September 29, 2023
  • 12:08 pm Fall Convocation 2022: “The State of this University is Strong”
  • 9:37 pm Ogrin Brings the Thunder in Toros 12-3 rout; team plays for playoff championship tomorrow
  • 7:00 am Outstanding Professor Award Recipient’s Mic Drop Moment at Last Month’s Virtual Ceremony
  • 9:10 am Bookworms of the World Unite!
  • 7:46 pm Breaking News: All Students Living in Campus Housing Required to Receive COVID-19 Vaccine
  • 9:00 am CSUDH Esports Creates International Competition
  • 9:35 am Spring Commencement Ceremonies Get Brighter
  • 3:46 pm Breaking News: Spring Commencement Ceremonies Recieve Stadium Upgrade
  • 8:00 am Testing the Teachers (and All the Educators)
  • 9:30 am CSUDH Educators and School Employees, Vaccinated Next
  • 10:30 am For White People Only: Anti-Racism Workshop Addresses Racial Bias and Unity
  • 2:43 pm Greatness Personified: Remembering Kobe Bryant
  • 10:02 am Straight Down the Chimney and Into Your (Digital) Hands: Special Holiday Edition of The Bulletin!
  • 2:44 pm Did You Wake up Looking this Beautiful?
  • 11:43 am A Long History for University’s Newest Major
  • 5:15 pm Issue 5 of Bulletin Live! Collector’s Item! Worth its Weight in Digital Paper!
  • 4:06 pm Special Election Issue
  • 4:03 pm Three best Latinx Halloween & Horror Short Films available now on HBO Max
  • 9:49 am Issue 3 of CSUDH Bulletin Live if You Want It
  • 3:24 pm Hispanic Heritage Month Update
  • 2:00 pm South Bay Economic Forecast Goes Virtual
  • 3:52 pm BREAKING NEWS: Classes for Spring to be Online, CSU Chancellor Announces
  • 9:39 am “Strikes” and Solidarity
  • 8:30 am March Into History: Just 5 in 1970, CSUDH Growth Shaped by Historic Event
  • 8:30 am Will the Bulletin Make Today Tomorrow?
  • 9:04 am Different Neighborhoods Warrant Rubber Bullets or Traffic Control For Protesters
  • 5:07 pm STAFF EDITORIAL: Even Socially Distant, We All Have to Work Together
  • 5:47 pm Transcript of CSUDH President Parham’s Coronavirus Announcement
  • 10:46 am Cal State Long Beach Suspends Face-to-Face Classes; CSUDH Discussing Contingency Plans
  • 5:26 pm Things Black People Should be Able to Get Away with This Month
  • 10:25 am Latinx Students Need a Place to Call Home
  • 2:35 pm Will Time Run Out Before Funds for PEGS? [UPDATED]
  • 8:41 am Year of the Rat? What’s That?
  • 6:20 am Artist Who Gave Life to Death and Inspired Countless Others Gets His Due at Dominguez Hills
  • 5:16 pm Why I’m Rooting for Dr. Cornel West
  • 5:00 pm Under Fire from the Feds, Vaping’s Future is Cloudy
  • 3:28 pm We’re Going to Need a Bigger Boat; Tsunami 3.0 Hits Campus, Enrollment Swells
  • 1:22 pm THE FIRST ISSUE OF THE BULLETIN IS HERE
  • 4:48 pm University Weathering a Wave of New Students
  • 9:21 pm The Bulletin’s Public Records Request Offers Springboard to Launch Gender Equity Discussion at CSUDH
  • 4:27 pm Black is the New Black: Raising the Capital on the “B” Word
  • 10:53 am Guns Up for Arrest: Student advocacy group pushes for CSU No Gun Zones–Including the Police
  • 4:09 pm Staff Editorial: Words on the First
  • 8:42 pm Carson Mayor Blasts Media, Landmark Libel Case in Keynote Address
  • 9:27 am Free Speech Week Calendar of Events Update
  • 6:02 am Food for Thought: 40% of Students are Food Insecure
  • 3:12 pm Academic Senate Rejects CSU GE Task Force & Report
  • 3:06 pm Work To Be Done
  • 5:56 pm ASI Elections: What You Need to Know
  • 8:02 pm CSUDH President Parham Announces Cancer Diagnosis
  • 9:47 am CSUDH Art Professor’s 20-Year Journey Results in First Local Showing of Film
  • 9:13 pm Free Speech or Free Hate area?
  • 9:08 pm CSUDH’s Best & Brightest Shine at Student Research Day
  • 9:05 pm Academic Senate Approves Gender Equity Task Force
  • 12:37 pm When Dr. Davis speaks, Toros Pay Close Attention
  • 3:38 pm Investing in the Future: Dr. Thomas A. Parham Reflects on the Past Eight Months and Contemplates​ the University’s Future
  • 3:24 pm Green Olive to Open By End of Feb; Starbucks Not Until Fall
  • 3:20 pm Gov. Newsom’s Proposed Budget Hailed for Extensive Funding Increases
  • 3:08 pm Out of the Classroom: Labor and Community Organizing Course Aims to Teach Students How to Organize for Social Justice
  • 2:54 pm The Other Route in Professional Sports
  • 9:02 am Hail to the New Chief, CSUDH President Thomas Parham
  • 3:36 pm Career Center Holds Major/Minor Fair
  • 5:34 pm After Unexpected Delay, Undocumented Becomes More Intimate Theatrical Production
  • 1:30 pm What to Expect When You’re Expecting New Buildings
  • 6:30 pm September Events For Suicide Prevention Month
  • 6:30 pm Higher Parking Fees Squeeze Toros
  • 6:25 pm Study Abroad Opportunities Abound
  • 7:49 pm CSUDH offers qualified students free laptops
  • 1:17 pm Peaches, Peaches, Peaches

By: Brenda Fernanda Verano

“Three queens. Three cultural centers. Head to head, whose crew will win?,” was the subject line of a  three-hour event at CSUDH. With glamorous wigs, captivating outfits, fake lashes and bright lipstick, the drag queens owned the Drag Show Battle. Tara Nova represented the Toro Dreamers Success Resource Center, whose services focus on supporting and advocating for undocumented students on campus. Sir Ava represented the Rose Black Resource Center, whose services are rooted in striving to recognize and uplift the engagement of black students, staff and faculty. Torta Jugosa a CSUDH alum from the class of 2019 was the drag queen representing the Queer Culture and Resources Center, a center focused on providing resources, as well as development opportunities for the LGTBQIA2+ community on campus.

The performance art of Drag, was an experience that was available for the very first time at the Dominguez Hills campus, through a “Drag Show Battle,”on Oct. 25. 

Students, non-students and community were able to attend this free event in the school’s Palm Courtyard, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. 

The event was organized by the Toro Dreamers Success Resource Center (TDSC), Rose Black Resource Center (RBRC)  and the Queer Culture and Resources Center (QCRC), with the help and collaboration of The Associated Student Incorporation. Each of the three centers was represented by their own drag queen whose goal was to put on the best performance possible for their corresponding center. 

Ana Miriam Barragan, coordinator of the TDSC, said that collaborations between different centers are not common. “The event is a competition, but it’s also about unity, some of us are different, but face similar struggles, this is why I reached out to my comrades,” Barragan said. 

The performance art of drag dates back to ancient Greek theater and can be found throughout the Shakespearian era and in 18th century operas. However until recently modern interpretations of the art have been met with intolerance and bigotry directed towards those of the LGBTQIA+  and drag community. “It feels really good and comforting that we are able to safely participate in a drag show that historically were heavily persecuted.” student Alex Romero said.   

The Drag Queen competition initiated with a traditional lip singing contest, full of cheers, money blowing, and dance splits. Torta Jugosa was the first queen to take the stage, performing In my House, an 80’s classic by The Mary Jane Girls. Throughout the night the queens performed popular songs like Funky Town by Lipps Inc, I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor, Bidi Bidi Bom Bom by Selena and a variety of other songs by pop singers Kesha and Billy Porter. “The lip singing was my favorite part, these ladies know how to celebrate a culture of LGTBQ and diversity, … I was inspired to be myself  and I was inspired to let everyone know they could be themselves, especially on campus,” freshman Emmanuel Kelechi said.

The second portion of the evening focused on  engaging the very excited audience through humor, knowledge and unity. Tara Nova initiated this part of the competition by asking six volunteers to put a condom on a banana as fast as they could. Torta Jugosa followed by engaging the audience in a trivia-like game, where in partners each team had to match the LGTBQIA2+  educational terms with its corresponding definition, winners got $10 gift cards to AMC theaters. Sir Nova engaged the audience by inviting all of those whose birthdays fall in October onto the stage, while inviting the rest of the audience to sing Happy Birthday, “[A] traditional component, done in many Drag Shows,” Nova said. 

After the queens  last performance and final remarks, came the final vote. A full house, music and loud cheering was essential to closing the night in the best way. The voting method was traditional, the queen with the loudest cheers from the audience would win. Although the method was traditional, it was hard to pick a winner, the cheering sounded very similar for all three queens. After two tries and one practice run the final winner was announced. Torta Jugosa representative for the QCRC was the winner of the 2019 Dominguez Hills Drag Show Battle. Jugosa donated all of the tips she had acquired in her performances back to the QCRC. 

 “It feels amazing to come back doing my art, in a campus that’s inclusive and where I learned who I was,” Jugosa said. Oct. 2, marked her one year anniversary of doing drag.   

Karama Blackhorn, coordinator of the Queer Culture and Resources Center- winners of the Drag Show Battle- was very happy with the event turnout. “We had people we had never seen before, a lot of new faces, people of all ages, people that brought their kids and parents, counselors and teachers, it was an amazing success!” Blackhorn said. When asked if Dominguez Hills would experience a second Drag show battle, she added, “If we get funded, ASI really helped fund this event, that means students paid for it, if students want to see this again I’m sure we will.”

Although her resource center did not win, Catherine Jermany coordinator of the Rose Black Resource Center said, “We envisioned each community coming out, showing unity- that we are all one family, queer folks, black folks, undocumented folks, we are all one.” The Drag Show Battle of 2019 was rooted in the commitment to unity across campus. It took one day, three queens and three hours for the CSUDH community to witness of the three center’s vision for unity.

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