A number of years ago, I was thinking about going back to school to get an MFA in creative writing. Somehow, I ended up on the phone with Jack Myers, a professor in the English department at SMU. He invited me to lunch to talk about it. We went to St. Pete’s Dancing Marlin and had way too many beers. I only knew him for a short time but I knew he was a great guy, and someone I would be lucky to have as a teacher. But life got in the way, and my plans were forcibly scrapped.
I’ll never get the chance, because Jack passed away peacefully in his sleep on Monday night. He was 67. And he was much, much more accomplished than my little anecdote above. Among many other things, he was named the Poet Laureate for the state of Texas in 2003. Go here to read more.
No, it won’t. But it should. November 25 is the average freeze date for Dallas, which, btw, enjoys a growing season of 267 days (compared to, say, Dalhert, which has only 175, or Dawson, which has 214).
The record high for Dallas was 115 in 1909. The record low was 1 in 1989. Is that an argument against global warming or a matter of statistical insignificance?
I know all this because I am perusing the 2010-2011 edition of the Texas Almanac, once published by A.H. Belo and now published, I see, by the Texas Historical Society.
I tend to agree with Drew Magary over at NBCDFW’s Blue Star Blog:
Okay, if you’re the sort of person participating in this grass roots effort to get a flag hung inside Cowboys Stadium, kindly go find a wall to stare at. Honestly, do you not have anything better to do? It’s a football stadium. It’s not the Alamo. And Cowboys Stadium already exemplifies the three things we Americans hold dear: it’s too big, too expensive, and it will make you fat. THEY ALREADY DISPLAY THE FLAG ON A BOARD THAT’S 60 FREAKIN’ YARDS LONG. Will having a cloth version of that flag really make a difference? No, it will not.
But Jerry Jones might be backing down anyway:
Jones said there was a flag inside Texas Stadium and “we can certainly have that done here.” It’s a bit vague, but it’s also the first time he or Cowboys staff have suggested that might happen.
The Lodge just sent out a release letting everyone know that not only will they be open for business tomorrow, but the establishment will be doing “turkey and undressing.” Gotta love that Michael Precker. But this raises a question: is it possible to visit a topless club on Thanksgiving Day and not be a loser? Follow-up question: come on, really? I mean, what if you did it ironically?
From Uptown Dallas comes the following advisory:
Uptown Dallas, Inc. (UDI) is issuing a safety advisory to residents and visitors in response to a rash of car robberies in and around Uptown in the last two weeks. Some of the robberies have occurred in area business parking lots along McKinney Avenue at night, with the perpetrator robbing victims at gunpoint and forcing them to make ATM withdrawals. UDI and the Dallas Police Department are advising residents to use extraordinary care when traveling after dark and using caution when going to your cars. These basic safety tips should be observed at all times.
Meanwhile, a co-working, Uptown-dwelling FBvian tells me a strange story about something that happened to her car in the dead of night last night. Her car was booted yesterday in downtown (long story, but she’d actually paid the parking fee). As part of the booting, the parking lot company affixed to two of her car windows bright orange stickers detailing what steps she needed to take to liberate her car. Long story short: she drove the car home without taking the stickers off. But someone else took them off for her by the time she woke up. Weird, no?
I’m trying to confirm that the red Rocket Car (which held a land-speed record) led a parade down North Central Expressway in December 1999. Does anyone out there remember that? If so, let me know. There’s no prize involved, just the gratification that you know something Google doesn’t.
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1. The DMN today runs an editorial in support of Complaint Free Wednesday, which “recognizes and reaffirms the meaning of Thanksgiving by asking each person in the United States to use Complaint Free Wednesday to refrain from complaining and prepare for a day of gratitude.” The average person, by the way, complains 15 to 30 times per day.
2. An Arlington lawyer got ahold of an e-mail from a fire official that shows the Cowboys knew they were putting their fans’ safety at risk. The official attendance for the home opener this season was 105,121 people, breaking the NFL regular season record. The Cowboys sold about 30,000 standing-room-only tickets. In the e-mail to the Cowboys, sent 11 days before the game, Don Crowson, an Arlington assistant fire chief, wrote: “This has created a significant public safety and life safety issue for all of us involved in the safety and security of guests attending this game. It is our position that your organization has oversold the allowable number of Standing Room Only tickets by about 15,000.” On the night of the game, security nearly lost control of an angry mob, and some fans with tickets went home without seeing the game. That’s cool with me, man. No biggie.
3. DISD Board candidate for District 3 Bruce Parrott apparently doesn’t know the difference between Texas A&M, the school from which he claimed to have received a degree, and Texas A&M-Commerce, the school from which he actually did receive a degree. Again, that’s fine. No complaints from me.