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Dallas Is Still the Hole in the DFW Economic Doughnut

Dallas, thank goodness, is not Cleveland or Detroit. Its economy and identity have never had the Rust Belt dependence on manufacturing, and so it hasn't been hollowed out by American manufacturing's collapse. But make no mistake. Even though the Dallas area's population and economy are both famously booming, the city...
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Emporio de Empanada: Empa Mundo Brings Buenos Aires to the Metroplex

Folding meats, starches and other delights into dough and frying it isn’t a uniquely Argentine idea. You’ll find some variation of that theme on menus from Ghana to the Virgin Islands, but equating Empa Mundo’s empanadas to beef patties or pastelitos is like saying Jorge Luis Borges and Dora the...
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DISD’s Best Neighborhood School Is in … South Dallas?

The popularity of Lakewood Elementary has effectively warped the East Dallas real-estate market as upper-middle-class-to-rich families outbid one another for homes within the school's attendance boundaries. This makes a certain amount of sense, as Lakewood is a really good school that the surrounding community is heavily invested in, but it's also...
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Skip Hollandsworth Writes a (Serial) Killer Book

For well over 30 years, Dallas resident Skip Hollandsworth has been an all-star storyteller as a contributor and editor for Texas Monthly. Whether he’s writing about a vicious motorcycle gang, a tragically injured high school football player or a wealthy women’s wild-ass closet, Hollandsworth’s longform stories are packed with engaging...
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4 Art Exhibits to See this Weekend

Sherwin R Tibayan/IndexYou ready for a bit of mind-blowing trivia? Susan Sontag's tour de force, On Photography, doesn't have an index. I know, it sounds impossible, but if you dust off your copy from college, you'll find that it's true. Although, I suppose in some ways that bit of trivia...
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To Solve Homelessness, Maybe Dallas Just Needs to Try Harder

On Tuesday evening, Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance president and CEO — with an assist from former homeless czar/current Mayor Mike Rawlings — delivered some bad news in her second annual "State of the Homeless Address." As we predicted two months ago, the homeless count in Dallas and Collin counties has spiked, jumping...
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In The Night Before, Seth Rogen and Co. Grow Up – Again

How funny, really, are dick pics? Millions of them must be snapped and shared each year, as inducement or harassment, celebration or shaming. Perhaps Harper’s Index could tell us the tonnage of coal mined each year to power the transmission of American crotches. So when a dick pic turns up...
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The Best Band and Beer Pairings for Untapped Dallas 2015

Pretty much any festival of note in North Texas has undergone serious changes in the past couple years. Some have returned after being gone for a bit (35 Denton), while some are taking a break this year (Index Festival), and others have simply gone away (Suburbia). As for Untapped Festival and...
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Will Darius Rucker Break Country Music’s Color Barrier Once and For All?

Darius Rucker is backstage at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, the foundation and epicenter of mainstream American country music. He’s ready to perform, looking calm and casually hip in jeans, a black T-shirt and over-the-ankle lizard-skin cowboy boots. Rucker has decided to close his three-song set, on opening night...
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Index Festival Gets Delayed Until Spring 2016

Been wondering when Index Festival is going to announce its 2015 lineup? For last year's festival, which took place in September, organizers Spune held a big to-do at Trees in the springtime to reveal the first round of bands. Here we are in August but still there's been no word...
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How Critics Became TV’s Newest Stars

Critics rarely receive love from filmmakers. Last year’s Best Picture Oscar winner, Birdman, featured a vengeful harpy of a theater reviewer (played by Lindsay Duncan) hellbent on annihilating a play before she’d even seen it. Birdman was joined in its release year by other unfair portraits of critics in Top...
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The 5 Best Talent Buyers in Dallas in 2015

With the 27th annual Dallas Observer Music Awards just around the corner — in fact, voting is open right now at 2015musicawardspoll.dallasobserver.com — we're highlighting some of the nominees for this year's awards. And when we say these venues are the "Best," don't just take our word for it: We...
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Dallas Gets Perfect Score on LGBTQ Rights from Human Rights Campaign

2014 was a good year for LGBTQ rights in Dallas. The city added limited insurance benefits for transgender city employees, made it possible for city employees to use the Family Medical Leave Act to take care of their same-sex partners and started on a path toward getting retirement benefits for the...
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10 Most Road-Rage Inducing Highways in DFW

Every year or so, the Texas Transportation Institute releases its Urban Mobility Report, which looks at the impact of traffic congestion on major metropolitan areas in the United States, and every year or so the report's release prompts a barrage of critiques from transportation wonks whose livings aren't tied to building new...
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Teachers Unions and Koch Bros. Join Forces to Sell Out School Reform

Thankful is what I am. But being thankful always worries me. Maybe something terrible is about to happen. I am truly thankful that Dallas right now is pretty much at the forefront of the national school reform movement because of its comprehensive merit pay system for teachers. The Dallas Independent...
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The 10 Best Musician-Friendly Places to Eat in Dallas

Dallas is rampant with every type of musician, varying from classically-trained savants to genres which can only be described as WHAT?, and we're damn proud of our diversity. While they're all rich in talent, local musician's finances slightly vacillate, depending on, among other things, their tip jar's undernourished or obese...