of Drag Queens and Quarterbacks
The Gay and Lesbian Review
"At this intersection of consumption and truth, we find some of our most timely and important platforms: catwalks and football fields alike. Entertainment is an amalgam of authenticity and invention presented by an artist’s lived experience—some majestic slurry of their joy, pain, and dedication. To consume their art and the glory of their athletic achievements without regard for their experience is like honoring Gandhi by hosting a cheeseburger festival.
It may seem unlikely that a black football star and a white drag queen’s hot pants are cut from the same cloth, but shimmy into your spandex and follow me."
"At this intersection of consumption and truth, we find some of our most timely and important platforms: catwalks and football fields alike. Entertainment is an amalgam of authenticity and invention presented by an artist’s lived experience—some majestic slurry of their joy, pain, and dedication. To consume their art and the glory of their athletic achievements without regard for their experience is like honoring Gandhi by hosting a cheeseburger festival.
It may seem unlikely that a black football star and a white drag queen’s hot pants are cut from the same cloth, but shimmy into your spandex and follow me."
Photo Credit: Justin Cimon
Highlights:Cleaver Magazine: Myth of the Aran Fishermen & the Art of Jan Powell
The Billfold: "Six Figures, No Degree" Incomer Magazine: Editor's Letter & "Heart and Soul Food in Equal Measure" Winchester Star Newspaper: Chef Mel's Genuine Journey (biweekly column) Incomer Magazine, National Issue: "When Sparrows Unite: The Flight and Fight of Mehwish Khan" |
SNIPPETS AND SAMPLES
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Excerpt: "When Sparrows Unite: The Flight and Fight of Mehwish Khan" Mehwish is working towards a career as a doctor or surgeon. She wrote a chapter featured in the newly released book, No Single Sparrow Makes a Summer, a powerful collection of stories from nine women exploring their immigrant narratives of the refugee experience, juvenile detention and motherhood. Nine women. Five countries. One unified voice, rising up, ripping through the white noise with its unyielding message of hope. Undaunted by the political landscape so rife with the rhetoric of unfounded fear and bias, Mehwish is decimating Muslim stereotypes in the United States —her home. The Taliban came to clip their wings— one day at school. She thought she was going to be murdered, surrounded by the chattels—the tenuous wealth—of an education they forbid. Mehwish Khan took flight regardless, one sparrow among the countless many. And now she fights—for equality." |
Excerpt: Six Figures, No Degree
"On a plane bound for Alaska, I left college in 1995, my sophomore year. An amalgam of chutzpah and immersive learning empowered me beyond cleaning bathrooms to becoming a six-figure-salary executive — without a college degree. While my friends were partying in faraway frat houses, I was clickity-clacking on the computer in my clearance-rack skirt suit. Scarcely twenty-years-old and without that “golden ticket,” I had a long way to go to prove myself. Eventually, I landed a job as an administrative assistant. I had no marketable job skills and a heap of new “big girl bills” to pay. I felt desperate. At night, I would change into my sweatpants and clean that same office — toilets and all — for extra cash. My early desperation transformed into a fiery determination. I was a tornado — tearing through the corporate landscape, pulling into my vortex every possible skills-building opportunity. Out-hustling my co-workers, I built a successful career. By my mid-thirties, I had a sweet office, a kick-ass job title, a six-figure salary, plenty of champagne in the fridge, and was quoted in national industry magazines. But at what cost?" |
Food Sovereignty:
The battle for food sovereignty is ever entwined within existing oppressive systems, and it is here that I make a conscious decision to engage and lay my privilege on the line for the greater good. Within all just endeavors, there is interconnectedness, mirroring that which we see in nature. The hue of my hands, long in the loam, has changed over time, and my voice has strengthened—but there is much work still to be done.
The battle for food sovereignty is ever entwined within existing oppressive systems, and it is here that I make a conscious decision to engage and lay my privilege on the line for the greater good. Within all just endeavors, there is interconnectedness, mirroring that which we see in nature. The hue of my hands, long in the loam, has changed over time, and my voice has strengthened—but there is much work still to be done.
