Life’s a Drag

I started doing drag in November 30th, 2019 after leaving an abusive relationship. Emotionally torn and invalidated by an ex-partner who never accepted my gender identity, I turned to drag as a way to reclaim myself again. I went to a barber and told them cut all of my hair off. With each snip of the scissor, I could see each long strand of hair fall off so quickly like a ton of bricks. I was finally free.

I went to my local drug store, bought all the makeup I could find, and started my drag journey that night. I could feel myself ignite with each stroke of the makeup brush painting my face in a man’s shape. The brush moved across my face like a masterpiece. It felt so natural. Finally, I cut some old sponges to reveal a gently paint a beard on my face. Voila! Bad Papi was born.

I never expected my queer road to take me to this path, but once I was in it I knew I could never leave. Drag is such a beautiful art, one that will always be a part of me. I am Bad Papi and Bad Papi is me. The more I worked on my drag persona, the more fluid they became. Soon, I was expressing a wide variety of genders I never even though imaginable! And each time I would use scissors to cut old things lying around the house and to turn them to into art. I let my imagination run wild, especially since I couldn’t afford much after the pandemic. Work was scarce and so was my finances.

I would turn cardboard boxes to taxis, old fabric to shark fins, toilet rolls to swords. Anything I thought of I turned to reality with a snip of a scissor. But one of my favorite projects was one I worked on with the Miami Queer Collective.

It was June and we were developing a queer musical theatre show for kids called ZeeZou’s Stardust extravaganza about a non-binary child who travelled into space on a journey to find self-acceptance. I was cast as Maestro, a flamboyant, drag musician who composed songs. As a drag artist and musician myself, I completely fell in love with the character and enveloped my world in theirs.

As soon as I was cast, I started drawing concepts of the character. How would he look? What outfit would he wear? What color was he? After many drafts, I finally came up with the one I knew was it. It was a character I knew would empower kids to be themselves. One kids would love as much as I.

This project was a little different than others because this time I actually had a budget. With a little cash and lots of imagination, I bought everything I needed to make Maestro come to life. When I got home, I immediately went to work. Snip. The wire was formed to a collar. Snip. My foam board became the backbone. Snip. The rainbow fabric was shaped to the board. Snip. My rainbow collar was finally complete.

The next day, I was ready to exude the role. I cut a bald cap to my head with scissors, drowned myself in green make up, and put on my outfit. The final touch were some crystal patterns I placed on my head. When I looked in the mirror I didn’t see Amelia anymore-it was Maestro in the flesh. My dreams of portraying a non-binary character had come to life. It was August when the show was released to the public; we had an amazing impact on kids’ life. One mom told us that she was grateful for our show as she felt her kid’s joy and happiness while watching it with him. She said she wished that there were more shows like ours that portrayed queer characters in such a beautiful way. Hearing those words brought tears to my eyes as I was also a kid once who was lost and looking for a voice that can speak on my behalf. It was like people like me were cut out of society. But I finally found that voice through drag and I am now able inspire others and share it with the world.

Writing this essay I realized the importance of a pair of scissors, a tool that people often overlook. A lot of time when scissors are brought up it is used in the context of damage and separation. But to me, a pair of scissors represents a tool that cuts and forms journeys of artistic freedom and self expression. I honestly wouldn’t have been able to do even half the things I’ve done in my drag without scissors. And now that my purpose is compete, I can’t wait to see the journey that others would experience with their own pair.