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Vegas Files: Girlypop brunch and the state of queerness in America

July 05, 2025 by Vanessa Young in The Writing, The Politics, The Life

Woof, heavy title, yeah? It’s been a heavy (somewhat terrifying) year for a lot of people. It’s nice to pull away from the increasingly disturbed headlines to enjoy some good drag that celebrates being a girl. I went to “GirlyPop” Drag Brunch at The Front Yard in Ellis Island on the last Saturday of Pride Month with my bestie and I had such a good, pure, wholesome time.

I think I talked about this when I went to the Megan concert last summer. There’s something magical about being in a space that caters to feminine energy. A drag brunch that features Chappelle Roan and Sabrina Carpenter queens is a top tier way to achieve that. It’s not just feminine energy, its a welcoming, soft, cheerful, supportive vibe too. It makes me feel good inside.

Also, I debated on whether to bring my 2.5 year old daughter to this, because it ended up being all ages, but I wanted a mom day out, which I deserve. On that note, I DID see two little girls there with their moms and aunties and uncles, one was celebrating her 4th birthday. Both were older than my kid, but I definitely see a distant future where I could enjoy this with my lil clone.

I’m not the biggest Roan fan but I enjoy some of her music, I definitely get more thrill out of Carpenter’s brand of coquettish, coy, satirical silliness, but both draw fun fandoms that clearly appreciate the art of drag.

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I can’t stop thinking about how much drag, queer culture, and LGBTQ+ people are under attack more and more each day. Especially trans people. It’s disheartening as hell to see certain cis gays turn their backs on our trans siblings to curry favor with bigots who will come for them next. They always do. It’s hard not to worry when gay bar after gay bar keeps closing, lessening our queer gathering spaces, making it harder to find community. This along with our neighbors being snatched up in the streets if they happened to look “illegal.”

We have to do more than just hold onto and support our queer spaces, we have to fight for them. We have to speak up for people who can’t do it themselves. But it also feels so daunting, when the Supreme Court can just be like, yeah, no you can pretend LGBTQ+ people don’t exist in books. It’s a slippery slope to ensuring people don’t exist at all.

It’s refreshing to see drag bust out if its usual spaces. As poisonous and toxic as social media and online fandom can be, it has been really dope watching the growth of some of my fave queens. Bob the Drag Queen has been thriving almost in spite of the bullshit that is being heaped on drag performers.

Even with everything going on, I pray sunshine continues to peek through the cracks.

July 05, 2025 /Vanessa Young
vegas local, las vegas, drag queens, lgbtq, america
The Writing, The Politics, The Life
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Posting less on social media and more on my own site.

January 22, 2025 by Vanessa Young in The Life

It’s time for a more permanent social media declutter.

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January 22, 2025 /Vanessa Young
family, social media, vegas local, las vegas, america
The Life
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Being a Black Woman in America Means Being Pissed Off Every Day

July 22, 2020 by Vanessa Young in The Life, The Politics

Justice for Breonna Taylor and every single black woman, femme and trans person that has been brutalized and murdered, whose names didn’t ignite the flames the way black men’s deaths did. We need to do better.

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July 22, 2020 /Vanessa Young
black girl magic, black lives matter, breonna taylor, blackness, america, this is america, ways to help
The Life, The Politics
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Vanessa's Favorite Films of All-Time Part Three: American Psycho

June 22, 2020 by Vanessa Young in The Life

Part three features my most controversial choice? This movie glamorizes the exploits and excess of upper white America but damn if it ain’t thrilling as hell.

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June 22, 2020 /Vanessa Young
movies, fave films, america, american psycho, christian bale, white people shit
The Life
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Day 81: Advertisement

May 02, 2018 by Vanessa Young in The Writing

Not every prompt excites me but sometimes when I just let myself write without direction, it ends up better than I thought it would.

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May 02, 2018 /Vanessa Young
creative writing, 365 days of creative prompts, fiction, the great decolonization, america, dystopia
The Writing
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