Articles for December 21st, 2009
Open Casting Call: People Newspapers Publisher
Before I found my true calling, on the radio, I had the best job in all of community newspaper-dom: I was the publisher of People Newspapers.
Our group of weeklies, owned by some of the same names that run D Magazine, has routinely been ranked among the absolute best in Texas. I’ve worked at a fair number of small newspapers, I’ve seen hundreds of publications of similar size, and I can tell you that Park Cities People, Preston Hollow People, and Oak Cliff People are as good as it gets. People Newspapers maintains a commitment to quality that’s increasingly rare in the media business. They are fun and intelligent and just plain beautiful to look at, week in and week out.
Doesn’t that sound like a great place to work? Funny you should bring that up.
The woman who took my place at People Newspapers, the talented Jennifer Erwin, will be moving to the D Magazine side of the business, to become our new director of publishing. D is re-orienting back into growth mode (a positive sign for the Dallas economy). So we’ve got an opening. If you’re in need of a job, (more…)
DART Train Meets Car
An art-loving FBvian sends along the below photo with this note:
Looks like a dart train was in an accident at Pearl & Bryan. (Pearl St. Station). The white van was the vehicle in question. Not sure if he hit the train, or vice versa. Handicap van, btw. 30 or so DART folks standing around, struggling to look important.
Update: This comes from DART spokesman Morgan Lyons: “The van made an illegal turn in front of the train. No injuries. Service was disrupted for about 30 minutes.”
Adamson Teacher: Preservationists Are Being Selfish
When I talked with Tammy McLean on Friday, as Adamson High School students prepared for winter break and the news broke that DISD already had a demolition permit for part of the school’s new home, the journalism teacher and AP coordinator brought up a simple but unignorable point: (more…)
The Money-Losing State Fair of Texas
For this month’s print edition of FrontBurner (which is amazing, btw), I propose that the State Fair be booted from Fair Park. The park’s very valuable 277 acres will never be developed into a year-round amusement and entertainment zone for Dallas unless the obstacle created by the Fair’s three-month set-up, opening, and take-down is removed.
My argument has nothing to do with the financial situation of the State Fair. However, in the course of conversations with civic leaders, I found that the State Fair is universally regarded as a big money maker. This is an impression that its president, Errol McCoy, tries mightily to foster. But the fact is, the State Fair is a money-loser and has been for some time.
Maybe the CueCat Was Just Too Ahead of its Time
The December cover of Esquire shows Robert Downey Jr. sitting on a little black box. Hold the magazine cover up to your webcam, and that black box will trigger additional features to load onto your computer. Sure sounds like last decade’s infamous CueCat experiment. And while the jury is out on whether this idea will catch on where CueCat did not, Susan Krashinsky writes in the Globe and Mail that it is only the latest of a number of digital ideas magazine publishers are testing to try to reinvent their content. So how long until D Magazine looks like this?
Programming Note: Magazine People to Cough on KERA
Today at 1, Zac, Jason, and I will get to spend some quality time with Krys Boyd in the studio, for the second hour of Think. We’ll be chatting about the January issue, aka our 35th anniversary issue. But we’ll also be coughing. From what I can tell, Jason appears healthy. But Zac and I are both getting over a respiratory bug that Krista infected us with. I think in medical terms, we have what’s termed a “productive cough.” There’s a joke here to make about being phlegmatic. I’ll try to have it worked out by the time we go on the air. (P.S. We were a last-minute replacement for a guest that canceled. We’ll try not to let that affect our interview.)
Texas Bars Atheists From Public Office
The Lubbock Avalanche Journal reminds us that the Texas Constitution bars atheists from holding public office. It’s never really been used to keep someone out of office, nor is it likely that any court would uphold it.
But the reason that the law professors give for why it’s still on the books — that the legislature doesn’t want to waste any time on it — doesn’t seem much of an excuse. We’re not talking about the U.S. Constitution, which has been amended only 27 times in 220 years. The Texas Constitution has been amended more than 450 times in just 133 years. It’s not some sacred text that we only rarely change.
Which, come to think it, again raises the question, if our constitution is so narrowly written that it requires our government to constantly make amendments, maybe we need a wholesale rewrite?
It’s An Old-Fashioned Christmas in Highland Park
Growing up on a Panhandle farm during the Depression, my mom used to say, she and her siblings would be ecstatic to find an orange in their stockings Christmas morning. It’s not exactly fruit time yet in Highland Park, but,according to Harry Yianitsas of Deno’s shoe repair there, inconspicuous consumption is the watchword this season.
Harry tells about a guy who took a $60,000 necklace from a local jeweler home to his wife, who promptly told him to return it because, even though they could afford it, hanging 60 grand around her neck wouldn’t be appropriate given the still-struggling economy. Harry’s also seeing men bring in expensive shoes–including one suede pair costing $800–that have been intentionally roughed up to make them look old.
Three years ago, I gave my better half a $2,000 pair of boots from Neiman’s for Christmas; this year, we’ve agreed to give each other next to nothing. Sure hope she likes oranges.
North Texas: Not as Bloodthirsty as We Were
Nite Davis, owner of the now-defunct X-treme Championship Wrestling, waxes poetic about the close of his Denton County show:
“Wrestling is not what it was. The heart is missing, and the atmosphere has changed,” Davis said. “There are not enough bloodthirsty fans or bloodthirsty guys [wrestlers]. … The bland factor is disheartening.”
Rod Dreher’s Dallas Digs Look Kind of Crunchy
Yesterday the Dallas Morning News/Beliefnet blogger published his last Dallas column. But when I first heard Rod was leaving Big D, here’s all I wanted to know: who’s listing it, and how much?
Leading Off (12/21/2009)
1. Do you like golf? How about alcohol? Are you a good manager? Do you appreciate rubbing shoulders with city officials? Would you like to own stuff with them? If you’ve answered yes to any of those questions, you should talk to Ronny Glanton about how to become him. He’s one of the owners of Sherrill Park Municipal Golf Club, friend to many City Council folks, golf pro, and president of Ronny Glanton Inc., which is responsible for alcohol sales at the club. Critics say there’s a lot of funny business going on at that place. I say, there’s nothing funny about earning $300K. Or maybe there is. Ask Glanton.
2. Who knew Rockwall County was such a hotbed for political discourse? Okay, maybe a lot of people know that. The DMN says it has some of the “most ardent Tea Party patriots” in the area. (What does that mean, exactly? They listen the hardest to Glenn Beck? But I digress.) Local businessman Ken Sterling has his own way of furthering the conversation about what’s going on in Washington–he’s now offering a Nobel Peace Prize free with any oil change. Auto center manager Cliff Payne has the best quote of the day: “People over 35 notice it more than younger people. I think they understand it better.”
3. Sometimes you’re at a moral crossroads. You don’t know if you should open a golf club with some of your pals from City Council and fudge the rules on selling booze. Maybe you want to get an oil change at a certain place–the price is really, really good–but you’re not old enough to really appreciate the political satire happening in the establishment. Life is hard. You know who can help? WFAA Channel 8’s John McCaa. It makes me happy.
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