Getting giddy at the gala
Movers and shakers mingle with party-goers at Illinois State Society event
By Sara Jerome
WASHINGTON, D.C. — At the Illinois State Society Inaugural Gala on Monday night in Washington, D.C., in a hall dedicated to the University of Chicago, a photograph on the wall showed the President-elect in a University classroom.
He was standing, mid-lecture, at a chalkboard, drawing a dollar sign, arrows, and boxes under the title he’d scrawled at the top: “Relationships built on self-interest.”
In some ways, he could have been giving a tutorial on the gala itself. In part a networking free-for-all, where Kraft displays intermingled with solemn messages to the troops, the gala seemed designed as an opportunity for politicians to dine with corporate representatives and major players from Illinois institutions.
But for Kenya Williams, 29, a childhood development specialist from Georgia, the photograph of Obama brought out the real theme of the gala, and some of the giddy excitement cutting through the nation’s normally jaded capital.
“Am I close enough?” she asked her mom, knees bent and giggling as she sidled up next to the nearly life-size portrait of the President-elect. Her mom snapped a photo.
“I’m talking to Obama—I’m talking to him,” she said, laughing as she posed. “It may be just a picture, but I see we really have a connection. It’s like he’s right here teaching me. Tell me something about the law, Barack.”
With that, Williams started a trend: A line of ball-goers flashed peace signs and stood mock-studious before the portrait of the former professor, leaving stiletto imprints on the trains of their gowns as they jumped in and out of the shot, visions of potential Facebook albums dancing through their heads.
Illinois has been relentlessly, exhaustingly defined by corruption in recent weeks. But the Illinois Inaugural Gala was a chance to see the state a little differently.
The party was as much state fair as swanky, as much prom as ball. When Obama promised his inauguration would be the “most open and accessible in history,” perhaps he was thinking of the more than 7,000 tickets issued to his state’s largely giddy and unpretentious celebration. Its guests focused less on schmoozing congressmen and more on sipping cocktails (one with Triple Sec and pomegranate was called the “Yes We Can!”) as they hoped to catch a glimpse of the First Family (No, they didn’t.)
Not that status went unnoticed. Names from Monsanto to Microsoft adorned the walls. A family claiming to be Sen. Dick Durbin’s pushed to the front of a long line, business cards seemed to be exchanged like currency, and party-goers kept tally of the number of well-connected people who gave them face time.
“I just met a Menendez policy adviser,” one member of the professional set told his buddy, with an air of accomplishment.
But for most ball-goers, the evening rose and fell on small victories. Dance rooms, one with a saloon theme, another a disco, grew crowded as the evening drew on.
Leslie Coleman, a D.C. lawyer who attended the gala “hoping it would be an opportunity to reminisce” about her youth in Chicago, was among those with one major Gala priority.
“I miss the food in Chicago,” she said. “I’m sitting here eating the deep-dish pizza, so I definitely made a beeline to that when I saw it.”
Lab Schools parent Bonita Jackson said she had been “on the look out for Michelle and Barack.” But she resolved to have a good time even when she didn’t catch sight of them.
Her friend and guest Leda Favor, a Maryland resident, took a similar approach when she found herself amid one of the evening’s small debacles: She was wearing the same layered, floor-length gown as Susie Mayer, a retired science teacher from California.
“They’re different colors,” Mayer said. “So, on this night of celebration, we decided not to worry.”
