A Houseplant, a Forgotten Reveal, and a Room Full of People Who Refuse to Be a Glum Lot

The Glam Lot PDX puts on drag shows to raise money for charity — organizations like the Trevor Project. No bar, no drinks. Just a room full of people in recovery and a lot of wigs. Becca, Bex, and Carrington joined us at True Colors on a Saturday to talk about why fun isn't optional in sobriety. It's the whole point.

Becca co-founded the Glam Lot with Carrington. If you've been listening a while, you might remember her from Episode 18 — a lot's changed since then. She got into drag during the pandemic, watching YouTube tutorials and falling down a rabbit hole of makeup artists and performers. She did her first Glam Lot show recently and, in her own words, forgot she had a reveal. The audience didn't care. They were too busy cheering.

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"I thought being really independent was a good thing, and it's actually a form of arrogance that I didn't know I had."

— Becca S.

Bex is the newest member. Six months sober, they/them pronouns, joined the Glam Lot about a month ago. They left veterinary medicine, ran their life into the ground, and showed up at True Colors the day they got sober. They haven't really left. They're taking a harm reduction class, working toward a CADC, and already talking about one day working with an AIDS foundation in San Francisco.

"I am fully integrating my entire life into recovery."

— Bex

That's not a six-month-sober sentence. That's a found-my-people sentence.

Carrington is the other co-founder, and if you've seen the Glam Lot perform, you know the hair. She does hyperfemme drag and gets asked constantly: "Wait, you're a woman and you do drag?" She's also the one who came up with the name, the vision, the whole thing.

"If you don't have fun in your life, you don't have interests, you don't have hobbies — what's the point?"

— Carrington C.

The three of them plus Julie and Peter covered a lot of ground. Friends in the Park, the pandemic-era outdoor gathering that turned into bingo and potlucks and a Facebook page. Kings and Queens, the AA meeting at True Colors on Wednesdays and Fridays. How hard it is to tell people you're sober when half your friends only knew you drunk. Drop the Rock, defense mechanisms, and why being "really independent" is sometimes just arrogance in a nicer outfit.

Julie talked about her first time at True Colors. She came for the free ice cream and stayed because Amanda spoke that night, straight from prison, and Julie thought, "I could do this." Peter talked about finding Lunch Bunch after years of siloing his AA life from everything else. "These are my people," he said. Nine years in July.

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RRP 124 — The Glam Lot PDX (Becca S., Bex, Carrington C.) / We Are Not a Glum Lot: Drag, Sober Fun, and Finding Your People

Here's what gets us about this group. Drag shows have always been in bars. That was the only place. So if you're queer and trying to get sober, where do you go? The Glam Lot and True Colors built an answer. A sober venue. A sober stage. A room where you can be yourself, whatever that is, without a drink in your hand.

Julie closed it out with her favorite cliche: don't give up before the miracle happens. Bex said get a houseplant. If you can keep it alive, get a dog. Peter said if you get anything from this episode, have some fun. We are a fun bunch, and it's okay to have fun.

We couldn't agree more.

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