The Behrend beacon. (Erie, Pa.) 1998-current, November 16, 2010, Image 2
ll '' "I just had surgery, 'cause honey, looking at you gave me a pussy," said Sasha, a drag queen from Pittsburgh of an excited member of the crowd. McGarvey Commons was transformed into what looked like a dance club and was packed with people who were there to witness Behrend's fourth Annual Drag Show. Trigon, campus's gay-straight alliance club, booked six big-name drag queens to attend: Glitter Trix, Sasha Fierce, Lola, Thea Trix, Ann fu Young and Angelique. These performers came from Pittsburgh, New Jersey and even one from Erie, stealing titles from pageants everywhere. The six drag queens took turns tearing up the floor (and the students) for almost three hours. The audience could not help but interact with the dancers, holding money over friends' heads for lap dance, kisses, or harassment. "Sasha was my favorite, but they were all re ally good" stated Aundrea Luczak. Students Desiree Fajago and Anissa Cham bers both said they came out of curiosity and to support Trigon. Ann fu Young dedicated her second dance to "all those who have taken their lives due to bullying because of their ori entation." For her last dance of the night, Angelique chose six people from the crowd to be put on a chair in the middle of the dance floor for la] , . . • .4 4 .. ' •". : 14 , • t . ''•;: • • . . nil/Mr; TOBY KELLER assistant npws editor ,;,, '' Aiteit, to my surprise, brie of how the ' holiday was der Elst, engineer and student, listened earnest curiosity irestion my own of the day. r tead him astray: , on me to be an of foreign policy, deal with the sub of American culture, didn't want to let him kount later , I found Bering if I had r at ail. It was certain wanted to learn and talked a considerable but i t had I made it "hist Thanksgiving was ' 4nd will he be pre livlked• tOmt the hell, it isn't eat some heavy M auch football, and - out in a re 't really need the name is CAROLYN ZAFFINO Senior Reporter will be able to experience Oda American phenomenon and make his own conclusiono "I'm going to go ilith ifl American family,' odd *O der Elst. "I wouldn't go Ito* even if I could. I will 60 *kip, for Christmas, thera N X thing for my bunny. vet) , traditional. I Cell them then, but I want to rience this limildean His subnx culture is not a man whose lectively seen globe. Louis' . throughout the his parents in siblings residing His father worked in Asia and Africa cultural engineer. is of Austrian her,. has an engineering degree 14 urbanization. She lives With cof his father in Luxembot4 His sister has a degree in wa ter resources enrcitieeting and his brother in construntiO4 engineering. While his m‘lOr is similar to that of his Wa lly members, his journey' bur been quite different, **ho first of his flunily tilwell to the US. 1 ' "I came to the • once before, two ago for a camp at ," give class. van der Elst i!Illi 10,.. niiti dances "It was all in good fun," said Matt Smith, who didn't initially seem happy to have been chosen, but had a huge smile on his face when he walked away. The dancers were happy to see that there were more people that dressed in drag this year, a total of nine compared to last year's three. The winner was chosen based on how loudly the crowd cheered for the contestant. The winner was very clear when Miss Ramona strutted his stuff and the room nearly explod ed with applause. Ramona and Ms. Kinoshi took first place. Ramona (student Ray Wolken) walked away with a $5O gift card to the Olive Garden. One of the other contestants, Kyle Reilly, said that he dressed in drag because "it's just fun, plus my fiancée talked me into it." The show ended with Sasha Fierce and Ann Fu Young dancing as Beyonce and Lady Gaga. The dancers were reluctant to end the show, as the student audience was wildly energetic and encouraging. "I have been doing this for four and a half years, and I just lave coming to Behrend! I drive six hours both ways because I love see ing how much bigger it is year to year," Glitter Trix said. "I like how involved they make the crowd get and how energetic they got us. It also opens our eyes to people that are different but the same," said student Brianna Smith. arve News ommons