In high school, I won a Martin Luther King Jr. essay contest about diversity and was featured—baggy pants, bangs and all—in the local newspaper. I’d forgotten all about it, but when I was home for the holidays I found the old news clipping laminated and posted in my old room…
On the evening of November 13, hundreds of people swarmed Farmers Branch City Hall. The small council chamber quickly reached capacity, and most of those trying to get in were relegated to the lobby. Some jostled for a view of the meeting through the closed glass doors while others watched…
When the dating gets tough, a non-Jewish friend of mine always threatens to go on Jdate.com and bill herself as a Shiksa Goddess. I always tell her it’s a great idea, because there’s no shortage of cute Jewish doctors just waiting for an opportunity to piss off their mothers by…
Christmas is boring in this country. Always the same old tired carols, the fake corporate trees, the insufferable red sweaters with embroidered ornaments. Which is why I try to get the hell out of Dodge this time of year. When I lived in Guatemala, kids spent Christmas Eve lighting what…
It is early one Saturday in November, still dark, and Clark Kirby and his volunteers are on their way to spy on a group of Latino men waiting for a chance to paint, saw, dig or demolish. I’ll be going on this stealth mission too. I just don’t know where…
I’ve never crossed the Caribbean via raft, but I can’t imagine a painting that captures the mood of those fleeing Cuba as well as Rolando Diaz’s “Ahora Que? (What now?).” In it, a man sits in a wooden boat with his head in his hands, and the full moon shines…
Don’t let the name fool you—while it may sound like an apocalyptic Bruce Willis movie with lots of bombs, Light Up the Sky is actually a classic Broadway comedy by Moss Hart. Catch it now in the Black Box Theatre at Collin County Community College, 2800 E. Spring Creek Parkway…
“Life without Jesus is like a doughnut,” says Rob Evans—aka The Donut Man—”’cause there’s a hole in the middle of your heart.” The Donut Man brings his Jesus-themed show for kids to The Heights Baptist Church Sunday for a “Happy Birthday, Jesus” party at 4 p.m. Evans is known for…
Kids’ visits to Santa bring two things to mind: A Christmas Story’s psycho workaholic Santa who dashes Ralphie’s dream of a Red Ryder BB gun, and the long lines of whining kids and bored parents filling the malls at Christmastime. If your child must see Santa, your best bet might…
For most people, Thanksgiving is synonomous with heaping plates of food, awkward political conversations and small talk with Aunt Betty. The only exercise involved is usually getting up for seconds or working the remote control. Not for those intrepid, early-rising Turkey Trotters. If you want to join their ranks, there’s…
In the days before this month’s election, the Dallas County Democratic Party distributed cards with photographs of the county’s five Hispanic judicial candidates and slogans proclaiming, “Yesterday we marched, today we vote!” The Tejano Democrats mailed election reminders to 30,000 Latino households. These were the last efforts of a get-out-the-vote…
If, like me, you have an inexplicable obsession with the colorful and kitschy calaveras of Mexico (you know, the skeleton brides and grooms, the busloads of skeleton passengers and such), you’re in for a treat: Day of the Dead: Migrations in Life will be on display at the Ice House…
Who said the homemaking maven’s status plummeted after her tangle with the law? The press release for Martha Stewart’s November 11 book signing may as well be advertising an impromptu show by a trendy band. Space is limited to the first 300 customers, it says, and pre-purchasing tickets doesn’t guarantee…
Before seeing Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues, it was hard to imagine that a show about sexual oppression and brutality could be funny. But it is, and no matter how many times you see it, the tears and laughter don’t seem to lessen. Who knows how that bodes for the content…
Sima Cheregosha came to Texas from Iran 14 years ago. She knows what it’s like to leave her country behind and make a new home in a strange place. But she has little sympathy for people who come to the United States illegally, and she was one of several immigrants…
On the hot August morning when it all began, Elizabeth Villafranca was sitting in her spacious North Dallas kitchen reading the newspaper when a headline pulled her to the edge of her seat. “Farmers Branch proposal would target illegal immigrants,” it read. “Illegal immigrants are responsible for much of what…
There’s still time to catch Big River at the Granville Arts Center courtesy of the Garland Civic Theatre. The play, based on Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, runs through October 28. But if you miss it, there’s always Dr. Dolittle Wednesday through November 5. Granted, dedicating an evening to a children’s…
It’s that time of year again. Not Halloween, not the long-awaited fall weather or even the opportunity to get schnockered at Oktoberfest. It’s the annual Komen Race for the Cure on Saturday, a chance for veteran racers and novices alike to peel themselves off the couch, get some exercise and…
Sculpture magazine described Richard Stout’s work this way: “The sculptures appear to explore a space of intimate events—in spite of their rhetorical titles, compiled from grand mythological narratives…Ascetic in appearance, cryptic in connotation, yet free-wheeling, they speak a private language of passions and are hard to penetrate, except intuitively.” We…
Last spring, an idea Jesse Garcia had kicked around with colleagues for months suddenly seemed urgent. Controversy was mounting over a U.S. House bill that would make felons of illegal immigrants and those who offered them services, and President Bush was calling for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. As…
Ever have delusions of grandeur about cycling with Lance Armstrong, the sweet Alps air blowing your hair back as you leave the rest of the pack in the dust? You’ll have your chance on Friday. Though in this case Fort Worth is the closest you’ll get to Europe, and Lance…
Stacks of jeans are displayed on a table in the center of Bittano Boutique, a trendy shop located in Mockingbird Station near American Apparel and Urban Outfitters. The store is full of colorful baubles, fashionable dresses and all the hallmarks of today’s designer denim–embroidered back pockets, uneven washes, even some…
