Articles for October, 2009
Rod Dreher on Christianity-Lite in Dallas
Over on Beliefnet, Rod Dreher of the Morning News, delivers a thoughtful post that asks whether watered-down religion is any better than no religion at all:
We’re all super-Jesus-y in the Dallas area, but the impression one is left with is that despite the megachurch religiosity regnant in the ‘burbs, there’s a deep hole people keep trying to fill with stuff, and with the manic pursuit of success …
Is it better to live in a society where Christianity is virtually dead, replaced by secular materialism, or in a society where Christianity has been hollowed out by an emotionally satisfying but largely counterfeit version of the faith?
The question comes in response to the argument that America has a claim to stronger morals based on our higher church attendance and belief-in-God statistics. There’s no simple answer, and I’m glad that Dreher doesn’t pretend to have one.
Autistic Student Gets $364 Ticket For Dropping an F-Bomb in Class
KRLD has the story here. It happened at Richardson’s Westwood Junior High at the end of last year; the teacher told the vice principal, who told the Dallas police officer who works the campus, who gave the kid a ticket. His mom says she’ll fight the $364 ticket, which I guess is why this is coming up now.
I’m of two minds on this: on the one hand, if you’re going to have your kid in a mainstream school, you have to expect there will be bumps along the way. On the other: I think if you’re going to allow autistic kids in your mainstream school, you have to expect there will be bumps along the way. I predict the media attention will get the ticket dismissed, and I don’t think that’s the worst thing in the world.
Scenes From the New Office (One in a Series)
You know who else besides Wick has a corner office (well, cubicle in this case)? Our creative director, Todd Johnson. He’s a high-maintenance guy. Demanded to have a view of Reunion Tower. Don’t know why.
Leading Off (10/15/09)
1. More than 500 students are left without completed driver’s education after four schools suddenly closed. I don’t see what the big deal is. The kids could merely learn to drive like I did: in a tractor attached to a grain cart.
2. I’ve been noticing the different burial grounds around town during this, the month of Halloween. I’ve even thought about taking a tour of some of these grounds. All that is to say that this article about people being taken after prepaying for their funeral arrangements caught my attention. Even though it’s a serious subject, I just couldn’t help but chuckle at this quote.
“I liken a prepaid funeral contract to a bear trap,” said Ed McHam, who teaches a Richland Community College course on funeral planning. “You want to ask a lot of questions before stepping into it. If you’re not careful, it can hurt you.”
I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure I don’t ever want to step into a bear trap. Even after I ask a lot of questions.
3. Talk about being haunted, the fire investigator yesterday accused Rick Perry of “unethical” behavior in the 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham. Perry called Willingham “a monster.” I’m not sure which one scares me most: uneducated drivers, touring cemeteries, or trying to justify this execution.
More Media Love For Craig Watkins
The Dallas County district attorney is named one of 27 “Brave Thinkers” in the November issue of The Atlantic. The whole list is here.
Signs of the Times On Health Care Reform
Demonstrators for and against health care reform are continuing to snarl traffic around Sen. John Cornyn’s office at Spring Valley and the tollway, DallasDirt’s Candy Evans reports. Three cop cars were parked there keeping watch around noon today, Candy says, when the “aginners” outnumbered the “fers” by about 150 to 12. It’s been closer to 50/50 since the demonstrations began several months ago, she adds, but rainy weather has tended to keep the reform proponents away.
Tibetan Monks Play in the Sand at Crow Collection
Because the Arts District is our new neighborhood, I strolled on over to the Crow Collection of Asian Art to take in a little lunchtime culture. The museum has a group of Tibetan Buddhist monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery constructing a mandala throughout this week. Those are millions of grains of sand that the monks are using to construct “the green Tara,” which, one of the monks explained to the 40 or so people gathered for a free noontime talk, is a “deity for accomplishment.”
Through meditation the monks cultivate an energy that they manifest into physical form through the sand, and “that energy has the potential to uproot all sufferings.” He left us with the impression that just viewing the mandala can make a person feel better.
Bomb Suspect’s Brother Ordered Into Federal Custody
Hussein Smadi, 18, is now in federal custody as a material witness in the case against his brother, Hosam. His deportation to Jordan has also, obviously, been stayed. He might have had a chance had he not been so insistent on rocking that bandanna/white sunglasses combo.
Potential New Morning Show Crush: Good Day’s Fiona Gorostiza
I don’t often get to watch local morning shows for a variety of reasons, mostly revolving around sleep and my son’s dictatorial control of the remote. But I have tried to change my routine slightly. For one thing, my pal Rob McCollum is now a co-host for Channel 8’s Good Morning Texas. For another, I’ve discovered the secret weapon of Fox 4’s Good Day program: Fiona Gorostiza. Nominally, she is a fill-in meteorologist, taking over when Evan Andrews is off doing whatever. But she also has her own segment, “Fun with Fiona,” which is what I caught today at the gym. Good times. A quick scouting report:
• Grew up in the Philipines.
• Served as a producer for Robin Leach of Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous.
• Has a third-degree black belt in taekwondo, and holds three world titles.
Robert Murdock, Former Dallas Museum of Art Curator, R.I.P.
Not sure why this is just getting reported now, but Robert Murdock, curator of contemporary and 20th-century art at the Dallas Museum of Art in the 1970s, died October 1 in New York, of complications from cancer. With all the justified hullabaloo surrounding this week’s opening of the AT&T Performing Arts Center, it’s worth taking a moment to remember one of the people who helped solidify the Arts District’s place here.
Leading Off, No. 3, Ctd.
Tim, you’re right to be skeptical about DART’s sudden about-face on the bus deal. To me it’s all about a win-win for Mayor Tom Terrific: If and when he does run for higher office, his green bona fides (as per this arrangement) will be beyond reproach; plus, it won’t hurt for Leppert to have ‘ol deep-pockets Boone in his corner. While I guess it makes sense to support compressed natural gas when the Barnett Shale’s in your backyard, should that be the deciding factor? Besides diesel’s advantage on bus cost, the executive director of the Maryland-based Diesel Technology Forum points out that there’s an “infinitesimal” difference between clean diesel and natural gas in terms of air pollution. Allen Schaeffer also notes the big-time “retrofitting” costs for natural-gas bus systems, and says that 80 percent of new-bus orders nationally are going the clean-diesel route. Then he adds this kicker: Transit decisions in favor of natural gas are inevitably “influenced by ‘deals’ arranged with the gas suppliers … when in many cases the economics are not favorable” for the natural-gas option. Could that have anything to do with DART’s new fuzzy math?
Open Caption Contest: What Is Tim Rogers Doing?
A month or so ago, Tim participated in Vision North Texas, “a dialogue for regional leaders, decision-makers, and stakeholders.” Since Tim is not any of those things, he was on hand to act as a facilitator, which meant he — look, I sort of drifted halfway through his explanation of what he was doing there. Anyway. Robert Rummel-Hudson — who wrote the book Schuyler’s Monster, about his daughter’s battle against apraxia, a disorder that leaves her unable to speak — was on hand, and sent me this photo of Tim doing…something. Caption away in the comments.
"What -- they told me Dirty Charades was appropriate here. No? Is that frowned upon?"
Scenes From the New Office (One in a Series)
Here’s Wick, looking natty in his new office (and impatient with my photo shoot). You’ll notice that he still has some decorating to do. The large mounted fish has yet to find its spot on a wall. You’ll also notice that Wick no longer has a door (that glass panel on the right is all that separates him from the hall). This raises the question of what he’ll slam now when he’s angry.
A Grainy Photo of Tiger Woods at the U2 Concert
A lot of chatter this morning about Tiger Woods being in town for the U2 concert. Apparently he ran some pass patterns for Tony Romo out at Valley Ranch, too. Well, one alert FBvian sat right above Tiger and Romo and Jason Witten at the concert. He snapped this photo. And now you’ve seen it.
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