Angie Williams, Author at MyUmbrella

Drag Race Holland Has Failed Their Non-Binary Queens

By : Angie Williams October 21, 2020 Comments Off

Growing up, I always felt like an outcast. I was always labeled as a tomboy. I hated the color pink. I still think that jumping rope is one of the stupidest activities that people do. I never felt like I found my place. When you're born and raised in San Francisco, you see a little bit of everything. Whether it was with friends or family, I would spot a drag queen on more than one occasion. When I was with family, the reactions range from grumblings under their breath to a simple head shake. When I was with friends, it was always that long quiet stare until you pass them, at which point everyone would burst out in laughter and make comments. Not wanting to stand out even more than

Growing Up Black

By : Angie Williams June 8, 2020 Comments Off

For the past several days I’ve been receiving emails from different groups condemning the murder of George Floyd. Like many of you, I’m angry, I’m frustrated, I’m exhausted. But not just because of George Floyd, or Breonna Taylor or Ahmaud Arbery. I’m exhausted because of the systematic racism and discrimination that I and other Black people have felt for our entire lives in this country. Let me explain. So many of these emails have stated a few things that have floored me including: We’re committed to doing everything we can to support the black communityWe’re cannot stand on the sidelines while these injustices are taking place These may not seem problematic on its face but it is. To the first point, the b in Black should be capitalized. We give

I didn’t come out. Gay just happened.

By : Angie Williams May 19, 2020 01 Comment

Why I never really came out in the traditional sense. Trigger warning: this article discusses substance abuse, mental health and suicidal ideation. If you asked me to describe my life from ages 15 to 23, I’d tell you that those were the worst eight years of my life that I wish I could forget. If you asked other people they’d say that I went to summer college at Syracuse University, damn near a full ride to college where I finished a five-year degree in four and a half and that I went to and completed graduate school at Columbia University. Pretty big disconnect right? Hindsight is always 20/20 but at the time I couldn’t see that I was masking my pain with accomplishments so everyone around me would focus on

You Can’t Sit with Us

By : Angie Williams May 19, 2020 Comments Off

Not checking a box left me on my own gay island In seventh grade, I learned a new word: Bisexual. “What’s that mean?” I asked. “It’s when you like both boys and girls,” one of my friends said. There wasn’t just one, but two girls in my grade who were bisexual. I never felt like the other girls I hung out with and maybe that was why. Amber was more tomboyish and Shoshana was more girly, but I never felt like either one of them exactly, so I wasn’t sure if I was actually bisexual but I kept it in my back pocket just in case. Okay, so bisexual means I can like boys and girls. But do I like any girls or do I just think they’re really pretty?

North of Oblivion

By : Angie Williams May 18, 2020 Comments Off

How my depression led me to want to die and why it didn’t happen. Trigger warning: this article discusses depression, mental health and suicidal ideation. “I’m sorry, but I can’t do this anymore.” That was it. That was the note. It was 2005 and I’d decided my life wasn’t worth living. I was tired of being depressed, afraid to live in my truth and most of all feeling that no one would ever accept me or love me. I was alone in the bathroom with a bottle of sleeping pills and cried. To understand how I got here, we have to back up a bit. I’ve always been different. My family is full of big personalities but I was more reserved in comparison. They preferred attention grabbing activities and careers.

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Author: Angie Williams

Drag Race Holland Has Failed Their Non-Binary Queens

Growing Up Black

I didn’t come out. Gay just happened.

You Can’t Sit with Us

North of Oblivion

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