When you grow up in a Southern church, you learn how things are done. And how they’re not done. Some kids learn early. Some kids never get it. Bethel Missionary Baptist Church was a small, white frame structure. Like many churches of mid-20th Century America, it was...
Some days are just lucky ones. Such was the day I found a half-century old console stereo at an estate sale. It isn’t exactly like the one my parents had, but it’s sure close. Today, people stick in an earbud and listen to an endless supply of music on their phone via...
I am not sure what I expected our country to look like in 2021, but I certainly did not expect it to be so fractured and so bogged down in hate. My oldest son was a year old on September 11, 2001. The wave of patriotism following that day gave me hope for the America...
They say that nothing is certain in life except death and taxes. While those two certainties are undeniable, we need to make sure that family-owned businesses, including farms and ranches, aren’t taxed to death. Texas boasts more than 248,000 farming and ranching...
The Local Journalism Sustainability Act (LJSA) was recently introduced in the House and has now been introduced in the Senate – and will benefit every member of this community! Unlike many issues in Washington, this legislation has bipartisan support and is focused...
No matter how hard we try, we really can’t avoid one another. We live in a world where what takes place somewhere else on the globe has a very good chance of affecting us, along with many others. The pandemic, of course, is a useful – if sobering – example. A virus...
The aftermath of sexual assault is painful and complicated to navigate. For the 6.3 million Texans who have experienced some form of sexual assault—33.2% of women and men—the experience comes with complex emotional, psychological and sociological repercussions....
A Texas Senate committee on Friday passed an elections bill that would tighten the state’s voting rules by limiting extended early voting hours, requiring proof of disability to qualify for mail-in voting and prohibiting drive-thru voting. Senate Bill 7, sponsored...
With state lawmakers immersed in the COVID-19 pandemic response and Texas’ electricity failures, the public’s access to information must be at the forefront of the Legislature’s actions. Information allows citizens to watch over their government, to speak out and to...
