Archive for April, 2009

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International Workers Day

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

mayday2009logosmallURGENT ACTION MAY 1, 2009!!!

May 1st is International Workers Day and across the US people are uniting in the streets and through online action to demand respect for all workers and their families and to demand an end to the persecution of Immigrant laborers and their families.

Visit Immigrant Solidarity to find a May Day 2009 march in your area (there are marches both Friday and Saturday in some areas, so don’t worry if you missed today’s)! If you can’t make a march but want to participate, check out the Immigrant Solidarity website for more information. You can also wear a white t-shirt in support of Immigrant rights.

Finally,  join America’s Voice’s Online March on Washington to support Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

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Let It Be, Drag King Rebellion style

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

Last weekend I performed with Drag King Rebellion at Kiss My Gender, a drag show that uses gender performance and choreography to entertain and educate. Some wonderful fans at the show videotaped it and there are quite a few excellent videos I plan to post and review. 

For now, I’ll start with one video. Check out DKR’s rendition of “Let It Be” by the Beatles:
I love this number because it incorporates three of my favorite things about Drag King Rebellion:
  • Use of popular music/pop culture
  • Empowering social message
  • Audience Involvement

Linking popular songs with activist messages reaches both the entertainers and the audience in a new ways; it’s a chance for music to become more than just entertainment and for activism to be fun and entertaining.

And when DKR connects with their fans, there’s nothing like it! Starting with the cheers as each performer came forward with messages like, “My liberation is bound up with yours” and “Am I conscious of my own privilege” the audience helped to illustrate the whole point of the number as people of varying identities in the room all cheered for the same messages. Later, we asked the audience to join us in shouting out identities that empower them  and by the end, the whole room was singing and swaying together. I even heard that someone started crying and I think its so cool that someone connected with the moment and the message that much.

Its a perfect illustration of the potential of using entertainment as activism – providing an entertaining, empowering and fun experience with a chance to connect with others to challenge ourselves and renew our commitments to social justice.

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Kiss My Gender: Performance as Activism

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

This weekend I’ll be in Michigan, visiting friends and family and performing at Kiss My Gender with Drag King Rebellion.

Drag King Rebellion is a drag/gender performance troupe. Check out their Facebook group here, and read how they describe themselves:

Our members are folks who integrate all kinds of identities and experiences into a medley that turns out original, quality, and socially and politically conscious performances of gender. Whether we’re doing dancy pop songs, sultry ballads, cheesy musicals, beat-blasting hip-hop, or intense rock, the purpose is to entertain and educate in the same breath, and always have the realities of power, privilege and oppression in context.

I love a good street protest or petition drive, but nothing is more thrilling for me than performing in a show that blends the borders between having fun and being productive and shows how powerful it can be to link entertainment and activism. 

Kiss My Gender, a show of “political commentary through gender performance and a touch of choreography,” is this Saturday, April 25th. The cost is $5 and all proceeds go to benefit QueerZone, a program that provides a safe-space for Lesbian, Bi, Gay, Trans and Queer youth, and the University of Michigan Transgender Student Scholarship. Click the flyer for more information about the show:

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