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The XL Fortunate 500
THE STARS OF AUSTIN’S SOCIAL UNIVERSE
They’re Austin social warriors. You’ve seen them. Out there every night, making the rounds at every party. In the eye of the social storm, air-kissing and glad-handling. They’re not just in the loop; they started it.
Call them what you will; patriots, sponsors, groupies or party animals. They’re the movers and shakers of Austin’s social scene. They do the “face time” at the events that make Austin hum. Politics, music, charity and a number of other coteries are their passions.
Some are wealthy, but not all. It’s less about money and more about connections and, sometimes, influence – often for worthy causes. These people make a difference just by showing up.
Their motivations for hitting the social circuit differ. Some are natural philanthropists or humanitarians. Others are looking to boost their careers or businesses.
Some boys and girls just want to have fun. But they all share the same goal; to make Austin a better place by contributing to the city’s social fabric.
So we decided to create a list honoring Austin’s top 500 social stars.
Why? Because lists are fun. Who doesn’t enjoy the guilty pleasure of People magazine’s “Most Beautiful” list or Mr. Blackwell’s “Worst Dressed”? But mostly, we wanted to recognize the social mechanics that makes Austin tick.
We call them the “XL Fortunate 500.”
In the beginning, the task seemed daunting, as we sifted through list after list of partygoers generated from inside and outside the newsroom. But in no time, our roster exceeded 500, and we had to scale back.
It was a good problem to have – knowing too many worthy folks to choose from.
We struggled with the list’s criteria.
Naming the celebrities was easy, but “influential” or just “social” was trickier – more elusive.
Austin’s social scene is a unique gumbo of talent, celebrity and backgrounds. Eccentrics and sophisticates. Heiresses rub elbows with slam poets. Power brokers swap jokes with penniless musicians. Politicians hang out with humble shopkeepers.
In Austin, jewels and jeans coexist seamlessly. It’s a town where everyone knows everyone else, not everyone else’s checkbook. Not that we don’t like money. We do. But we try not to let it define us.
We pride ourselves on not being a Dallas or Houston, by not letting social stature take precedence. In Austin, we know what really matters. What’s important. We’re a tolerant, evolved town not hung up on social status.
But that doesn’t mean we’re not curious.
So here it is, the XL Fortunate 500. It’s not a historical list, but one that highlights who we consider social standouts from the past year. They’re in no particular order or ranking, although we’ve spotlighted a few leaders in their genre. Some fortunate are listed singly, others as couples, if they are known socially for going out in pairs. Some of those couples count as romantic life partners, others as frequent public companions (let’s not use the old socialite term “walkers”).
Naturally, some deserving folks have been omitted. Also, American-Statesman employees and contract workers and their immediate families were not eligible. It’s not a perfect list, but we hope it’s a good snapshot of Austin’s most recognizable social people.
We hope to make this an annual issue, so if you didn’t make this year’s list, don’t feel slighted. There’s always next year. And besides, you live in Austin. And that makes us all fortunate.
The all-stars
PEOPLE WHO MOVE IN MULTIPLE CIRCLES
Doing philanthropic work has its reward – the satisfaction of helping others, the chance to collaborate with like-minded citizens, the pleasure of hard labor.
And then there are the fringe benefits.
Twenty years ago, when Mary Margaret Farabee organized an Austin screening of the Willie Nelson film “Red Headed Stranger” as a fund-raiser for KLRU, she got a special treat in the singer’s tour bus, which was parked outside the Arboretum: “The fumes,” she remembers, “I got high just walking around.”
Most of the time, of course, Farabee just gets high from doing good. Born and raised in Dallas, Farabee came to Austin in 1957 to attend the University of Texas as a Plan II (honors) student and never left. Through the years she has immeasurably improved the city’s civic life. Her first big project, begun in 1976, was the restoration of the Paramount Theatre, followed by the establishment of Philosopher’s Rock in Zilker Park. In addition to serving on the boards of numerous organizations, she is best known for her role in founding the Texas Book Festival, for which she served as chair for eight years.
Farabee no longer heads up the festival, but she more than keeps busy. As of last week she was working full-steam on three upcoming projects: a silent auction for the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, a fund-raiser for the People’s Community Clinic and a Hometown Heroes event at the Paramount. A bit further in the future: organizing a citywide celebration of the Ransom Center’s 50th anniversary in 2007 – which is, coincidentally, Farabee’s 50th anniversary as an Austinite, as well.
And what sort of changes has Farabee seen over the course of her half century as a fixture in the Austin social scene? “Years ago there was what they call ‘Old Austin,’ but now when you look at the social scene it’s so much more diverse than it was,” she says.
“There’s times you go out and you think, “Well, I don’t know anybody here’; well, that’s great! That’s what’s really exciting about Austin – there’s so many new people giving us different perspectives.”
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Melanie and Ben Barnes
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Ray Benson
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Louis Black
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Ann and Roy Butler
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Liz Carpenter
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Sara and Nick Fox
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Kinky Friedman
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Deborah Green
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Ellen and Alfred King
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Lowell Lebermann Jr.
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Andrea and Bean McWilliams
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Sherry Matthews and Dick Clark
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Mark Levy
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Teresa and Joe Long
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Lynn and Tom Meredith
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Willie Nelson
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Turk Pipkin
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Sara and Dick Rathgeber
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Ann Richards and Bud Shrake
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Eddie Safady
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Eugene Sepulveda and Steven Tomlinson
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Julia and Evan Smith
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Carol Thompson
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Julie and John Thornton
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Bobbi and Mort Topfer
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Anne Elizabeth Wynn
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