EPISODE 136 PH DEE

PH DEE is drag in Cincinnati. We find out about her aesthetic and she reads a few queens from this season of RPDR.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
You're listening to out Cincinnati. It'sradio for the LGBTQ plus community here in
the Queens City. My name isChris. Welcome to another episode of this
program and I'm happy to present it. It's the fourth episode in the month
of March, and today we areconnecting with Mehd. She is a local
drag queen staple. If you askme, I love her approachach to drag

(00:25):
and to ask her all kinds offun questions on today's program, Won't Matthew
wait much longer? PhD is upnext on out Cincinnati. Out Cincinnati would

(00:46):
like to thank our sponsors, ScottE. Knox, Attorneys at Law,
with over thirty five years of experienceand working with the LGBTQ plus community.
Scott Knox dot com for more information. Nadlama Coffee located in Madisonville at five
thousand and one Kenwood Road. Itis the best Cincinnati coffee shop and bakery

(01:07):
and NK after an Angry Mammal.You're listening to out Cincinnati right here on
a radio artifact that's ninety one pointseven w v x U h D two
and you can listen at anytime atout Cincinnati dot com. One of my
favorite scenes is the drag scene inCincinnati. One of my favorite performers is,

(01:30):
Oh, miss PhD, how areyou hello? Thank you for having
me back. I'm doing great.How are you? Oh? I'm great.
I'm so excited to talk to you. I remember the last time.
I was like, yeah, becauseI met we met in person. Even
though we're doing this on zoom rightnow, we've met in person. I'm
like, but the last time Isaw you was during that during Pride whatever

(01:55):
and anyway, so yeah, it'sgood to talk to you again. And
so so pH D. I alwaysam wondering if I should be putting the
dots. I just am free Englishgram or the line or whatever. But
no, you could find PhD onsocial media pretty easily. If you're typing

(02:15):
pH and d e E in there, you're going to find her. Who
is PhD and what is her drag? Well, obviously you're a drag performer
in Cincinnati. Do you have anofficial title at a place or are you
just like a freelance performer? Andwhat is your persona? Yeah, great

(02:36):
question. So I don't remember howmuch I went into it on my first
visit, but PhD was born outof essentially just needing a creative outlet during
grad school, and so the namepays homage to the degree that I dropped
out of halfway through. It alsohas a couple of double entendres that I

(03:00):
won't get into right now, butI tend to tell people it stands for
the degree that I dropped out of. Really, PhD right now is just
connecting them. Oh there's other meaning, Yeah, there's another meeting. If
you think pretty huge, then maybeyou can fill in the blank. But

(03:21):
I got diva diva diva. Yeah, you have a you have a shoulder
blade tech. Okay, great,it's been a day. So, yeah,
you were talking about the drag personaof PhD and how the name you
you abandoned? Did you? Youdidn't? You not abandoned. I don't

(03:42):
use that word, but you stoppedyour grad degree mid mid stream and kept
the name. I did. Yeah, I had. I grappled for several
years in grad school and ultimately kindof decided that the uh, the outlook
for academia was too bleak and toounpromising for a prolonged future in it.

(04:10):
So I got about halfway through mydegree before I had that really difficult conversation
with a mentor of mine who helpedme kind of realize that I transitioned out
of higher ed. But I keptthe name I. It was the name
that I had for I don't know, a year into drag before I left

(04:33):
grad school, so it just itdidn't make sense to change names. PhD
is not affiliated with any particular venueright now. I've kind of run the
gamut, so to speak. I'veI've been a cast at almost every bar
in Cincinnati at this point, andso which is part for the course.

(04:57):
There's always lots of turnover. Butwhat I really enjoy about being where I
am right now is I get todo drag on my terms. I can.
I'm kind of I've gone rogue.I'm kind of a freelancer, so
drag is really on my terms rightnow, which is a really empowering place
to be in. PhD as aperformer is very much like twenty tens pops.

(05:23):
So some early Gaga, some earlyKesha, some early Ariana Grande.
Those are kinds of the music thatI gravitate to when I'm performing. So
who would you, Let's see,I'm trying to think who you would align
because I've seen you perform, andyou should see PhD perform. I'm trying
to. So, would you belike a Valley girl from twenty ten or

(05:46):
would you consider yourself like a Brooklyna tough girl from Brooklyn kind of thing.
Oh that's a good question, youknow what I mean? How they've
described themselves like, I'm Archie andI'm bitchy and I love the movies and
I don't know, I don't know. Maybe I'm kind of somewhere in between.

(06:09):
I don't know. I guess thelabel that I tend to use is
more like pop princess, but notreally like in a top forty sense,
because the the gen z pop isvery different than the pop music that I
grew up on and came out toand all of that. So I don't
know, like pop princess, butmaybe an aged out pop princess. I

(06:32):
love it because all of this stuffis totally written for them, you know,
and it's just it's funny to belike. So, so, how
do you see yourself when you dodrags? So? Yeah, how did
you learn to walk in heels?Now, I'm serious, how do you
how do you get? You justdo it and then you just fall and
you just get there because knock onwood, I have not fallen. But

(06:56):
I honestly, anytime I buy apair of shoes, I'm walking around my
apartment in them for two weeks beforethey hit the stage to give them a
little bit of wearing in, togive myself practice in a new shoe.
But really it just comes down topractice, practice, practice, Watch yourself

(07:17):
in a mirror two. I thinkthat's really helpful. That way, you're
not like doing the lumberjack walk anda heel you actually like can walk smoothly.
Wow, I just I've never andif you have, obviously, well
I just am trying to imagine.I'll have to give it a try sometime

(07:39):
on carpet around There you go,There you go. And I'm a huge
proponent of like finding the right heelfor you. So does PhD wear six
inch platform stilettos, absolutely, ButPhD also loves a full boot moment high
high four inch study heat and becauseI often find that boots and like ankle

(08:05):
boots because they have because the shoegoes on to the front of the foot
foot, I often find I havemore support in a boot than I do
in a pump. Okay, interesting, I've that's that's really fast. That's
really like an insight, you know, because I watch drag Race every week

(08:26):
and I know you host it aroundtown and things like that. So yeah,
I want to ask you. Youknow, drag Race is really popular,
it's on MTV. Yet there's awhole bunch of folks coming for drag
I mean, how the what thehell? Yeah, I mean, what
the hell? I think? Ithink going mainstream in the way that drag

(08:50):
Race has in the last you know, five ten years, I think going
mainstream comes with a double edged sword. Right. On the one hand,
you are introducing a beautiful performance artto an entirely new audience that has never

(09:13):
seen it before. In doing so, however, that performance art becomes open
to intense levels of scrutiny. Right. I don't think there's anything wrong with
going mainstream. I do think thatdrag has lost a little bit of the
old school grit and the old schoolI don't know, like the subcultural nature

(09:37):
of drag is kind of disappearing slowly. But because of that level of scrutiny,
there's always going to be a haterout there, and unfortunately, in
this case, there is a widearray of haters that don't think drag should
exist or want to categorize it asadult enterta or what have you, and

(10:03):
it's not. I think drag isfor everyone. I don't think all drag
is for everyone. I'm not goingto wear a sluty costume to a drag
Queen story hour for kids, right, It's about catering your aesthetic for that
performance to who's going to be inthe audience, That's exactly. I don't
think. I don't think a lotof people realize that, thank you,

(10:24):
because like, is such a shortleap to be like, oh, yeah,
look good that you can see hereverything and myself seven year old is
here. Well, I mean no, I've never seen anyone's everything at a
drag show, and I'm sure we'veseen plenty between the two of us.

(10:45):
So you ever think should be alltaken care of why you're doing drag?
I just it's just like because youmake money at this, and folks are
seriously like trying to legislate it outof the way. No, that's right.
I mean, thankfully, I dohave a day job. I work
a nine to five office job,so I don't rely on drag as like

(11:07):
my primary income. But there area lot of drag artists who do,
and the more restricted it becomes,the more precarious their livelihoods become. And
as drag artists, it is ourjob as professionals to be asking questions like

(11:28):
what's the audience for this? Who'sgoing to be there? Is this a
family friendly show? Is it eighteenplus? Is it at a bar?
Is it at a library? Isit? You have to ask these kinds
of questions to guide the direction thatyou're going to go with your performance,
right, Like, I'm not goingto perform a song that has every swear

(11:50):
word in the book at a brunch, right. Brunches are not that kind
of place, But I will dothat on a Friday or Saturday night nightclub
drag show. It's all about cateringthe experience to the venue, to the
expectations to the audience, that kindof thing. And so this makes me
think of independent of the day thatwe're recording this interview. I know you

(12:11):
have a performance tomorrow and you cansay it's for Valentine's Day, that's fine,
But are you lacking inspiration tomorrow ordo you for tomorrow or do you
have it all figured out? Oh? You put a lot of faith into
in me. There I I forhour notice, I'm off. Yeah,

(12:33):
no, I you know, Iam the kind of performer who is choosing
music at the last minute, probablypacking at the last minute as well.
So do I have a general ideaof things that I might want to wear
or songs that I might want toperform? Sure? Do I know exactly
what I'm going to turn into theDJ for tomorrow night? Absolutely not.

(12:56):
There you go, and if thatworks, I mean, heck, I
mean that's that's that's awesome. Thatjust means you're that much better and that
much better on the fly. Andfolks love versatility, So like PhD at
sorry I lost my train of thought. Folks love versatility in that career.
So like you can totally come inand be like, I want to change

(13:16):
my mind last minute, and youhave the goods to do that. PhD
drag If you're typing that on socialmedia, you are finding PhD or PhD
ee that's the correct spelling. Spellingthat out, getting getting the fundamentals.
And so you're watching I know you'rewatching this season of RuPaul's Drag Race.

(13:37):
So since we're not allowed to enteryou the queens, I don't know if
folks knew that. They keep itpretty tight. You can't really talk to
them during the season. Who doyou like and what's your view on the
season? Ooh, you know what, I I have a love hate relationship
with Drag Race because it's so mainstream. I tend to like it's very formulaic,

(14:01):
it's very predictable. I will say, however, this season seems to
be very high energy. The firstcouple of episodes, it was a split
premiere, so the first two episodesyou met two different groups of queens,
and I was actually pleasantly surprised withthe level of drag that I was seeing.

(14:22):
We're hitting kind of the middle portionof the season right now, so
things feel a little slow. ButI do have a couple of standouts.
I'm a huge fan of Nymphia Wind. I'm a huge fan of and this
is going to be controversial, butI'm a huge fan of Plane Jane.
She's kind of the villain of theseason. She's the bits of the season.

(14:43):
But I am ready for a villainto win, so I love a
villain origin story, and I thinkthis is Plain James's time, so we'll
go with that. Plane Jane isthe one with the chest all the time,
right, correct, That's okay,yeah, because obviously well no chests,
and then she just goes crazy withthe chess, which which I love.

(15:05):
So if you're not watching drag it'sa good. Even if you fall
asleep during Drag Race, it's fine. You can watch it again. You'll
get it, you know, youstay up with it, and if you
go to the bar, you'll definitelynot fall asleep. I PhD is hosting,
that's right, Yes, I dohost watch parties. Have you worked
with any of these queens that havebeen on the show and do you have

(15:26):
any like stories that you can tell? Oh, my gosh, absolutely.
So. There is a promoter inthe area. Their brand is called Hard
Candy Events. They do kind ofMidwestern tours with Drag Race alumni pretty frequently,
and and I've worked with I've losttrack of how many Drag Race alumni

(15:54):
I've worked with. I just gotto work with Malaysia Baby Dollphbox and Hershey
LaCour Jete. That was this pastweek. I so Hershey was our first
season sixteen guests. She was incredible. She was super, super sweet,
a fierce performer, and then ina couple of weeks I'll be working with

(16:17):
a mandatory meeting. Those tickets areavailable through hard Candy's website as well.
I love that they really they reallyget them around. As far as going
on tour, if you're going tomiss any of those queens, because they
if you look at their tour schedule, I don't know how could you handle
one of those. I don't knowif I could handle one of those tours

(16:37):
there, I don't know see that. The thing is is, I'm I'm
not sure that I ever want dragto be my primary source of income.
I don't know that I want dragto ever be like my full time job.
I just worry that it would takethe fun out of it for me.
And I've had other hobbies in thepast that I've tried to turn into
actual work and I resented them,So I don't want that to happen with

(17:00):
Drags. So I'm going to sayno to drag race, no to tours
of that caliber, at least inthis moment. So where can folks see
you on a regular Because I knowyou're very active on social media, but
where can folks see you like ona regular Is there a night where you're
going to be hosting Drag Race eachand every Friday, or you're going to

(17:22):
be somewhere and if not, howcan folks track you down? Yeah,
that's a great question. So forseason sixteen of Drag Race, you can
find me at Tilly's Lounge in NorthSide. I will be hosting for most
of the rest of the season.There are a few dates that I'm not
going to be able to be there, but I will be there starting the

(17:44):
twenty third through almost the rest ofthe season. That's kind of the regular
right now. But I have lotsof shows kinds of in the works and
lots of shows coming up. Sokeep track on Instagram as you where I
post, watch my Instagram stories andall the flyers are always there. And

(18:07):
I'm just thinking, I'm trying todecide if I should ask you about activism
and drag because I know that youhave to use some of this for what
issues are you passionate about? Andthen what is the first moment you remember
doing drag and did you ever thinkit would evolve into anything? Like I
can't imagine that first time stepping onstage. So this is my two,

(18:29):
like the two questions I was decidingYeah, no, that's great. Well,
let's start with the first time indrag. That is something that no
performer will ever forget their own firsttime on stage. It is so exhilarating
and you're adrenaline is pumping and peopleare cheering, and it's just one of

(18:51):
those moments, especially if you turndrag into kind of a hobby or a
regular, consistent kind of performance schedual, it's one of those things that stays
with you forever. Mine happened,like I was saying, I was in
grad school when I started. Idid it for a fundraiser. They were

(19:11):
bringing drag back to a bar upin Oxford. I went to grad school
up at Miami University of Ohio,so they were bringing drag back to one
of the venues up there around thesame time that I had helped co found
a student organization on campus for queergrad students. And so I reached out

(19:34):
to the drag queen at the timewho ended up becoming my drag mother.
Her name's Keisha Summers, and askedif she would be willing to do the
first show kind of fundraiser style,and she said yes, And then I
said, wouldn't it be fun?If there was like an amateur number,
and she said, so you're signingyourself up and I said, I guess

(19:56):
I am, And yeah, therest is his. I turned the corner
and hit that stage. I sawmoney flying, I heard cheering and screaming,
and I looked at myself and Isaid, I guess I'm a drag
queen. Now here we go.And then I spent all my money trying
to develop that wardrobe. Oh mygosh, And has it been a thousand

(20:21):
percent support? What does your famwhat does your family and friends say?
Oh my gosh, yes. Somy friends here in Cincinnati are an incredible
group of people. My friends upin Oxford were incredible people as well,
super super supportive. I was admittedlya little nervous about telling my mother that

(20:41):
I was going to do it,but I knew that I knew that I
had to write. I was like, listen, there's going to be photos
circulating online after this. I justwant I just want you to know that
this is happening. And I didnot have that. I did not have
surgery, right right, I'm like, mom, listened, Like, at
the end of the day, it'sa costume. I'm taking it off.

(21:03):
There's nothing to worry about. Iyou know, I don't need to have
any kind of deeper conversation about gender, gender identity with you. It's a
costume. And I said, ultimately, I'm so burnt out by grad school
that I need something like this fora creative outlet, something to bring me

(21:25):
joy. And she really just said, so it brings you joy and I
said yeah, and she goes,Okay, that's all that matters to me.
So I'm very lucky. And Ihad a very similar coming out experience
with my family as well. Sothey've always been super supportive, even if
they don't fully understand what the hell'sgoing on. And you can totally teach

(21:47):
them too. You can be like, mom, this is called a so
and so shade, or you know, I don't know. I'm coming from
a point of view where my motheris in her seventies and we watched drag
Reece together every week. I lovethat. I was like that, how
fun? That's so sweet, shesays. She says, Chris, what

(22:07):
are you going to get out thereand do that? And I just,
you know, so, and Itexted you about it, And I'm wondering
how to apply for a drag mother, and I'm not looking for a drag
mother. I'm just I just wonderabout what because I did. No one's
asking me, and I'm not thestar of this interview. But I did
mem from Drew Carrey. I lovethat a couple of years ago. And

(22:32):
I had the troll earrings and theand the cardboard person, the big,
big dress and everything, and I'ma big boy, so so it was
just it was just it was funand I won. The whoever was there
made sure I won one of thecategories, even though I wasn't like the
most popular contestant. I was,No, that's incredible. That me me,

(22:52):
like, what a character to chooseto that she was iconic? Yeah,
Mimi bo back from the Drew Carreo. That was my h Maybe that
could be that could be a dragthat could be a drag name right there,
because it really could, it reallycould. Yeah, I mean I
kind of stumbled into my drag family. Honestly, I I've always been a

(23:18):
relatively independent kind of drag performer.I wasn't necessarily looking for a drag family.
I had friends that were doing drag. I got tips and tricks from
every show that I went to justfrom various kind of tenured veteran performers saying
hey try this next time, Heytry that next time. And then eventually

(23:42):
my drag mother came up to meat the beginning of one of our shows
together and she asked if I wanteda drag mom, and I said yes,
So technically I'm part of the Summer'sfamily. For folks who don't know
you have a drag mom, youto have a drag mom that and one
of the first interviews was kind ofI bring my kid, and I'm like,

(24:06):
I bring my kid, and shewas talking about her drag kid.
You know, that's what I lovethat. I was like, you want
to bring your kid to a radiostudio. That's cute for five minutes.
So yeah, this is this isout Cincinnati Radio for the LGBTQ community,
and we are talking to PhD.You can find her on social media.

(24:27):
If you're typing in the words PhDeyou will find her. And she's all
over the place, very active atQueen City Radio and plenty of other places
in the city. So what areyou passionate about? Like do you use
drag too? And you can talkabout your day job if you want because
I know it, Kin, youkind of have to know about issues to

(24:48):
do your day job. But yeah, what are some of the issues that
you're passionate about. I know wetalked about them coming after drag, which
I still don't get, but yeah, what else? Yeah? No,
I definitely the drag restrictions the dragbands that are coming through, But I
also think it goes a little deeperthan that. I for, as terrifying

(25:11):
as those drag bands are, Ithink that they are often used as smoke
screens to push through transphobic legislation.So there's the gender firming care bands that
are coming through as well. Idon't want to like draw like a false
equivalence or anything like that, butI do think that the drag bans are

(25:33):
often just kind of the red flagthat the bowl is supposed to be,
kind of running toward at the mattwith the matador, but then they are
trying to sneak in some more otherincitious legislation behind and using that as a
distraction. So gender ferming care issomething super important to me. Reproductive rights

(25:55):
is something super important to me.I'm lucky enough that my day job is
in diversity, equity, inclusion,and belonging. So I get to talk
about these kinds of things from myday job and bring them into I can't
really say where I work, butI work. I'm a government early so
I work for the government locally,and I'm able to kind of bring to

(26:19):
the forefront some of those some someof those some of those issues and have
conversations about them in really meaningful andproductive ways. How does that go over
because you know, a lot offolks are like, oh, we've got
this diversity person it is, remindus which month it is every month,

(26:40):
and we have to give to acause and yeah, that's a good question.
I so this, this role isthe first of its kind for my
organization. So they are they don'treally know what they signed up for,
and I don't really know what Isigned up for either. So I'm the
kind of first person who's pushing buttons. And they're the kind of people who

(27:03):
are like, Okay, let's reinit in just a little bit. They're
definitely open to the conversations, they'reopen to the programming, they're open to
those kinds of things. I justhave to learn to take very itty bitty
baby steps and to spend all yourmoney on glitter in June. You know
that, correct? Yeah, thatwhole budget and the array of rainbow I

(27:26):
would well listen, I work forgovernment. There's not really a budget for
any of that, so we don'thave to worry about rainbow capitalism under that
organization. Organization. That's awesome thatyou get to kind of put it all
together. D you know, andand and and and uh and be passionate
about issues and bring them, bringthem to work. PhD drag Queen dot

(27:49):
com is UH is the website forfor miss D. Do you have anything
you wanted to add about your dragperformance or persona? I I you know,
you could talk about your coming outstory if you want. I just
I just love talking to drag queens. I think we got your esthetic.
It's lovely. I cannot wait tosee your perform again. Yeah, I

(28:11):
appreciate that. I'm happy to talkabout my coming out story. It's very
similar to my first time in dragstory. I was living I was still
living at home, and I hadalready talked to my sister. I have
a little sister, and that wentvery very well. And some time had

(28:33):
passed and she said, I thinkyou need to tell mom and you don't
have to tell dad, but Ido think you should tell mom. And
I said, okay, that's fine. You're probably right. So my mom
was about to go run errands orsomething, and I volunteered to go with
her, and I said, youknow what, Mom, I'll even drive
so that you don't have to.And we ran all of those errands and
my hands are shaking the whole time, when I'm sweating the whole time,

(28:57):
I can't get the words out.I can't even like think about it.
Until we get all the way backto the house and we're pulling into the
driveway and I go by the way, Mom, I'm gay, and she
goes, okay, are you sure? And I said yeah, I am,
and she goes, okay, great. We go inside. I go

(29:17):
back to my sister's room and I'mcrying, just you know, the relief
that comes with saying it out loud. My mom goes back to her bedroom
and she's crying. I had swornmy mom to secrecy. I said,
don't tell dad. I'm not readyfor him to know. My dad walks
into my mom's sobbing and goes whathappened and she goes, nothing, Everything's
fine. Josh and I just hada heart to heart and he goes,

(29:40):
did Josh come out to you?And as she's like saying the word no,
she's actually just nodding. She's like, no, it was a very
very easy, very very supportive comingout, which I recognize is not everybody's
experience, but I'm very very thankfulthat it was mine. That's beautiful.
I love that, and that's youhave a supportive family, and folks,

(30:06):
you couldn't have a somebody who's hada supportive family, who's a good role
model in the community. And Ireally appreciate that. And you D because
it seems that you've got to thankyou got it together there. And Cincinnati
is very for as conservative as wemay be, we do have a lot
of resources and just some thinking.We're talking about activism. As you think

(30:29):
about resources, there's a resource foreverything, whether you're shut in or just
not out of the closet. Yetwe even have an LGBTQ community center now
called the Treehouse, So this isjust an amazing thing to reflect on.
D Yeah, yeah, absolutely,there's Treehouse, There's Transformed, there's Equitoss,
there's carot Cole, there is SincinnatiPride, the organization, there's Cincinnati

(30:52):
Black Pride. There are so manyLGBTQ plus resources that I didn't know existed
when I came out myself, andhad I known about things like that,
maybe my coming out in Cornfieldsville,Ohio would not have been as stressful as
it was. Take somebody to ap FLAG meeting or two, which everybody

(31:18):
should attend a p FLAG meeting becausethere's just so much there's so much enrichment
there and so much just so muchdiversity and anybody is welcome and all of
that. So not to go onthe tangents about organizations, but yeah,
so we're happy, happy to haveyou in Cincinnati, and thanks for being
on the show. And if there'sanything else you wanted to add, If

(31:38):
not, I want to know.You know, you have to pick three
drag tunes right now, and you'restuck with them for the weekend. Which
three do you pick? You haveto perform to them? Which three songs?
Oh spot, and you don't haveno, no, no, no,
let's let's see. Let's see.It's Valentine's weekend when we're recording this,

(32:00):
so I'm probably going to do somebreakup songs, probably going to do
some sad love songs. So what'syour first? I really love doing Leona
Lewis Bleeding Love. That's kind ofa throwback. That's like one of my
all time favorite wear an extravagant gownmoments. I'm also a really huge fan

(32:21):
of the new Orienta Grande song Yes, and so I might pull that out
this weekend. And if I'm feelingreally salty, I'll probably bring out some
Olivia Rodrigo driver's license go around withyes, right, you handout tickets,
uh, the whole thing. Ijust I just think about Kasha automatically.

(32:46):
But yes, that's uh yeah,Kesha is definitely one of my go tos.
Yeah, No, that's great.I appreciate you playing the little game.
And if you want to find PhDyou can find her all over the
place. Just give it a GooglePhD go in. See you, and
thank you so much for being apart of Queer Radio in Cincinnati. Thank
you so much for having me back. This was a great conversation. Okay, m