"Yes son, I see you are in a rough spot.
But, what has voguing taught you?
You are not a failure! How could you be?
Failure is but a poison of the white man to make you lessor.
To tell you, and make you believe, that your black skin is a failure to be white.
To force you to forget the erudite brilliance that is your African heritage.
To force me to die and my blood become the salt of the earth of the reservation.
No my son, we do not have to drink or smoke the white man's poison.
No my son, you are not a failure.
What has voguing taught you?
What has vogue taught you?
WE. DO. NOT. DIE!
We do not dive to our death.
We but dip.
We but dip and bounce back.
What they have called the death drop is but a dip into hell to return with the grace and resilience of the divine.
What they have called the death drop is but a minor dip into hell, with a promise to return to strike and fly!
We are voguers.
We are voguers.
WE. ARE. VOGUERS!
We know how to die and come back to life.
We know how to be asleep and woke.
You are not a failure.
You are not failing.
You are but dipping."
A message from The Glitter Shaman
Translated by P. Dante Cuauhtemoc Ome'Lauren
