Arts & Culture

‘Dragstravaganza’ brings glitz, gloss and glamour back to Hepner Hall

by niaMh Moore

STAFF WRITER

This year’s Dragstravaganza organized by the San Diego State Student Pride Center brought glitter, glamour and fierceness to Aztec Nights. The show featured San Diego’s best drag queens, who took the stage by storm and completely blew the audience away.

Upon entering the event, all students were required to have their student ID ready and were handed a raffle ticket that was entered for a chance to win free merchandise during the performance.

Hepner Hall was completely lit up with dancing rainbow lights as the audience of students awaited the queens to come on stage. The turnout was substantial, with close to one hundred students in the crowd at the beginning of the night — which only increased as the night progressed.

When the drag queens came out on stage, it is safe to say that they SLAYED. The show was hosted by Ms. Amber St. James and Luxe The Drag Queen, both of whom were extremely excited to be back performing at SDSU.

The drag queens lip-synced songs ranging from Ariana Grande to 90’s classics as they served their best looks. Wearing stilettos, they did cartwheels, the splits, stood on chairs and so much more showcasing their pure talent.

All the queens that performed are part of a San Diego-based group called “Sisters of St. James.” Even though not all the

Photo by Brittany Cruz- Fejeran Amber St. James performing on stage in front of Hepner Hall during 2021 Dragstravaganza.

drag events at SDSU have been named Dragstravaganza, this group has been working closely with the university for the last 6 years to bring action-packed nights of drag to the students.

Amber St. James (they/them/she/hers) is a drag legend who refers to herself as a “Kickass Bearded Black Activist Queen.” She thought that this year’s event had an amazing turnout.

“I’d say that last night felt like coming home. After being able to plan and build these kinds of shows with SDSU for the last 6 years, it felt amazing to come back again and slay like nothing had ever changed.” Said St. James, “The crowd’s energy was the lit-est it has ever been, truly a historical moment for SDSU drag especially because that was the first time we’ve ever done the event outside of Hepner Hall.”

Luxe The Drag Queen (she/her/hers) also praised the ecstatic energy the performers received from the crowd. She says she looks forward to performing in front of SDSU students again next month.

“The thing I love the most about performing at SDSU is just how electric the crowd is always! There is a level of support and adoration that comes from SDSU students that is unmatched anywhere else,” Luxe said. “The fact that the drag shows SDSU holds are quick to become full-blown concerts with people jumping up and screaming. With everyone filming to save that moment it is an experience you truly couldn’t find in Hillcrest with such intensity.”

The drag queens were not the only performers at Dragstravaganza. The hosts picked four lucky students out of the crowd to take part in a challenge. In this challenge, the four participants wore wigs that resembled different pop icons. When they heard their pop star’s song start to play, they had to bring their fiercest dance moves to the stage. The students brought their all and made the crowd go wild. The winner received a poster signed by all the queens.

Dragstravaganza brought students from all walks of life together to bond over a night of dancing and stilettos. The crowd laughed, danced and their immaculate energy filled the school’s front plaza.

The “Sisters of St. James’’ group will be making a return to SDSU on Oct. 30 2021, for their Halloween themed show “Scream Queens”. This show will also be hosted by Amber St. James and Luxe The Drag Queen.

For those who missed the event, the “Sisters of St. James’” group hosts frequent shows in San Diego. The Instagram for the group is @hausofstjames and @sosjphaus where they post updates for future shows.

‘Shang-Chi’ is worthwhile but not without its faults

by Morgan DaviDson

CONTRIBUTOR

Marvel Studios’ “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” sets a new precedent, yet seemingly takes a step back. It is the first Marvel movie to feature an Asian hero who dazzles audiences with spectacular fight scenes and humor while simultaneously watering down the story of Chinese Americans.

The star is Shawn (Simu Liu), the average 20-something in San Francisco: living in a small studio apartment, working a minimum wage valet job and slightly irresponsible. He spends his days working and partying with his equally irresponsible best friend, Katy (Awkwafina).

Shawn is hiding his true story from her. Shawn’s true name is Shang-Chi. His mother (Fala Chen), who died when he was a child, was a martial artist from another dimension whose powers rivaled his father’s (Tony Chiu-Wai Leung). Shang-Chi’s father is a millennia old warrior, with the power of the 10 rings bound to his arms. After his wife dies, he becomes hell bent on avenging her and making Shang-Chi a powerful fighter.

That’s still not the whole family. ShangChi has a little sister, Xialing (Meng’er Zhang), who defected from the family to create her own fighting ring empire. When Shang-Chi is sent a cryptic postcard, he is recalled to his family to finally put their issues to rest.

For the most part, the story is well paced and intriguing. But because the story does not start at Shang-Chi’s true beginning, the story’s pace came to a halt with inserts of Shang-Chi’s backstory.

Shang-Chi needs to be carried by the characters around him before he can truly shine at the end of his story. This is slightly compensated by the fact that the supporting cast can stand on their own and keep the audience engaged.

Xialing, for example, is an incredible fighter who runs her own dark web fight ring. Katy, who serves as viewers’ comic relief, really shines simply by being played by Awkwafina. It’s a shame her and Simu Liu don’t have the chemistry or script to create some amazing humor.

One of the main themes of this movie is the culture of Chinese Americans. For the first few acts of the movie, Chinese American culture is wonderfully represented and respected. Katy lives in a multi-generational household with her traditional grandmother and mother who pester her about finding a better job and getting married.

The music in the movie also reflects Asian Americans as a whole with songs by BIBI, NIKI, keshi and more Asian artists.

Yet, this appreciation of Asian and Chinese Americans becomes lukewarm in the final acts of the movie. Most of the final act involves superficial marks of Chinese culture. While the fight choreography is visually interesting, the shallow understanding of Chinese culture leads to a goofy end fight scene.

With respect to those who have not seen the movie: spoilers in the next paragraph.

The last act feels uncreative. There was almost no Marvel flair besides Shang-Chi’s magic bangles. During the final battle, Shang-Chi learns he has the power to summon a dragon, known as “The Great Protector,” from a mystical pond. He flies on this dragon with his sister to defeat his father while the army of warriors from another dimension do magic martial arts below them.

The movie sticks to the stereotypes of American-made Chinese movies or popular Chinese films. Think of “Kung Fu Panda” with some inspiration from “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” While there is nothing inherently wrong with these movies, it waters down Chinese people and Chinese Americans to be Kung Fu masters with dragon powers.

That’s not to say these tropes were done poorly or with malice. However, the filmmakers simply could have done away with them or written them in a fresh way. “Crazy Rich Asians” is a perfect example of proper Asian representation without feeling cheesy or shallow.

These factors alongside a lack of advertising for this movie have caused audiences to question if Marvel was truly interested in having an Asian Avenger or if they felt it was just a cross off of a list of races needed in order to have a diverse cast.

Hopefully, Marvel hears these concerns and make the changes necessary to create a better film for Shang-Chi’s sequel. This Avenger truly has the potential to create a powerhouse series for Marvel; they only have to give Shang-Chi and the audience the respect they deserve.

Courtesy of Awkwafina and Marvel Studios Screenshot of Awkwafina’s Instagram celebrating the release of “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.”

Nursing student develops a strong passion for high-quality photoshoots

by Flower sMith

STAFF WRITER

A nursing junior at San Diego State, Serena Tran is a passionate photographer who is growing every day with her artistry.

Tran’s passion for photography began when she was younger, when she would take family photos for her sister on vacation or go around her neighborhood with her friends to take photos.

“I would go on what I called ‘photoshoots’ but it was really mainly a way of hanging out with my friends while also taking pictures,” Tran said.

It was then that Tran decided to apply to her high school’s journalism program, mostly for fun, but to also take pictures. This is what really pushed her interest in photography.

Fast forward to the next school year, Tran became the photo director of her school’s journalism team.

“I really just became known, I guess, as a photographer,” Tran said.

Tran specializes in editorial photoshoots, but she is also known for her graduation shoots within the SDSU community. SDSU graduate Carolina Barrios discovered Tran’s photography account by searching through Instagram hashtags and then quickly came across Tran’s website that explained pricing packages for shoots.

Barrios discussed the main reason she decided to book with Tran for her graduation pictures.

“I fell in love with the style of her pictures and just how glowy they looked,” Barrios said.

Barrios also talked about her experience with Tran.

“It was my first time doing photography service,” Barrios said. “She made it really comfortable. She guided me and she would give me pointers throughout the session.”

Tran makes it apparent to build trust and communication before a session. She emphasizes that the shoots are centered around the client.

“I think it’s really important that you just let the client know that this is about them and anything they say about you or your photography, you will not take it personally,” Tran said.

As a photographer, Tran said she is not pretentious about her equipment. In fact, she likes to keep it simple and stick to what she is most familiar with. She started out with her parent’s DSLR camera and still continues to work with a Nikon D5300 DSLR that has an 18 to 35 mm with an aperture of f/1.8 lens.

Tran takes pride in her artistry and can spend hours perfecting her concepts. Since crafting her concepts with photography, she finally found her niche in editing. She currently uses the software Adobe Lightroom, which is a photo management and photo editing application.

Tran’s sister, Alison Tran, has been part of her sister’s photography journey since day one.

“She has this talent of being able to edit all her photos to make them all look similar,” Tran said.

For inspiration, Tran takes to Pinterest and other photography pages on Instagram. She is heavily inspired by @marinawphoto for concepts and @ shotzbyalex for editing on Instagram.

One of Tran’s portraits from her instagram photography account @tranography.

Photo by Serena Tran

When it comes to planning out concepts and other ideas for photoshoots, she turns to @marinawphoto because of her nature-inspired work.

“Because I do really enjoy shooting in nature and because she lives in Utah, she has so much nature around her,” Tran said. “It inspires me to kind of adventure around my area to try to find stuff.”

Tran’s developed complex and unique style of photography has given her the opportunity to take advantage of the world around her.

“There are so many good places that you can take pictures that you don’t really think about that could create,” Tran said. “It’s really what the camera sees.”

She goes on to explain that you can make the most with what you already have.

“There could be a pile of trash right next to you and no one needs to know about it, it’s just how you frame the picture and how you propose it,” Tran said.

For future projects, Tran can see herself possibly shooting for engagements events. She also expressed these photoshoots are less stressful because there are opportunities for additional shoots.

“Couple pictures are so fun to take because you can feel the love, you can feel the energy,” Tran said.

One of the biggest takeaways for Tran is that photography is a very hands-on skill and it takes time to learn and grow.

“You kind of just see where it takes you and as you learn to develop your style personally more, it will just come with time,” Tran said. “It’s just one of those things where you just need to be exposed to eventually what you’re looking for and then once you find that, you can kind of start to build on that.”

For now, Tran will continue her photography as more of a hobby than career choice. In the meantime, Tran will continue to donate 25% of her profits to her favorite charities. To see more from Tran, check out her photography account @tranography on Instagram.

Photo by Serena Tran Tran has done several graduation photoshoots and sees herself doing engagement shoots in the future.