"It isn't often that the words black-tie, boots and live bull are all included in the same sentence, much less at the same social event. Then again, the Texas Society Black-Tie and Boots Ball isn't your average ball. Let me back up a little bit. I was invited down to D.C. for the inaugural weekend, or more specifically for the pre-inaugural extravaganza that was the Black-Tie and Boots Ball. The Texas Society throws a pre-inaugural party every election, which I am told is always fairly large. However, there were two additional factors this year. One, our new President, George 'Dubya' Bush, is from Texas; and two, with all the <ahem> problems surrounding this election, the Texas Society Ball ended up being THE pre-inaugural party.

We arrived at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel at about 7pm on the night of the Ball, and the entire hotel was swarming with people in tuxedos and ball gowns*. Everywhere you looked there was glitter, pomp and republicans - lots of republicans, it is entirely possible that the four of us were the only democrats in attendance. Every public space in the hotel was devoted to The Ball, and the entertainment was lavish. According to Rick Meyers, co-chairman of The Ball, "the food will include 6,000 pounds of beef brisket, 5,000 pounds of smoked ham, 5,000 pounds of chicken, beef and shrimp platters, and 500 pounds of guacamole." The musical entertainment was made up of an a-list of country celebrities, including Clint Black and Lisa Hartman. But, I think that by far the people watching was more entertaining.

Not only is there a Bush back in the White House, but a few other bits and pieces we thought we had safely left behind us seem to be making a reappearance too - like big hair, large gold jewelry and shoulder pads (you have to wonder whether the '80's weren't bad enough the first time). What was interesting about the way people dressed was that they weren't badly dressed - although there was the woman in the diaphanous leopard-print fishtail dress, and the custom made Texas flag satin dress**, and the woman with the seal of Texas in sequins on her vest - it was the way things were embellished. Not many people can get away with wearing cowboy boots with a tuxedo, or a Stetson with a ball gown. But, this was a whole room full of people who were trying - and to be fair, most of them were carrying it off with flair. The previous statement, however, does not apply to the man wearing a Native American feather headdress (he was from Indiana). You couldn't stand too close, or you ran the risk of ending up with feathers in your food.

Actually, I take back what I said about the people being more entertaining than the entertainment. I forgot about the Stepford Cheerleaders, sorry, the Kilgore Rangerettes. The name alone is amusing, we thought they might be trying to make some kind of statement, but apparently they were just from Kilgore, Texas (although someone on The Ball planning committee has an interesting sense of humor). You had to look closely to make sure that they were real, every time we saw them not a hair was out of place, and their perky smiles were firmly fixed. It was eerie. The smiles faded a little as we waited for Dubya to arrive, for a while one of the Rangerettes looked positively pouty. But, once Dubya appeared the Stepford Cheerleaders bounced back to perform some energetic formation flag waving, and streamer shooting. And then there was Redneck, the Texas Longhorn bull (I'm not kidding). Downstairs there was a large exhibition hall set up as a Texas State Fair. And in the back there was Redneck, and a line of people waiting to have their picture taken sitting on him.

The day of the inauguration dawned cold and rainy, and got progressively worse. I got a certain petty satisfaction out of the fact that the weather was lousy for Dubya's inauguration. I did not make it to the protests, but apparently the mood of the crowd was inspiring, even if the signs weren't. Although, the "I Hate You" slogan does embrace Dubya's spirit of bi-partisanship; it doesn't say who it hates, or why - its all inclusive. That evening we went to the Americans for Democratic Action Counter-Inaugural. The name here is key, not to mention highly amusing. Although the band, The Oxymorons, weren't stunning (they were playing the oddest assortment of obscure songs from the 70's and 80's), the people at the Counter-Inaugural were much more lively than the Republicans. There was actual dancing going on at the Democratic do, unlike Clint Black's audience who stood stock still in front of the stage, they weren't even tapping their feet.

So that was my weekend of excitement. The whole thing still feels slightly surreal, but lots of fun, and definitely something that had to be experienced to be believed.

Petra Beunderman (electronic mail, January 29, 2001).

* We ended up at the hotel at around the same time the night of the Inauguration, and the lobby was again full of ball gowns and tuxedos - it was disconcerting to be there on Sunday morning and not see people in formal wear.

** Actually the dress itself was beautiful - a good style for her, obviously custom made for her, and it looked good, it was just that it was the Texas flag.