this is why i am an activist.
i meant to write about this sooner, but then life happened, as it tends to do.
wednesday, april 18 was the national day of silence to raise awareness about discrimination against LGBTQ individuals. it was my second year as a participant. in one of my classes, i handed out a few of the cards we get to explain why we're not speaking, and at the end of class, somebody gave this one back to me.
this is exactly what the day of silence is about.
i want to frame it and hang it somewhere i will be often, as a reminder that there is still work to do and it affects real people, people i know and see every day....and people i don't. it's the first time i've ever felt comfortable with the word "activist" and truly wanted to claim it for myself. there are so many ways to be an activist, many of them much quieter than the first images that come to mind. you don't have to be loud, you don't have to be obnoxious; you just have to care and be willing to say so--or, in some cases, not say anything.
if you were to let fly my fire
believe your rain would season me for summer
i am little flower without you
but grow anew in this us
how many ways are there to misinterpret that?!
being chased down a hallway and asked "are you busy tonight?....did you wanna watch that movie?" which necessarily involves an invitation to my apartment.
i'm so fucked. let's not talk about it.
it really doesn't take long to pack for a two-day trip. that has nothing to do with anything.
preface: last night was our Rainbow Alliance's annual Pride Week Drag Show. (you know these things are Important because i capitalize them.) there were 13 performers, queens and kings, and a rather wide variety of musical selections. i performed to marilyn manson's version of "tainted love." it was my first time performing in a real drag show.
and can we please talk about how awesome it was.
there's something so empowering about becoming someone other than yourself and taking a stage in front of 400 people, knowing you are totally in control of everything that's about to happen. ms v (my drag mentor) told me beforehand when i was nervous that that was how it would be, and i didn't really believe her until i got up there. but wow.....
people tipped me in fun ways. ways that undoubtedly enhanced my act beyond what i could have done myself. thank you. and i knew a lot of them, too, which was so much fun . . . my little was smiling so big; i'm glad she was having fun. =) and other brothers, too... heh.
i think i scared a couple people before i went up with the character....cuz you have to be in it onstage, but it's hard to do that without getting into it earlier....i don't think i smiled for the previous half-hour....
there aren't really any flattering pictures of this, at least not that i've seen. i want to see the video. also because i missed a lot of the other performances, and that makes me sad.
a bunch of us went out to a restaurant in drag afterwards. that was a trip.
i'm not really writing what i wanted to be writing about this. it was such an amazing experience, and i think it deserves a lot of written attention. i want to do it again....and again and again!! i hesitate to say it was the most fun experience i've ever had, but it definitely comes close. and "fun" isn't even the right word, although it was certainly that.... it was much bigger than that.
my best compliment of the evening: "your performance reminded me that i'm not straight."
this is getting posted even though it's dumb.
i'd like to make this a weekly or other kind of semi-regular blog but i don't think that's feasible for another month or so at least. stupid school. i like school but i'm done with this semester.
also i'm going home for the weekend; i forget what i wanted to say about that, but i did want to say something. i should wash my dishes before i leave; that's what it was. it seems like such an obvious thing to do when i think of other people reading it.
it's the boots, i think.
this is why i am an activist.