Paris is Burning holds a very special place in my heart. It is where I began my research for playing Mimi in Rent the musical all those years ago first in 2006 then in the Off- Broadway revival in 2011. Learning about the Ball lifestyle was completely brand new to me then and opened my eyes to so much that I hadn’t been aware of prior to watching. I felt very connected to the character I played and the entire musical in general so learning about this community was tremendously helpful especially in understanding the character, Angel. I am happy to be revisiting this film for this course and at this time in my life when this content is broadening my knowledge further as I try my best to approach it all as openly and unbiased as possible. BTW, the show POSE is a great representation of this Ball lifestyle and “house” culture as well as performance/acting by the cast. I was very enlightened to read the Combahee River Collective Statement. I found the statement “To be recognized as human, levelly human, is enough” from the Collective to convey such a raw portrayal of what they urge for and simultaneously ridiculous that so many live without these basic rights.