Social and Behavioral Sciences

Texas is Last in High School Graduation, First in Hazardous Waste, and Other Depressing Tidbits from a New Legislative Report

The Texas Legislative Study Group is a caucus of around 50 Democratic representatives from the Texas House, and they're real buzzkills. The LSG keeps a full-time staff of policy analysts around, who almost every year since 2003 have released a report called "Texas on the Brink," detailing all the mo ... More >>

Legislature's Step Backward on School Testing Makes Us Like France, Only Racist

When I was the adolescent son of a family of modest means in a factory town in Michigan, I won a scholarship to study French by living for a summer with a French working class family. It had some to do with my being a damned good French student, some to do with my father's church connections and a w ... More >>

Boomtown Rats: Why is Dallas Being Left out of Region's Growth? Ask Our Leaders.

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, ... More >>

Texas Dominates Forbes' List of Fastest Growing Cities Thanks to "Robust" Economic Growth

Every year, Forbes puts out a list. More accurately, the magazine puts out about a gazillion lists with varying degrees of credibility, one of which ranks the fastest growing cities in the nation. This year's results are in, and Texas managed to nab gold, silver and bronze, sweeping the top three s ... More >>

Reality Check: Mexican Immigrants Aren't Breeding Like Bunnies

Why Again Would a Golf Course Bring Wealth to Southern Dallas?

Breaking down the Morning News' cargo-cult approach to economic development.

Why do Americans Whine So Much?

Cities Are Now Growing Faster Than Suburbs -- Except in Dallas, Of Course

When the U.S. Census Bureau released figures Thursday estimating cities' growth between 2010 and 2011, the big news locally was that eight of the 15 fastest growing cities are in Texas and, of those, five -- Plano, McKinney, Frisco, Denton, Carrollton -- are in our corner of the state. The big new ... More >>

A Dangerous Method: What Do Men Want?

Cronenberg analyzes 20th century madness.

Audra Schroeder, Alt-Weekly Vet and Jock Jams Enthusiast, Named Dallas Observer Music Editor

Earlier today, when she formally accepted our offer to become the Observer's next music editor, Audra Schroeder included in her email the above video, along with this message: "Feel free to blast this in the office to get people ready. I'll work on somersaults/tear-away pants." I wish that was al ... More >>

Census Report on Transit Use Puts Dallas Area Near the Bottom of List. DART Explains Why.

​The Census Bureau released a lot of data this morning, including the 2010 American Community Survey Single Year Estimates; we'll get to that once we look over the charts and graphs -- fun! But among the docs dumped is Commuting in the United States: 2009, which says, among other things, it takes ... More >>

The Art of Blackness

Once Back in the Pack, Dallas Now the Top Destination for "Young People" After Austin

​There was a piece in this morning's New York Times about how Austin's now the top destination for the young American, all right. So notes Brookings Institution demographer William Frey, who adds Dallas to the list of Top Five destinations for the highly coveted 25-to-34-year-old. Only a few years ... More >>

Where Was The Census Question That Asked If You Wanted Plastic Surgery On Your Butt?

​Maybe the reason so many people avoided the census workers coming to their doors was because they didn't want to tell strangers about self-esteem issues related to the appearance of their own asses -- a question I must have missed when I filled out the paper version. I'm not sure how else the est ... More >>

News & Notes: Hooray for the Ever-Expanding Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Blockbuster Keeps NYSE Listing and American's "YADA" Yada

U.S. Census Bureau​A little light lunchtime reading ...To begin with, the U.S. Census Bureau released its population estimates today, and, as usual, Texas -- and the DFWA (as in, Arlington) -- fared bestest in all the land. "Star of the Sun Belt," says here. And that means you, Frisco and McKinney ... More >>

Sweetgrass: Anthropomorphized Sheep Need Not Apply

You can count on the government to screw up anything when it comes to Mexicans

So Far, Dallas (And Much of Texas) Hasn't Been Very Good About Sending in Census

​Today, Census Bureau Director Robert Groves sent out a press release urging Texans to send back their 2010 Census forms. Because, according to the numbers, most of the state's major cities are lagging well behind the national average of a 46-percent return rate. Brownsville (at 25 percent) ranks ... More >>

Beaten to Neo-Pulp: The Bad Juju of Dallas Noir Writer Jonathan Woods

Bad Juju & Other Tales of Madness and Mayhem - book trailer from Bad Juju and Other Tales on Vimeo.I came across the above video this morning. I know well one of its makers (our pal Hal Samples), but not its neo-noir star: Jonathan Woods, a peddler of crime fiction loaded with "violence, sex, an ... More >>

Oh, Sure, Gabachos Loved Amnesty When It Was Applied To Confederates, But Not Mexicans

It's Science: Ninety-Nine Percent of Texas Science Professors Surveyed Don't Believe in Intelligent Design

Moments ago, the Texas Freedom Network posted to its Web site a study conducted by Dr. Raymond Eve, a professor of sociology and anthropology at the University of Texas at Arlington, titled Evolution, Creationism & Public Schools: Surveying What Texas Scientists Think about Educating Our Kids in the ... More >>

Poison From the Past

Bust out the Aqua-Net and head to Billy Bob's

Elephant Talk: The World's Foremost Authority on the Subject Weighs In

Culture Wars

The Modern screens a thought-provoker

Uncle Milty Gets Down with Dallas Fed

Institutional Change

The Toadies

Saturday, March 17, at the St. Patrick's Day concert in Energy Square

The Dark Side of Nokia

See some lasers in Grand Prairie

Bible Girl: The Thanksgiving Edition

Bull@$#*%

The latest What the Bleep!? is as irresponsible as the first

Horse Sense

Play horse mind games with the Parelli Natural Horsemanship seminar

Time Out of Mind

The epic sweep of Timeline is easily forgotten

Best Amateur Musical Theater

Woodrow Wilson High School

Best Toy Store

Zeus Comics and Collectibles

Death Visits the Kimbell

The Quest keeps the cash registers ringing

Dig This

Amateur archeologist Alex Troup has some advice for those who would bring life back to downtown Dallas: The answers are under your feet.

Fear Factor

In the woods of New York lives a creepy (or is it?) Wendigo

Out of Mind, Out of Sight

For a growing number of Texas kids with mental illnesses, the only place to get help is behind bars.

Best Place for a Mystery Fix

Texas Mystery Readers, Borders

Over the Line

A GOP state redistricting plan targets a longtime Democrat and others

Rock of Ages

Archeology in Rockwall

Cult of Madness

Seeking help for depression, Martha Hurt turned to therapists. That's when her insanity truly began.

Monkey don't

Instinct offers gorillas in the midst of one mediocre movie

While you're at it

Lady of mystery

The statue doesn't look like a traditional Our Lady of Guadalupe, but its appearance is just the start of the puzzle

Events for the week

Mr. Passion

Meet Dallas literary agent Evan Fogelman, the brains behind the bodice-rippers

Letters

Soul Power

The city's future is in the hooves of a winged horse--and in the New Age musings of the Dallas Institute of Humanities.

Guess who's coming to dinner

An audit and an auction bring UTA president and critics to the table