OPINION // CARL CONNIELILNGUS
TRASH HITS & BITS WITH CARL CONNIELINGUS HEY THERE BEAUTS, WELCOME TO MY NEW COLUMN!! LET ME INTRODUCE MYSELF... I AM A NON-BINARY DRAG KING BASED IN BELFAST AND MY NAME IS CARL CONNIELINGUS AKA CJ AKA CLAIRE..OR WHATEVER OTHER NAMES I HAVE OUT THERE HAHA..”HIYA LOVES”. COME JOIN ME FOR MY 1ST COLUMN WITH GNI MAG, WHERE I WILL BE LETTING YOU DELVE INTO MY CRAZY LIFE WITH DRAG, LIFE, LOVE AND OF COURSE LOCKDOWN AHHHHHH!! MON HAVE A WEE GEG SURE...
FIGURE THE RIDDLE:
“You measure my life in hours and I serve you by expiring. I’m quick when I’m thin and slow when I’m fat. The wind is my enemy” Answers to my email address in the Outro.
LOCKDOWN & COVID-19 - MY THOUGHTS So, to fill you guys in, just before Lockdown Carl had been getting great momentum both within the Queer and Straight Community, and for me as a struggling Drag King alone, that was amazing haha. Between Hosting Boogie Bingos in Social Clubs to receiving my First ever Residency in Union Street (Which never even got one night LOL), after having competed in numerous competitions and placing well with amazing experiences and friendships..to say my excitement for my new journies were immense, and this after years of battling Depression and Anxiety, is an understatement!! And then..BOOM..this Virus, this Covid-19 completely halts the World to a stand still!! And quoting Queen “Is this the real life?? Is this just fantasy?? Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality”..what just happened?? When Covid-19 aka Coronavirus was first announced, I was so nervous and anxious because I literally did not know what was going to happen and how our Country would handle such a complex issue!! It seemssssss, not great and certainly not quick enough, but then again, did that really surprise anyone?? I think we were lucky to have some Politicians but it was MAINLY Doctors, Specialists, Nurses and Healthcare Workers that we got our information from and thank the Rainbow for them all!! And let’s face it, apart from the whole “Panic Buying” Toilet Rolls situ (I still have tonnes of questions for those people?? I feel we as a country really bound well together as best as we possibly could and for that I’m proud of us!! Our problem is, we move on very quickly here just for a bitta peace and “normality” and I always wonder does that stem from our past, our “Troubled Past”??
BLACK LIVES MATTER PLUS QUEER TALK I am not Black, so therefore I will never understand what it is like to be a Black Person in the World today or even in the past!! Some of my favourite Musicians, Actors, Actresses, Scientists, Comedians and childhood Heroes are Black!! I have Black friends in America, England, Dublin and Belfast, who I absolutely adore!! But it pains me that as amazing as they are as people, they still suffer with Racism and Exclusivity in 2020. I personally have never understood Racism, even from a very young age I never understood why people would be Racist??!! I just couldn’t and cannot fathom as to why someone would dislike, bully, hate or even kill someone, just because of the colour of their skin?? This latest movement ‘Black Lives Matter’, MATTERS!! It matters so much that the whole World has taken notice and voices are now being heard, and rightly
TWENTY TWO // GNIMAG.COM
so!! So how do we incorporate that into our wee Community so that Inclusivity means INCLUSIVITY?? It means we work together with kindness and love, it means we welcome everyone to our clubs and events that we have because we’re already excluded as a Community by Religion and let’s face it, Homophobes!! Imagine already being excluded because of your Sexual Orientation to then be excluded again because of the colour of your skin or to put it to another topic, just like our Trans Brothers & Sisters, what’s between your legs?? We cannot sit quiet in denial that the LGB Community has been known to forget about our Trans Community and also our fellow Black Queers, THIS HAS TO STOP!! We all deserve love, kindness and empathy, EQUALLY!! On that note, I do have a question for my
fellow Queer Drag Artists, Performers, Musicians, Writers, Filmmakers, anyone within the Creative Realm and more importantly our fellow Black Queers.. where do you/we draw the line between Cultural Appropriation and Cultural Appreciation?? Within a respecting manner and also being creativity influenced by other Cultures, when can we work together so that Culture Creativity can be flowed fairly, within reason of course?? I know from personal experience being a Singer and Performer I have many influences from many different Cultures and I would only want to pay respect, enjoy and celebrate that part of a Culture!! I know there are common sense answers to this, albeit complex as well, so I wanna hear your responses?? Throw me an email to discuss and I will also no doubt, probably receive some welcome education.
