Mueller Lake Park Outdoor Amphitheater
'Kepe Awstin Wierd'?
RECEIVED Sun., Dec. 26, 2010
Dear Editor,
I was more than a little shocked to read Wells Dunbar's characterization of Jennifer Gale in the Dec. 24 Chronicle [“City Hall Hustle: Gather Round Yon Virgins,” News].
He describes Jennifer's campaigns for public office as "quixotic,” a description that could be applied to any Democrat running for statewide office, including our own current state senator, or any Republican running in Travis County. Why bother? Apparently, your ace political reporter doesn't even have a clue.
He goes on to describe Gale as in obvious need of physical and psychological assistance, though she worked when people would hire her, including a steady job as an airport shuttle driver during the boom years when employers would hire anybody. Perhaps, as a transgendered woman living in our culture, she had feelings of isolation and rejection and perhaps, just maybe, she wasn't totally out of touch with reality.
And he further characterizes as a "polite fiction" that she was a quirky figure of "Austin weirdness.” Beyond the fact that Jennifer was more serious than quirky, what does Dunbar think Austin weirdness is all about – the tourism bureau selling coffee cups with the city slogan on them, where the slogan is "Keep Austin Weird"?
Do we have to start writing it as “Kepe Awstin Wierd”?
I was more than a little shocked to read Wells Dunbar's characterization of Jennifer Gale in the Dec. 24 Chronicle [“City Hall Hustle: Gather Round Yon Virgins,” News].
He describes Jennifer's campaigns for public office as "quixotic,” a description that could be applied to any Democrat running for statewide office, including our own current state senator, or any Republican running in Travis County. Why bother? Apparently, your ace political reporter doesn't even have a clue.
He goes on to describe Gale as in obvious need of physical and psychological assistance, though she worked when people would hire her, including a steady job as an airport shuttle driver during the boom years when employers would hire anybody. Perhaps, as a transgendered woman living in our culture, she had feelings of isolation and rejection and perhaps, just maybe, she wasn't totally out of touch with reality.
And he further characterizes as a "polite fiction" that she was a quirky figure of "Austin weirdness.” Beyond the fact that Jennifer was more serious than quirky, what does Dunbar think Austin weirdness is all about – the tourism bureau selling coffee cups with the city slogan on them, where the slogan is "Keep Austin Weird"?
Do we have to start writing it as “Kepe Awstin Wierd”?
Kirk Becker
