Oaklash 2021: Ingenuity, inclusion at Bay Area drag festival
Armaan Mumtaz/Senior Staff
To kick off Pride Month with a bang, there is truly nothing better than a weekend full of the nonstop queer festivities that composed Oaklash 2021, “the Bay Area’s drag and queer performance festival.” With the bulk of the festival’s programming running from May 28-30, Oaklash seamlessly pivoted to the needs of the pandemic with ease, streaming the entire weekend’s programming over Twitch. In all ways, the festival was a stellar success, showcasing queer artists’ ingenuity in adapting to whatever medium possible, keeping the essence of drag intact.
Phatima Rude, a drag queen who helped to define the raw and genderqueer aesthetics of San Francisco's drag scene of the 1990s and early 2000s, was found dead in their Portland, Oregon home on Tuesday. They were 55.
By Sister Dana Van Iquity–
Sister
Dana sez, “Happy St. Patrick’s Day (March 17)! Even though I’m Irish and will surely drink green beer and Irish whiskey on that day, I still will never quite understand why we celebrate a man who drove the snakes out of Ireland.”
UNITED NATIONS’ observance of
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY was held on March 8. The theme was “Women in Leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world, on the way to the Generation Equality Forum.” This was a way of celebrating the tremendous efforts by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.