what is drag?
drag originally became a shorthand reference term for "dressing as girls" before expanding across the gender spectrum. drag has morphed into an exaggerated artform playing off gender expression and revolving around makeup artistry, fashion, and more.
my history with drag
i've been interested in drag for nearly half my life; at around 11, i watched willam do SUPERFRUIT's makeup on youtube, later finding the movie "hurricane bianca" on netflix and discovering drag race thereafter. a core part of my childhood was drag race, UNHhhh, and drag in general. for my 13th birthday, i went to hamburger mary's chicago (rip) and returned for a friend's birthday a couple months later!!
in seventh grade, i was introduced to dragula, a show by the boulet brothers, then on youtube for FREE (rip again). i began watching season 2 and fell in love with the horror aspect of drag; the show expanded my interest in drag and brought me to discovering more of my favorite queens, like season 4's winner the dahli!!
becoming progressively obsessed, i fixated on trixie mattel and katya, two of the now-most-popular queens to date. i saw their podcast, the bald and the beautiful, live with a now-ex friend in february 2023 and felt a dream of mine had come true. they're two of the most influential people in my life both media-wise and personally; watching their content religiously during peak developmental years, i parallel many aspects of both of their personalities.
as drag race modernized and expanded in popularity, i became disinterested with the lowering quality of the seasons. the first season i watched in its entirety was season 9, and the first i watched as it aired was season 10. season 12 was peak during the pandemic, but season 13 tained my love for the show due to its TERRIBLEEEE quality. nobody went home and it was pissing me off, lol.
remaining a drag fan, i wouldn't consider myself a RPDR fan anymore; i've become disinterested in following the main series and all stars seasons, and i almost strictly rewatch seasons from the LOGO days. i still enjoy following american series developments on youtube, but it's a passive interest at best. the show's integrity has been squashed--which is to be expected of a reality show--and it's disappointing.
my queens
key: ⛪︎-seen live ♱-passed away
thoughts
8/19
peeped the rumored all stars 11 cast and i'm excited... but i was also excited for (most of) the all stars 10 cast and i hated the outcome... also, not loving the foruth-time competitors trend we're seeing considering the amount of queens with one competition on their record; i firmly believe competing four times is insane and overdoing it (third-time competitors are stretching it for me, too, even if i love them!). at least, however, kennedy and silky (four-timers) are fun to watch and not ginger minj! i'm most excited to see mystique, morgan, shuga, crystal, morphine, jasmine, a'keria, dawn, and lucky, but vivacious, hershii, joey, sam, april, aura, and salina may surprise me. WOW+ please don't flop this as hard as you do most seasons of everything now.
8/6
once again rewatching "party monster: the shockumentary." i've been obsessed with it more than usual recently. i find 80s new york to be one of the best eras of queer life (of course, not ignoring the hiv/aids crisis and dangers of queer visibility at the time). somehow, i think i would have been the most authentic version of myself in new york's queer scene during the mentioned time. i have such a deep connection with "paris is burning" and "party monster..." for reasons i still don't fully understand. long live 80s queerness.
7/27
thinking about michael alig, james st. james, lahoma, nelson sullivan, christina superstar, raja, and being trans. queerness and drag and club kids and everything.
7/18
just watched the last episode of all stars 10. i wish i'd never watched it to begin with. the riggory in bracket 3, the robbery of denali, EVERYTHING ugh fck ginger minj for being on this show four times and fck the producers for letting her
