This past April, Colin Miller gave me the opportunity to follow his dual life—man by day, queen by night. It takes a lot of work to transform from his everyday-self into his Drag-self. Absinthe, Colin’s Drag Queen persona, requires a lot of time for makeup and dressing up. Colin said that applying his makeup can take several hours out of his day—not that he minds. For Colin, drag is a place where he can express a part of himself that his some of his family and much of society do not accept. When he was in middle school Colin had a darker style and often wore darker clothes. “I was an emo kid, “Colin said. Now, Absinthe gives Colin the platform to express the darker more eccentric part of himself that he feels he can’t express the same way. Colin said, “Drag is a representation of what you want to express but can’t."

Absinthe was a part of the opening number in the Student Drag Show at Penn State, where she and three other Drag Queens danced to ‘House of Drag’. In addition to the mid-show catwalk, Absinthe danced to Nicki Minaj’s ‘Anaconda’ for her individual performance.

 

In his everyday-life, Colin is a sophomore at Penn State who studies new media. But, on the night of Friday, April 7, 2017 Absinthe was crowned the “Queen of the Queens” at Penn State's Student Drag Show performance.

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