Leading Off (10/5/11)

President Obama Made a Stop in North Texas. Skip to about 1:13 of this video to watch Kimberly Russell, a laid-off DISD social studies teacher, introduce President Obama. Though she was laid off in May and faces a dire job economy, she looks genuinely happy. I like her spunk. Obama spoke about his jobs plan at Eastfield College in Mesquite yesterday. He said his plan would give 280,000 teachers (like Russell) their jobs back.

Rangers Advance to AL Championship Series. I’m going to be honest with you. I haven’t watched a single inning of Rangers baseball since the World Series. I keep meaning to. I’ll mark it on my calendar. I get all my work done. I get my run out of the way. And then, it happens. I realize that—just like Zac—I’m not able to watch it. (But unlike Zac, I do have a TV. I just don’t have cable. But I have a few channels. But I can’t watch them because the TV’s built-in remote doesn’t work, and we lost the original remote. And for some reason, the universal remotes we buy don’t work. So we’re stuck on one channel, which just so happens to be the History Channel. It isn’t the worst channel to be stuck on, but it doesn’t offer sports.) So I keep missing the games. I’m sure I’ll start bandwagoning and watching and rooting soon. But, apparently, I’ll always love the Cowboys more. (Also, I haven’t watched a single snap in a Cowboys game, either. Same reason.)

Young Girl Fights Cancer, Gives Bears. Autumn Swank is 11 years old and is fighting brain cancer. She received a teddy bear in her hospital room one day. She liked the way the gift made her feel, and so she decided to pay it forward. She collects teddy bears and hands them out to kids (and adults) who need them. Check out the story and then help her out by giving her a bear or two.

D Magazine Goes Demure on the Newsstands

I have fielded a few questions about this via email, and it has popped up in the comments on the blog, so I figure it’s time to address what’s happening on the newsstand. This month’s cover story chronicles the sexual relationship between a teacher and student at ESD and the school’s misguided attempts to deal with the problem. As you can see for yourself, our cover headline is “The ESD Sex Scandal.” I’ve heard from several ESD parents who appreciated our coverage of a difficult story. One in particular, a high-profile parent whose name you’d probably recognize, told me he hoped the story would help accelerate needed changes at the school — though he doubted it.

Not every ESD parent, though, felt that way. And at least one woman has made it her mission to get us kicked off as many newsstands (meaning grocery store racks) as she could. Here’s the email she sent around last week:

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Leading Off (10/4/11)

Rick Perry Is Not a Racist. Read this letter to the Morning News from Marlene Denton in Garland, who thinks that the story about the name of the Perry family’s hunting lease is not a story at all. And then look at the comments on that letter. And then despair.

Waxahachie Fire Might Be Toxic. You know about the chemical plant that exploded yesterday in Waxahachie, right? The EPA says the smoke is nothing to worry about. Others aren’t so sure (sub. req.). Just to be safe, you probably ought to breathe sparingly today.

Let’s Go, Rangers! Here’s the lead of John Romano’s column today in the St. Petersburg Times: “Hello hopeless, my old friend. Yes, the Rays are here again.” The game is at 1 o’clock. Plan to get much work done today?