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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, MARCH 3, 2019
2019 * plus tax and season pass.
Pretty fun!
Drag queen hosts makeup class for local
teenagers at BPL’s Ditmas Park branch
BY COLIN MIXSON
This teacher was a real drag!
A professional drag queen taught
youngsters how to channel their
creativity using cosmetics during
a makeup tutorial at Brooklyn Public
Library’s Ditmas Park branch,
where the lady of the hour walked
the kids through a toned-down version
of her own fabulous routine.
“The difference between drag
and regular everyday makeup is
that drag is just more,” said Jonathan
Hamilt , a leader of do-good
group Drag Queen Story Hour ,
which partners with the borough
library system to bring queens to
book lenders for readings. “We remind
everyone that if you want to
wear this in real life, tone it down
a little bit.”
The new cosmetology workshop,
which debuted at the Courtelyou Library
on Feb. 21, sprung from the
book lender’s ongoing partnership
with Hamilt’s group.
But unlike the readings — which
cater to 3- to 8-year-olds — librarians
geared the makeup mixer to
a middle- and high-school-aged
crowd, inviting 12- to 18-year-olds to
watch New York City–based queen
Cholula Lemon demonstrate how to
apply such products as eye shadow,
mascara, and fake eyelashes, according
to the organizer.
The new gender-bending collaboration
between the librarians and
the performers introduces kids in a
new age group to the queens, allowing
the tweens to recognize and embrace
differences that make their
peers unique, according to Hamilt.
“Our mission is to instill tolerance,
acceptance, and love, and to
promote gender diversity,” he said.
“We want kids to know its okay to
love yourself for who you are, and
let everyone know it’s okay to be
different.”
GLAMAZONS: (Clockwise, from top) Marley Shea helped her twin sister, Maya, put on false eyelashes during the tutorial.
Shea showed off her makeup skills with drag queen Cholula Lemon, who led the Feb. 20 class at the Courtelyou
Library. Teen Kalha Norviloe gave herself a shiny, statement eye. Photos by Caroline Ourso