Welfare Warfare
In 1995 the Texas Legislature passed House Bill 1863 — a manifesto for privatizing and consolidating welfare and employment services in Texas. HB1863 was heralded as a millennial move towards restructuring social service programs under one “super agency” — the Texas Workforce Commission. As such, the TWC oversees 28 local workforce development boards across the…
Postscripts
Share and Share Alike Tom Grimes, SWT’s director of the M.F.A. and creative writing programs, finds himself sharing Hyperion editor Leigh Haber with Karen Stolz, who currently teaches rhetoric at St. Ed’s and literature at ACC. That’s good news for Stolz because Haber told Grimes that she came up with the idea for the book…
The Party Line
The geographic breakdown includes the entire county — except, of course, in the city races. The city races also include four Williamson County boxes (some combining more than one precinct) in the “Northwest” column. The bulk of out-of-town boxes are to be found in the North/Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest areas. Turnout figures for the city…
About AIDS
“Why don’t we just make some more T-4 cells and replace the ones that have been killed by HIV?” This is a frequent question from audience members when I explain that AIDS is primarily the result of HIV’s having destroyed too many T4 (or CD4) cells, a critical immune system manager. Unfortunately, I must answer,…
Ballot Box Battle
Ultimately, someone had to state the obvious — that in an election this rancorous, the only real solution would be for the station to hire an outside group to conduct it, which Odekirk proposed to the board at the Monday meeting. The election committee was supposedly made up of two representatives of the trustees, two…
Coach’s Corner
The Ozark Plateau is an upland region of the south central United States, extending from southwest Missouri across Arkansas. There are any number of spots in America which classify as being in the middle of nowhere. This is surely one of them. Hundreds of miles southwest of St. Louis, hundreds of miles southeast of Kansas…
Naked City
Austin’s $712 million bond package was only a small sliver of the nearly $25 billion in tax-supported debt approved by U.S. voters on Nov. 3. This makes 1998 the biggest year for bonds in American political history … He can’t get a break: A week after getting waxed in his political comeback bid, former Attorney…
Day Trips
by Gerald E. McLeod The historical museum in Belton details many of the contributions Bell County has made to the state and the country. photograph by Gerald E. McLeod The Bell County Museum in Belton presents an interesting and informative look at the history of Central Texas. The centerpiece of the exhibition is the Miriam…
Corporate Welfare?
Thanks to provisions in the federal Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA), companies like SER who operate local workforce centers are in the business of serving not only the economically disadvantaged but large corporate clients as well. That’s because the JTPA obligates the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) to “make appropriate retraining and basic readjustment services available…
Page Two
One of the many great scenes in Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane has Joseph Cotton’s character confronting Welles’ Kane after he’s lost the election for governor. Cotton points out that Kane is always talking about giving the people what they want. Kane’s problem, Cotton asserts, is the people are beginning to talk for themselves and it…
More Toons
The “Twinkles” dilemma solved for reader Craig C., “TVEye” now turns its attention to the outpouring of e-mail requesting information on other “lost” cartoons. (Thank you to Kim C. and everyone who sent me the words to the Tennessee Tuxedo theme song. The music editor is bitter.) Here’s something else you curious folks need to…
Public Notice
For some, life on the streets is a choice. For others, it is a way of life offering little in the way of a way out. Either way, the only “cure” to whatever societal problems homelessness reflects or creates is compassion. Empathy wouldn’t hurt either. Then there’s the old stand-by: respect. This week, Hunger &…
Articulations
Cultural Affairs Update The city’s delay in finding a new Director of Cultural Affairs to replace departed director Jack Anderson (“Whither Cultural Affairs?” Articulations, Vol.18, No.10) may not be owing to municipal indifference, after all. Instead, it looks to be a chess-like pre-emptive strike designed to keep the position from being filled without due consideration…
Polytheism in the Raw
Gods sometimes showup without warning. Religions long-dead return in disguise. For nearly a century America has been dominated by an ancient religion that leapt through our technology into our eyes to subjugate that worn-thin god whose expression on the cross hadn’t changed for 2,000 years. illustration by Jason Stout In 1903, a film called The…
Exhibitionism
STACKING CHAIRS: IMPROMPTU SHOW Parking lot of Mother’s Cafe, October 25 “Only in Austin,” said a man watching from the bus stop on the other side of Duval. Perhaps. Austin, or New York, or Paris, or San Francisco. But true enough that Dan Lovell’s posture-less Sunday brunch performance in the parking lot of Mother’s Cafe…
Heart of the Orient
My Thanh photograph by John Anderson This may be a bit of a stretch, but stay with me here … Austin has its own little China/VietnameseTown, loosely centered at the intersection of North Lamar and Highway 183. Within a one-mile radius of this crossroads, the raw ingredients or prepared foods for an Oriental dinner party,…
Celebrating Beaujolais Nouveau
Across the Atlantic, in some small village in the Beaujolais region of France, wine producer and marketing genius Georges Duboeuf is surely toasting the coming release of this year’s bottling of Beaujolais Nouveau. One minute past midnight on Thursday, November 19, these light-red, often effervescent wines will be carted out of wineries in Beaujolais and…
Food-O-File
Beginning this week, we’re expanding our cuisine coverage to include more information on beer and wines plus regular reviews of books for cooks, everything from literary food writing to culinary fiction to the hottest new cookbook titles. In addition to our regular food writers, we’ve recruited some new voices: Asian food aficionado Mick Vann will…
Map of the Area
1 My Thanh Oriental Market 7601 N. Lamar, 454-4804 Mon-Thu: 9:30am-9pm; Fri-Sun: 9am-9pm Kim Phung Vietnamese Restaurant 7601 N. Lamar, 451-2464 Daily: 10:30am-9pm 2 Buffet Palace 1012 W. Anderson, 458-2999 Mon-Thu: 11am-9:30pm Fri-Sat: 11am-10pm Sun: 11:30am-9:30pm 3 888 Vietnamese Restaurant 911 W. Anderson, 302-5433 Daily: 10am-10pm 4 Madina Market 8120 Research, 454-7240 5 Saigon Market…
Writing About Humans
Against a backdrop of images of such disparate female luminaries as Marlene Dietrich and Frida Kahlo, an esteemed group of biographers, editors, and historians spent two days in Austin last week discussing their various experiences with the complexities of writing about nonfictional women. The occasion was the fourth Flair Symposium, a bi-annual event that honors…
Short Cuts
Congratulations to Luke Savisky, the first recipient of the D. Montgomery Award, an annual award established just last year to acknowledge and encourage the work of a local multimedia artist who is working in the eclectic spirit of the fund’s namesake. Savisky certainly makes a most appropriate inaugural recipient for this year’s $2,500 award. Savisky’s…
American Power Pop II
(l-r) Bill Belknap, Ron Flynt, and Steve Allen photograph by Todd V. Wolfson Twenty years ago, three twentysomething Okies living in Los Angeles released their first album as 20/20. In 1998, 20/20 are based here in Austin (founder Ron Flynt), in Nashville (founder Steve Allen), and in their original hometown Tulsa (“new” kid Bill Belknap…
On His Toes
At long last, after months of waiting, after months of driving downtown past the banner at Symphony Square welcoming conductor Peter Bay to Austin, the Maestro has arrived where he belongs: on the podium. On Thursday night, November 5, at Bass Concert Hall, Bay conducted his first performance since being named as music director of…
The Making of Olympia
by Bill Stott I got involved with Olympia for two reasons: love and money. I loved the filmmakers, I loved the film’s characters, and I loved the idea of being involved in making a movie. And — my children grown, my mid-life dental work done — I had money to play with. Olympia’s writer-director, Robert…
20/20
Interstate (Oglio) If you’ve ever been stuck driving for a number of hours with nothing but Classic Rock stations to choose from (and who hasn’t?), it can be hard to keep from entering certain knee-jerk responses into your permanent memory bank; for instance, “The Eagles Are Satan.” However, if you’re going to write about music…
The Texas Book Festival
So much of the discussion about what it means to be a good person in this world has been taken over by strident numbskulls, from William Bennett to Jesse Helms to Dr. Laura Schlessinger. For my money, you will find no “book of virtues” like the deceptively unassuming memoirs penned by medical doctor Abraham Verghese.…
Scanlines
D: Tom DiCillio (1995) with Steve Buscemi, Catherine Keener, Dermot Mulroney, James Le Gros Swimming With Sharks D: George Huang (1995) with Kevin Spacey, Frank Whaley, Michelle Forbes, Benecio del Toro The Player D: Robert Altman (1992) with Tim Robbins, Greta Scacchi, Fred Ward, Whoopi Goldberg, Peter Gallagher, Lyle Lovett, Gina Gershon Tim Robbins in…
Destination Unknown
What are words for, when no one listens anymore?” In 1982, when his hit New Wave band Missing Persons was riding the charts with “Words,” Terry Bozzio asked precisely that musical question. Nearly 20 years later, the Los Angeles session man, who moved to Austin two years ago, has taken to asking a different question:…
Chapter Three
Of all the trends, authors, and events trottedout as possible stories to run in conjunction with the third Texas Book Festival, which takes place on the grounds of the capitol this weekend, none seemed more apropos than reviewing books by authors who will be appearing at the Festival. The increase in the number of authors…
The Real Road to Wellville
interview by Anne S. Lewis My theory is that people tend to break down into two groups: those who think what you eat matters and those who don’t. The body as high-performance engine that peaks on premium-grade fuel, or one that rocks along just as well on regular … or Diet Coke. But sometimes even…
Dancing About Architecture
This is your final reminder: the postmarked deadline for an application to showcase at this year’s South by Southwest Music Festival is Monday, November 16, with the following day, Tuesday, 6pm-midnight at Ruby’s Barbecue, being your final final chance to hand it over to the SXSW brass in person. See the application form on p.63…
Ted Hughes Obituary
On October 28, Ted Hughes, the Poet Laureate of England, died at the age of 68 after an 18-month battle with cancer. A renowned and influential poet, Hughes was equally well known as the husband of the controversial American poet Sylvia Plath. He was born on August 30, 1930, in Mytholmroyd, a small mill town…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Seven “presidents” were elected by the Continental Congress between 1776 and 1781, the first being one John “Swede” Hanson. After consuming a vibrant brew they called “aul” (ale), Vikings would head fearlessly into battle, often without armor or even shirts. Warriors believed that once they reached Valhalla, they would fight and drink forever, being served…
Record Reviews
Jonathan Richman I’m So Confused (Vapor) For every new disc that appears from Jonathan Richman, there always seems to be one of two problems; either the album is too spare and unfocused (generally Richman’s fault) or too slick and overproduced (the producer’s error). The Cars’ Ric Ocasek might not seem the obvious choice to bridge…
1998 Texas Book Festival Schedule
All events are free and take place on capitol grounds. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14 10:30am Opening Session: A World Transformed President George Bush, Brent Scowcroft A Tribute to A.C. Greene & Americo Paredes Emcee: Tom Staley; with comments by John Graves & music from Tish Hinojosa 10:45am James Rice 11am Writing From Your Roots Moderator: Jane…
Just Say No
by Jenny Staff llustration by Doug Potter At some point, advocacy is also effective by saying less. Apparently, beating us into submission is now the tactic, and I don’t think that’s appropriate.” — Mayor Kirk Watson, to supporters of the Up to Me drug rehabilitation facility about two-thirds of the way through the hours-long hearing…
In Person
Tim O’Brien at Book People Tim O’Brien, who will be the first holder of the Roy F. and Joann Cole Mitte Chair in Creative Writing at Southwest Texas State University come fall 1999, is not exactly the type of writer one imagines falling in love with the Onion Creek area of town. After his National…
