Barbara again

I just really enjoy drag queens, ok? 

I binge watched all of RuPaul’s Drag Race during my maternity leave and then became fascinated by drag culture. So, as one does, I did a deep dive into the history of the ball scene in New York and did everything I could to learn about the authentic experiences of trans women of colour and their community and allies - especially in the 80s and 90s during the AIDS crisis. I watched Pose, Paris is Burning, The Queen, WIG, all of it. And now I listen to the country music album of a Barbie inspired drag queen.

I think about this history a lot right now, the AIDS part of it especially. I grew up in the AIDS crisis. It was very much something I was aware of as a child but not something I truly understood until I looked into it as an adult. The fear and loss is immeasurable. The parts that I have the hardest time even thinking about are the endless funerals and all the people (but especially gay men and trans women) dying alone in hospitals because of fear of the virus. I think about those parts now though. 
It’s the hardest part of this pandemic - knowing that there are people dying alone, people who will never have funerals. It’s just horrific. 

One thing that gives me hope, though, is the vibrance of those communities hit hardest by AIDS today. We’ll be vibrant again too. 

Today was a good day for teaching. Not much to say other than that I really look forward to what has become an exciting and insightful small group conversation with the humanities class. It always leaves me feeling good.

As I write this tonight I’m watching We’re Here. It’s a show about drag queens (obviously) and it is another thing that brings me joy right now. Drag queens, toddler giggles, class discussions, and these really amazing cinnamon buns that I baked the other day, these are the things that will keep me going.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Graphs and stuff and things

Image
Today was a good day. I ventured over to Sobeys to pick up some more of my husband’s medication. He’s immunocompromised so I’ll be making all those trips for the time being. It was busy again. There was no toilet paper again. I grossly underestimated the weight of the stuff I was going to buy and had to walk all the way back home with extremely heavy bags.  I miss my family and my friends. The social piece of this is starting to feel harder. The reality is that we will see my parents again soon, we need them to help with childcare starting next week. But it’s still hard right now. 42 new cases in Alberta today.  10 000 in the USA. It’s worrying what’s happening over the border and is responsible for about 70% of my current anxiety. Science and numbers make me feel better though and I saved a series of graphs published by the Globe and Mail today. Some perspective for why we’re doing this.
Read more

Professional Development

Today is a PD day. I love PD days. For real. I like talking about my work, my kids, their work, my discipline, anything that has to do with my job. So I really value the opportunities presented by PD - especially when it's conversational. Today, I attended an online session about maintaining connections with students through this crisis. It was great - super helpful, gave me some good activity ideas, and gave me some energy and inspiration to get through a few hours of task design. This was a good start to the week after a long weekend. I'm choosing to ignore that it was Easter this weekend. We're not religious so the significance of the holiday in our lives is just time spent with family. I would have loved to go to my parent's house for a big easter dinner and a little too much chocolate. We would have brought home leftovers that I would be eating for lunch all week and it would have been a nice day spent with family. Instead, we stayed home. We still have lef...
Read more

In Our Time

Image
This morning I chose to listen to a time machine. As soon as the needle touched on and the record started spinning I was transported back to summer 2018. I'm at the Calgary Folk Fest, sitting on the little hill at stage 4, partly in the shade of the trees but also still bathed in sunlight. Drinking one of those shaken lemonades and eating kettle corn all while being serenaded by this musician I've never heard of before called AHI. And he is good. Like really good. There's something so compelling about his lyrics, they're personal yet universal. He sings about his own family and you feel like you are a part of it. He sings about his earlier life and you, somehow, were there too. I bought In Our Time on vinyl about a month after the Folk Fest when I saw him in Vancouver. We took a short trip out after our wedding that August and my husband surprised me with tickets to see AHI open for Michael Franti (another favourite artist of mine) at the Commodore Ballroom. This ...
Read more