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Drag Storytime – Panda Dulce, Lourdes Rivas read to kindergarteners

Panda Dulce reads to Berkeley public school kindergarteners
Peter Stickney
/
Still from KPFA video
Panda Dulce reads to Berkeley public school kindergarteners

Should drag story hours be banned? With all the fuss, we thought you'd like to judge for yourselves. So we bring some to you! (Episode 2 of 3)

Should drag be banned? With all the fuss about drag story hours – people in fab frocks and magnificent makeup reading to children – we thought you’d like to hear and see some for yourselves. So you can consider if they should be outlawed, as some politicians demand.

No need to sneak into a school though, we’ve brought some to you! This month Out in the Bay presents KPFA Radio’s 3-part Drag Storytime series, produced by me and two KPFA colleagues.

For episode 2, E.A. and Peter Stickney visited a kindergarten class in the Berkeley Unified School District, where Panda Dulce read to children two stories for Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

Kindergarten teacher and author Lourdes Rivas also spoke with us and read from their children’s book, They Call Me Mix/Me Llaman Maestre, about what it means to be a transgender or nonbinary person of color. You can see Panda and Lourdes read on KPFA’s YouTube page.

This is episode 2 of 3. Hear the first episode, featuring The One & Only Rexy, here.

KPFA’s Drag Storytime Series was produced by KPFA Radio reporters E.A. and Eric Jansen and videographer Peter Stickney. Thank you KPFA for letting us post this series!

Please help us keep bringing queer air to your ears. Out in the Bay is an independent non-profit production. We receive no funds from podcast platforms, NPR, KALW, nor other radio stations that air Out in the Bay weekly. Your gift will help keep LGBTQIA+ voices and stories coming to you and others who might not be able to give. (Donate tabs on our website will take you to a Media Alliance interface. Media Alliance is our non-profit 501(c)3 fiscal agent. Your gift will be earmarked for Out in the Bay.)

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Eric Jansen is a long-time broadcaster and print journalist. A former news anchor, producer and reporter at KQED FM, San Francisco; KLIV AM, San Jose; and Minnesota Public Radio, Eric's award-winning reports have been heard on many NPR programs and PRI's Marketplace. His print work has been in The Mercury News, The Business Journal, and LGBTQ magazines Genre and The Advocate, among other publications. He co-produced the June 2007 PBS documentary Why We Sing!, about LGBTQ choruses and their role in the civil rights fight.