Ponyboi’s Instagram

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Huzzah! I just graduated for the last time (I SWEA

Huzzah! I just graduated for the last time (I SWEAR 😅)! I started this program 6 years ago, freshly in my thirties, freshly in love with @norayouadora, and in many ways a much different person from who I am now. I met @allywally42, who has been both a friend and a consistent writing buddy throughout the entire process. She’s helped me in ways both big and small, like last week when I was on an interview and she reminded me that the final draft of my dissertation was also due that day…thank gawd.🤦🏻 Long live the Radical Pot Roasts!! 🥘✍️💥💆🏻

And I would not have found the confidence I have in my rambunctious, big-hearted, weirdo version of academia had I not found my way to the legend herself, Dr. Jaime Harker (@violetvalleybooks). Dr. Harker has been an endlessly supportive dissertation adviser and friend, and she’s the winner of this year’s Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Mentoring Award! Jaime has done more than most people realize to carve out space for LGBTQ+ students on campus and in the broader community, and she’s come under fire many times over her career for doing so. Yet she persists, and she reminds me every day that weathering the storms, finding, creative solutions, listening to feedback, and making necessary changes are all integral parts of the ongoing work to protect and create queer community. One example of many: when @theladypluto and I wanted to host a drag show workshop and fundraiser for Jay Lee’s family and UM’s Queer People of Color despite the current political climate, the Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies made sure we still had the financial support and institutional backing that we needed to make it happen (and Jaime was the one who informed us in the first place that Queer People of Color was reforming and might be a good recipient for our fundraiser!). I’m honored that I got to be there to see her receive this much-deserved award right before she officially initiated me into the community of Doctahs. Once an advisor, now a colleague, always a friend. Can’t wait to see what kind of trouble we get into from here!

I had the pleasure of helping @magicalmissmothie d

I had the pleasure of helping @magicalmissmothie deliver the latest issue of @focusmidsouth yesterday, featuring the always iconic photography of @drwpkrrr.

There’s so much love, wisdom, creativity, and badassery in our city, y’all 🥹💖

Feeling so grateful that my big sis @mahadevi_arts

Feeling so grateful that my big sis @mahadevi_arts came to visit so we could spend the weekend at Magnolia Grove Buddhist Monastery in Batesville. Did y’all know Thich Nhat Han had a monastery built in Mississippi???? How am I just learning about this???? Listening to one of his audiobooks while gardening and taking long walks got me thru some shit during quarantine, and it was a whole other level to have a chance to practice living in the here and now with so many other people. Those nuns and monks have got some contagious smiles. They sang us lullabies, they called us their friends and welcomed us to wander anywhere on the grounds, and they cooked us delicious vegan food with ingredients from their garden🥹. I was afraid there’d be a lot of dogma, and Buddhism can be pretty patriarchal, but that ain’t the way these folks roll. They don’t expect people to believe in any deity or follow particular rules to be able to access meditation, mindfulness, and compassion. I was given the choice to practice with the nuns or the monks (as everyone was, regardless of gender), and I felt comfortable being open about being trans and queer. They used they/them pronouns in all their chants, even for the singular. We watched a Thich Nhat Han speech at one point, and he referred to his inner child with feminine pronouns 🥹🥹🥹

Thich Nhat Han talked about his practice as more of an applied ethics than religion, and that really resonated with me. It felt spiritual, but not manipulative. It felt sacred and loving. It felt like we all belonged just the way we were. We didn’t need an outside power to make us whole. I think I might actually be starting to believe that…

A legacy of gentle giants.💗 This is my great gr

A legacy of gentle giants.💗 This is my great grandpa, my grandpa, my dad, and lil bb Ponyboi!

Once upon time, there was a queer lil town called

Once upon time, there was a queer lil town called Oxford that showed up and showed out to raise money for Jay Lee’s Family (via @justiceforjaylee) and UMiss Queer People of Color (@um.qpoc)—$850, to be exact! Thank you to @theladypluto for making co-organizing and co-hosting a show such a divine experience. @mari.conee @vivicavanity @spencerbowie90 and @blake_go_byebye give me life!!! If you don’t already know these wildly creative performers, check ‘em out!!

Everyone deserves access to dreams, fantasies, romance, and enchantment. Jay Lee deserved it, and so do all black trans and gender nonconforming people in Mississippi and beyond.

We gotta do better, y’all. I know we can.

Some pics from Drag 101, sponsored by @outgrads_um

Some pics from Drag 101, sponsored by @outgrads_umiss, with funding from @olemissasb and the @sarahisomcenter!

@theladypluto, @vivicavanity, and I had a blast talking about the history of drag, the different styles that are circulating, our own personal relationships to drag, our gender identity in and out of drag, and our process for getting ready and performing. The participants asked such thoughtful questions, and my favorite part was doing makeup with everyone—it was just like being in a dressing room backstage!

Here’s to many more events like these. LGBTQ+ CONTENT BELONGS IN EDUCATIONAL SPACES, YA HEAR??!!

📸 by @allywally42 💜

Happy trans day of visibility! First pic is for th

Happy trans day of visibility! First pic is for the lovers, second pic is for the haters.

The Drag 101 workshop at UMiss was SO FUN! Thank you to @theladypluto, @vivicavanity, and @outgrads_umiss for making the magic happen with me. We decided to postpone the drag show due to the weather, so we’ll see ya at Proud Larry’s next Friday at 10pm!

Trans Day of Visibility is this Friday! Oxford fol

Trans Day of Visibility is this Friday! Oxford folks: join us for ONCE UPON A TIME—a drag show fundraiser for UM Queer People of Color and Jay Lee’s family at Proud Larry’s Friday night (ticket link in bio). And if you’re free earlier in the day, come on up to campus for Drag 101, an interactive workshop where you can learn about the different styles of drag, ask a panel of performers questions, and practice makeup, wardrobe, and/or performance techniques!

Trans and other gender nonconforming people are under vicious attack in this country. It’s been happening for a while, and the recent flood of legislation is symptomatic of this deep, long-standing problem. It can be hard to remember to protect our collective joy and creativity under these circumstances, yet it’s imperative that we keep nourishing ourselves. Because if we can’t nourish ourselves, how the hell we gonna nourish anyone else???
We are capable of rewriting the misguided narratives that are controlling so many minds and hearts.

Allies: please do all you can to support both trans political action AND trans creativity, joy, and community building. We need our anger. We need our love. We need justice. We need play. We need protection. We need celebration.

We need to stop enabling murder in this country in general, and especially the astounding number of murders of black trans women!! We need to enable trans dreams, futures, delights, intimacies.

Our country needs collective growth. And we need allies to carry a heavier load because unfortunately, trans voices get censored, ignored, erased, and stamped out on the regular. WE’LL KEEP SHOUTING AND MAKING ART AND CHANGING THE WORLD ON THE DAILY…but we also need help and support.

Thank you to everyone who made Sapphic Sunday such

Thank you to everyone who made Sapphic Sunday such a phenomenal time!
💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

Check out our vendors—@curiocreations_ @violetvalleybooks @legendofshelda and Your Vajesty’s Kingdom (on Etsy)—for fantastic art, books, and sex toys (that are also art)!

A few pics from last week’s Noire show at @thehi

A few pics from last week’s Noire show at @thehitonecafe, hosted by the fabulous @sairen_strange. Y’all, we got some major talent in this city!

IT IS TIME! 🛡️⚔️🌹Tonight’s the final

IT IS TIME! 🛡️⚔️🌹Tonight’s the finale of War of the Roses! Lemme just tell you…this has been such a challenging and rewarding experience that has made me face the facts about my strengths and weaknesses and has pushed me to develop my technical abilities in ways I didn’t even know I needed. I feel so fortunate to have been part of such an inspiring and talented cast, and I’m feeling exhilarated about where drag is headed in Memphis. I LOVE US!!

Here are the pics from last week, including the wrestling fantasy of my lil Pony dreams—thanks to @aubreyboomboom and @bobbyford901 for making that happen with me! 🤘

I’m also loving that pic with @norayouadora 🥹 She is so patient and understanding with me through all the wildness I bring into our life 🤪 She’s also a brilliant creative force in her own right who motivates me on the daily. I’m a lucky lucky boi 💖

As for my spicy runway…the bigots and cowards might try to take us out, but TRANS BODIES ARE HERE TO STAY!!

📸 by @drwpkrrr

“Sweet mother, I cannot weave – slender Aphrod

“Sweet mother, I cannot weave –
slender Aphrodite has overcome me
with longing for a girl.” —Our Lady Sappho

Join us for Sapphic Sunday at Dru’s this week! It’s an exciting new event @thememphisbevy @pollypopjoy and I are starting at @drusbar — open to all, and especially catered to ladies and theydies!

Karaoke and vendor market (featuring @legendofshelda , @violetvalleybooks , @curiocreations_ , and Your Vajesty’s Kingdom) from 6-8pm, variety show from 8-10

Alabama pit stop with the sisters
🧙‍♀️🧙‍♀️🧙‍♀️🧙‍♀️

Hey y'all, check out these pics from last week’s

Hey y'all, check out these pics from last week’s Time and Space Ball, and come see us at Atomic Rose tonight for the second-to-last week of War of the Roses! WHO WILL MAKE IT TO THE FINALE??

I'm bringing out the cavalry for this week’s UnbelievaBALL🐴🐴🐴🐴:

1. Fairy Tale Realness: "The Stone and the Rose" - The Stone King brushes briefly against sublime love...and then must face its grueling loss. But wait—there's more to the story...

2. I Need a Hero: A wrestling match - Pony "hung like a horse" Babyface—a hero for anyone who feels beaten down or tired—faces off against two powerful heels who need to be humbled (played by @aubreyboomboom and @bobbyford901 🤩)

Avant Garden Runway: CAMO GONE WILD: Jump into the Bush!

📸 by @drwpkrrr

The drag felony bill passed in TN, and I don’t h

The drag felony bill passed in TN, and I don’t have much faith in our current Supreme Court to protect us against this or the MANY other anti-LGBTQ laws they’re working to pass here and in other states. We can’t afford to sit back and despair. We gotta suit up, y’all.

Y’all, when I tell you we had no idea… I was s

Y’all, when I tell you we had no idea… I was so honored that @thememphisbevy , @jennataylor_x , @claraavonell , and @aphrohoops invited me to perform in the Wild Wild West Variety Hour at Lamplighter last night, a fabulously produced show that I hope is the first of many from them! And then I damn near broke down when they announced at intermission that the show was actually a fundraiser for @norayouadora and me to help us get our lives back together after our house flooded over Christmas. I was deep in worry yesterday about coming up with the last bit of money we need to get these repairs finished and Nora’s ruined items replaced, and the incredible amount they raised for us in one night got me waking up this Monday feeling a whole lot lighter. I’m bad at asking for help, and I get shy about sharing my struggles with ppl, but my Memphis fam is teaching me a whole lot about opening myself up to the love and care that surrounds me.

Y’all be on the lookout for videos from all the performers last night (@aphrohoops @jennataylor_x @claraavonell @elight_101 @monaford_901 @pollypopjoy @norayouadora ), and if you were there and have videos, please share! The worst part of being in a show is I miss everyone else’s numbers 🥲

Aw shucks, I’m so flattered @belab319 made this

Aw shucks, I’m so flattered @belab319 made this awesome Ponyboi piece! Check out her art page at @thegardencrow 🖤

And come yeehaw with all us cowpunks tonight at the Wild Wild West Variety Hour, a fundraising event presented by @thememphisbevy 🤠

Tis the season, so let us be your reason! Come to

Tis the season, so let us be your reason! Come to Lamplighter to see what strange lovin’ we cook up in honor of the one and only @sairen_strange ❤️‍🔥

When you got brothers like @mal_monster92, you sta

When you got brothers like @mal_monster92, you stay looking good. Thanks for making this for me—I’ll pay you that $500 I snatch back from whoever tries to turn me in 😤💥

Stay tuned for clips and pics from last week’s Roses show, featuring a group number with @norayouadora , @elight_101 , @thedaffyodilly , @jennataylor_x , and @claraavonell !!!

Drag is art. It’s entertainment. It’s world bu

Drag is art. It’s entertainment. It’s world building. It’s community. It’s survival. It’s therapy. It’s a boot camp for confidence. It’s a long-standing expression of queer joy. It’s fantasy. It’s realness. It’s not going anywhere anytime soon, no matter what kinds of bills they pass. The flood of anti-LGBTQ legislation this year tells me the fascist bigots are very scared of how powerful we are, and they should be.

Come on out to Atomic Rose tonight to see me and my crew stick it to the buttheads and leave it all out on the floor for this week’s FIRE BALL!!! The category is: Ponyboi Posse Realness
🐴🐴🤠🐴🐴

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