The event I attended was part of a speaker series hosted by the Sociology and Anthropology Department at Stockton. It was a special talk called “Drag Queens and Beauty Queens: Gender, Performance, and Marked Bodies”, and it was held on November 17th. The talk dealt with the ins and out of frag, the feminist critique of drag, gender performance, why people become drag queens, and drag performances. The speaker, Doctor Laurie Greene, had already formed opinions on drag culture based on feminist critiques she had studied. She decided to go out into the field and do her own research on drag, and what she had learned surprised her. She spoke to many local drag queens and attended both drag pageants and classic beauty pageants to better understand feminine gender performance. She shared her findings with the people in attendance and explained that the next part of her research would focus on drag kings and masculine gender performance.

  This talk was absolutely fascinating. Drag is still seen as a bizarre and somewhat immoral practice by many people. While there are people like RuPaul who have been bringing drag into the public conscious, there is a lot that people do not know about it. It was very interesting to see drag compared to beauty pageants as extreme performances of femininity. It was also interesting to learn about drag through the the viewpoints of both skeptical feminists and actual drag queens. The talk was very professional and informative. Doctor Greene clearly did her research and I would be happy to attend another talk lead by her after she completes her research on drag kings.

The event I attended on Saturday October 8^th was the 21^st Annual Osprey Ball. It is a yearly semi-formal homecoming event held in the Campus Center Event Room that is put on by the Office of Student Development. The tickets were 5 dollars until the end of September, then went up to 10 dollars on October 1^st.

The dance went on from 9pm-1am. There was a photo booth, a DJ, and refreshments available for all the attendees at no additional cost. There seemed to be a good turn-out, and everyone there seemed to be having a good time. There was a dance floor in the center of the room with tables set up around the edges of the room for people to eat and relax, and there was plenty of space for everyone who attended.

The dance was really fun. I was able to bring my boyfriend down and a lot of my friends were at the dance as well. The ticket was well worth 10 dollars thanks to the inclusion of the food and the photo booth. There was a nice variety of food, there was enough for everyone, and it tasted really good. They also had cake and drinks. The photo booth line was long but worth the wait. The pictures turned out nicely and the little props they provided you added a lot of charm.

It was also nice inside the event! I love seeing people dressed up, so I really love semi-formal dances. The DJ was good and the music kept everyone dancing. The people there had good energy and everyone seemed to really be having fun, which made you want to stay and keep dancing. I thought the event was very well put together and I’d happily go again next year.

Jessica Klein

The event I attended this week was the first of the four presidential debate-watching parties hosted by the Political Engagement & American Democracy Project.

The event started about an hour before the actual debate did to allow everyone time to find a seat and enjoy the refreshments that were provided to us. Shortly before the debate began, everyone was given debate bingo cards. The first five to fill two rows would win a door prize.

We watched the debate online on CNN. It was projected onto a large screen, so visibility wasn’t an issue. There was also a secondary, smaller projection screen in the room projecting the popular tweets about the debate.

Overall I really enjoyed the debate-watching party. It was nice to be surrounded by other students who were politically active and shared similar views on the candidates. It was comforting to know how many people wanted to be informed about politics. My only complaint is that it seemed the organization underestimated how many students were going to attend. There were not enough tables, which meant many people needed to find chairs or just sit on the floor.