{"id":39731,"date":"2016-04-12T15:37:39","date_gmt":"2016-04-12T20:37:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=39731"},"modified":"2016-04-13T09:20:26","modified_gmt":"2016-04-13T14:20:26","slug":"becoming-velicity-a-journey-into-drag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/becoming-velicity-a-journey-into-drag\/","title":{"rendered":"Becoming Velicity: A journey into drag"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kat Lonsdorf <\/strong><\/p>\n

Matt Kyle moved to Chicago from South Dakota about a decade ago. Six years earlier\u00a0he started performing in drag.<\/p>\n

“I was drawn to all the glam, the rhinestones, the sequins, the glitter,” said Kyle as he sat\u00a0in a dressing room in the basement of Hamburger Mary’s in Andersonville, one of his regular performance spots.<\/p>\n

In his daily life, he goes by Matt, but among friends and other drag queens, he’s Velicity Metropolis, a character with big hair and an even bigger personality.<\/p>\n

[vimeo 162584012 w=474]<\/p>\n

It takes Velicity Metropolis nearly two hours to get ready for a performance, from showering and shaving to make-up to donning layers of sparkling costumes. (Kat Lonsdorf\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

“Moving to the big city and seeing a variety of more things has helped my character\u2014and me as a person\u2014grow,” he said.<\/p>\n

Meeting new people can sometimes be confusing because they want to use feminine pronouns.<\/p>\n

“I’m like, no, no, no. Tell them to use him,” he said. He thought for a second and then added, “Well, then they usually find out I do drag, and then I guess it’s a little more fluid.”<\/p>\n

Chicago is more accepting than South Dakota, he said, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t confronted with stereotypes and ignorance.<\/p>\n

“A lot of people think that because I dress as a woman that I’m less masculine than anybody else,” he said while carefully applying a coat of mascara. “But here’s the thing: it takes a lot of balls to put on a wig and dress.”<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Velicity Metropolis (Matt Kyle) puts on finishing touches backstage before heading out to perform in Andersonville on April 10. (Kat Lonsdorf\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kat Lonsdorf Matt Kyle moved to Chicago from South Dakota about a decade ago. Six years earlier\u00a0he started performing in drag. “I was drawn to all the glam, the rhinestones, the sequins, the glitter,” said Kyle as he sat\u00a0in a dressing room in the basement of Hamburger Mary’s in Andersonville, one of his regular […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":253,"featured_media":39730,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture"],"yoast_head":"\nBecoming Velicity: A journey into drag - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/becoming-velicity-a-journey-into-drag\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Becoming Velicity: A journey into drag - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Kat Lonsdorf Matt Kyle moved to Chicago from South Dakota about a decade ago. 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