Who Cares About History?

A fight is being fought between Facebook and the drag and trans communities. People on Facebook have been reporting drag queens and trans people, interchangeably, for having fake profiles. When the original battle lines were drawn with Sister Roma and Facebook on opposite sides, it was potentially going to effect my world eventually. But, it hadn't hit anyone in the Maine drag community that hard.

I now understand the reason why Sister Roma fought so hard, and has continued to fight, and increase awareness that this is happening.

Over the last few weeks, the trend has hit the state of Maine.  And, many of them are starting fresh with like pages, because some douchebag decided that it would be fun to start screwing with people.

I have thoughts on who and why, but I will keep them to myself, because I have no proof. But, the fact of the matter, is, a lot of drama has been going on in show casting for a couple of upcoming shows. People have gotten mad at each other, and then, in an odd timing incident, people started getting reported to the Facebook police for having fake accounts. Over the last week, I have watched a majority of my friends try to fight to keep their names.

It all came to a head, last night, when I was on my way home from work. Then, it really hit home. I stopped to pick up a couple of things at a convenience store on my way to go pick up dinner. In the 10 minutes or so it took for me to go from one to the other, Shaunna Rai had posted something, and then, been reported and had her page removed for identity theft. Dan's page had been reported for identity theft as well, and he very nearly lost both accounts. So, when I went to look at the tagged post, it was unavailable. (At that point, I still had no idea that anything was going on.)

I picked up dinner, and went home. I was greeted at the door, with a slew of information, and a lot of misplaced anger and hostility. None of it was directed toward me, at least. But, taming Shaunna or Dan when they're angry is a feat in itself. Calming both at the same time...Good luck. It's pretty much impossible.

We ate, while I let Dan vent about what had happened. When it became clear that Shaunna's page was no longer even viewable, things began to sink in, for me.

Shaunna's career spans more than 20 years. Every picture that she had or had been tagged in has been lost. Every poster...gone. Every conversation she had going in regards to upcoming events was lost. It was like, in a matter of 10 minutes or so, Shaunna had been lost in a fire. Every bit of online history on Facebook is gone...and nobody had any way of contacting her, and she had no way of letting her almost 5000 followers know what had happened.

So, the best chance of getting Shaunna Rai back up and running, was to create a like page for her. Because she was trying to put out spot fires in group and individual chats, and was pissed off enough that she could have spewed forth fire if she had tried, she didn't really want anything to do with the creation of the new page. So, it fell to me to get it all set up.

Fortunately, with the blog being a like page, I more or less knew what needed to be done to set up Shaunna's new page. Then, it was up to me to show Dan how to run the page from both the computer and the page manager app on his phone.

There are a few things that I know he's going to hate about it...first and foremost, the fact that they seem a lot less interactive than, say, your average personal page. And, you have to remind your audience to click for notifications to be alerted when something new is posted.

But, there are also things I think he's going to like about it. Biggest is that you can schedule posts ahead of time, so you can have your page running even if you're not around. (And, if he agrees to it, I can become an admin, and fix up some of the typos on the page, so people can't claim that they need a translator.)

However, even with the new page, unless we can get in touch with everyone whose pictures were on Shaunna's old page, that part of her history is gone. And, she's not the only one. Cherry Lemonade was the first Maine Queen to lose hers. Prodigy Diamond, Sheneeda Diet, Shaunna Rai and Envy Chanel have all had to start fresh. And, a number of others are still in the midst of fighting to keep their names and histories.

The reason I started this blog was as a way to keep track of the history of Maine drag since I became a part of that world. But, unfortunately, that only goes back 4 years. Anything prior to that is gone.

I don't usually get angry, but this really has me pissed off. I don't get violent, but I want to hit stuff or people. I want to make whoever did this understand that this was in no way okay for them to do. I want them to understand that if I find out for sure who it was that they will be called out as a traitor, publicly.

Whoever it was that did it, obviously doesn't care about friendship. They've earned themself a spot in the special hell created for drag performers who caused themselves to be iced out by every other performer in the area. I hope it was worth it to you.

They Had Style, They Had Grace...

Augusta Gray, was an
inspiration for Shaunna Rai's
look.

For the last three years, I have heard name after name, of queens that I will never meet.  Ashley, Marlena, and Augusta Gray, amongst them.  They represent, (for lack of better terminology) the Golden Age of Drag, in Maine.  Back when Styxx was the Underground, back when Shaunna Rai was still a baby, back when there were Gay Bars, from Ogunquit to Bangor.

Over the last twenty years, a lot has changed.  There are no longer any Gay Bars north of Portland.  The Underground has changed hands multiple times, and is now Styxx, (and a bar that was once the talk of the town, is now struggling to fill itself.)  Shaunna Rai has been doing drag for...well, let's just say, that Shaunna Rai is of legal drinking age now...

As long as I've known Shaunna,
Marlena's name has been brought
up many times.

I'll still never meet many of the queens from that Golden Age.  But, this week, something happened, that's going to help me get to know who these girls were.  And, I'm going to get to know the faces that go with the names.  And, eventually, hopefully, I'll get the stories that go along with the faces and names.  At the beginning of the week, I was invited to join a group on Facebook, called Famous Drag Queens of Maine.  A group, that I'm really sad that I didn't think to create... This group is both a blessing and a curse.  While I'm getting to know the queens that I will never meet, and meeting some of the ones that I still have the opportunity to meet, I'm having a hard time keeping up.

Ashley Nason is another name that
I have heard brought up a ton.

I decided, when I got my tax refund, that I needed to get a printer, that had a scanner.  (Talk about foreshadowing...) Once the group was up and running, Dan told me that there was a box in the closet that was full of drag pictures from years ago.  So, I made it my job to go through all the photographs, and scan them, so that they can get posted to the group, eventually.

When he said some, I figured, a couple of rolls worth of film.  I didn't really consider the fact that there would be 21 plus years worth of pictures to go through.  Nor did I consider that it would take, literally, forever to go through all the pictures, and scan and separate and post them.

So far, the photo history is there, but the actual verbal/written history is not.  Part of the goal of the group, in my opinion, is to not only honor the queens who have been a part of Maine's history in images, but also to let them live on in memories.  Someone like me, who doesn't know any of the history prior to three years or so ago, has no idea what Sportsman's was.  I don't know Augusta Gray or Regina.  Without a page like this, I would never know their histories.

Miss JoAnn, circa 1969.

In a week, I learned about Regina, a queen who only performed for HIV/AIDS benefits, after her partner passed away from it.  What made her unique, was that prior to her partner's death, she had no interest in doing drag.  She did it, as a way to carry on his legacy, and support a cause that was near and dear to her.

I have seen pictures of Miss JoAnn, who I actually do know, that go all the way back to 1969.  I've seen pictures of ClubKid MizzDiveena, when she was doing fishy drag, instead of the more severe ClubKid face that she does now.  I have seen queens who look like boys in dresses.  I have seen queens who look so feminine, that you would never believe that they weren't women.  And, I've seen the transformation of 20+ years of Shaunna Rai's existence.

Drag families, that I had no idea existed, have been emerging, and giving me many a name to research a little more...just because it's something that I can't seem to get enough of.

Ashley, Shaunna and Marlena made up the ISG.

I may be a little obsessed with the group, because, I'm spending more time refreshing the page, to look at what new pictures, or anecdotes have been posted since the last time I looked.  (Yes, I know, I have a problem.)  

And, now that I have names and faces of people who were part of Shaunna Rai's past, I can open up the playing field a little bit about what I know about the time before me.  

I'm a couple of keyboard strokes away from

 being able to ask Shaunna's creator about putting her in drag for the first time, and seeing now, how far that she has come from her origins.  I can ask people about Ashley and Marlena, two thirds (Shaunna Rai being the last third) of ISG (International Show Girls) and try to get a little more information about why it was called ISG, and what it was exactly that they did.

In what has become an attempt at documenting the present of drag, I now have a whole new source of information and inspiration, to keep things fresh and new. And, I might just learn a thing or two about the years of history, that only those who have lived it, know.

Thank you for creating this group. And thank you to every contributor to the page. And, if you have, or know of anyone who has pictures and/or stories about any of the queens, kings, etc. who have played a part in this state's history, please, share and help keep these memories alive.