X Jessica Berget Opinions Editor *This article contains major spoilers for RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 3 finale. on't get me wrong, | adore Trixie Mattel. She is one of my all-time favourite drag queens from RPDR. I was rooting for her from the very beginning, so I was over the moon when she won the crown. Although she had a bit of a rough start at the beginning of the competition, she consistently displayed her wry sense of humour, presented some of the best looks that have ever been graced on the mainstage (that finale look? Everything), and slayed some of the challenges on the show. But Shangela Laquifa Wadley was completely and utterly robbed of the crown and of her position in the top two. I hate to jump on the “Shangela was robbed” bandwagon, so I’m just going to walk casually onto it. Trixie is a well-deserved winner of All Stars 3. She won four challenges, turned out some amazing looks, and delivered some of my favourite lines from the show. However, I think Shangela is a much more deserving winner. I knew from the start that Trixie Ox It IS ‘RuPaul’s Best Friend Race’ > Who really deserved to win ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 3’ would be the frontrunner of All Stars 3. She’s had an incredibly successful career outside of Drag Race and has a huge fan base. What I didn’t expect, however, was how amazing Shangela would be, not only in every one of the challenges, but with the runways, the lip-syncs, and in the show overall. Here is a queen who slayed each challenge every week (with one exception) and destroyed every lip-sync. The only reason she didn’t win or make the top two was because of a dumb twist ending that no one asked for. If you ask me, I think the whole season was set up for Trixie to win. Because of the format of All Stars, the queens who won the challenge that week decides who goes home. Since Shangela won most of the challenges, she sent most of the queens home. So, when RuPaul decided to bring the losers back to choose the top two, it was obvious that almost none would pick Shangela. Plus, Trixie is friends with all the losing queens, so her being in the top two was no surprise. To me, Shangela was the clear winner, not only based on the amount of challenges and lip-sync wins, but her charm, her success, and how much she has grown since being on season two and three. Not only that, to me it seems that Shangela fits RuPaul’s image more so than Trixie, who has Have an idea for a story? M opinions@theotherpress.ca Q@ already created her own independent aesthetic and brand as a country/folk drag musician and has built herself a career outside of Drag Race. Despite how you feel about who deserved the crown (or didn’t), what were not going to do is send hate to queens on social media because you don’t think they deserved the win. Since winning All Stars 3, Trixie has had to deal with online harassment from over-zealous fans of the show who also believe Shangela was more deserving of the crown. She has even had one of her prizes stolen. Yes, I believe Shangela did deserve Drop beats, not n-bombs Surprisingly, the NDP are having a good year (¥ Male doctors need to learn more about women’s health issues And more! Still from ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ via PopJustice.com the crown more, but that doesn’t mean I condone bullying Trixie on social media because of it. It’s childish, and Trixie is a human being who deserves respect. Sending her hate isn’t going to crown Shangela, and at the end of the day, it’s just a fucking television show. As happy as I am with Trixie winning, this was Shangela’s season and if she was in the final lip-sync I’m confident that I wouldn’t even be writing this article. All Stars 3 will go down as the season of robbery, tomfoolery, and unnecessary twists that made us gag. New wave of opioid-related advertisements tries to end stigma, misses the point > Drug users are more than just their worth to other members of society Jacey Gibb Distribution Manager ,422. That’s how many people died last year in British Columbia from a drug-related overdose, and despite the declaration of a public health emergency in 2016, hundreds of people have continued to die. According to the BC Coroners Service, “illicit drug overdose deaths” have been on the rise since 2012, though last year saw the highest jump, towering over 2016’s final count of 995 deaths. Suffice it to say, advertisements meant to combat the opioid crisis have been widely ineffective. Some posters attempted to deter drug use in general by highlighting associated risks, while others promoted the life-saving drug Naloxone and the importance of never using drugs alone. Considering the previous attempts to address overdose-related deaths in British Columbia, I’m both appreciative—and critical—of the latest opioid-centred advertising campaign: A joint venture between the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions and the Vancouver Canucks meant to tackle the stigma around drug use. You may have already seen the posters around bus stops or SkyTrain stations. Advertisements featuring different people beside a list of their various roles in society. One poster featuring a young woman says “Cousin, Student, Drug User, Friend.” Another, featuring a middle-aged man, says “Co-worker, Teammate, Drug User, Hockey Fan.” According to the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Judy Darcy, stigma around drug users is “killing people.” Darcy also said that drug use is usually related to pain or trauma, which can isolate users rather than encouraging them to seek out support from friends or family. It’s honestly a welcome shift from previous advertisements focusing on the opioid crisis. Last year, the Vancouver Police Foundation funded transit posters of a corpses’ feet with the word “Fentanyl” in big orange letters above it. Multiple Naloxone-related posters have focused on preventing overdoses and how they can save lives. However, neither type of poster tried to address the underlying relationship between drug use and addiction. Critics of the opioid crisis often reduce drug users to being lesser citizens. The mentality that someone who uses ed TEAMM Ay E DPUG WSER ee | drugs deserves whatever happens to them is both horrifying and wildly naive. Yes, some drugs are illegal in Canada, but does someone partaking in an illegal substance void their right to live? If you shoplift, or go 10 km over the speed limit, or lie on your taxes, do you immediately forfeit your right to life as well? Of course not. The same people who argue that drug users deserve whatever happens to them are the same group that this new stigma-based campaign are talking to. It’s a reminder that, “Hey, drug users are human beings too,” which some people conveniently forget whenever they down-talk substance-users. Where the new campaign falters, though. is their emphasis on a person’s worth to others instead of their existence Photo by Analyn Cuarto simply as an individual. Yes, someone can be a drug user while also being a cousin, student, and friend, but they're also their own person. You could be someone who lives in a remote corner of the world, with no friends or family, and who hasn't spoken to another human in decades, and youd still be a 100 per cent certified human frickin’ being. The value of our relationship to others is one way to remind people that drug users are individuals themselves, but I don’t feel like this advertising does enough. However, if the sheer volume of overdose-related deaths in the last few years isn’t enough to earn empathy from the general population, I don’t know what will.