U.S.

What is your favorite neighborhood in the city?

I moved here a year ago and I’m still obsessed with the Larkin/Hydraulics District. I’m pumped to see what happens over the course of the next 1-3 years down here, as long as people’s houses aren’t bulldozed.

What are are a few of your favorite Instagram accounts that you follow?

Buffalo does NOT slouch on incredible photography. The categories thing again:

Insta (and IRL) crush: harringtonyarborough
Artsy fun bike stuff: iamclaydavies
Drool-worthy food pix: chews_brews; a.tasty.time
Nature at its finest; also a cool baby: twodeadclams
Fine arts photography of rad people in town: alanadetolarts_photography; lukecopping
City Love: sevenoneflix; buffalony; dan_cog

What advice would you give to people who would like to start a blog?

Be diligent in finding your voice, focus on your passion, and enlist an editor that you trust to help you develop your project to its fullest and to correct all of those dumb little errors you will invariably miss. Also: don’t write 1700-word pieces — no one will read them.