The Campus Voice: Big Freedia

"You couldn’t say we’re bringing Big Freedia in just for the music and completely ignoring this identity. That wouldn’t be smart or the right thing to do. But WRMC never put the identity before the art, like “oh yes we should bring a gay person or “we should bring a person of color.” Whether the reason was to break the mold of who we normally bring artist-wise or whether it was interesting, it was always more about the art which also happens to have interesting other aspects.” –Charlie Dulik '17.5

“There are people who took those resources provided by WRMC or the internet to learn about Big Freedia and now they’re aware of the femme identity or bounce culture. But there are definitely some people who are like “oh I hear this person is trans. I’ve never seen a transgender performer.” They go, bounce it out and go home without ever having learned anything. Our article tried to make people conscious of that culture at Middlebury, which really is a culture in the U.S. of looking at people who are different and treating them like something you would see at a museum or a zoo exhibit.” —Lee Jimenez '18

Last Friday, Queen of Bounce Big Freedia headlined WRMC's fall concert Grooveyard. We talk twerking, identity politics and how quickly enjoying Big Freedia's music can turn over to commodifying Freedia himself.

Hosts: Jessica Cheung and Michelle Irei (Guest Host: Karen Liu)

Guests: WRMC concerts manager Charlie Dulik '17.5
In-Queer-Y columnists Rubby Paulino '18 and Lee Jimenez '18