Staffer in the Spotlight
A Wyoming cherry blossom queen who loves to travel
Affie Burnside has a travel bug. She hopes to visit all seven continents, although she might skip Antarctica.
So far, she has visited Europe twice and loved it. Now, recently crowned the 2001 Cherry Blossom Queen, she will travel to Japan this May to participate in public relations
and diplomatic duties.
Burnside, staff assistant to Sen. Craig Thomas (R?Wyo.), applied for the honor in March, feeling the experience
would be "a really great way to learn about Japan." Her application was reviewed by the Wyoming State Society and she was chosen to represent her state.
The event, sponsored by the National Conference of State Societies, has been held since 1948 and is intended to
be an educational and cultural experience for all involved. Each state, district or territory selects one princess and all 53 have an equal chance of becoming the queen.
Burnside said about half the princesses work on Capitol Hill, while others are college?age girls who flew in for the occasion.
Clad formally in white gloves and closed toe shoes, Burnside and the other 52 princesses kicked off the Cherry
Blossom Festival March 31 at the parade. The festival continued throughout the
Affie Burnside: Have gown,
will travel.
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week with events including a question and answer session with Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, photos
with first lady Laura Bush at the White House and a tour of the Pentagon.
At the end of the festival, the women attended a ball where a Japanese governor spun a wheel containing each
state. It stopped on Wyoming, indicating Burnside would be this year's Cherry Blossom queen.
"I was really surprised, just because you hope you can go, and you hope that it will land on your state,
but no one really expects it to," she said. "So I'm just kind of overcome by the random luck of being selected."
This May, Burnside will travel to Japan on
what she calls a "good?will trip," spending two weeks meeting ,with dignitaries and learning about cherry blossoms. She said the trip is a big deal in Japan and she
believes she may even get to meet the prime minister.
As cherry blossom queen, Burnside received many gifts including a crown, pearls and a Hapi shirt. The shirt is
a traditional Japanese garment, and Burnside's is blue with a cherry blossom tree on the back and polka-dotted cuffs and trim. She laughed, saying she wore it all weekend and
loves it.
Burnside said she was most excited to speak to the Japanese about her own culture and learn about theirs. She
grew up in Jackson Hole, Wyo., and is passionate about her home state. "I love the West," she said. "It's beautiful there and I'm excited to tell them
about my hometown and about where I come from." She added her family is Native. American and she is excited to give jewelry and other cultural items to the people she
meets in Japan.
Burnside, 22, graduated from the University of Wyoming last spring and began working for Thomas in June. She
has always been interested in politics and was excited there was an opening in Thomas' office when she graduated.
She stressed that she would like to spend a few years in the office but is not a career politician. She hopes
to work in some capacity of Indian Affairs and believes working on the Hill is a good way to become familiar with key agencies and offices.
In the meantime, she looks
forward to her trip to Japan and the cultural experience she will have. And, she can knock one more continent off her travel list.
--CHERYL WEISMANN
