Feedback: January 2, 2026

Win-Win for Dems

Dear Editor,

Is U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s decision to challenge state Rep. James Talarico in the Senate primary another example of Democrats shooting themselves in the foot? It doesn’t have to be.

Crockett’s bid means Talarico will have to spend money in the primary that he could have used to fight the Republican nominee in the general election.

While Crockett’s feistiness will rally her progressive base, it might also motivate Republicans to turn out against her.

But what if the two Democratic candidates, instead of fighting each other, rewrite the playbook by using the primary to incentivize a wide range of voters?

Talarico speaks to Christians disillusioned by the Republican shift away from the church’s traditional teachings toward white Christian nationalism. Since his values mirror Democratic priorities, he appeals to moderate voters in both parties.

Crockett brings an excitement, a willingness to confront that can inspire previously disengaged activists. But this works only if the candidate who loses the primary wholeheartedly campaigns for the winner.

Imagine that, Texas politicians putting the good of the country above their egos. A win for us all.

Barbara Chiarello

Cover Band Cover Rocks

Dear Editor,

Fabulous cover and cover photo of Mock Lobster by David Brendan Hall on the latest issue! [“Beyond Imitation or Flattery, Tribute Bands Make New Live Memories,” Music, Dec. 26.] Congrats!

Marty Lange

Screaming for Vengeance

Dear Editor,

A few notes concerning last week’s cover story (!) about tribute bands [“Beyond Imitation or Flattery, Tribute Bands Make New Live Memories,” Music, Dec. 26]….

Now, this is not to demean any of the bands interviewed, as they all appear competent, and who of us HASN’T been in our own Big Star?

Mostly my gripe is what got left OUT of the story – Jason McMaster’s Judas Priest trib Sad Wings played at the Continental Saturday night. Did McMastford go bald or get a crew cut? Did he ride his Hawg onstage?

Not to mention that Warpony’s second gig ever was at Knomad that same day, and they are THE tribute to all things Rawk.  

Such noninclusive inconsistency proves the fact that you should shut ’er down, boys.

Please cancel my subscription,

Rob Gaines

Quiet Continuity

Dear Editor,

I am writing because there are certain traditions that do not announce their importance at the time. They simply repeat. Quietly. Year after year. And only much later do you realize that they have been doing a kind of work on you all along.

I first attended The Nutcracker as a child in 1996. I was 4 years old. What began as something my mother took me to every December became a ritual that stayed constant while nearly everything else changed. After each performance my mother and I would choose a Nutcracker together. I still have them. They now sit on a shelf as physical proof of repetition. Not repetition as stagnation, but repetition as continuity.

This year I loved the Austin Ballet performance so much that I went twice. The choreography was exacting without being rigid. Joyful without being careless. It honored tradition while remaining fully awake to the present. That balance is difficult to achieve and even more difficult to sustain.

What is striking to me in hindsight is how The Nutcracker has meant different things at different points in my life. As an undergraduate immersed in long novels and philosophical texts that rearrange how you think about time and meaning, works like Middlemarch, Moby Dick, Dante’s Comedy, Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit, Hamlet, and The Odyssey, the ballet felt part of the same moral ecosystem. Not intellectually in a literal sense, but aesthetically and ethically. It was a reminder that discipline, beauty, imagination, and care are not decorative values. They are foundational ones.

Now, living in Austin, what stands out most is the communal dimension. The Nutcracker remains one of the rare experiences where children, parents, grandparents, and everyone in between sit together and give their full attention to the same thing. They experience it differently. They leave with different meanings. But the act of shared attention itself matters. Especially now.

Traditions like this do not endure by accident. They endure because institutions like Austin Ballet treat them with seriousness and generosity. Because artists commit to excellence even when the story is already familiar. Because audiences return.

I am grateful for this work. It has accompanied me for nearly three decades. I hope others begin their own traditions here and discover, years from now, that something they thought was simply seasonal had quietly become essential.

Charlie Lincoln
Austin, Texas