Denim Challenge

Let's just say that you're the President of the United States. It's a stressful job and your limited experience as a project manager for a software company has ill prepared you for managing a nation’s budget and hobnobbing with foreign diplomats. You're facing a record budget shortfall and something's gotta go, right? You're faced with many choices, but you're a logical person. Clearly, you've got to slash away at some of the more superfluous stuff—bizarre defense initiatives that are based on pie-in-the-sky technologies, tax-cut packages for zillion-dollar companies—that kind of thing. Ah, if only it were that easy. In reality, what you're going to do is cut billions of dollars earmarked for health care. Preventive care initiatives? Gone. AIDS research and money for the care of patients stricken with the disease? Nah. No worries, that's what fund-raisers are for. Really, why set aside federal dollars for much-needed health care when the folks at DIFFA/Dallas are capable of throwing down a fund-raiser like Cinema de la Vie? Earmarking budgets isn't nearly as sexy as this gala evening, featuring more than 100 reworked denim jackets (donated by JCPenney) in a runway show that incorporates acrobats, dancers, models and actors. The jackets are then sold off in an auction that also includes trips, jewelry and much more. Individual tickets for the event, which will commence at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the Hilton Anatole, 2201 Stemmons Freeway, are $275 and may be purchased at diffadallas.org.
Sat., Feb. 23, 5:30 p.m., 2008