And with that, we come to the end of yet another year. By this time every year I’m always marveling at how fast the year flew by. 2011 has been crazy busy for me. Since winning the Mister Phoenix Pride title, it has been non-stop since the pageant, and though it’s been challenging at times, I really have enjoyed every minute of it. It’s been great getting to know some of the newer kings and queens around town. I’m working on building up my drag family again, after an unfortunate “mishap” with my previous drag son, and so far I’m really excited to be helping and working with all this new, raw talent!
Before I even get started on this, let me apologise for being so remise in my blogging as of late. It has been a busy couple of months. But my resolution for 2012 is to be more regular… and make sure I blog more. Ha!
And with that, we come to the end of yet another year. By this time every year I’m always marveling at how fast the year flew by. 2011 has been crazy busy for me. Since winning the Mister Phoenix Pride title, it has been non-stop since the pageant, and though it’s been challenging at times, I really have enjoyed every minute of it. It’s been great getting to know some of the newer kings and queens around town. I’m working on building up my drag family again, after an unfortunate “mishap” with my previous drag son, and so far I’m really excited to be helping and working with all this new, raw talent!
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With the prelims to the Mister and Miss Phoenix Pride coming up I figured it warranted a drog about what it takes to have one of these titles. When you win a state, regional or national title in a national system (ie. USofA, America, etc) it tends to be more about the fame and the glory. I have seen very few kings and queens actually utilize their big system titles to do anything productive. Generally it’s just a reason to say “Look at me! Look at my shiny crown! Now I’m going to try and win another one!” The fundraisers they hold are for themselves, to finance their travels or their gowns or some other nonsense. I’ve seen kings and queens with titles try to use that title to ask for show pay at charity events, and use it as an excuse for a diva attitude. And that’s fine. You do you. Make that title into something self-absorbed and selfish, but don’t run for a Pride title.
Fundraiser
1. a person who solicits contributions or pledges. 2. a gathering held for such solicitation: a fund-raiser to aid the campaign of the Senate candidate. Charity 1. generous actions or donations to aid the poor, ill, or helpless: to devote one's life to charity. 2. something given to a person or persons in need; alms: She asked for work, not charity. 3. a charitable act or work. 4. a charitable fund, foundation, or institution: He left his estate to a charity. 5. benevolent feeling, especially toward those in need or in disfavor: She looked so poor that we fed her out of charity. Selfish 1. devoted to or caring only for oneself; concerned primarily with one's own interests, benefits, welfare, etc., regardless of others. 2. characterized by or manifesting concern or care only for oneself: selfish motives. Three words, three definitions. The first two are words that most of us who do drag are extremely familiar with. So many of us donate our time, our money and ourselves to help others or to help raise money for those who need it. Since winning my Pride title back in March I’ve been asked a few times what my platform is for this year, and why. So I figure I’d answer both questions here.
My platform for my reign of Mr Phoenix Gay Pride is GLSEN (The Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network). The why is easy. They help promote safe schools. Not just for LGBTQ youth but for everyone. I look at kids today and they don’t realize how lucky they are, really. Many schools now have a Gay/Straight Alliance (GSA) and counselors who are both knowledgeable and supportive. Many gay and lesbian juniors and seniors are finding they can take their partners to prom with little upset. Trans kids are more able to express their gender identity than ever before. Yes, there is still bullying, ignorance and intolerance. This is evident by the rash of LGBTQ teen suicides over the last year or so. Luckily, thanks in part to Dan Savage’s It Gets Better Project, that number has dropped to next to nothing. But the bullying is still there. Self-professed "Professional Pervert" Shanna Katz (www.shannakatz.com) decided to feature Freddy in her Fearless Press blog Out of the Box. The first drag king to be featured in her column, I'm tickled that I got the opportunity!
Thank you, Shanna, for helping to shed a little light on the drag community and kings and opening the door to something that doesn't get talked about a lot: ie. drag and sexuality. Read the interview here. And be sure to check out her other blog Unapologetic. When asking for blog suggestions, someone said I should write about maturity. This is a very open ended discussion subject, so I thought I’d write about maturity as it relates to the drag world. In drag, maturity is a must! It reflects on everything you do, whether it’s performing or interacting with other performers or bars.
Fear and miseducation are the banes of our society. Fear of those with a different skin colour, fear of those who talk differently, look different, worship a different god or gods, fear of those who choose to love someone other than who society says they should, fear of those who identify as a gender other than that given them at birth.
This fear is what will end up bringing us down, what future civilizations will look at as the destruction of our society. It’s 2:30am Friday night, and I’m supposed to be at the Pride Parade by 10:30am. I’m finishing up costumes, watching ‘Call Me Madam’ and thinking I’m not going to get much sleep. I was right. Finally falling asleep around 3:30, I was up at 6:30, beating my alarm by a good 45 minutes. And I still wasn’t completely finished with all the costumes I needed, but I was pretty close thanks to the help of my girlfriend and my BFF.
At the Parade start, armed with beef jerky, an energy drink and a Gatorade I managed to find a shady spot to sit and wait for things to get going. It started to hit me then that this was going to be the first time I’d made an appearance like this in a long time. The adrenaline was pumping. I had people coming up and talking to me, congratulating me, taking my picture. It was kind of silly, but it was fun. For some reason, my previous post that had the ABCs of Drag only showed the first 3. I'm creating a new entry to see if it will fix the issue.
A – Accountability. Take responsibility for your actions, both on and off the stage. B – Back-Up Plan. Always have a back-up plan. You never know when you’ll forget a costume or music or tape or whatever. Make it work with what you’ve got. C – Confidence. Be confident in who you are. Don’t cave in to peer pressure. Your drag persona is YOUR drag persona, take pride in it! I came across a project called The Gender Book a couple weeks ago. It’s an interesting project put together by a “blend of female-born persons in varying degrees of masculine gender expression” in Houston, TX. Part of the project is an E-book (that will also be offered in hard cover) that is essentially a compilation of questionnaires/interviews completed by people from all walks of life, with any and all types of gender identity. The other part is an online wiki (similar to Wikipedia) where anyone can contribute information, links to sources, etc that have to do with gender and everything that encompasses. They call it the GENDERpedia. Topics range from gender vs sex, to transitioning, to drag kings and queens, androgyny, intersexed individuals, transgender history and more.
The goal is to help spread awareness and to educate. How better to do that than to have a site and a book put together by the type of individuals it talks about. Yes, the wiki will have links to experts in the fields, but who better to really explain what it’s like to be genderqueer or intersexed than someone who identifies as that? The GENDERpedia can be edited by anyone, and they’re always looking for people to contribute. Be considerate, be professional, and be an adult, but please contribute! Or send them an email for a questionnaire to put in the book. The creators of the Gender Book are all fantastic and really easy to approach. This is very much their baby, and it shows by the effort they’re putting into it. So go check out the site. Find a way to contribute. Help spread the word and help educate those who need educating, both in the LGBTQ community and those outside of it. And when the book becomes available later this year, buy a copy and share it with people! Take it to your school’s GSA. Give a copy to your therapist, your cousin, your dad, your kid, your neighbor, your boss. www.thegenderbook.com http://www.thegenderbook.com/genderpedia.html |