Tonight the shoes of Bishop T.D. Jakes are a three-toned reptilian affair. They are dark gray around the sides and white on top; their laces are speckled prominently with red. Jakes himself is a big man, tall and wide, with a booming voice and perspiring presence that is vibrating through…
The Center for Texas Studies at the University of North Texas has been a sort of literary clearinghouse for all things Texan. If you have a story about the evolution of the cowboy boot, or a poem about life, chances are the center has a publication to fit it. For…
“I hate bigotry. I hate racism. I hate sexism. I hate classism. When I confront people with those ideas, I am ready for battle.”mmm So says Clarence Glover, the new man at the Dallas Independent School District, hired six months ago to craft a more understanding racial climate for Dallas…
Cassandra Lee Dean says she isn’t looking to bring anyone down or ruin anyone’s life. All she wants to do is make the man who fathered her child acknowledge his daughter. Especially since that man has become a celebrated symbol of paternal responsibility. Dean, 26, received a default judgment in…
A year ago, Clara Miles lay in her bed in a gray hospital room, a dreaded place filled with bottles that led to tubes that led to needles that led to her arms, where they threaded into tired veins. She had lost everything–her health, her money, and Clara’s Kitchen, the…
Disillusionment has replaced dreams for many African-American parents who had hoped to send their children to an innovative private school promoted by a Milwaukee man. Some parents have told the Dallas Observer they no longer want to put their children into the school–which, outside of a leased, vacant school building,…
It was a dream of such irresistible appeal–so simple, so timely, so full of promise–it was amazing someone hadn’t dreamed it before. Why–the dreamer asked–should white children alone possess all the educational advantages, with an array of elite private schools designed to cater almost exclusively to their needs? Why couldn’t…
Is the black man worth loving?” The question hung over the crowd gathered in the pews of Jubilee United Methodist Church on a recent Friday night, a promise and a paradox. To each of the 125 African-American men and women, the answer was obvious. Yet here was Robert Ashley, well-known…
It began with the battle of the big men–a bloody scrap they’d still be talking about months later. In one corner was David “Tank” Abbott. A 280-pound 6-footer, Abbott looked the part of the classic barroom brawler–big, with an enormous beer belly, buzz-cut hair, and no discernible neck. His martial…
Whitewright, Texas, appears to be an uncontroversial place. It is what it is: a former railroad town, whose main industry now is the Carl’s Sausage plant on Bond Street. Grand Street is lined with shops, city hall, the library, and the police department. The side streets of this town 60…
