Hot Topics Q&A: Mera & Chloe Talk Local Queens

Thank you so much for answering my questions! I really enjoyed hearing about your experiences as a local queen. I am a local queen as well (though I am on a break because college) and I related to a lot of what you and Chloe talked about. The venues and show management make a huge impact on a drag community. Especially with drag becoming more mainstream it's more important than ever to create equal opportunities for alt/non-pageant queens. Drag is so much more than men in gowns and being glamorous all the time. Drag is an artform for all gender identities, sexualities, and expressions. This is a sentiment that is missing in mainstream drag. I hope with the rise of shows like Dragula, non traditional drag artists can start to gain more recognition and opportunity.

Omg! 😱 Just looked her up on Instagram, she’s looks like an even more beautiful Elizabeth Berkley! Stunning!😍

Mera Mangle

I have a friend from college (Fonda LaFemme) who has decided to get back into drag after a long absence and is all up in pageants even without competing right now. Began drag when we were in college in the 90s, she was a Miss Gay Arkansas from like the early 2000s, but stopped for several years and is just reemerging all over the damn place. She's decided to do Miss Continental next year and has just been going to pageant after pageant, performing regular shows networking and making sure to catch up and get photos with the big names like Kylie and Vanessa van Cartier and such... The amount of networking in the pageant system is something I had no clue about it until I saw her posting all these photos and updates on Facebook in the past couple of m. There's definitely a hustle to the pageant system that's no different from any professional business networking activity. But it seems like it's the same level of hustle you do even though you aren't a pageant queen, you just network in a different way. Anyway, enjoyed y'all's take on it from a different (m)angle.

Eleanor E