The Drag King Debut
I got the pleasure of witnessing my partner step into their drag king persona for the first time last night while hosting our first ever queer trivia night fundraiser at the Living Room for Pride & Joy. To watch the process of the initial idea, then the dream downloading, and finally the expansion into the physical was a stunning unfolding. The self is in a constant state of evolution, expanding and contracting and stabilizing, sometimes all at the same time, and it has been such an incredible experience to see that first hand with L.
Right after I start playing music, I had an old friend drop in to say hi, and during the course of conversation, she leaned in and asked “if we had chat gpt’d all of our trivia questions.” There are times when working a project that utilizing AI feels efficient and provides accessibility. For this event, however, all the research was our very own, powered by the internet. (Although I suppose the internet is adjacent to AI now more than ever, which feels uneasy. Did we ever question the encyclopedia this much? I suppose if had ever questioned those books, we would have learned a lot more about buried and forgotten stories.)
“No, actually! We did all the research on our own and came up with the categories and just dove in”, I answered, having watched L study, read, and write for the last two weeks anything and everything queer. Even so, the question sat with me throughout the night and into the next morning. To me, there is always a lesson learned when a thought become sticky. So, I pondered and thought and questioned why this particular statement was on my mind so much. Why didn’t we touch AI? Why didn’t we utilize resources, even if the answer was so simply in sustainability and ethical consumption.
The answer came to me through the silent voyeuristic pleasure of watching my partner navigate their own trans-ness of gender fluidity and identity in the world, playing more deeply in their magic than ever.
To be trans in this world, in this wild timeline, means that you are on your own solo journey to your authenticity and identity. It means that you show up in this world outside of created (and illusionary, but very much perceived) social norms with your own language that no one else has translated yet. To be trans means to challenge the depth at which you can breathe. It is is to challenge the very system that was set in place to keep people operating inside those predictive boxes. Trans means to remember the power you hold in your own magic, your observation, and your intuition. You get to create something that is so aligned with who you are that there is never any doubt of self. Trans is the space where you anchor in to your deepest reserves of power and shift your lineage, your ancestors, your voice, your being and move existence itself to fit ‘you’ better.)
“To be trans means to challenge the depth at which you can breath”
So I suppose no, we simply could not use AI to do research on queerness or on trans-ness because it is an honor and a privilege to learn about people’s stories, people’s love and grief, and people’s lives. How could I use a predictive text intelligence to learn about something best explored sacredly and intentionally? We forget that art (and life) is sometimes messy, complicated, and starts off quite basic, but then, with time and tending, synergizes into something that was beyond what we could have dreamt.
So, if I were to tell you to do something here, go be art. Learn about stories, concepts, and colors, and weave them into something that looks and feels more like you. And don’t forget to trust the process. Understand that you get to be the artist behind your life, your identity, and your own expression, which is not something that is so easily predicted.
To know a trans person is to have the pleasure to seeing that you get to choose who you want to be in this life. To love a trans person is to investigate and understand yourself on deeper levels than you have ever been.
Thank you to all of you for your love, support and showing up even from the sidelines yesterday!
