Drag Ball

This past weekend was Oberlin's annual Drag Ball, an event that, in my four years here, I had never been to. Naturally, with it being my last year and all that, I decided that I had to go, and since Chris and I had been talking about maybe going as Antony and Cleopatra for years, I had no problem figuring out who I was going to dress up as. As you may guess, Drag Ball is basically a school sponsored party where everyone dressed up in drag, gets drunk, and parties till the wee hours of the morning. I only actually participated in two of these things, since I got a bit bored around 12:30am, but I'll start the story from the beginning.

Once Chris and I confirmed our Classical theme, the next problem was figuring out how to get costumes. I am very low on funds right now, so I wanted something easy and cheap, but also really wanted to wear armor of some sort- I thought that a toga would make people think of Caesar, though I'm sure the majority of people there wouldn't know who one of the other was. In the end, due to financial limitations and time constraints, I ended up wearing a bed sheet wrapped around me in some sort of fashion, and it didn't look half bad. I even had a crown of "laurel" leaves, which was really a fake vine of ivy wrapped around a plastic headband. All in all, I looked somewhat like a real Roman, though togas are very andgrogenous (s/p?), but for me, that was besides the point. Chris looked stunning in a black dress from Greece that he borrowed from Shoshana, complete with a stuffed bra borrowed from me. He even had the Egyptian eyes going, and some nice classical looking jewelry, which really completed the look.

Of course, as we were getting ready, so were numerous other people who just popped into the house. We were all listening to music, drinking, and oooh-ing and aaah-ing over each others' outfits. Everyone looked great- Sarah looked almost exactly like Mark, if only a few inches shorter, and Erin was a spitting image of her younger brother, only with an afro. Mark went as "Rainbow Brite," which was an interesting combonation of mini-skirt, tube top, and 10-inch-high wig, all in very bright colors and too much make up.

Around 10:30, we decided to head over to Wilder, the student union, to commence partying. All of Wilder had been turned into a Drag Wonderland- there were decorations, lights, and music everywhere. It was very impressive. In Wilder Main, there was a hige catwalk with stairs coming down to it from the balcony, and this is where the performances took place. That's right, Drag Ball isn't just a huge party; the school hires professional Drag Kings and Queens to host the night and give a few performances. I only saw a few of these, and I have to admit that watching someone whose gender I was unsure of strip down to panties and pasties was not really my cup of tea. The one performance I thoroughly did enjoy, however, was not a professional's at all. It was Scott McInerney doing Beyonce's dance to Single Ladies, which he had been doing in our living room at parties all year long. It was definitely something to see him up there dancing away in a wig and leotard.

After Scott's dance, I'd decided that I'd had enough of drag and headed home. I'm glad I went, but I don't feel like I truly missed anything for the past three years. I think I'd rather just party at my house with people I know, instead of being packed into the student union with unfamilar faces, made more unfamiliar by the genderfuck. But I guess you can say that it was a good experience.