Townsville is known for humidity, rugby league, and its unofficial status as North Queensland's capital.
Its queer culture is less visible, but that is changing as more people create the communities they once had to leave regional Queensland to find.
The professional dancer grew up in Gladstone before moving to Brisbane.
"Growing up as a queer person in a regional place, I didn't have any elders or community members to paint a picture of what a queer life could be," they said.
Years later, Mx Smith returned to regional Queensland.
"There's actually a really large queer and trans community in Townsville," they said.
"There just aren't many things that are overtly visible that bring everyone together."
Finding a queer community did not necessarily mean Mx Smith found where they felt most at home.
Rather than leave, they began wondering how else a queer community could look.
With writer P. Eldridge, they created CROOKED, an independent queer publication — due to launch on November 14 — rooted in Gurambilbarra, the traditional Wulgurukaba name for Townsville.
The project quickly revealed there were others also looking for a different way to connect.
Writing for CROOKED gave Mx Bolden the chance to tramp down memory lane.
"It's peppered [with] vignettes of my life and realising I'm queer and discovering other people like me,"
