Category Archives: Uncategorized

(Community Matters) Terrific article on what they mean, their history and current challenges. 

(Community Matters) And so the series end – definitely part of the (if not THE) gay canon. The new book ends Armistead Maupin’s literary tradition begun in 1978 as a newspaper serial, The Tales of the City. Love, love, love these books – they were an oasis in my 20s and 30s.

The Days of Anna Madrigal will reportedly follow the title character, a 92-year-old, trans woman, as she travels to Burning Man.

Hat Tip: Towelroad

(Community Matters) So we haven’t completely convinced Steve to run, but I’d say he’s 99% there. He’s asked if I’d be his campaign treasurer if he agrees to run, and I have said yes.

Why Steve? This isn’t as easy as it sounds. Every single person currently announced and/or expected to run is a friend. Everyone of them have been important and good contributors to Austin. And, this next term for Austin City Council is an inflection point for the future of our city.

What we need today is the collective vision and wisdom of all Austin’s constituencies – not an Armageddon meltdown as we have our usual romp ’em stomp ’ems but a thoughtful, deliberate, fair coming together of competing visions. We live in the greatest city exactly because we’ve battled competing visions and come to consensus (consensus might be a bit nicely slanted but at least somewhere in the middle). Our communities of color have been underrepresented in the past; I’m pleased we’re absolutely at the table today and have strong voices. We don’t have the luxury of another 20 years to reach a consensus about how we’re handling growth, transportation, education, economic development. We need leadership that brings us together and teases out the best from all of us.

Steve has a unique way of being, skills set, vision and gift for building bridges that I know will help 10 council members elected in various and distinct districts rise above those individual district interests to act in the best interests of the greater Austin, while continuing to forcefully represent the interests of their constituencies.

Whether in his law practice, the three sessions and six years he spent working in the state legislature – especially on public education, for $50/month, serving as the board chair for Ballet Austin, as the board chair for the Anti-Defamation League in Austin and now on its international board and executive committee, on the board of GenAustin (he’s the dad of 3 smart, successful young women), as a member of the founding board and now the board chair for the Texas Tribune . . . Steve has always been a transformative, visionary, thoughtful and inclusive leader. He hasn’t aspired to be an elected official, but he has always worked to help make Austin one of the great cities in the world, one that values what we have – our people, our environment, our economic opportunity – and what we can be for our citizens, especially our children. Given the unique next term in Austin’s chapter, he’s being called so all Austin constituencies have a voice and so that we will make the right decisions and take action so we love Austin in the future as much as we love Austin today.

(Community Matters) Senator Rubio is declaring President Johnson’s War on Poverty a failure – let’s look at the evidence. Among seniors, the rate of poverty has fallen from 30% to 9%; among children, it feel from nearly 25% to 15% before concerted and consistent attacks on federal programs by Republicans beginning in the mid 70s.

I usually attribute good intentions to politicians even when I don’t agree – assume I just don’t understand their perspective. However, such bold lies in the face of overwhelming evidence leaves me puzzled as to any good intentions.

(Community Matters) Wow. . . it’s as if we’re devolving intellectually. I don’t mean this as a partisan dig; quoting about Pew Research facts . . . “Now, more Rs believe that ‘humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time’ than believe in evolution.” . . . . “while white evangelical Protestants make up only 18 percent of the population overall, they ‘make up 43 percent of Republicans who fall into the category of staunch conservatives.’” – Charles Blow’s NYTimes column

(Community Matters) In the Austin American Statesman: New research suggests Mexican-Americans . . . . might develop memory problems that could lead to Alzheimer’s disease as much as a decade earlier than non-Hispanics.

I have an unsubstantiated suspicion that this could be due to diet or even to environmental exposure such as to metals.

(Community Matters) loved ’em all, especially pics of families and kids – and especially stood out these four creative ones.

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I’ve been so bad for 3 years now – hope to send Xmas cards again starting this year.

(Community Matters) I love that Michael Barnes captures so many snippets from some of our guests over the 5 – 6 days of Marfa New Years – in Out & About. 

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(Community Matters) super way to launch each year, at Janie & Dick Deguerin’s new years day bash in Marfa . . . always great margaritas, queso, black eyed peas and chili plus favorite musicians, this year including Jimmy Dale Gilmore & his son Collin and Butch Hancock & his son Rory.

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(Community Matters) Serving as Pres & CEO for Marfa Public Radio over the last 24 months has been a huge honor, and it reengaged me in a for-profit mentality which I hadn’t engaged in since leaving Minco in 1999. I’m delighted to welcome Ginger Reeder as our new Pres & CEO. I’m looking forward to continuing to serve MPR as a volunteer & board member, while stepping up my engagement with Capital Factory, the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, a new entrepreneurial & educational initiative in Marfa, and just maybe a new little something of my own. 

I love hearing it’s true that our very dear friend, Ora Houston is running for Austin City Council, place 1 (East & Northeast Austin). She’s a native Austinite, a long time East Austin community activist, a leader in our church and retired after working for the State and at the Capitol.

Steve Adler is not only a best friend but one of the most thoughtful, smart & community-minded men I’ve ever known . . . on top of being a great dad & husband. He thrives on big ambitions, fostering consensus among stakeholders and shepherding the win. He’s considering running for mayor. We should convince him to run and serve. If you don’t know him and want to – send me a note.

(Community Matters)  CLARITY, my word for 2014. It was almost LAUNCH.  Steven’s is STEWARDSHIP.  2014 Words

my previous words 2013: DEFINE, 2012: TRANSITION (hmm, immediately recall before) 

(OED) the quality of being clear, in particular:

• the quality of being coherent and intelligible:for the sake of clarity, each of these strategies is dealt with separately
• the quality of being easy to see or hear; sharpness of image or sound:the clarity of the picture
• the quality of being certain or definite:it was clarity of purpose that he needed
• the quality of transparency or purity; the crystal clarity of water

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(Community Matters) Playing with the idea of a living art installation – a weekend when Marfa is completely off the www grid – no wifi, no ethernet . . . anywhere. Would couples come to Marfa to connect in a new way? Would strangers talk to each other while waiting in line? What if no cable either . . . what would couples do in bed at night?