Not Your Typical Drag Race
When I was a little gurl growing up in Barrio Siete, I was not aware that my behaviour is different from the regular kids. Only then when I started going to school that I noticed my actions and preferences were similar to those of the girls most of the time, compared to the normal boys.
Tuwing may recitation sa English at tinatanong kami ng aming teacher kung ano ang gusto namin paglaki , madalas ang sagot ay maging doctor, teacher, police, nurse, lawyer, singer at iba pa. At palaging kasunod nito ay “because I want to be like my mother, or father, or a relative” na excellent sa kanilang choice of profession.
Fast forward. Sa mga Miss Gay contests na sinalihan ko, madalas din tinatanong ang
“Aside from your parents, who do you consider is the most influential person in your life right now?”
Siyempre dahil contest nga ito at kelangan magpa-impress ng sagot, madalas na sagot ang mga Mahatma Gandhi, because his life is very inspiring, or Corazon Aquino because she is a strong woman, or puede na rin ang Oprah Winfrey because she has achieved a lot in her life.
At noong ako ang binato ng ganitong tanong, ang naaalala kong sinagot noon ay,
“I consider Madonna as the most influential person in my life right now. She is an excellent artist and as a performer, she inspires me to be the best in everything that I do.”
Suma total, talo ako. Bwahahaha!
Anyway, sa panahon ngayon, marami na tayong mako-consider na naging influential sa buhay natin. Kahit sino, kahit saan, kahit ang inyong kapitbahay ay maaaring makapagbigay ng impluwensya sa iyong buhay. Sa dinami-dami ng paghahanapan ng inspirasyon, hindi na excuse ang sabihing walang nakapag-impluwensiya sa’yo kung saan ka man ngayon.
I-review mo lang ang buhay mo at malamang you’ll identify them.
Maaaring ito ay si Princess Diana or Mother Teresa.
Ang Dalai Lama or si Nelson Mandela.
Pero sa aking buhay, marami na rin akong matatawag na inspirasyon at naging influential sa aking paglaki. Pero meron akong isang choice na kakaiba sa maaaring maging choice ninyo. Hindi kasi siya girl at hindi rin boy.
Isa siyang drag queen.
The most popular one in the world, the very beautiful, imaginative and multi-talented
RuPAUL! Eto sya na wala pang maskara.
Photo Credits: S9.com
And then… ta-dang!!!
I first saw RuPaul sa music video niyang Supermodel. Nakanganga lang ako habang pinapanuod siya sa MTV at tinatanong ang sarili ko kung bakit ganun ang name niya pero mukha naman siyang babae. Doon ko unang nasilayan ang kakaibang itsura ng drag queen.
According to Wiki, Ru Paul is born RuPaul Andre Charles in San Diego, California.
Very inspiring ang kanyang buhay. Lumaki sa isang broken family, nag-struggle na mabuhay kasama ang mga kapatid. Tumira sa welfare ng mga social workers, pilit nilalabanan ang society na hindi pa rin lubusang tanggap ang mga katulad niya. Nag-aral habang nagtatrabaho at pilit inabot ang mga pangarap. Sa awa ng Diyos ay naabot niya ang mga bituin sa langit at ginawang hikaw. Naging performer sa mga bars and discos at ito na ang simula ng kanyang showbiz career.
Naging tanyag si Manay RuPaul in 1992 noong inilabas ang single niyang Supermodel na ng-top din sa Billboard.
Naging spokesperson ng make-up giant MAC, tumulong to raise over $22 million for the MAC AIDS fund.
May show siya sa VH1 called “The RuPaul Show” and now she is the host of the very popular “RuPaul’s Drag Race”. Isang contest ng mga drag queens.
See.
Hindi lahat ng puwedeng ma-consider na influential sa buhay mo ang isang typical na character.
Kahanga-hanga ang buhay ni RuPaul.
Hindi siya nagpatalo sa dikta ng sociedad. Hindi sumuko sa laban ng buhay. Nagpakatatag para mabuhay. Sinunod ang passion at ngayon ay namamayagpag sa larangang kanyang napili.
Pinatunayan lang niya na you can be a star even if you are a Drag Queen.
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Mel is is the ‘gurl’ behind “The Misadventures of Mel Beckham”. ‘She’ graduated with a double major in Management and Entrepreneurship. ‘She’ grew up in the city but now lives in the bukid near barrio siete juggling work as a farm manager, office secretary, messenger, construction worker, housemaid, make-up artist and babysitter. Despite ‘her’ busy schedule, ‘she’ finds the time to blog in between work, and errands using ‘her’ primitive mobile phone. ‘She’ plans to take ‘her’ MBA soon but ‘her’ multiple jobs prevent ‘her’ from doing so unless going to school will get ‘her’ paid to pay for ‘her’ utangs.
Before ‘she’ dies, ‘she’ hopes of owning a pair of Louboutins, and landing on the cover of Vogue, kahit sa Vogue India lang. Whichever comes first.
it’s ironic that rupaul is the epitome of a high school drop-out that became sucessful, using only her street smarts and wits; I wonder what educational proponents like lee and jeri would say now?
Not all things naman can be learned inside the four corners of a classroom. Sa kaso ni RuPaul, she has something that some of us might not have in terms of reaching our dream. Luck.
Ate Lee and Kuya Jeri or anybody for that matter may disagree with my choice or opinion about this.
Sasabunutan ko lang sila. LOL
@Mel
yeah, I agree sis. marami ring naging successful dahil street-smart sila. pero syempre, nothing beats education. para siyang armor mo sa buhay.
btw, i love the story, reminds me of beauty pageants na malapit na nating i-cover…hehehe…
@jim,
i think education has got nothing to do with success – what rupaul has proven is that street smarts can be successful too. with education at least, it teaches you on how to navigate life’s difficulties such that you are able to decide better when confronted with hard choices in life the end of which is success. of course, you know this too.
HAHAHA! because you don’t respond like the mainstream ang label na seyo eh extremist! hahaha baliw ako sa sagot mo hahaha kung ako ang judge of course winner ka, kaso they don’t see it the way we see it hehehe
Ate Reynz, si Debbie Gibson talaga ang isasagot ko nun pero mas sikat si Madonna eh. Baka kako humanga ang mga judges at idol ko si Lola Madge. Bwahaha
Chuva Chienes and I have a friend. Dating programmer. His name: Benjie. At night: Alona. Benjie was one very and uber talented programmer. Nung naging Alona sya, he err she was very popular sa gay circles in Philadelphia at hindi masaya ang show pag wala sya. You will never imagine na he pala sya and he err she was making good money in performing ganun lang. I have no more clue though kung asan na yung kebigan namen na yun ever since he moved to new york.
i remember his song, talagang disco music yon
@reynz, eto pala yun hahaha.
naku mel ang ganda ganda nya grabeh wala akong masabi sa byuti nya, sigh, sana gumanda din ako ng ganyan pag nameyk-up-pan hahaha
halloween. pinag-bistida ako nang mga sira-ulo kong kebigan. nag-try naman ako. dumating sa make-up. sinusumpa ako nang mga kebigan ko. kahit anong gawin ayaw kumapit. naliligo na sa pawis ang mga leche. minura mura na lang ako. bakal daw kasi muka ko. hehehe!
nyahahaha kamahalan pareho pala tayong ayaw kumapit ng meyk-up sa mukha natin litsi kakainis
kelangan daw alkitran. ang mga tarantadong yon. hmpt! nakakainsulto! hehehe!
ngak, alkitran?anung akala nila sa mukha natin kalsada nyahaha
ay naku! tanungin mo yan si chuva! hahaha! ang mga lecheng yan! yong pag-me-meykup saken is like one gravel and sand development project
buti kayo pinag-makeup pa. eh ako no need na raw tutal scary na kahit walang muk ap. Lol
basta ako naniniwala sa lahat ng mga magagandang adhikain ng bawat tao ke bakla, tomboy o straight
I agree with Dencios on what he said. AMEN.