Reach for the Stars: Vivica Galactica Reflects on Another Stellar Year

“The universe is under no obligation to make any sense.”–Neil DeGrasse Tyson

I’ve walked across the stage in Civic Center park dozens of times. When I first moved to Denver, I wanted to get a better grasp of the “big” city, so I embarked on a photo journey where I captured nearly a thousand photos of the entire city and displayed them in a photo exhibition called “Denver City Limits.” That’s when I took my first deep breath, hoping that someday I’d be on the stage in front of hundreds of people.

I started doing drag around Pride season two years ago, and now I’m on the brink of finishing another year of becoming Vivica Galactica.

In my first year, I was a national delegate for Bernie Sanders at the National Democratic Convention, started a show at a non-queer venue in downtown Denver, and performed in a different state (Wyoming). I saw my skills get better, got a whopping eighth-runner-up in Track’s annual Ultimate Queen competition, and had high hopes for the future.

Now, I’m about to make my first main stage appearance in front of hundreds of people in my community at PrideFest.

In my journey to step on as many stages as possible, one of the first defining experiences of my second year of drag was the opportunity to travel to the Big Apple to perform. It was a whirlwind trip where I got to experience New York City drag for the first time—and it was a thing to behold.

I used my time to perform on as many stages as I could, and I discovered a plethora of competition shows that were just different enough from Ultimate Queen back in Denver. They were weekly, and they were first come first served. I experienced Look Queen, hosted at the time by RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 10 queen Dusty Ray Bottoms at the Manhattan Monster Bar, and Drag Wars with Shequida Hall at Pieces. These were two new stages that I could add to my portfolio.

Denver, as beautiful and creative as it is, has a bad rap for Drag. Or, we aren’t known nationally enough to have any sort of identity in the Drag world.

When I first started, I thought the scene was filled with fishy, dancing queens primarily doing top 40 dance numbers, and boy, I was wrong. One of the main things that I have learned is that drag is for everybody. It doesn’t matter if you are AFAB or AMAB; the genitalia that’s between your legs doesn’t dictate the story that you desire to share on the stage. Drag has evolved, too, becoming this queer performance art that acts as a form of self expression.

This is where Weirdo comes into play. Weirdo has become a place for everybody to come and feel like they have a place in the queer community to be seen and to celebrate queerness. It gives an opportunity for the drag performers in this city to be celebrated if they find solace in out-of-the-box drag, but in the same vein, it provides a stage for folks to step out of the box and try something new.

The community has a say in who wins, and seasoned performers and audience members can give feedback in order to help the performers keep moving forward in their careers. While drag in Denver has started to create a lot of competitive shows, I think Weirdo has become a nurturing space; at least that’s what I’ve tried to make.

Halfway through the year I felt really good about my momentum in the community. Good things were happening, Weirdo was taking off; I was being booked in reputable shows around town more often. I was able to quit my retail job and do drag as a full-time gig, while doing a few bartending shifts at Gladys and Trade on the side. Things were looking good!

On the afternoon of February 5, everything came to a screeching halt. While crossing Colorado Blvd. on foot, at a place where there wasn’t a crosswalk, with my headphones in and my head in the clouds, I was hit by an SUV.

The brain does strange things when it experiences trauma. I don’t remember getting hit by the SUV. I don’t remember being blown out of my shoes. I don’t remember being put on the back brace or the ambulance ride to Denver Health. I don’t remember the CAT scans or the x-rays or seeing my family arrive in the ER. The only thing that brought me back was my mother, who lovingly held a small vial of essential oils to my nose while the ER nurses weren’t looking. I walked away the same day I got hit, with only a concussion, and four hours missing from my life.

Those four hours were the biggest wake-up call I could have ever gotten. I realized that while good things were happening, I was living my life in the future or the past. I wasn’t living in the present: every idea or hope or dream was a “what if,” “I wish,” or “if only.” It was time to take my life into my own hands.

That whole experience also made me crave tater tots and chicken fingers, and I knew the best place to get those in the city was Mile High Hamburger Mary’s. In all honesty, I have always wanted to be a part of the Mary’s family. It would be incredible not only to be part of a very well-known community here in Denver, but also the national Mary’s brand. I had this idea for a concept to have a lip-sync based show in Denver, and a great producer/drag mom, Khloe Katz, to help me co-produce and develop Queen of the Mountain, a lips sync battle-based  show that spotlights up-and-coming performers in the Denver community.

After being in Denver for six years, I felt recently that my expiration date, at least for now, was coming. After manifesting that I wanted to take part in a drag festival in New York called Bushwig and attend the next DragCon in NYC, I realized that the only thing keeping me in Denver was the finale of Weirdo. So, upon its completion on August 30, a Mx Weirdo 2018 will be crowned, and along with that, the reins of Weirdo will be passed on.

Then, on Monday, September 3, I’ll be on my one-way flight to New York City with sequins in my eyes, new stages calling, and a new adventure to embark on.

This Pride, you’ll be able to see me on Thursday at the Mx Weirdo June, Friday at Blowpony at Gladys, Saturday on the MainStage at 1 p.m., and Fauxxy Saturday at Gladys later that night, Sunday at Queen of the Mountain at Mile High Hamburger Mary’s, and closing out Pride weekend during the Kai Lee Mykels show at X Bar.