User:Londontower02/sandbox

General Description: Lil Miss Hot Mess is a drag queen and children book author for books titled “The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish” (2020) and recently published as of May 2022, “If You’re a Drag Queen and You Know It” (Running Press Kids). She serves on the board of Drag Queen Story Hour and was a founding organizer of the #MyNameIs Campaign which challenged Facebook’s “real name” policy. Lil Miss Hot Mess performances are a blend of camp, current events, and centered around political satire and technology to highlight the hot mess of the world. She is known for throwing parties and has appeared on stages that include Stanford University, Saturday Night Live and clubs such as The Stud and Queen Kong. Lil Miss Hot Mess is a professor of Public & Applied Humanities at the University of Arizona and works as a visual artist while splitting her time between Tucson and Los Angeles.

Drag Queen Story Hour: Lil Miss Hot Mess is one of the founding board members of Drag Queen Story Hour. Drag Queen Story Hour is a program that invites drag performers in schools, libraries and bookstores to read, sing, or lead craft activities for children. This is a program that is completely free to the public. Since Drag Queen Story Hour started in San Francisco in 2015, the organization has spread to New York and other parts of the country and world. Libraries have received praise for including Drag Queen Story Hour for encouraging children to look beyond stereotypes and teaching them about the LGBTQ+ community.

Books: Lil Miss Hot Mess wrote two children’s books following the tunes of popular nursery rhymes. In her book, The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish Swish Swish, released in 2020, she rewrote The Wheels On The Bus Go Round and Round with a drag theme. The book explained and simplified self expression through the lens of a Drag Queen while performing. Lil Miss Hot Mess’ latest book released in May 2022 is called If You’re a Drag Queen and You Know It. This book plays off the If You’re Happy and You Know it sing-a-long rhyme. It allows readers to engage with drag in a playful way with lines like, “blow a kiss” and “strike a pose.”

Controversy: Recently, Lil Miss Hot Mess defended her Drag Queen Story Hour after it was attacked by Florida senator Marco Rubio over claims that “it was making children change their gender and radicalizing” them (Marcos). However, Lil Miss Hot Mess released a statement condemning his hateful words, saying “she is just trying to let children imagine a better world” (Marcos). Lil Miss Hot Mess has continuously defended herself and her Drag Queen Story Hour despite a multitude of conservative backlash. She defends the purpose behind her Drag Queen story hour, with the intention behind the creation to allow children to have a queer safe space.

1. “Lil Miss Hot Mess.” Kennedy Center, https://www.kennedy-center.org/artists/l/la-ln/lil-miss-hot-mess/. Accessed 31 October 2022.

2. Ingall, Marjorie. “Lil Miss Hot Mess Makes a Great Children’s Storyteller.” Tablet, 09 September 2016, https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/lil-miss-hot-mess-makes-a-great-childrens-storyteller.

3. Communications, NYU Web. “Where Playful Dress-up and 'Strategic Defiance' Meet.” NYU, 21 June 2021, https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2021/june/lil-miss-hot-mess-on-drag-pedagogy.html.

4. Lil Miss Hot Mess – "The people's drag queen," author of 'If You're a Drag Queen and You Know It' and 'The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish', https://www.lilmisshotmess.com/.

5. Marcos, Coral. “Drag Queen Featured in Marco Rubio Campaign Ad Calls Him a Bigot.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 7 Oct. 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/07/marco-rubio-drag-queen-little-miss-hot-mess-ad.