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Musings By Marilou: Going Home; Coming Home

Ihave always heard that home is where your heart is. If that is true, my heart now has two dwellings. As we were driving to South Louisiana yesterday for a

Leo’s Lance: Shoes are Optional

Do you like to go barefoot? I used to. In fact, I should have been an expert in the art of going without shoes. When I was a kid, the

Leo’s Lance: My Small but Powerful Friend

Tony wasn't a very big boy. He was several inches shorter than the average boys in our class. This could have been an embarrassment for some high school senior boys, but it never seemed to bother Tony.

He had a magnetic personality and was nearly always smiling. He was good looking and really well muscled. I would say he was sure of himself. He held a black belt in karate and maybe in more than one of the other martial arts, I am not quite sure.

Thinking Out Loud: Recycling Hate

It was the early 1990s, and between watching the first Gulf War play out, being transfixed on the O.J. Simpson drama, and wondering what this whole new internet thing was all about, another drama was unfolding in South Africa that brought a new word into our vocabulary, apartheid. Literally translated, the word meant “apartness”, and it described a particularly nasty form of racial segregation in South Africa that most of the world was growing increasingly impatient with.

School Report Cards Shouldn’t be the Only Ones

It’s time to start grading the papers of the people elected to run the state of Texas, to translate voters’ thoughts and feelings about the way things are going into

Musings by Marilou: Nellie -- My Unofficial Service Dog

As much as we had joked about it, I regret not getting a Service Dog vest for Nellie.

Anyone who views pets as their children can imagine how devastated we were when our Australian Koolie, Nellie, passed away two weeks ago.  Even though Nellie was close to fourteen years old, her death came as a shock to both my husband and me.  She fell ill on a Friday night and by Sunday we were laying on the floor next to her, telling her goodbye, and watching her take her last few breaths.

Wright's Words: I’m Lucky to Still Be Alive

This past weekend, I was reminded how I had narrowly escaped with my life after my best friend and I had eaten what was supposed to be another’s meal, many, many years ago.

At the time, I was a fresh high school graduate and my best friend was an upperclassman at Seminole High. We had made plans to go to supper that evening and hang out with some other friends. 

Leo's Lance: May Day

I remember the music began playing and we started our march around the pole, each holding a bright colored crepe paper ribbon. Half of us were going one direction and the others were going the other way.

As we approached the person coming toward us we were supposed to step inside toward the pole or outside away from the pole depending on which side the other person was on. We were to keep marching at the same pace and stay about the same distance from the person ahead of us.

We were weaving the ribbons around the pole.

Thinking Out Loud: A Culture of High Expectations

While rummaging around for information on capital punishment in Texas, I came across a little semi-related  item that just seemed to have an odd ring to it. The subject of this story was Virginia “Jennie Lou” Leeder, of Llano, a former teacher and a nominee for State Senate in District 24. 

The line was from Ms. Leeder’s stump speech, in which she explains that she’d like to see the state do more for students: “Texas spends more per inmate than public school student.”

And I asked myself “where have I heard that before?”

Burrows: Sunset Review on License Office Closures Not the Final Word

With recent reports on the Texas Sunset Commission’s considerations to close 87 Department of Public Safety (DPS) driver’s license offices, many Texans living in rural parts of the South Plains have contacted my office to express their concerns on the detrimental impacts such a decision would have on rural Texans’ lives.  In light of these conversations I would like to provide some clarity about what the Sunset Commission is and how the Sunset process works.