Ten years ago, former Dallas Observer contributor Julia Barton wrote on Salon about the giant ball of flaming space rock that destroyed Dallas -- c'mon, you don't remember NBC's Asteroid? On Saturday, on American Public Media's nationally broadcast Weekend America, she was back at it again -- only, the meteor had been replaced by (what else?) a high-speed toll road along the Trinity River's levees.
And it's a solid, thoughtful public-radio piece from a journalist who grew up in Dallas and is probably as conflicted about tomorrow's vote as most locals who don't spend every waking hour posting to blogs: "One side wants a quiet place to go and look at the river, and feel a little peace," she says after her day trekking down the trinity with guide Charles Allen. "The other side wants a canal for cars and trucks to escape gridlock downtown, and feel a little peace." Peace? Sure, but where's the fun in that? --Robert Wilonsky
