Drag was not only my introduction to womanhood, but my introduction to entertainment. It was the first time I realized that I could move a crowd.
Interpretation
The quote highlights how drag performance helped the speaker discover their identity and their ability to engage an audience.
Trace Lysette's quote emphasizes the transformative power of drag as both a means of exploring womanhood and a medium of entertainment. By experiencing and participating in drag, the speaker found a unique form of expression that allowed them to connect with others and command attention, recognizing the dual aspect of identity and performance in their journey.
In practice
In a speech about embracing diversity, you could reference this quote to illustrate the importance of personal expression.
A lot of my chosen family is black and I say that unabashedly. For anyone who doesn't understand that, they just don't understand me and my generation because especially in the LGBT community, the concept of chosen family is so important and it's a survival tactic.
When we get to a point when trans folks are included in the creative process, the narrative will be much more authentic. Trans actors playing trans roles is a key part of that. But some of the trans talent is not even making it into the audition room, let's be honest.
I think I should have no other mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music.
Often I don't know what the song means until it's finished. Sometimes months later. I don't think that's bad. It implies that I don't know what I'm doing but-I think if you're able to follow your instincts, then that's knowing what you're doing.
Once, when we were playing at the Apollo Theater, Holiday was working a block away at the Harlem Opera House. Some of us went over between shows to catch her, and afterwards we went backstage. I did something then, and I still don't know if it was the right thing to do—I asked her for her autograph.
Something in me was responding now as the audience responded, not in fear, but in some human way, to the magic of that fragile painted set, the mystery of the lighted world there.
This is a writer’s lesson: To learn that the sounds that we imagine can be the clearest, loudest sounds of all.
Yesterday I was thinking about the whole idea of genius and creative people, and the notion that if you create some magical art, somehow that exempts you from having to pay attention to the small things.
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