PALESTINE–They don’t actually roll up the sidewalks in Palestine on Sundays, but it’s fair to say that if they did, no one would be bothered much. The Rockwellian downtown of this East Texas town of 18,000 lies deserted under the noonday sun on March 20, the stillness broken only by…
Occasionally, Buzz is called upon to answer questions from and provide quotes to reporters from other media. We do it–would be hypocrites otherwise–but we hate it, for a couple of reasons. First, you never know what another reporter is going to do with your words. Second, in more than 20…
A few months ago I was walking through the American Airlines Center on a Sunday afternoon–during a Desperados game, of all things–when I ran into Fort Worth Star-Telegram basketball writer Art Garcia. Being an industrious young scribe, Garcia was on hand for Mavs practice (which was being held on the…
Pointed Criticism Feeling edgy: As soon as I read Points, the “edgy” new Sunday section in The Dallas Morning News, the first thought that came to mind was this: I can’t wait to see how the Observer blasts this mindless bit of self-promoted fluff. I was not disappointed. You guys…
SURPRISE, Arizona–The morning Arizona sun beams down and lets its presence be felt. It needs no help on that score–it’s powerful enough to warm everyone below and tan the backs of their necks–but it’s magnified nonetheless, made ever brighter as it bounces off the ridiculously large ring adorning John Hart’s…
Play Nice or Else Free speech at UNT depends on where you stand. Literally. Everybody loves free speech until they’re the one offended. Then somebody had better pay. Or so it would seem at the University of North Texas, where the residue from a student protest six weeks ago finds…
So the mayor of a major Bible Belt city wants a gambling casino downtown. Hmm. That sorta sounds like big news to Buzz, but what do we know? Apparently a lot less–or more, your pick–than the editors of The Dallas Morning News, which reported last Friday at the tail end…
Never Annoy Your Shrink What about the children: My heart goes out to Dr. Susan Diamond (“An Irritating Woman,” by Glenna Whitley, March 3). It may be small comfort for her to know that Tarrant County family court is equally outrageous. I was crucified by my ex for more than…
For banana growers, the pesticide DBCP seemed like a godsend when it came on the market in the 1960s. The chemical has no equal for killing parasites that can devastate a banana crop. But DBCP proved to be uniquely effective for another purpose as well: sterilizing the men who worked…
Bad Medicine A new documentary takes aim at a dubious diagnosis The scene is like something out of Kafka: A young woman named Misty Jones in her 34th week of pregnancy is arrested at her home and taken to a local hospital in handcuffs. Her labor is induced and her…
First, Buzz offers apologies to the people who took time to talk with us last week. See, we had another column lined up about perceived bias at The Dallas Morning News, then came Al Lipscomb, so that one will have to wait. Not that we’re happy about it. Now, you…
Fuming in Frisco More like dystopia: In “Suburbatopia” (March 3), Jim Schutze provided evidence that Frisco may not be the perfect place it first appears. The fact that this comes as new information to the Dallas Observer is a surprise to me. I am one of Frisco’s sons. I am…
Dr. Susan Diamond is delicate as a wren, with large dark eyes and hair swept back in a no-nonsense shoulder-length bob. She’s an expert on treating HIV/AIDS, with a thriving practice near Presbyterian Hospital, and her patients describe her as warm and compassionate, a rare doctor who makes house calls…
Hell Hath No Fury The Dallas Derby Devils are here, and they’re looking for a few bad women Courtney Jones seems like a typical college freshman. The 19-year-old student at the University of Texas at Arlington studies hard, pulls in A’s and B’s, works for the school’s newspaper and enjoys…
Before we begin, Buzz would like to take a moment to say something we never thought we’d say to any woman: Paris Hilton, please keep your damn shirt on. Seriously, woman, thanks to the Internet, we’ve seen those two prostheses you call breasts more often in the past weeks than…
Shockingly, Mark Cuban has been quiet this year. No running out onto the court. No staged battles with refs. No comments about the league office. Nothing. For a while there after his television show went under (what was the name again? Mad TV? How I miss it so.), I wondered…
Extremely Right “The Truth” will not set you free: Robert Wilonsky’s “Right Hand of God” report (February 17) is a reminder that political action committees–whether liberal or conservative–have achieved one result: The public should be wary of any group with freedom, free or liberty in its name. As a 47-year-old,…
There’s an old upright piano next to the altar, just in front of a banner that reads “Dallas, Our Jerusalem.” Barbecue mogul Eddie Deen sits down at the bench and begins to play a rag-style tune. He suddenly locks on one note: plink, plink, plink. “Hey, this thing’s out of…
Voting Wrongs Why one expert thinks choosing a strong mayor will lead to “a lost decade” Laura Miller and Beth Ann Blackwood–one the supporter of the strong-mayor initiative that will be put before voters in May, the latter its creator–have not sought the counsel of Southern Methodist University professor emeritus…
It’s one of those classic combinations, like ham on rye or peanut butter and chocolate. We’re talking about Deep Ellum and tattoo parlors. The mix of bars and tattoos is a natural, at least to Buzz, who would have to be drunk to the point of comatose before we’d pay…
Flap Like an Eagle Cowboys suck: I gotta say, having been raised in Northeast Philly for a good deal of my life and having “bled Eagles green” for all of my 34 years, your article really hit close to home (“Good Grief,” by John Gonzalez, February 10). Loved it. Our…
Jeff Wentworth, a five-term Republican state senator from San Antonio, is the kind of politician the Religious Right should love. After all, two years ago he wrote legislation that would make gay marriage illegal in Texas. His version of the Defense of Marriage Act passed the Senate in 2003 and…
