User:Old nevada/Jessi Winchester

Jessi Winchester is an American columnist and author of two non-fiction books. She gained international notoriety in the mid-1990s when she entered the Mrs. Nevada Pageant representing Virginia City, Nevada. Her status as a legal bordello working girl in a “proper” pageant catapulted her into the international spotlight and ultimately led to her involvement in politics and writing.

Personal life
Born in Iowa, Winchester was raised on a farm outside Webster City, Iowa. After high school she moved to Santa Barbara, California where she worked as a dental assistant and married a police officer. They had two sons and were foster parents to newborns until they were adopted, which resulted in the adoption of their daughter. After a divorce in 1977, Winchester remained a single mother for 13 years and worked for the Burbank Studios, which included Warner Bros. and Columbia Pictures. In 1990, she married a native Nevadan and moved to Virginia City, Nevada where she began working in Nevada’s legal brothels. After her entry in the Mrs. Nevada pageant resulted in international notoriety, she ran for public office and became a political writer. She currently lives on a remote ranch (a real one) in northern Nevada.

Mrs. Nevada Pageant
Ms. Winchester became an international public personality in 1995 when she competed in the Mrs. Nevada Pageant representing her town of Virginia City. Contestants were to represent the history of their town and Virginia City was famous as the home of the TV show ‘Bonanza’ and it’s history was steeped in the discovery of gold and silver during the 1800s when residents during that wild west era were miners and prostitutes. Ms. Winchester worked in the legal brothels of Nevada so she authentically represented the history and ‘colorful past’ of her town. She originally entered the pageant to show bordello ladies were no different from women in other occupations by simply participating in the pageant without divulging her occupation but the local Virginia City newspaper editor blew her cover by printing a story on her that the Associated Press picked up. The media had a field day and her story was covered all over the world. Since she worked in a legal establishment, pageant officials were not able to disqualify her. She represented her town in 1800s gowns and saw the pageant through to the end despite the controversy.

Bordello Balls
For several years after the infamous Mrs. Nevada Pageant, Winchester presented annual Bordello Balls, which were elegant costume charity events whose profits went to a different charity each year. Different costume themes each year allowed guests to relive a particular period of history for the evening. A “red light ladies” promenade featuring real working girls from one of the legal Nevada brothels was always a favorite because it allowed guests to mingle with the ladies and learn they were just “normal” girls. Guests also enjoyed a live band, a western ‘shoot-out’ floor show, a humorous female impersonating dance troupe, and a contest to choose the king and queen of the ball. The balls were held across from the state legislative building so many lawmakers enjoyed an evening of fun along with other attendees.

Calendar
Winchester’s Red Light Ladies calendar debuted in 1995 depicting her co-workers at the brothels in a respectful and tasteful manner. It was intentionally undated so it could be used for an extended period of time by those who owned a copy. It became a collector’s item that was requested by the historical archives of Nevada and was even sold at the Carson City Chamber of Commerce.

Painting
John Hunt is famous for his real life depictions of western characters. Trained at the Hollywood Art Center School in Los Angeles, he is one of only a few artists in the United States who paints “Saturday Night Art,” a form that brings realism to the canvas and portrays his subjects as if through the lens of a camera. His love of pioneer Western history is captured in his many paintings of that time period. He painted an outstanding collection of Old West gunslinglers and brings to life the era of the Gold Rush and the colorful people who helped tame the western territories. His uncanny talent for bringing a subject’s very soul to life is demonstrated in his life sized work of Jessi Winchester in his oil painting titled ‘Soiled Dove.’ The artist combined the history of a century past with the subject of modern day celebrity to pay tribute to the ladies who helped settle the West. Hunt captured Ms. Winchester’s personality with his brush strokes, resulting in an astonishingly alive depiction of her as an 1800s era courtesan.

U.S. House of Representatives Campaign
Ms. Winchester had long championed the cause of the underdog and especially disliked the hypocritical attitude of society toward an occupation that was legal but looked down upon nevertheless. She became involved in the legislative process and then ran for U.S. House of Representatives in 1996, placing second in the primary election.

Nevada Lieutenant Governor Campaign
In 1998, she ran for Nevada Lieutenant Governor, finishing third in a field of nine. By this time, voters were more interested in her common sense approach to problems and solutions, her bluntly honest answers, and how she could improve life for them than they were in her former occupation. Voters and the media called her the 'people's candidate' as a result of her connection with the plight of the every day person.

Political columns
Her campaign experiences and strong convictions on issues led to years of columns on constitutional, personal liberty, and current event issues in numerous publications as well as becoming a contributing editor for a national on-line liberty magazine.

Books
From Bordello to Ballot Box, ISBN: 1-891696-17-3, was published by BainBridgeBooks in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 2001. It traces her Midwestern childhood, her work in Hollywood, and her years in Nevada as a citizen, legal prostitute, political campaigner, and activist. The book's most tantalizing quote is: "In the brothels, I worked with professional businesswomen who rented their bodies. In politics, I was surrounded by whores who sold their souls." This demonstrated her pragmatic and head-on attitude toward life. Dubbed by the media as the “world’s most famous living prostitute,” her inspirational and fascinating journey from bordello courtesan to acceptance by a large section of Nevada voters as 'the people’s candidate' captures the reader’s imagination. The book goes inside the closed doors of the mysterious legal bordellos of Nevada and exposes the dark side of politics in a state that was created out of corruption. The book sold-out but used copies may still be found on amazon.com

America: The Final Chapter, ISBN: 978-1-4269-1991-6, was published by Trafford Publishing in Indianapolis, Indiana in 2009. The book examines each American presidency and many policies enacted throughout the history of the nation, through the lens of the U.S. Constitution in an effort to explain how America evolved from a Republic to the unrecognizable state we face today.

After two serious topics, Ms. Winchester is currently working on a third book that documents the nostalgia of what she terms “the best decade of the 20th century.” It will be a nostalgic remembrance of growing up in the 1950-1960 era when life was truly 'American Graffiti.' It is an era she feels should be documented for future generations who can’t imagine living in a time that was so different from today – and so special.