Opinion & Commentary

Dear Mexican: I need some advice. My wife (who’s a half-Mexican L.A. native, just so you don’t think we’re a couple of white hipster dickheads) and myself (who’s white, but an immigrant, so I hope that lowers my dickhead factor) have had it up to our orejas with our Hispanic…

This is the first holiday season I can remember in which people stood around the Yule log talking about the country going off a cliff. No, wait. That’s not the big part. The big part is that some of the people standing around the Yule log want the country try…

For three years now, Annette Marin’s been a mover and shaker at Spune Productions, alongside Lance Yocom, and had a hand in this year’s Index Fest and Untapped Festival. In 2013, she’s helping ready new releases from Air Review and Datahowler. As a student, Marin set out to pursue a…

Somewhere somehow we just got on the wrong track, folks. All these issues like the public schools, crime, unemployment: We’re still trying to rearrange the furniture when the house is already on fire. For example, as I said here yesterday, that bright shiny new superintendent of schools we just hired…

OK, it’s almost here. Time to slip into that annual existential crisis and wonder just WHERE IS YOUR LIFE GOING? Look, there is no real answer to that question. Also, you can totally contribute to where your life is going. But before we swim through the waters of your put-off…

I used to have a neighbor who would refer to me as Night Queen. Sitting outside on a shared porch area, he’d see me arrive home after work, settle into my place for dinner or some such activity, and emerge hours later to go see what everyone was up to…

Dear Mexican: Many of my friends think I’m loco for playing with my dad the way I do. See, mi padre is retired and living in Mexico and is worried that I am now 30 and not married, so he wants me to go back to where he lives to…

Last week when the Dallas City Council was deciding whether to donate public land for a private golf course venture in southern Dallas, I listened hard to council member Tennell Atkins. It’s easy for me to get dismissive about what I hear from Atkins sometimes. Maybe I need to listen…

Los Angeles Times political columnist and cartoonist David Horsey, a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, authored a column and cartoon yesterday arguing that, “… there are way too many oddballs among us with violence on their minds and guns within reach.” I get the second part, about the guns. I’m…

Alright, believe it or not, this is a question, not a diatribe. I really do want to know. What is the downside of a ban on high-capacity ammo clips? First I should ask: Do you think high-capacity clips are a significant factor in gun slaughters? It seems to me they…

Eric Landrum has sacrificed a lot as a music fan working in radio promotions, but what’s really kept him on the clock is his passion. No matter what kind of laminate or credentials Landrum has scored over the years working live broadcasts at concerts or meet-and-greets with national touring artists,…

I am not calling names. If anything, I feel a certain admiration. The sheer audacity impresses me. And I do not know that it’s an all-bad thing. I just wonder if this can really work. This morning The Dallas Morning News, our city’s only daily newspaper, has a piece on…

Here we are. Halfway through December. Are you doing okay? Are you sick to death of the Christmas carols yet? I still haven’t gotten to do one of those gift exchanges where you get to steal your favorite gift; I think I am going to hold on to my holiday…

Time to read the tea leaves. Avi Selk at The Dallas Morning News is report-tweeting this morning that the Irving City Council has slapped its mayor by voting to pay transportation consultant David Dean all of the two hundred grand he billed the city after his contract with the city…

Damn. Now I’m all in a twist. There are three separate stories in The New York Times today dealing directly or indirectly with my people. White people. I think I need some kind of a do-over on that whole “my people” question. Let me explain. First there’s a story quoting…

Dear Readers: Behold your favorite Mexican’s annual Christmas gift guide, where I give shout-outs to some of my favorite books that deserve your money this holiday season! And for once, I won’t recommend my books — ¡Ask a Mexican!, Orange County: A Personal History and Taco USA: How Mexican Food…

The concept of the cargo cult was invented by white anthropologists to explain the behavior of black Pacific Islanders. We shouldn’t be surprised if the concept came out making rich Europeans seem smarter than indigenous islanders. To the anthropologist belong the spoils, you know. But cargo cults really exist. They’re…

Lots of people have nightmares. I do. So what? I’ve never covered that up. I told you about the one in which I work for The Dallas Morning News and I have to go in every day and write positive stories about the Perot family. See also: – OK, We…

The cops still aren’t counting the cash drawer. Unbelievable. A decade after Dallas Police got caught running a massive scam out of their cash accounts, deliberately framing innocent people on fake drug charges in order to manipulate payments to fake informants, the Dallas city auditor has reported that the narcotics…

Jessica Martinez has been running a Facebook fan page called Dallas Music for close to two years. She’s kept it simple and reliable, posting local music content and gigs, and she’s let her fandom for our artists shine through, something reflected in her some 2,600 followers. They’ve covered hundreds of…

Naughty or nice, it’s time to finalize our Christmas wishes and overnight them to Santa, for those (like me) who have procrastinated. With the recent announcement that Neiman Marcus is allowing adults to crawl through those magical interactive holiday windows on Thursday evenings, for a $20 suggested donation to the…