septi INTERVIEW ........ ▼.......... How much did you raise? aving held a bevy of titles—Debutante of We raised $5,200. Over $4,000, the pro­ Eugene 1987; Sweetheart of Portland II ceeds, went to the Beauty of the Rose and VI; Miss Heart of Oregon in 1989; Foundation...administered at Cascade AIDS Rose Empress XXXVIII; to name just a Project. It’s a bus-pass foundation I established few—Misha Rockafeller has established herself at CAP that distributes bus passes monthly to as one of Oregon’s eminent female illusionists. The 31-year-old Rockafeller credits much of HIV clients and folks with AIDS. That one fund-raiser covered the entire year for the her success to mentoring she received from foundation. Lady Elaine Peacock XXIX, the late Portland female impersonator whose legacy is Peacock What advice do you have for the 1998-99 in the Park. She also points to support she’s La Femme Magnifique International? gotten from Champagne XXV and Darcelle My advice is to be yourself, have fun, and XV, both notable personalities among female realize that we not only represent ourselves but impersonators. the entire gay community everywhere. That’s Sunday, Sept. 6, Rockafeller’s reign as the not an easy job. But, basically, if you do one 1997-98 La Femme Magnifique International thing for somebody somewhere, then you’ve comes to an end at a pageant to name 1998- made a difference in the community and in 99’s titleholder. Rockafeller took time recently somebody’s life. to sit down with Just Out and discuss her past year and what she’s done with her title, includ­ Does this title in particular give you the ing raising money for Cascade AIDS Project ability to help more people than you could’ve with Charo and much of the traveling cast of otherwise? Grease!, and playing matchmaker to Portland’s It has that ability. You make it what you lonely hearts. want to make it. Darcelle doesn’t put a lot of responsibilities on the position. That doesn’t Aside from working with Charo, what mean you don’t do something with it. have been some of the highlights during your Anybody can go out and buy a crown or a reign as the 1997-98 La Femme Magnifique tiara or get a medallion or win a sash, but it International? really takes work to represent a city. That’s Actually, representing the international title, traveling out of town to some of the other cities has been wonderful. I’ve been to Los Angeles, all throughout California, Washington.... I’ve also done articles for various publications like POZ magazine. My Web site [the Make-A-Date and singles section on www.gaypdx.com] started during my reign...I’ve been dubbed Portland’s “Diva of Dating.” It hasn’t worked for me, but it’s worked for everyone else! And of course this year I emceed gay pride, which was a first. Outside of the atrocious heat, it was a lot of fun. I’ve been quite busy doing lots of fund-raisers and events this year. I had the La Femme Christmas show; drag whipped-cream wrestling, which we did for gay pride; Peacock in the Park; hosted the Mr. Gay Pride pageant.... I should’ve brought a list of all the stuff—there’s just too much! Really, my whole schematic for reign this year...internationally, is focusing peo­ ple’s attention on what’s going on in Mexico with the AIDS crisis and support­ W ill O’B ryan ing the Tijuana AIDS Foundation, which I did several fund-raisers for. H Queen of the Universe a Her reign where the notoriety comes in. That’s where the respect comes in. That’s really when you become somebody, when you can look back and know that you’ve left something or done something. After attaining this title, what’s the next pinnacle? Where do you go next? Everybody’s been asking me that! Everyone keeps saying, “You’ve held every title there is, what’s left?” I have been tossing back and forth the idea of Miss Gay America. Not next year, but maybe the year after. No one from the Northwest has ever competed for the title before. Like La Femme, it’s a butch title, mean­ ing you can’t have any alterations or silicone or anything like that. You have to be natural and true to the art form. And the prize money is a lot. I could actually make some of the money back that I’ve invested in Misha over the 12 years I’ve been doing this. I’d like to say also...I do the Rose Festival Grand Floral thing every year. Having been La Femme this year really helped promote it a lot. Finally, after nine years, they’re adding me to the commentating sites for the Rose Festival, which I believe is a first nationally that a gay person—or a drag queen—is a commentator for a straight parade.... It’ll be on all their pro­ motional stuff. When you were a child wondering what you’d be when you grew up, did \ La Femme \ Magnifique ever \ cross your mind? ^^Jk Did you ever , Vpk think this was W’wBk what you’d be doing? A No. I liked Barbie, but that was after as La Femme Magnifique / International k is coming to M an end, // but the name Misha I ** Rockafeller I will remain ■ a household word Had you gone on a trip there? Is that why Tijuana stuck out to you? I had been down there before and I’d also been involved with a couple fund-raisers. 1 met the guy that runs the foundation...when I was down there in Tijuana. I just think it’s terrible. They don’t have protease inhibitors. They don’t have the nurs­ ing care that they need. They don’t have care facilities. People are literally dying in the street.... As a gay and lesbian and transgender, bi community, internationally people need to pull together and try to take care of these people in other countries that don’t have access to this care that we do. It’s not only sad—it’s frighten­ ing- How was working with Charo? Oh my God, she was great. She’s so insane and you know I totally respect that about any­ one. She’s totally a freak at heart just like myself. She’s just very sincere, a very sweet individual. It was really nice of not only her but the cast of Grease! to come in and promote my fund-raiser this year. “Any bocty can go out and SHB EBH What do you think secured the title for you? Which of your attributes carried you over the competition? There was a whole group of people that helped me attain the title. There were seam­ stresses, people who helped me put props and stuff together. I had 20 dancers. We worked all year long. I think the biggest thing that helped was being organized. I learned that from Champagne and Darcelle. If I had not been really organized, 1 don’t think I could’ve done all the stuff I needed to do. My philosophy with drag is, “Less is more, more is better.” Does the competition ever get ugly? I’ve seen it, but I’d rather not comment on where I’ve seen it. 1 want to be diplomatic. I’m Switzerland, I love all. [But] you don’t see that in Portland at all. There’s such a sense of family here. People are brought up within our court system to believe that the hard work, not the cattiness, is how you gain the respect. And being yourself, being real, is more important. The queens that act like that, who are shady...don’t really last very long in our city and end up going somewhere else. It’s not really tolerated. People see right through that. Are there any charities you’d like to get involved with that you haven’t done anything with yet? You know what? I really can’t think of any. I’ve always helped out everybody. I get calls almost every day from various groups.. .people wanting me to get involved or help them with a certain event. It’s all the time. It seems more so since [Lady Elaine] Peacock passed on and a couple other of the older queens. I’ve really had to help pick up some of the slack. I don’t say no a whole lot. If I can fit it into my calendar and 1 have the time to do it, I’ll help somebody. That’s my responsibility. Is Misha a persona you think you’ll ever retire? The night that I said, “Yes, I accept the responsibilities as Rose Empress," was the k night I lost my life! That will never end till the day I die. 1 don’t think anybody would g^k let me retire her. That’s the problem. gA Traveling out of town, I hear peo- pie calling my name out. Thar's irritat *nS- R°'nR to have to travel to HggA Borneo to get a vacation. But I feed on it at the same time M t