Ask Me Something Interesting!

After I started this blog, Dan started getting requests to answer some questions about drag for people who, like myself, were doing research.  In my case, it's for a blog.  In other cases, it's for college papers, or what have you.

When I created my list of questions that I would just randomly ask any queen who wanted to answer for me, I thought that they were good questions, that anyone would want to know the answers to.  So, after Dan answered the third set of questions, and asked, "Do people realize how many times I answer the same questions? I wish that people would just ask me something different once in a while."

Obviously, people are the most interested in the things that seem the most basic to the person who gets asked them all the time.  So, being the curious person I am, I asked.  "So, what would you rather people ask?"  To which, I got asked a question in return.

"IF you could ask any queen, whether it were me, or Jujubee or Mizery, anything, what would you ask them?  And I'm not talking the fluffy stuff, like how long. Like REAL questions."

And, it got me really to think about what WOULD I ask, if I had the chance.  My thought process went to the usual.  I have an obsession for understanding drag names, and where they come from.  That's my own personal weirdness, but I think other people think it's interesting too. Maybe. Or, maybe it really is just me.  (Fluffy.)  How long have you been doing drag? (Fluffy)  How did you get your start in drag? (Fluffy)

Everything that first comes to mind is fluff.  It's the same set of questions that get asked over and over and over, hundreds of times.  And, once I got that, I realized, there needs to be more to the questions, in order for you to not be the same as everyone else.  This can be accomplished by looking at what you really want to discover from the questions that you ask.

While, in my head, a question like, "How did you get your start?" is all encompassing, to a queen, it's literally about the first time they did drag.  Where, in my head, it's "Tell me about the first time you did drag.  How did you get your name? Who is your drag family? And, a number of other questions that need to actually come out of my mouth (or fingers, as the case may be.) A question that I came up with, on my own, without having to ask a hundred other questions to get the round answer that I wanted, was "What is it about Drag that keeps you coming back to do it? It takes time and money, and can be less than stellar, depending on where, when and who is involved.  You could make a killing with tips, or you could leave with nothing, because you're either going just for exposure, or, because you're donating your time.

Of course, I haven't met Jujubee, to ask her.  And, I haven't seen Mizery, since the last time we went to Club 313 in Manchester.  And, I think when I actually asked that, Dan didn't answer it for me.  Bear in mind, this was a month or two ago, so I may have forgotten if there was an answer, because we were on other business when the subject came up.

Anyway, so we had this conversation, and moved on from it.  And then, a couple weeks ago, a friend asked Dan if he would answer some questions for a research paper.  First thing he said, upon receiving the questions was "Don't you people know how many times I'm asked the same things?" And, he handed me the phone, knowing full well, that I was going to write about this later.  And, sure enough, the majority of the questions were questions that I had already asked him.  Sure, there were a few new/different questions.  But, overall, they set the same tone, as far as content.

So, next time you want to ask a queen a question, try to be mindful of the fact that they're always being asked the same set of questions, about the how/when/why's of it all.  Try to be original, and ask something that will be a little meatier for them.  Don't fluff it up in order to seem like you don't really want to know something.  If you want to know, ASK.  They'll answer.  They might just gripe about the questions at a later date.

That being said, what would you ask a drag queen, if you could ask anything you chose?

Fact Finding Mission...

Back in the days BDS (Before Dan and Shaunna) I ran a little webcomic, called Got Pride? It was an homage to everything queer that I could come up with. And, a story about my family life...more or less. I did very little research into some of the stuff that I tackled. One of the unfinished, unresolved stories that I started was the transitioning of a transgendered character.  Why was it unfinished? Well, for the most part, I don't know what it's like to be transgendered.  Nor did I know anyone who identified as transgendered, who I could ask, in order to do some research, and actually get the story right.

I may take that story back up someday.  I just need to find some people who I can collaborate with, to get it right.  Because, I'm pretty sure that there's a lot more to the story than just deciding one day as a woman that you're going to go to CVS, buy hair clippers, hair dye, and men's clothes, and boom, you're a man. I've heard that it's an easier transition than the transition from male to female, but, still.  I handled it ignorantly, and then wrote the character off, because I knew I didn't know, what I didn't know.

That being said, with the successful interest in the drawings that I have been doing on commissions, it got me back in the mindset of, I want to tell a story.  But, I don't want it to be my story.  I want it to be the story of a drag queen.  Or a group of queens.  It'll tell about what it's like to be a boy, and a girl, without having to deal with all the stresses of telling the transition story...at least at first.  Because as I've noticed throughout my year living with Dan, the transgender community is intertwined with that of the drag community. (And, yes, I'm still quite ignorant about the trans community, so I'm going to get things wrong, and apologize in advance.)

What I decided this time though, is that I need to do my research first.  I want to know the experience of being a drag queen, through a drag queen's eyes. (And, if any transgendered people want to help me research their side of things, I'd love to hear that as well.)  So, I've come up with a list of questions that I'm hoping will help me get some answers that will help me decide if I really can go through with the comic/graphic novel about drag life.  As of now, it's all still in planning.  No set characters, no storyline (as such), just an idea in my head that I need help figuring out how to best get it on paper.

So, the list of questions, in no particular order:

How did you get your start in drag?
How did you get your drag name?
What is your favorite part of doing drag?
Queens tend to get categorized (ie. Comedy, Club Kid, Pageant Queen) What category do you consider yourself to be?
Have you ever experienced stage fright while performing? How did you overcome it?
Have you ever won any titles/awards?
Tell me about some of your (good or bad) backstage experiences with other queens.
Do you do your own hair, makeup, costuming? Or do you have help with some or all of the above?
Tell me about a memorable adventure that you've had that you would not have had if not for drag.
When you're out of drag, what do you do? (ie. Work, fun,etc.)
Tell me anything else that you think might be important for me to know to get inside the head of a drag queen.

If you feel like answering these questions, I greatly appreciate your answers.  You can leave comments below, or email me, Steve at swd8880@yahoo.com. I will also be posting this on Facebook, so answers can be shot to me through my like page, or through my inbox.