Archive Search Results
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Feature
The Ex-Con Game
How do we deal with the staggering number of prisoners re-entering society? Ned Rollo thinks he knows. He should. He's been there.
By Mark Donald
Published: August 1, 2002
He grew anxious as he approached a customs official at the Ottawa airport, declaring that he had lost his fanny pack, which contained his drivers license and all his cash. It...
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News
Coming of Age
Sheriff's office busted for age discrimination
By Mark Donald
Published: July 11, 2002
Tom Gilley had been through it before: the termination, the humiliation, the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach that something just wasn't right. At 52, he was fired as...
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Feature
The Dog Whisperer
Susan Blatz uses a kinder, gentler method to train dogs and the people who own them. Or is that the other way around?
By Mark Donald
Published: June 6, 2002
It's not as though we didn't already have the two most challenging kids in the world. Max is 5, a Harry Potter clone; he's an exhausting, whirling dervish of a child, a...
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News
Mad TV
The race for governor gets dirty fast
By Mark Donald
Published: June 6, 2002
The TV ad hits hard and fast, like some upstart boxer who had better score early and often: "Do you think electric bills in Dallas-Fort Worth are too high?" asks a narrator...
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News
Inhale With Hale
Itinerant pro-pot candidate Steven Hale is down again, but not out
By Mark Donald
Published: May 16, 2002
You'd almost have to be stoned to mix pot and politics, particularly if you were running for prosecuting attorney. If elected, it would be your job to uphold the very law you...
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Feature
Dirty or Duped?
Who's to blame for the fake-drug scandal rocking Dallas police? Virtually everyone.
By Mark Donald
Published: May 2, 2002
Almost without warning, she bursts into a flash flood of tears. All it takes is for you to gently scratch the surface of her memory of the time she spent behind bars for a...
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Feature
The Next Breast Thing
Build a better fake boob, and women will beat a path to your door, along with the occasional lawsuit
By Mark Donald
Published: February 14, 2002
They are known by many names, some of which are endearing, silly or downright demeaning, none of which adequately describes our cultural obsession with them. We call them boobs...
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News
Radio Haze
Rick Day's plans for a pro-pot radio show evaporate
By Mark Donald
Published: January 24, 2002
Rick Day has dedicated his life to two causes: marijuana and barbecued beef. Although he has smoked both--the latter as an award-winning caterer, the former as a die-hard...
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Stage
What Didn't Happen
Note to Gertrude Stein: We like a little drama with our drama
By Mark Donald
Published: January 17, 2002
Call me conventional, call me coarse, call me crazy, but I prefer my drama, oh, I don't know, dramatic. Give me a plot with a narrative structure that makes me eager to...
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Stage
Christmas Cash Cow
Theatre Three whips up a delicious holiday trifle, even if it's mostly empty calories
By Mark Donald
Published: December 20, 2001
'Tis the season to roll out the proverbial cash cows of Christmas--those obligatory feel-good productions, given a tragic twist perhaps or a comic shakedown, but ultimately...
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News
War and Peace
John WorldPeace thinks he can take the governor's office, one poison phone call at a time
By Mark Donald
Published: December 13, 2001
You've come home from work--late as usual. Dinner is done; your wife is frustrated; the kids are out of control. It's time to get them to bed, but they haven't even been fed. ...
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Feature
Tortured Souls
Horribly abused children of the Hare Krishna movement seek justice--and peace--through a multimillion-dollar lawsuit
By Mark Donald
Published: December 6, 2001
Two women stand warily by a chain-link fence in old East Dallas, peering over their past, searching their fragile memories for landmarks of the abuse they suffered as children...
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Stage
Fractured Fairy Tale
Reckless' helter-skelter heroine searches for the meaning of Christmas--and life
By Mark Donald
Published: November 22, 2001
Even the most hardened of humbuggers among us has trouble grumbling at full-Grinch when confronted each holiday TV season with the holy trinity of Christmas fables. By these, I...
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Stage
Problem Grandchild
Over the River and Through the Woods charms like an Italian crooner
By Mark Donald
Published: November 8, 2001
Nick Cristano has a problem, and I'm having trouble figuring out why. As the central character in Theatre Three's box office hit, Over the River and Through the Woods, Nick is...
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Stage
Stop the Press
Poor pacing and a puzzling lead wrinkle The Front Page
By Mark Donald
Published: November 1, 2001
It's hard to cop to this, but here goes: As the lights rise over the masterfully crafted set of The Front Page at the Dallas Theater Center, I am already prejudiced against the...
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Stage
Life in Pictures
Some Explicit Polaroids offers up snaps of the self-absorbed
By Mark Donald
Published: October 18, 2001
It's 1999, the end of history as we know it, with the Cold War over and the Western World infatuated with its own narcissistic reflection as it gazes into its navel and can't...
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News
Wheel of Justice
Dallas judges struggle to find a fair way to appoint lawyers for the poor
By Mark Donald
Published: October 18, 2001
Come January 1, one of the perks of being a state criminal judge may be legislated out of existence. No longer would judges have the unfettered discretion to appoint lawyers...
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Feature
Deadbeating the System
Eight years ago, Kim Sullivan turned to the state for help collecting overdue child support. She's still waiting.
By Mark Donald
Published: October 11, 2001
So what if he had been served with papers, ordered to appear in court or risk getting thrown in jail. No way Kim Sullivan was getting her hopes up until she saw him walking...
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Stage
Golden Goose
A bit overlong for kids, HONK! nevertheless soars
By Mark Donald
Published: October 11, 2001
There are two fundamental rules that must remain inviolate for my 4-year-old, Max, to enjoy children's theater. First, never allow larger-than-life animal characters to frolic...
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News
We Never Close
Or so say the proponents of 24-hour child care. The facts say otherwise.
By Mark Donald
Published: August 30, 2001
It had all the makings of a trend. The new global economy--the one driven by the Internet, e-commerce and multinational corporations, the one that keeps three shifts running...
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