Drag Queen Ideology and Geek Life

Here we are, Thursday night, watching Ru Paul’s All Stars. For those of you who don’t know me, Ru Paul is one of my favorite people in the world! I abide by his inner saboteur rule; you know? Shutting up that negative little voice inside of you. I love how he describes taking drag into real life: how taking your inner strengths, your fearlessness when in character, and applying it to your every day life! If Ru Paul ever answered to this, I might just loose it, for reals (I have been following Ru Paul since the 90s. Yeah, I’m that old!) And tonight, for some crazy reason (probably booze) I linked them together: Drag queens to geek life.

Remember how it was to create that perfect knight in DnD, making it stronger than you, with no one bullying you. How your character in Vampire: The Masquerade was so much more charismatic. How your roleplaying rogue was so witty… all while wearing the costumes to go along with these characters!

One of my best memories ever from highschool is LARPing with my buddies (pictured above!): me, a scared, overly anxious teenage girl. All of a sudden, thanks to a cape, I was a badass rogue, heading through danger in the forest, foam sword in hand, without a care in the world aside from our quest. I had found strength! I had found courage! I was alone, in front of my party, ready for whatever was in front of me.

This last school year, to amuse my students and keep them interested in online teaching, I wore costumes to help them cope with this pandemic, becoming someone else, being stronger, braver. I was doing this for them, but for me too, remembering that feeling of being able to conquer the world thanks to my foam sword.

The new school year is coming to a start soon in Canada, and with the pandemic still going strong, I really want to wear those costumes again, to hide behind them and pretend I am a great warrior.

Tonight, we are watching Ru Paul, and I know that this person, this courageaous fighter is within me, whether I wear the costume or not. All I have to do is accept the mission, with or without the stats, the makeup, or the costumes!

Who’s in?