Self-Introduction

Hi, I’m D! I figured I should introduce myself and what I see myself doing on this page.

Just as the judicial branch interprets law written by the founders and the legislative and executive branch, I want to live a life where I can interpret the singing, acting, and dancing — the performance art — made by talented artists. My interpretation will also be art, but it’s a layer removed from the primary source. They are far better performers than I; I am merely writing my opinions on what they’ve created through laborious collaborative processes. Drag queens and kings and everything in between and off that spectrum, singers like Moses Sumney, and dancers like Florence Welch and her entourage. Film and television shows, too! Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Euphoria, etc. The eyes and ears and other senses(?) should be on all of that wonderful art. But interpretation can be helpful.

I don’t know if I should get another degree to do this, or just do it alongside the rest of my work. But this feels like such an important role in the liberation we’re living out — our utopia. This is performance studies. My life is a performance, and I am interested in others’ performances as much as I am writing from my social location as a Filipino-Black trans femme fairy of the 21st century, carrying around all of the lived experiences of the stuff other researchers are trying to write about. I’m an edge case, though; I am not the stereotype of a Black trans person. I suffer — trust — but not in the ways depicted in mainstream media or cries from public health and advocacy groups to focus on this community because they’re suffering. But please don’t trim the edges. I have a story to tell, too — and I’m choosing, always, to ally myself with those who are suffering in much worse ways than I suffer. I’m right here. I’ll always be here.