Texas Politics

Uvalde

Houstonians are uniquely positioned to do something this weekend as the National Rifle Association is coming to town.

Technology

Infobesity: Yep. It’s Time to Unplug... for Your Health

Information overload, infoxication, information anxiety, or information explosion: no matter what you call it, it’s about a lack of balance. I thought I had it under control, but I had to take an honest look at my new habits...

Texas Politics

Trainwreck Texas

The conversation turns to politics. My confounding love of Texas reveals an affliction that leads us all to experience as much joy as frustration.

Guns

Random Thoughts About Gun Love

What happens when you mix the killing efficiency of a military-style weapon with our usual racial hatred? Look to the recent mass murder in Buffalo.

Texas History

Dr. Sofie Herzog: Pride of Brazoria

They should have made a movie about her. They still can....The story of her life as a railroad doctor (and more) and the wonderful old-timey museums in her adopted hometown.

environment

Ungulate Replacement Theory Comes to Texas

The Big Battle in the Big Bend Between Bighorn Sheep and Aoudads

Houston

You See By My Outfit That I'm Not a Cowboy

We watched the bullriders, and I decided against it. I saw what the operator could do to someone they wanted to embarrass. Put your cat in a blender and you'll get the idea.

Texas Politics

Voter Fraud, the Chupacabra and other Texas myths

Fraud? The whole point of the crusade was not to suppress voter fraud but the suppression of voting itself.

national politics

Has the Electoral College Overstayed Its Welcome?

I’m not built to embrace voter apathy, but I increasingly understand it. When a person can be elected president while losing the popular vote, who wouldn’t lose faith in the system?

Houston

A Little Accident of Grace

A reader provides the story behind a very touching Houston memorial.

personal stories

A Southern Sensibility

“Well, James, y’all made good time, then,” she said. “I don’t think you coulda made better time than that.” I swear I saw my father blush. No finer accolade might have been offered.

I Called Her Ma

"He stood at the window of the empty cafe and watched the activities in the square and he said that it was good that God kept the truths of life from the young as they were starting out or else they'd have no heart to start at all." - Cormac McCarthy

Water, Water, Nowhere. And Not a Drop to Drink

Like the guy who forgets his leaky roof when the rain stops, we keep thinking the worst is over. But thanks to climate change, it never will be.

cancel culture

it ain't funny, bein' funny

“Laughter is the only thing that cuts trouble down to a size where you can talk to it.” ― Dan Jenkins

Supreme Court

Dobbs overrules Roe: Welcome to a new America

No American woman under 50 has lived in a country where her choice to have an abortion was not constitutionally-protected. That may all change this summer with the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. And that may be only the beginning.

national politics

There Oughta be a Law Against Unjust Laws

There is something fundamentally wrong about giving any human being a job for life. Every paid human should be subjected to performance reviews ... Maybe the guaranteed gig has made our Court less Supreme.

Houston

Tragedy Averted on Memorial Drive?

For once, Houston took preventative action. No telling how many lives were saved.

Black History

Houston’s Frenchtown: Let’s Not Disregard the Creole Culture

Creole? Cajun? What's the diff? South Louisiana survivors of the 1927 Great Mississippi flood who settled in Houston's 5th ward can tell you.

political communication

Try Our New Fragrance…Freedom, With a Hint of Musk

Elon Musk is the richest man in the world who aims to ultimately send humans to Mars, and now has given them a reason to go.

personal stories

On Grief and Loss

This is what we have. The sheer joy of just living. We might not feel it now. Or like those we know who were lost, maybe we never come to know it. But that joy is what we are given.

Food

On the origins of Chile con Queso

Why do so many people seem to think that chili con queso is some Gringo abomination?

Writing

O, Molly, Where Art Thou?

She was often biting and acerbic, but always conveyed a fondness for her home state and its people: “I dearly love the state of Texas, but I consider that a harmless perversion on my part and discuss it only with consenting adults.”

Writing

Writing and Being

I am compelled to write and express ideas and images and narratives. My friends always saw this as a job. I view it as a joy, though I’d like to earn a bit more in the process.

Travel

Uniquely Made in Texas and the World

I don’t eat a lot of bread these days, but when I treat myself, I want a sourdough made by the hands of an artist, not a slice that made its way from factory to truck to plastic bag.

Texas Politics

Wait, I Thought Excellent Grooming Was a Good Thing?

Teachers are leaving the profession like the stampede in Red River. They're paid the same as a garbage truck driver in Houston. Actually, drivers make as much as $60K a year.