This past weekend was the Mister Arizona USofA MI 2010 pageant, which meant the whole weekend was full of pageant themed goings on. Being the Emeritus Mister Arizona, it was expected for me to be around for most of it. So I performed at the preshow and then the pageant itself. It was my girlfriend’s first pageant experience and getting her take on things throughout the weekend was great. Interestingly enough, the veteran kings did get our asses handed to us on Saturday night, being told that the drama was ridiculous and that we were dragging (no pun intended) the younger generation of kings into it all. Oddly enough, this came after one veteran performed a number that was designed around incidents that had happened in the past between this performer and another individual. It was aimed at another king who had recently had interactions with this individual as well. Now, the audience being what it was, they weren’t stupid. Everyone knew exactly what the message was and who it was about. Even my girlfriend, who had had no background on the songs that were performed. That would be an example of bringing drama into your professional life. It’s juvenile and unnecessary to throw digs at people, whether their present or not. Sunday, at the pageant, one of the contestants did a similar number, along the lines of “yay, I stole the girl away from her partner… oh wait… she doesn’t want me any more…please come back to me… oh, now she wants to come back? Screw you!” Again, no one in the audience was fooled, and it was obvious that this king had gotten guidance from the other king who has a habit of doing similar numbers. Needless to say, he didn’t win talent.
It is because of this kind of behavior that I have pulled back into semi-retirement. I really just don’t want to be associated with it anymore. My girlfriend spent the whole weekend biting her tongue at some of the blatant disrespect that was going on at the events. As someone who has only recently started becoming involved in the drag world, and even then only the very few select shows I choose to do, she said the drama and the tension in the air all weekend was just thick. And I agree with her.
I love doing drag. I love performing, entertaining. But not in or with a community that is so two-faced that even outsiders can feel it. I will perform out of state all day long before agreeing to do a show at most places here these days, and that’s just sad. It’s expected that we as title holders put drama behind us when it comes time to be professional, but obviously, some people can’t do that. Some people insist on making their personal life as public as possible, which then makes it impossible to maintain any sort of professionalism towards these people.
My girlfriend kept saying how it’s ridiculous that I say nothing and just sit there all weekend with everything that was going on. I explained that it was like a job. There will always be people you don’t like and have a hard time working with. There will always be people who will do stupid, immature things, designed as digs aimed at you or someone else you know. You can either keep your mouth shut and let them look like an idiot, or bitch about it which just makes you look like an even bigger idiot. Personally, I’d rather just let them look like an idiot. Some people will never change, no matter how many times someone tells them they’re being unprofessional or that what they’re doing it just plain stupid. They’ll continue to do whatever it is they’re doing, maybe because they think it’s cute, maybe they just don’t give a shit.
I explained this over the weekend to both my girlfriend, and the person who chewed us out. I mean, why would I do a show with someone, only to have them turn around the next day, or even that night, and post snide comments, blogs, etc all over the interwebs about how this person sucked and they were great? Not my cup of tea.
This is probably one of the most bitchy drogs you’ll get from me. Generally, the people who helped create this drog over the weekend are people I refuse to associate with, for exactly all of the aforementioned reasons. There is so much expected of us as kings and titleholders. It really is a lot to live up to. I worry about some of the new title holders coming up behind us. I worry that the guidance and advice they’re getting is bad advice. I don’t care if you won a pageant, it doesn’t automatically make you god. Pay attention to the advice you’re being given and who the advice is coming from. If the source isn’t someone reliable, then maybe you should rethink taking their advice. This goes back to my earlier drog about drag families and the things that piss me off. Just because you won a crown doesn’t mean you’re done learning or growing.
Pageants are fascinating creatures…. Really they are.