Rose, Oh Pure Contradiction
A heavy heart dictates my fingers typing. I am so sad. I have lost a dear friend this week. We have lost a dear friend this week. Last Saturday, Marc Alexander, known in many circles as Mona littleMore, one of the founders of the United Court of Austin passed away. The court’s big-hearted mission of raising hundreds of thousands of dollars (for countless local folks such as Out Youth, Wright House, Project Transitions, AIDS Services of Austin, Breast Cancer Resource Center, etc.) and creating community around the phenomenon of drag culture has enriched our town for almost two decades. Mona’s dedication will be sorely missed by many, and her sweetness and hilarity will be held tight by me. Send your prayers and well-wishes to the United Court folks who are surely missing their Legend of the Phoenix Empress Emeritus for Life. In equal measure, please send sweet thoughts to Clayton Gibson, the board member of Empowering Spirits (which is participating in this year’s Pride Build) who just lost his niece, 5-year-old Catherine Gibson, from complications that developed from the flu. Catherine’s parents have set up an endowment at Dell Children’s Medical Center to honor their daughter and to raise funds for books to give to kids at the hospital. On a lighter note, the news this weekend of Leslie‘s fall and subsequent coma had the blogosphere lit up like a telephone tree of questionable and hard to confirm information. We have the latest in our News section (p.16), and the news as of press time is good: Austin’s favorite cross-dressing homeless fella is in fair condition. Please keep all these folks in your hearts and check the Gay Place Blog (austinchronicle.com/gayplaceblog) for updates.
This article appears in October 16 • 2009.