Ann Richards: Oh, What A Ride
Part 2

My big sister, her partner and I arrived at Scholz Garden around 6.
The place was not only packed, it was packed with people from all over the place that I thought I knew, but couldn't remember their names or from where I knew them.
A real tall, Texas-looking guy was the first person I knew but didn't know.
He turned out to be Turk Pipkin, an actor and author who recently created an amazing documentary where he asks Nobel Prize winners what we can do to fix the world.
In the throng of people behind him was the gorgeous Cecile Richards, Ann's oldest daughter and the president of Planned Parenthood, Inc.
As we worked our way through the crowd, I spied the familiar face of an African American woman whom I stopped and said, "I know you, but I can't recall from where."
"I'm Sheila Jackson-Lee.
My jaw dropped and I said, "Oh my God, Congresswoman! I loved you in "Fahrenheit 9/11."
She smiled and we hugged.
Then I said, "Girl, we got some screwed up messes up there in Washington. We need you to continue to rabble rouse those crooks." She smiled and said, "Oh, I will."
Behind her stood Ron Kirk, Ann's Secretary of State who went on to become the first African American mayor of Dallas, from 1995 to 2001.
When we finally worked our way to the back of the room to get a bird's eye view of the crowd, we spotted clumps of local state representatives, state senators and other big shots mingling.
Seated at a table was a woman with spiky silver hair and big eyes who kept meeting my gaze.
I thought I knew her from some San Antonio gay gaggle, so I finally walked up to her and asked from where I might know her.
She said, I'm Mary Beth Cahill. I ran John Kerry's campaign."
By then, I was chagrinned not to recall her name or where I'd seen her, so I rushed over to grab my friend
Bettie Naylor, the co-founder of the Human Rights Campaign, to introduce them.
I believe Cahill was the only person on Earth Bettie had never met, so I felt all puffed up being the go-between.
In the meantime, I'd been invited to recall memories of Ann Richards from my MSM reporter days for a small team of documentarians I'd met at the Capitol earlier. The reporter for the documentary and I clicked, then re-clicked when they showed up at Scholz Garden.
I told her I'd bird-dog some good people to interview for her documentary, so we hung out and watched the crowd together.
Please note, I am not a political star-fucker like that egomaniac blogger John Aravosis. My big sister has all the juice in Austin. I am merely lucky to be in her political shadow and have the proximity to the noteworthy based mainly on her, her partner and their Austin connections.

To be continued