Jason Howard Green

Jason Howard Green

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Goodbye Shangela Laquifa Wadley

Okay - so I'm always a bit late when it comes to my RuPaul's Drag Race info. I don't actually get a chance to watch the show on the night it airs. I always go to the Logo website and catch up on the show a couple of days later. For season 3, I have seriously been pulling for my girl Shangela to go on and capture the title of America's Next Great Drag Queen. She was an underdog from the beginning. She has been doing drag for just over a year. When you look at her short tenure as a female impersonator and compare it to the experience of the other girls she was competing against, it was painfully obvious that a victory on her part would be nothing short of a miracle.


But I believe in miracles and I believed in Shangela. She has a terrific personality - hallelu. She was beautiful as a girl. And she seemed just determined enough to be able to pull it off. But there were just too many obstacles in her way. Having been involved in the drag game for such a short time she has not had time to perfect some of the crafts needed to be successful in the drag race.


Let's break it down. She was lacking in several very imporant areas. She never perfected applying make-up. That was probably her biggest falling. Putting on your face is the most important thing a boy in a dress needs to be able to do. It's not easy and it does take some time to develop this talent. She has not been doing this long enough to get it down pat.

Shangela was also not as handy with a needle and thread as some of the others girls in the contest. Now don't get it twisted, I was throughly blown away by some of the costumes and creations she was able to come up with on the show. But it did seem that her best designs were only possible because she had help from her friends on the show.

Finally, I don't think Shangela mastered one final drag queen basic. Wigs 101. A queen must be able to take a dollar store wig and magically transform it into a something even Repunzel would be envious of. But again she has not been doing this long enough to really compete with the Heathers in the house.

For a moment it did look like she was becoming like Skylar from the show Heroes. His power was stealing super powers from others. I thought Shangela had wonderful charisma. The reason she stayed around as long as she did was because she was able to "steal" ideas, help ( and probably a dress or two) from others on the show. But alas it was not meant to be. On this weeks show Shangela was once again in the bottom two and this time she had to sashay away. I bid you a fond farewell and I wish you much success.

1 comment:

Timw said...

I loved Shangela & I'm glad that you felt the same way about that girl! Awww, your post reminds me why we're friends :)