HARJOT ATWAL
<Staff Writer>
“Mental health is like the poor foster kid when it comes to tolerance in our society, for too long mental illness (such as depression, bipolar, schizophrenia, etc) has been seen as a deviation from what is considered normal, even some people who work in the field of mental health [have] been known to look at people suffering from mental health issues with scorn and condemnation…Many people with mental illnesses are highly successful and make significant contributions to society. Here are the names of a few: Mike Douglas, Walter Cronkite, Ted Turner, Robin Williams and me.” – Wendy Babcock
At the Wendy Babcock Drag Show recently in Osgoode’s JCR, I decided to add my name to that list also, just like Wendy. I performed a spoken word piece, recited some rhymes, and told everyone that: “To honour Wendy…for my part, I’ll spit it straight from my heart, out of my mouth and past my molars…that I’m Bi-Polar!”
Amazingly, I was met with a spontaneous standing ovation at the end of my performance. Even as I write this, I feel my eyes getting a little moist about all of the support I was shown and the compliments I later received. It was truly one of the best nights of my life!
Now, it should also be mentioned that I, along with the rest of the attendees, have the other members of the Drag Show Planning Committee to thank for the wonderful night. Everyone worked tirelessly to sell tickets, gather costumes, put up decorations, and arrange different kinds of musical and poetic performances. It turned out to be a great success.
First, the show started off with an awesome and somewhat profane (amusingly so) introduction to the Show by Jenn Aubrey and Louise LaFleur – the organizers.
Then, the audience was treated to a beauty pageant, which included former students and current faculty dressed up in drag, including Professors Berger, Hutchinson, and Bhabha. Moving on, six of Osgoode’s lovely ladies donned some neckties and suspenders before performing a chipper, choreographed routine to Justin Timberlake’s “Suit and Tie.” Next came a musical performance, and some more enthused and energetic ladies spontaneously decided to add to the act by going on stage and grooving to the song. After that, a strip dance routine was performed on Jon Ungaro by the devilish duo of Tom Wilson and Phil Goldbach. A choreographed, instructional dance routine then followed afterwards, which involved the audience in learning some basic Salsa dance steps. Lastly, the show was ended off by three spoken word performances from Jean Keating, Sukhpreet Sangha, and me.
At the end of the night, not only did everyone have a ton of fun playing with gender norms and dressing in drag, but we also raised money for a great cause.
The Wendy Babcock Bursary was established in honour of our former wonderful peer, as well as her infectious spirit and enthusiasm. It is awarded annually to a young woman, aged 16-24, who is pursuing a post-secondary education and is engaged in improving her community through education, activism, or advocacy. As Jenn Aubrey, one of the Drag Show’s organizers who helped establish the Bursary recently stated in a video published on the website of Canadian Lawyer Magazine:
“[The Wendy Babcock Bursary helps] people who have done their law training to get the funding that they need to do the work they want to do, the work that Wendy wanted to do…that work is work that lawyers essentially don’t want to do. It’s work for people who use substances…sex workers…Children’s Aid kids…for people that are [considered] distasteful [and] that nobody wants to recognize…we like to think most people in law school don’t have experience with those things, but I think that’s actually so inaccurate…[things like this] are a point of isolation for many students, so let’s do something that changes the space.”