Queer Teen Poetry: RuPaul goes Poetic for National Poetry Month (Words To Live By From A Drag Diva)

"What other people think of me is none of my business."

- RuPaul

It may not rhyme, but those 11 words are pretty profound.

When I heard RuPaul say this for the first time on her TV show (RuPaul's Drag Race) I ran to write it down. And now she has a new book out, "Workin' It! RuPaul's Guide to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Style" in which SHE wrote it down for us.

And the empowering spirit behind those words? THAT'S poetic.

Thanks, Ru!

Celebrating RuPaul during Black History Month Can Be Dangerous for Your Job. A Homophobia Smack-Down!

Okay, let me explain why I'm all mad, and then you can join me in my righteous indignation, or tell me I'm wrong...

So here's this from the LA Times:

Three teachers at a South Los Angeles elementary school have been suspended for allegedly encouraging students to celebrate O.J. Simpson, Dennis Rodman and RuPaul for Black History Month, officials said Wednesday.

Children at Wadsworth Avenue Elementary School were carrying pictures of the men at a parade Friday on the school playground, said Los Angeles Unified School District spokeswoman Gayle Pollard-Terry. She said Supt. Ramon C. Cortines learned about the incident Tuesday and had the teachers, who are white, pulled from their classrooms pending an investigation.

The suspension is without pay for the first three days.

“The superintendent believes there are better choices,” she said.

Other students were carrying pictures of President Obama and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Okay, are you mad yet?

As if that wasn't infuriating enough, get this:

"I just can’t fathom what these teachers were thinking of except to make a mockery of African American history,” said Leon Jenkins, president of the Los Angeles branch of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People.

One parent said that he didn't mind the inclusion of Rodman and Simpson, saying that even though they were fallen heroes, they had been heroes. But including RuPaul?

"That alone, to me, qualifies for a suspension."

And in an editorial that made me cringe, "The wrong history lesson; Common sense went out the window when three teachers demeaned Black History Month," the LA times wrote:

And it's not as though RuPaul isn't worthy of regard, but the tender years of elementary school are not the time for introducing the modern complications of cross-dressing and gender identification.

Putting aside the controversy over the inclusion of Dennis Rodman and OJ Simpson, I need to focus here on what in the world are they upset about with including RuPaul?

Is it solely that she's a drag queen? Does that, by definition, make her a BAD role model?


The most recent update in the news on this is that the teachers won't be fired, they'll be transferred to other schools.

Which of course, led some Black Religious leaders to lament that

"That exposes other children to the racist teachers."

So celebrating RuPaul makes you RACIST???

RuPaul

RuPaul is an AMAZING role model. She's re-defined what's possible for a man in drag - she became a drag queen supermodel! A makeup spokesmodel. An author with a new book out (Workin' It!) A best-selling pop star. She even has her own TV show - now in it's second season!

All this from a thin black boy who had a dream.

I think that's pretty role-model-worthy, and you don't have to want to dress up in a dress to celebrate that.

I can admire someone as a role model without wanting to be just like them. (I can see President Obama as a role model without my wanting to run for public office!)

But maybe that's the point of the school district's action. Maybe the school district and the NAACP are afraid that allowing kids to celebrate RuPaul will be telling kids it's okay to be queer? Well guess what? It IS okay to be queer!

Hear that, students?

So yeah, bring on the RuPaul photos to celebrate Black History Month every year! 'Cause RuPaul is fierce, and we - no matter what color we are, or how gender conforming or non-conforming we are, or who we're attracted to - should celebrate her!

And that's my homophobia smack-down.


Namaste,
Lee

RuPaul Crowns the winner of her "Drag Race" (No Spoilers) ...And how it's about more than a reality show: It's about Mentoring.

So last night it all came down to

BEBE ZAHARA BENET

NINA FLOWERS

and REBECCA GLASSC*CK

in the finale of RuPaul's Drag Race.

And I sat there watching this latest iteration of the "reality" TV show, fascinated to see who would win the crown.

As the finale wound to it's ultimate beauty pageant apex, with a rhinestone tiara giving an additional 18" in stature to the winner, I found myself getting goosebumps.

That was unexpected.

And it was because of what RuPaul said at that moment.

...I pass the reins on to you, my dear. It will be your job to spread the love, the message, the beauty of being the next drag superstar.

And suddenly, I understood the show on a mythic level. RuPaul was passing the crown. An Empress selecting her successor as a Drag Diva Super Star of the world.

It wasn't so much RuPaul going into retirement, but acknowledging the facts - she ain't no ingenue anymore.

It's a transition many of us in our youth-obsessed culture, especially in the Gay (GLBTQ) community, fail to make.

There are 40 and 50 year olds still acting like they're 22, still thinking that the be-all and end-all of life is clubbing and how hot you look and landing the next hot conquest.

And I found myself really excited that here, in this world that I really know so little about,

this world of drag queens and divas, of men trying to get at the heart of what is beauty, grace, and poise, of men wielding the magic of gender to make us all pause and think - and entertain us as well -

that here in this world, perhaps, is a better understanding of the role of the tribal elder, and the generational interconnectedness we need as human beings.

And I realized, on this meta level, that it's what works for me (and millions of others) about the show "American Idol," and why I love how gushy and crazy Paula Abdul is as a judge - it's a passing-on of the reins there, too. Paula and Simon and Randy and Kara and the millions of us voting are finding the new generation - and through a grueling initiation - will crown one as the next Queen or King of Pop.

I see now that Reality TV has become the new "initiation" ritual in our ritual-starved culture, an initiation from one stage of life to another that many of us never experience ourselves - we only watch others go through their initiations, their passages. But we're human, and on some deep level inside each of us, we crave this acknowledgment of passing, of growing, of maturing.

What RuPaul did last night was not only crown a new "Queen," but cast herself in a new role, of mentor. She cast herself in the new role of a beautiful and powerful older "woman," passing on her knowledge, and happy to see a younger generation claim their place on the world stage.

And there, in the land of fakeness (for what could be "faker" than a man dressed up in pounds of makeup and fake boobs in a glittering dress, six inch heels, and a gigantic wig?) - there was something true and real: the answer to our botox injected, face peeled, and youth-obsessed adults of today.

It's something I didn't expect to learn from a 6 and a half foot tall drag queen with a wig the size of a Vespa.



As Ru said at the end of this finale:

"My Queen. Remember, If you can't love yourself - how you gonna love somebody else? Now walk!"

Amen, Ru. Amen.