Opinion & Commentary

You get a lot of sad news here, I know. I might have some good news for a change. Say, might. We must cross our fingers first. We’ve been talking a lot in this space over the last few months about the staggering number of people in the city who…

Um, Mr. Grant? Moment of your time? I ask only one thing. If at all possible, can you get the kid out of this? You are the justifiably proud leader of the effort that brought us our wonderful new deck park over Woodall Rodgers Freeway at the north end of…

The amount of new band names they can spin at you is dizzying…and endearing. And most of all, uplifting. They’re possibly the biggest fans of modern, often-as-yet-uncategorizable new music this side of the Rio Grande. It’s fun to watch to Dallas Distortion Music, aka Matt Vickers and Evan Henry, grow…

So in the end will all of the public school principals and teachers with the worst test scores for minority and poor kids wind up in a big political wet kiss with the Tea Party? Wait, am I naive? Have they always been smoochers? While we spend our time worrying…

Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Ask Fan Landers! Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist, and is the author of The Girls’ Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to…

The response to my article here last week about school reform proves one thing. I’m doing a poor job presenting school reform. The entire issue, in fact, is being framed in the responses to the article as a kind of combination civil rights question and job security dilemma for teachers…

Everybody in school politics always says it’s all about the children. That’s almost never true. If you don’t believe me, you should have been there last night. At a spirited, sometimes cantankerous meeting in the auditorium of James Madison High School in South Dallas, prominent black elected officials, former officials…

The op-ed page of our only local daily newspaper is full of talk today about the national Republican Party’s big overnight discovery and wake-up call: in a document called the “Growth and Opportunity Report” published by the Republican National Committee, Republicans are being informed that they are reviled, feared and…

Every year something happens that nearly prevents me from going to South by Southwest. This year was no different. A professional obligation on Thursday was threatening my travel plans, and I was considering giving it all up, joining in the chorus, of “It’s too crowded,” or whatever and staying in…

Welcome to Alice Column, in which Alice Laussade writes stories about things on (roughly) the same day of (roughly) every week, making it (roughly) a column. Got an idea for a column? Start your own blog and write it up, you lazy shit. Lots of people have lots of questions…

Dear Mexican: I’m living in Mexico part of the year. I’m learning Spanish but can’t say I understand or speak it well. I’m curious about a phrase on a T-shirt in an expensive shop in Puerto Vallarta. It had interesting artwork on it and the phrase “Soy Como la Chingada…

Sure, historic preservation is a great idea, if people could just decide what history to preserve. In a recent decision to make East Dallas homeowners rip out native plants and replace them with sod, the Dallas Landmark Commission has come down solidly on the side of stupid history. The commission…

Photo by Allan Hayslip Known for his sophistication as a DJ, Reid Robinson (a.k.a. Woodtronic) gets groovy, laid back gigs spinning at spots like the Perot Museum and outdoor shows in Dallas Arts District. Not to say he can’t pump (and punk) it up if needed…you can also see him…

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings has scored points in disparate places with his man’s man campaign against woman-beating, from New York Magazine to the metro page of today’s Dallas Morning News — all of it much deserved, if you ask me. A guy like Rawlings, Class of ’76 at Boston College…

Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Ask Fan Landers! Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist, and is the author of The Girls’ Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to…

On the op-ed page of The Dallas Morning News this morning, two local epidemiologists with national/international reputations weigh in for more aerial spraying to combat West Nile disease. Robert Haley, the Gulf War Syndrome expert, and James Luby, an expert on St. Louis encephalitis at UT Southwestern, call for some…

Well thank goodness Friday has finally arrived so we can have a little privacy here on the lawn, without all those damned readers butting in. Normally when they’re around I don’t like to do inside baseball, because, you know, it just makes them get all anxious and nattery. Then that…

Story in The Dallas Morning News this morning touts Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington as the fastest growing metropolitan area in the country between July, 2011, and some unspecified date in 2012. Hold on, Dallas. That’s not us. In fact the sad saga of our own city’s growth, not mentioned in the story,…

Welcome to Alice Column, in which Alice Laussade writes stories about things on (roughly) the same day of (roughly) every week, making it (roughly) a column. Got an idea for a column? Start your own blog and write it up, you lazy shit. Allergies are total assholes. They’re bigger assholes…

Dear Mexican: I would be interested in hearing your point of view regarding our raza always voting for someone with a Latino last name, without even considering if the vato/vata is qualified for a particular office. Often I hear comments like, “If he is Latino, it makes up for all…