Performing to an auditorium filled with people is never easy, now add a skimpy dress some high heels and a wig and you’ve got yourself a challenging situation. Now imagine underneath that dress, there is a penis. On March 28, the Jupiter campus welcomed its second annual Diversitas drag show with resounding applause, screams and cat calls as it welcomed back veteran drag queen “Foxy,” also known as Adonis (who happens to work at the Starbucks in the Garden Mall – be sure to stop by and say hello). As emcee and featured performer, Foxy made sure to poke fun at the censorship rules that kept her form using profanity – a rather ironic point considering the audience would be enjoying a show of men dressed in ultra-tight dresses moving their bodies around in a provocative manner. Nevertheless the drag queen, decked out in a full-length turquoise princess dress, engaged the audience and poked and prodded them to show their support. At some point she showed her concern to a particular parent in the audience asking, “Are you okay? You’re not going to be traumatized?” The 1001 Nights of Drag program is all part of the week of Diversitas, which is sponsored this year by ICC and run by ICC director and Kyle Ashby, a fellow drag queen participant. Unlike last year, which offered a variety of very different cultural experiences, this year’s Diversitas focuses on the theme of the Mediterranean. Students found the Student Services building atrium transformed into a mock-North African oasis with hammocks carrying bright pillows, booths swathed in curtains like a caravan of merchants and displays of exotic foods and Turkish coffee. This year’s Diversitas offered a range of educational programs, which is a change from last year’s more entertainment-focused program. International programs director Tania Tucker-Krauss traveled from Boca to the Jupiter auditorium to speak about the study abroad programs offered by FAU while students shared their experiences and photos from journeys taken in foreign countries. BSU, along with the Macarthur Campus Democrats, Clichí©, and Theatre in the Raw hosted a coffeehouse discussion in the Burrow in Wednesday, which encouraged students to think about North African Expansion. Any exposure to foreign affairs and international relations is bound to offer deeper discussions and raise questions about one’s own place in the world, rather that in one’s locale or nation, which is the goal of Diversatas. At some point, we must see ourselves as citizens of the world, and not necessarily only students of a small college in Florida. Tuesday night’s drag show pimp slapped the status quo with a display of controversial yet confident performances. SGA Governor Jared Velez kick started the student showing with an angry and forceful dance routine to Britney Spear’s “My Prerogative.” Accepting dollar bills with an air of familiarity, Governor Velez stomped around in his black pumps and mini-skirt, mouthing the self-asserting lyrics and bringing the performance to a climax when he humped the railing like a coin-operated horse. Kyle Ashby followed Governor Velez with a hypnotic and sensual romp to the song “Empires” by Lamya, which matched suggestive lyrics such as “Bring me men to match my mountains” (and they said this show was PG-13) to repetitive melodic loops and drawn out drum beats. Curiously, this is the first line found in a poem written in the late 19th century by Sam Walter Foss about the desire to find Americans willing to show integrity and stamina in nation building. I suppose conquering can be interpretive in a number of ways however. For a drag show, the song just did not work. Unless the queen is dancing and making the audience quiver with shock and anticipation, the show ceases to be entertaining. The biggest shock was the revelation that women’s studies professor Dr. Wairimu Njambi was one of Kyle’s back up dancers – who were theatrically vying for Kyle’s attention and sexual response. Inevitably, Kyle won all three “male” dancers love as they carry him off stage, but it is not without a rather aggressive and mock-sexual assault attempt by one of the dancers who presses Kyle against the wall. I wonder about this scene. Is this assertion of male chauvinism supposed to be sexually arousing because it is done by a female? Is it any less appalling? Such questions are raised when gender lines are blurred. The auditorium is already booked for next years drag show, which will be sponsored by the UWC. Due to proper budgeting, the expenses of the drag show have already been paid for, which is a feat that has never been achieved until this year. One can only wait with bated breath for what will hopefully prove to be an increasingly provocative display of gender splicing and booty shaking.