Attitude the key to queendom

Are you prepared for the blisters your large feet are going to get being stuffed into slim high heels? Are you ready for the pain involved ripping that crazy glued hair off your chest? Think you can keep that underwear stuffed while bumping and grinding? These things probably sound fun for any Oberlin student with too much free time, or not enough opportunities to get out and party. Yet anticipation for this year's Drag Ball seems surprisingly low.

Isn't this the premier event of the Oberlin social scene? The creme de la creme of our stuffy, academic lives? Who isn't excited by this? Perhaps upperclassmen weren't sufficiently satisfied with previous Balls, maybe first years don't know enough about it. If you don't think you're ready to strut your stuff down the cat walk, then maybe its time to examine the truth behind the high reputation Drag Ball has on campus.

Those of us who approached Drag Ball for the first time last year may have noticed the differences between this year's advertising campaign. Last year, posters were up before Spring Break promoting the Ball, there seemed to be a much more deliberate attempt to psyche students up for the gala event. I remember being away on Break, preparing my wardrobe and trying to decide what kind of knee-highs and false eyelashes to buy. The week leading to the Big Night was filled with continuous discussions on outfits, plans and preparation.

This year, advertising has been sparse and Drag Ball energy seems to be lagging. I figured that word of mouth along would be traveling enough to start the hype, but was mistaken. The sophomores whom I talked to expressed dissatisfaction over last year's experience. Many restated that the Ball was hot, crowded, boring and that it was "dead" after the cat walk. I didn't find this bitterness surprising. It seemed that for all the talk and work put into the Ball, it was nothing more than a bizarre spectacle. The night ended early considering the major party which I had anticipated, and it seems that others were also a little let down. Was the Drag Ball hyped too much last year? Was its reputation overblown?

Before I let myself slide into the Drag Ball apathy which other sophomores seemed to express, I questioned why the event was a let down. Having a majority of Oberlin's campus gather to re-gender and over glamify themselves sounds like my idea of a social orgasm. It seems that the Ball itself is not flawed, but the attitudes approaching it are.

Obviously, the Drag Ball is not your average party, not even a fetish party. It attracts many more people than even the most popular parties have in attendance. The power of the Ball lies in its ability to create a fantasy world in a familiar public space. It is an Oberlin tradition celebrating private and deviant behavior, and also an occasion to escape into make-believed genders, sexualities and personas. As first year Sam Howard said, he's excited about getting "all tared up and getting down." This implies more than just costuming and glamorization, but a relaxing of social norms, expectations and appearances. Put simply, the proper Drag Ball attitude is a state of mind as well as a fashion style.

Returning Drag kings and queens would do well remembering the fun and excitement they had in preparation of the Ball, and think of what the Ball itself was like. You may have gone expecting to get pulled into a once in a lifetime event, only to find that it didn't happen. This year, however, you have another chance. If you didn't get what you wanted out of it, maybe you didn't try hard enough. The Ball can only be fun if the people who populate it make it that way.

Going to the Drag Ball is entertaining, an imaginative release from everyday stress, and an escape from our repressed society, if only for a night. Even if your attendance is only an excuse to wear your mother's dress in public, be prepared to enter into the most surreal and fantastic experience Oberlin has to offer. And take my advice: after Drag Ball last year I felt that I had done too much work only for a short walk down the runway. Now I realize that Drag Ball is less about the walk and the talk, and more about the attitude.