it’s not about you

I got this idea from the uncreative laura site. 13 places in your hometown that you would take the rest of us to if we visited, and why:

1. My house. Because if you come to my city and I don’t invite you in, I’m not worth anything.
2. Deep Ellum. Because it’s the creative musical hub of Dallas, and there are lots of good venues and bands down there constantly.
3. The grassy knoll. Besides JR, this is what helped put Dallas on the map. You can even stand in the street on the white X that marks the spot where JFK was killed, and I’ll take your picture. Just look out for the cars.
4. Reunion Tower. Mostly cause I’ve never been to the observation deck and I’ve been dying to go lately. It’s a Dallas cityscape icon.
5. The Meridian Room. An Expo Park bar that is the site of our every Sunday brunch.
6. New Amsterdam Coffee Haus. The European-style coffeehouse/bar where we like to hang out at night. Sorry, they don’t serve decaf, and if you wear your baby in a sling and go in the while the sun’s still shining, they’ll kick you out, I promise.
7. IR Gallery. Where our friends Sarah Jane and Daniel run a gallery featuring local artists.
8. Cafe Brazil. A legendary, Dallas-only set of restaurants. It’s an authentic Dallas experience.
9. The Cosmic Cafe. Amazing vegetarian fare.
10. The Gold Rush. We can walk from our house and it’s a great little hole-in-the-wall artist hangout with greasy food.
11. Lower Greenville. It’s home, and you can gawk at all the SMU brats coming down to trash our neighborhood on the weekends.
12. Starbucks. This is Dallas. Dallas is corporate, and there are no other coffeehouses (that let you bring your kids to anyway). ‘Nuff said.
13. The DMA. It was either the art museum or a mall. The mall is more “Dallas,” but I’m sure plenty of Dallasites you meet will make you feel snubbed or less-than, so we can skip the mall.

One of my favorite video clips surfing its way around the internet is of Jon Stewart giving it to the guys on Crossfire. Apparently, a lot of people didn’t think he was funny. I thought he was so serious, he made America realize how ridiculously funny Crossfire really is.

It looks like CNN may shut down the show now (at least according to the NY Times), and my vote for credit and pat on the back goes to Mr. Stewart. A quote from the article:

…the fact that Mr. Stewart, a comedian, is perhaps the most influential political commentator on television is in itself a sign of the times…

Jon Stewart on Crossfire (15.8MB)

DailyShow update (5.1MB)

I had this dream last night (actually, it was this morning in my half asleep, half awake stage) where I was living back in Biloxi working for the paper again. I had just started my job back up and was assigned to my old city beat for the city of Long Beach. They had elected a new mayor (quite feasible since the mayor who was there while I was a reporter stepped down to run for state office or something like that) who didn’t know that I was working for the paper — he just thought I was a recent move or something. A bunch of people were at this big luncheon and he was telling us all to make sure to be at the city council meeting that night, that something exciting was going to happen. I still don’t know what was so exciting, I woke up before the excitement was unleashed, but I remember thinking, “He wouldn’t be telling me this if he knew I was a reporter.”

Anyway, I get to the city council meeting, and the place is standing room only. Jamie and Sean are both there taking pictures, and sit myself down behind Jamie in the front of the room, pull out my pad and paper and get ready to take notes. I was thinking, “I should really try to get insider information every time I cover city council meetings. It will make my job so much easier.” And then somewhere in the meeting before all the excitement began, Joshua woke me up and told me it was 8:15, and I had better get up and get to work in a hurry.

So now I’m sitting here at my desk, feeling a little disoriented. What am I doing in Texas? Why am I not writing for a living? *sigh*