Austin Way Magazine - GreenGale Publishing - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/666142
photography by rudy Ximenez (edwards, davidson); david brendan hall (decker); wynn meyer (mackey) I try not to focus on regrets (that's why I have a bar cart in my office), but one in particular won't go away. About 10 years ago, my mother and I were eating at Magnolia Café when we noticed Molly Ivins enjoying a solo dinner and a book. Mom and I decided to buy her meal as a thank-you for being such a strong and humorous voice for truth. By the time we got our server's attention, though, it was too late; Ivins had already received her check. It's a small thing, and it might have annoyed more than pleased her, but when she died a few months later, from cancer, I wished I had moved more quickly. Timing is a tricky thing, but in the case of this Late Spring issue, it all worked out. Just as I was editing our Women of Power profiles, which are spread throughout the magazine, the perfect package arrived on my desk: a book about the size of my iPhone covered in yellow roses. I immediately picked up A Love Letter to Texas Women, by award-winning author Sarah Bird, another of my favorite Austin women, and didn't put it down. In her field guide to the fabulous contradictions that make up a Lonestar Lady, Bird pays homage to Texas greats, including First Lady Laura Bush, as well as Ivins and Governor Ann Richards. "Ann and Molly," she writes. "Whether you agreed or disagreed with them, you couldn't deny that there was a quality of fearlessness about both that was pure Texas Woman." We pay homage to Richards this month as the incredibly talented Holland Taylor brings her Broadway hit, Ann, to the Zach Theatre almost nightly through mid-May. We talked to Taylor (page 52) about why writing this play was so important to her. Taylor joins Emmy winner (and an excellent dancer, I might add) Regina King, Camila Alves, Elaine Garza, Nina Seely, Carla Umlauf, Lucy Jolis, and Katie Kime as our Women of Power for 2016. If you see any of them out and about in Austin (or Sarah Bird, for that matter), you might want to pick up their coffee or cocktail tab. You'll be glad you did. above: With Amy Edwards (left) and Sam Davidson, Ashley Vehslage, Richard Linklater, and Amanda Sprague at the Austin Film Society's reception for Ethan Hawke; with Brooklyn Decker at the Texas Film Awards. below: With Whole Foods Market cofounder and co-CEO John Mackey and Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States. 20 AUSTINWAY.com k athy blackwell LETTER From THE EDITor-IN-CHIEF