A drag queen from Kitchener, Ontario, her love of math and drag in her first book.
Kyne Santos went drag while studying math at the University of Waterloo, for which she won a full scholarship.
“I started watching Rupaul’s Drag Race, and before that, I guess I didn’t have the most productive opinion on drag queens,” she said. “I didn’t know what it was because I wasn’t going to frequent clubs here in Kitchener — there weren’t many, but watching Drag Race and seeing drag queens become more human and being able to tell their story made me relate to them.
Kyne began posting drag videos on TikTok during the pandemic, which eventually evolved to include math content. She then competed on the first season of Canada’s Drag Race.
“I thought it would be fun and fun, but I got a lot of feedback from other people who said they enjoyed learning math through this artistic, colorful, fun lens,” Kyne explained.
These have racked up millions of views.
Kyne Santos presents her “Math in Drag” at Words Worth Books in Waterloo, Ontario. (Stefanie Davis/CTV Kitchener)
Tiffany Gasbarrini, editor of STEM book acquisitions at Johns Hopkins University Press, is one of the other people who discovered them.
He said the creativity of Kyne’s content caught his attention, so Gasbarrini tried to turn his content into a book.
“I’ve never noticed before that anybody would take those two fields of art that are probably so disparate, because that’s actually what math is, even if we don’t think of it that way, and combine them in a way that appeals to other people. to mathematics that in general are even a little afraid of,” Gasbarrini said.
Kyne was happy with the offer, even though she had never heard about it before.
“I was surprised. I didn’t think I could just be an author. Likes: “I’m just making silly little videos in disguise, what do I know about writing a book?” he said. “
Then they put her to work, focusing more on math at first and less on flirting.
“I thought it would be pretty revolutionary if a drag queen wrote an e-book of math,” Kyne explained. “My editor and all the critics were saying, ‘We need more shine, we need more drag. ‘Less serious, but I guess it was that limited belief in myself that intervened and the idea of dragging made the situation less serious.
Kyne backtracked and added more to the book, which came out this month.
“It’s a math e-book or a dissertation,” he explained. “Each bankruptcy teaches a different mathematical subject, from geometry to probability to statistics, but I teach anecdotes from my own life and the history of drag. “
Gasbarrini said it’s about finding the best balance between being a credible and informative e-book that also provides information about the issues and the 2SLGBTQI community.
“These kinds of issues also show up on Kyne’s social media, that kind of quirkiness in terms of appearance and personality, so it made sense to incorporate that into the manuscript,” he explained. So [the book] has been crafted in such a way that it can appeal to everyone from the top academics in the school to the leading academics who can see things from another perspective, another point of view. So I think it’s very accessible.
Part of the e-book addresses Kyne’s adventure as a queer user in the STEM field.
“I used to think that to be a scientist or a mathematician and to be taken seriously, I had to be straight, have a wife, and wear a suit and tie. And that no one would take me seriously if I was gay or if I was flamboyant,” Kyne added. “I just need to show others that you don’t have to conform to a specific, inflexible stereotype to be a mathematician. “
Kyne Santos in the first season of Canada’s Drag Race.
The e-book can be purchased and the e-books are sold, adding Words Worth Books in Waterloo, Ontario.
Co-owner David Worsley said it was a no-brainer to upload the “big story” to its shelves.
“Anything local will work and it has,” he said. This particular ebook, I mean, Math in Drag, why not?Everyone has a horror story about math.
Kyne said it was special to see the local support, in addition to their global success.
“I went to one of the best Catholic schools here in Kitchener and other people accepted me and treated me the same as everyone else. So I’m proud to be a component of this community.
Kyne is now embarking on a book tour of Canada, with a performance at Kitchener’s Registry Theatre on April 5.
“It’s the exhibit I’m doing in collaboration with one of the best math teachers at my school,” she explained. “He’s a jazz musician, so there’s going to be math, jazz and drag. “
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