Gurl I've still got my sunglasses on and a Starbucks in my hand as I've just returned from a hellaciously gay ole time in N'aawwwlins, Lessianna for Southern Decadence 2011. Hunty I saw things there that would put Michele Bachmann into a conservative coma for 22 years and she'd wake up to find a gay US supreme court justice making it rain glitter all over the Constitution. Yes, SD11 was one for the books and that book needs to be burned. Beyond the alcohol abuse, boys on the bar, and general disregard for public indecency laws, I was able to find the education in my surroundings. Yes, it's there. You have to stay at just the right buzz level to see it.

What is really amazing about events like SD is the feeling of being in a crowd on a street and not feeling in any way like the minority. Someone special once described the feeling they got this year at Pensacola Pride like this and it really is spectacular if you take just five seconds to realize it. We weren't tucked into a bar for a couple nights a week and then expected to assimilate the next morning. No, it was glitter 24/7 as far as the eye could see. And not just because of the glitter literally in my eye. My sister whom I've yet to meet but hear is quite the lady, Miss Daisy GlammourHammour Kardashian was said to have caused a stir in the streets. Where else can a drag duchess ('cause she definitely ain't no queen from what I hear) walk the streets in daylight, have brunch, and administer flu shots to the elderly without the slightest of upset? Oh, anywhere beyond Bible Belt? My bad. Anygay, it's those moments that remind you that there is a gay culture beyond ourselves. We aren't alone. There is life on other planets called California and New York City. And sometimes they visit. With anal probes.


What is also interesting is the subcultures. You know they exist too, but we are rarely immersed in them in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Most of our gay culture only revolves around drag queen performances and wearing fratty clothes even at the gay bar. We don't really like stepping outside the conservative norms around here. We tiptoe at best. But even tiptoe-ing moves you forward and that's the most we can ever ask for. Besides, we are in a college town and have just begun building our own gay identities for the most part and have our whole lives to figure out who we are. So next time you are at a LGBT pride event, be sure to sip your vodka Redbull a little slower and really take it all in. Watch the circles of subcultures all playing together. We really are beautiful.


Over and Out,
CampusQueer

Gaga does drag. Beyonce is preggers. And Britney is outdone by a bunch of pre-teens in her own tribute. I keed! I keed! Don't get your panties all tied up til the world ends. The MTV 2011 VMA's didn't deliver too much punch this year, but we saw some deserving nominees walk home with a few D-List Moonmen trophies. We also saw a few people who got recognized for being douchebags, all of them coincidentally having penises. Let's face it . . . men have no place in the music industry right now unless collaborating with a female artist or having a voice that naturally sings in the female register. A character known as "Tyler the Creator" who is famed for eating and throwing up a cockroach in a video and then "hanging himself" was voted Artist of the Year. He is also known for homophobic slurs in his lyrics so that's absolutely fantastic. . .

Gaga took home awards for Best Female Video and Best Video With A Message for "Born This Way." Brintey won Best Pop Video with "Til The World Ends" and Nicki Minaj got Best Hip-Hop Video. Katy Perry's "Firework" took Video of the Year which makes me happy since that song has such a terrific message as well. The rest do not matter.

You can catch some of the top performances below including Gaga/"Colderone"'s opening, Adele, Chris Brown's fabulous lip-synch dance (the performance really is quite nice,) Britney's tribute, Beyonce serving it, and Bruno Mars's tribute to the late Amy Winehouse.

And just to clarify one more time, if you are someone who identifies as "queer" and you can't respect Lady Gaga's attempt to bend gender norms in front of millions of people, you don't understand much about yourself. If you can't understand what that means, you need to start asking some questions about your culture. You don't have to like it, but you will respect it or just go ahead and lump yourself with the billions of people who desire and expect a heteronormative world that doesn't have to experience queer identity in society.



Over and Out,
CampusQueer

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=152025718208397

Ding-a-ling. School is back in session. I for one am as excited as a Christmas goose for my final year of undergrad. No matter how you are facing this fall semester, CQ is here with the best way to destress during your break between Biology 101 and Mixology 516. Online Shopping. Yes gurl, it's one click away to get your retail therapy fix. And here's the kicker; they are designer sale websites that are all the craze these days. The four I recommend today are Gilt Groupe, RueLala, Hautelook, and Fab. All feature daily sales for huge discounts on terrific pieces to pick up your wardrobe or spice up your interiors. If any of them spark your interest, all you have to do is click on the photo and you will be directed to my personal invite page to get you signed up and hopefully get me a credit. Oh, you weren't expecting shameless promotion for my own benefit. When will you learn? Some sites do offer us both a little fun money though in the process. I hope some of you get to shopping and give me a little catwalk werk of your purchases. Now get to class you ole whoopherschnapper you.

Summer is coming to a blazing end. Literally it's been so hot my lady bits have melted off. With the end of summer comes so many things in Tuscaloosa, AL. It marks the arrival of football season, the begin of my LAST year at UA, and the mass influx of students either returning or moving here for their first time. To the upperclassmen, you have an idea of what you're doing. Today I'm talking to our incoming freshmen should they have already found the CQ.

I remember that first day on campus. My mother came along to get me in the door. My two best friends were there the entire weekend because they didn't want to leave me. And I got so amazingly wasted off Captain Morgan that I now reserve Captain + Coke as my true party drink. It's not a thing anyone can really prepare you for, but here are a few tips and tweets for moving to campus that should get you on your way.
 

1. You're going to need to go shopping. Of course you're going to need essentials like garbage bins, cleaning materials, poptarts, whatever. If you can avoid it, do not go to Target on the first weekend. Dear Gaga, the lines go around the entire store and it is a madhouse. Figure out what your moving plan is and how much room in the car you have to spare. Don't let the excitement get the best of you. Those lines can suck it.


2. Be careful if you drink in your dorm. Figure out if your RA and your roommates are cool first. Some RAs are just douchebags who think their sole job is to enforce morality and academic aptitude in their dorm. They are douches. Don't allow beer cans or liquor bottles to stack up anywhere in the common areas. Keep them hidden. Keep your door locked and always inspect the peephole before opening. Loud music will bring them to you faster so monitor how loud Lady Gaga is. And if you don't recognize someone at the door, immediately have everyone store their drinks either in a bathroom area or locked in someone's room.



3. Beware of the gimmicks. UA is full of them. There are several events that are apart of Week of Welcome and the rest of you college career that you should do, but more often than not they are just stupid. Don't let them put stars in your eyes with a DJ and free shirts. But by all means go and see what I mean.

4. Meeting your roommates if you did random assignment is awkward. Establish communication with them, go eat at Lakeside or the Ferg together. But I warn you to not make them your immediate friend base that you do everything with. You will eventually not like at least one or all of them. And if you are closeted, be careful how you interact with them. Don't allow yourself to be even more in the closet than you already were. This is a time for growth.


5. Design. Bring some life to that communist cubicle of a dorm. Get a tension rod and some curtains at Targeet. IKEA has great, cheap decorative pieces to liven up the space. Those walls need lots of love too. Artwork is necessary and readily available. Be sure to get those Command Hooks. And if nothing else, by all means you must get alternative lighting in there! GET LIGHTING! Those fluorescent lights will drive you to the brink of insanity. Get a lamp or two (once again IKEA is a great stop for that) with some low watt bulbs (15-45) to bring some softer lighting to your space.

 Now that doesn't nearly cover it. That's just all I care to spend my time on. The rest is all discovery. Life on campus can be nothing short of incredible. My life changed forever since I first stepped into Lakeside West three years ago. Yours will too, wherever you are placed. Welcome to the University of Alabama.

Over and Out,
CampusQueer

I try not to, but occasionally I find myself stumbling into questions about death, my death, and what will be. I think about where I used to be and how those are days to which I can never return. My father used to tell me about driving himself into mad frenzies thinking about the same things and the best advice anyone could ever give him was that no one has those answers, so there is no reason to waste life pondering those questions. Right?

I usually don't swim into these waters on here like this but lately it just seems like everywhere I turn I'm seeing ways that I could have potentially died. I feel like I'm perpetually on Final Destination 703. I constantly dream about dieing. Always in water, not by drowning. Always with something "chasing" me. So I always feel in a state of flux. I'm either questioning my death. Or continually realizing that life only moves forward to death and you never get a chance to loop back around. No passing "Go" and no $200. It may be a big circle of life, but you're only one rotation on it. Well shit.

On my way home tonight I recalled my years on the track team. Yes you bitch, I did a sport. No one said I was any good, but I was persistant. Anygay, for any length running event, you succeeded if you kept looking to the horizon. Looking back at anyone behind you only slowed you down considerably. So I have to keep my sights only looking forward in life. Looking forward to possibilities and experiences. Maybe only if I submit to this will these dreams and uneasy thoughts subside. Hell, if not then maybe I should lay off the midnight pork skins and ambien martinis.

Over and Out,
CampusQueer

A new blogger worth reading has hit Tuscaloosa bringing up-to-date music scoops that are simply fantastic. It's my new favorite haunt on my daily round of blog reads. Adrian Garcia, occasional bartender at Icon, operates The A List on www.theadrianlist.com. He has been getting mass traffic and definitely worth sliding onto your favorites. He has already found his way to the CQ navigation. I can't wait to see what else happens in the future of the A List as Adrian adds to the queer dialogue of Tuscaloosa! Werk.


Over and Out,
CampusQueer

Birthdays are not a big deal for me. They come and go and the less of a big deal you make about them, the better off everyone is. People are just on a heightened sensitivity level on birthdays whether or not it's theirs or someone they know for some reason. That's why I typically would rather just eat somewhere quiet with a couple of people and treat it like another day. I used to be a big birthday boy until my parents divorced when I was six. We had a huge party every year and since then I've just rather it come and go without a big to-do.

But I just couldn't let this one pass me by without somewhat of a fuss. In case you didn't realize, the Queer just turned 21 this past Thursday, July 14. This one was a big deal for me. Not only did it legalize my favorite past time, but it really meant to me that I could now go anytime and anywhere to the places where my favorite people frequented. There are plenty of places in town that you just can't always enter on the arm of a regular or flash your ID and a wink too quick for the door guy to do the math in his head. And you sure as hell can't sneak around a bar where everyone knows your name, age, and tendencies for disaster. So last week was very special and I thank everyone who made it so beautiful. A midnight toast at Icon, a fabulous dinner at Evangeline's, the premiere of Harry Potter, the Glitter Bomb, and a brunch on Saturday to bring it all to a terrific end. My sister, Jaja Kardashian, and my beautiful boyfriend, Brian, have gone above and beyond and I'm just beside myself reflecting on last week.

I guess I learned that what has happened in your past does not always have to be your present. It's never to late break tradition and try something new. I also learned that the liquor store really is as glamorous as I always imagined.



Over and Out,
CampusQueer

The day has come for the city to burn queerlings. July, 14th your CampusQueer turns 21! It has been a long time coming. Since my childhood officially ends the night of the 14th with my 21st burfenday AND the release of the final Harry Potter film at midnight, I will be saving the blowout for Friday night. And there could be no better place for it to all come down than Icon. Genesis will be hosting the G-Spot with Bambi Kira and her very special guest, Miss Continental, Mokha Montrese! Some of you know about all that mess. Some of you will find out. I expect fantastically fabulous outfits and such fucked-upness this side of the Mississippi has never seen. You will dance. Click the poster now to RSVP.

Bring your fierce face and all the trannies you know.


 It's GLITTER BOMB.


Out and About,
CampusQueer

Around 8th or 9th grade I told all my friends that this "Hip Hop Nation" trend would very soon evolve into a dance/electro trend. Like much of every other trend mainstream America eventually embraces, it descended from European club scenes and gays everywhere. As I was posting my most recent string of QueerHear videos, I noticed several were all featuring Ultra Records artists pairing up with hot hip hop artists. This isn't necessarily sudden. It's been trickling in with records such as David Guetta's hits with Kelly Rowland and Will. I. Am. in the past couple of years. Recently at Icon we all heard a song that made us all look at each other asking, "What the fuck is this sextastic song?" Now we know it was Chris Brown and Benny Benassi's "Beautiful People." This trend is on it's way to defining the gay club scene and then of course mainstream radio after we're over it. For a while at least. I'd say you can start looking at the UltraRecords YouTube to keep up with what's hot in music. Not saying that's anything new at all since UR is the host to all the major dance gods. But pay particular interest to ones that feature vocals by hip hop artists, because what dance has always been lacking is a strong lyrical base. So keep an eye out for the big blue splat. Those are the hits waiting to happen.


Over and Out,
CampusQueer