the rest is still unwritten

Thursday, June 17, 2010

People Watch: Ongina - RuPaul's Drag Race

Well, today is my birthday, and I decided to add another category to this blog: People Watch. It's basically going to highlight certain personalities; celebrity, fictional and 'real'. They're mostly going to be happy happy posts, but there will be times when I will post some duds, people that society can probably do better with less of. There is only one person I can think of who would be perfect not only as the first person to watch, but also the person to be featured on my birthday. So today, spotlight on:

ONGINA!!!



Ongina was a contestant on the first season of RuPaul's Drag Race. What struck me about this tiny Filipino spitfire of a drag queen were her humor, congeniality, commitment to life and her unapologetic middle finger to the sex/gender binary. Well, and her bald head and fierce eccentric 'hats'.

In the course of the show, she won a major challenge whose prize gave her the position as spokesperson for the Viva Glam makeup line. Viva Glam is a line whose proceeds all go to benefit AIDS research and awareness initiatives. After winning the challenge, Ongina shakily confesses her situation: She has been living with HIV for the past two years. Through sobs and tears, she tells us to celebrate life, because no matter what, she keeps going, we all keep on going.

Admiration is a word insufficient to describe how I feel for this tiny queen's vivacity, strength and energy. She truly is an inspiration. From her fierce runway walk, her couture fashion sense, to her humor, dignity and good heart: she is unforgettable. Ongina teaches us that life is full of adversity, but there is also much to celebrate. It's too short for us to wallow in the problems that we face, but more importantly, in the problems that we sometimes create for our selves.

We can only expect great things from this diva.


So in her own wise words: "Life is a CELEBRATION!!!"


Images from:
http://www.thisisaphotoblog.com/2009/08/
http://www.hivplusmag.com/Story.asp?ID=1806&categoryid=1

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