Today we’d like to introduce you to Dick Swagger.
Hi Dick, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve been a drag king since 2018. When lockdown happened in 2020, the scene obviously took a huge hit. We had digital drag (which was amazing and is still kept alive with shows like The Mx-Files on Twitch), but of course, once things started opening up again, people wanted that live experience. Something about the way things opened back up never sat right with me, and I’ve performed live maybe twice in the past few years.
I have vulnerable family members that I see weekly and another family member who developed long covid, so I made it a point to stay up to date on the science. I also started following a lot of disabled and chronically ill creators on social media who were talking about these issues and who have had to advocate for their right to exist while everyone else moved on. I started making the connections to how all liberations are inherently tied to disability justice. Disability can happen to anyone at any given time.
After the first major Omicron wave, when most everyone I knew stopped masking and decided it was over, I felt frustrated with the queer community for not honoring the phrase “we keep us safe” while they were actively excluding disabled and chronically ill kin. Especially after our community has lost so much to the AIDS crisis (which also never ended).
Many drag artists make their living from this art form and I felt very conflicted about how to address the community about these issues without any material solution. That is until I stumbled across Clean Air Club in Chicago. A Clean Air initiative that had fundraised for air purifiers to make their music and arts scene safer. After seeing pictures of fully masked crowds at shows with the purifiers onstage, I knew I had to help make that happen here. Performers deserve a safe work environment to perform in, audience and community members deserve a safe space to be in community with each other. We can’t just throw around the terms “inclusive” and “accessible” without doing everything within our power to live up to that!
And so, Airgasmic was born. lmao
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s been a journey, but I’ve had so much help from the other clean air groups, and they have truly held my hand through all of this.
The biggest struggle is getting the community on board with mitigations. We’ve had multiple sold-out masks required and purified shows so far, so it can definitely be done, but there’s still a long way to go. It’s incredibly reminiscent of how ACT UP ran groups to help educate our community on the science when the CDC abandoned us during the early days of HIV/AIDS. ACT UP was also met with a lot of stubbornness when it came to condoms and sex education that would literally save lives.
I feel like there’s been a shift, though, and those who don’t see it right now will. We need to take care of each other. The government isn’t coming to save us. The only change that will happen will be what we MAKE happen. And that won’t happen until a lot more of us are on the same page.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a drag king who specializes in social media drag content I guess hahaha. I think I’m most proud of my tutorials because I get to pass down everything I’ve learned from my drag dad Vod Sinclair. I know there are a lot of baby kings out there who are looking for direction, and I want to make the types of videos I wish I had access to before I had a drag dad.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
With a clean air project? I would say go for it. The people involved in the clean air revolution are some of the kindest and most authentic I’ve ever met. We all have the same goal; we all know we can build a better world. A world where everyone looks out for each other. It sure gives me a fuck of a lot of hope in these dark times; it’s made me more optimistic than I’ve ever felt. People are out there doing the work, and they are more than willing to help you do the work, too.
For drag, also just go for it! Take the leap and just do it. It is so incredibly healing, and again, there are a lot of people willing to help, too!
Pricing:
- Our lending library (of purifiers) is free
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/airgasmicla/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/AirgasmicLA
Image Credits
Abby Mahler
Dustin Drury
