show up

“When the Los Angeles fires devastated millions earlier this year, AmeriCorps members showed up to distribute supplies and support families — until the Trump administration ended the program and sent them home,” Bonta’s office said.

“Last night he told me to wake up as early as possible and just show up,” says Castaneda, 33, a friend of Solis’ since they were in seventh grade.

The vast majority of attendees identify as LGBTQ+, and while the door is technically open to all, it’s the ones who show up transformed — glistening, feathered, glammed out — who are whisked in the quickest.

"That’s when mayonnaise, Jell-O and marshmallows all start showing up together. It’s a very brief period, but an unusual one."

To them and the public at large the annual dinner has become an “event” where you show up just “to be seen,” and the core mission has been abandoned.