Review: Gandhi

Amazon

From Gandhi: The True Man Behind Modern India, by Jad Adams:

Gandhi did not in the end command his followers to commit suicide, but in the light of the late-twentieth-century cults of Jim Jones at Jonestown, David Koresh at Waco and Marshall Applewhite at Rancho Santa Fe, Gandhi's exhortations have an uncomfortably modern ring."

Gandhi, by Jad Adams: Eccentric, mystical, primitive and a bit creepy. Your crazy uncle let loose, who wows the world. C+

After the jump, my review.

Review: Swamplandia!

Amazon

Swamplandia!, by Karen Russell: Teen girl's tale of gator wrestlers, ghosts, a birdman, and family. Another world, universal feelings. B+

From Swamplandia!, by Karen Russell:


Our mother performed in starlight. Whose innovation this was I never discovered. Probably it was Chief Bigtree's idea, and it was a good one -- to blank the follow spot and let a sharp moon cut across the sky, unchaperoned; to kill the microphone; to leave the stage lights' tin eyelids scrolled and give the tourists in the stands a chance to enjoy the darkness of our island; to encourage the whole stadium to gulp air along with Swamplandia!'s star performer, the world-famous alligator wrestler Hilola Bigtree."

Swamplandia! is a tale about coming of age in one of those faded, family-owned roadside attractions from another era. In this case, it's Swamplandia! and to get there requires a ferry ride through the Florida mangrove swamps to an island "thirty-odd miles off the grid of mainland lights."

After the jump, my review.

Real Heroes, Less Suspicious

Two years ago, the Richardson Coalition, a political action committee formed to elect its preferred candidates to city council, created something called the "Real Heroes" award. Their voting procedure, requiring the public to submit their email addresses to the PAC, smacked of an email harvesting scheme. Many people were suspicious of the PAC's motives (and by many people, I mean me and by suspicious, I mean dead certain). I pointed it out at the time. A year later, the next cycle of voting showed no changes to the voting procedure. I again complained about it here.

After the jump, how's it look in round three?

Update: Collin County Performance Hall

Not Collin County

From 2006 06 Salzburg

Do you remember the opening scene in "The Sound of Music" where Julie Andrews runs through an alpine meadow singing the movie's theme song? Well, if Julie Andrews ever comes to Collin County to give a concert, it'll be the same story here. Only without the scenery. She'll have to find some open cotton field to sing in because there aren't any alpine meadows ... or first class concert halls.

A long-troubled plan to build a performance hall in Collin County took one more step towards extinction this week. Originally called the "Arts of Collin County," it was troubled from the start, when voters in McKinney decided not to participate. Somewhere along the way, it was renamed the "Arts Center of North Texas." Then, last year, voters in Frisco voted to pull out, leaving only Plano and Allen.

After the jump, this week's bad news.

Update: Tree the State

Two years ago, when Richardson launched its "Tree the Town" program with a goal of planting 50,000 trees in ten years, I was skeptical. There just isn't enough space in Richardson (28 square miles) for 50,000 more mature trees.

I backed off a little when I learned that the goal included trees planted on private property by homeowners and business owners. But something else has happened since then that makes me rethink my skepticism even more.

After the jump, the record-breaking drought.

OTBR: A Rare View of Hoover Dam

Latitude: 35.9853° N
Longitude: 114.7721° W

A child on a road trip with his family asks, "Where are we?" and the father answers, "Let's check the map. We're off the blue roads [the Interstate Highways marked in blue on the road atlas]. We're off the red roads [the US and state highways]. We're off the black roads [the county highways]. I think we're off the map altogether." It was always my dream to be off the map altogether.

After the jump, a few of the random places (and I mean random literally) that I visited vicariously last month that are "off the blue roads".

Espree at LHHS

From 2012 01 Musicals

Espree at LHHS: Almost a century of popular music from rock to Disney. Great voices, infectious enthusiasm, fun evening.

Repeat Tweets: Musicals, Basketball and Elections

Repeat tweets from February, 2012:

• 2012 02 01 - NCAA put Nebraska on probation for distributing textbooks to athletes. That's right. Textbooks to athletes is a no-no. https://t.co/A0rHY0Gz
  
• 2012 02 01 - Metroplex. Metroplex. There. Not a fan of the word, but I’m less a fan of prigs who tell me what words I shouldn’t use. https://t.co/8Aj4rRgG
  
• 2012 02 02 - Realignment of District 9-5A: Jesuit, Skyline, Sunset, WT White, Berkner, Richardson, Lake Highlands, Pearce. https://t.co/0iLvhVWz
  
• 2012 02 02 - Headline: "LH’s Adam Meierhofer to run for RISD school board." Is it too early for me to endorse? https://t.co/g7HxabcQ
  
• 2012 02 03 - Prague Cemetery, by Umberto Eco: Spider web of 19th century European conspiracies. Relentlessly depressing novel. C+ http://t.co/2ef40ADj
  
• 2012 02 03 - Headline: "BIG upside surprise: Economy added 243,000 jobs in January. Unemployment down to 8.3 percent." GOP blames Obama.
  
• 2012 02 03 - Headline: "Trump backs Romney but do endorsements even matter?" Romney better hope the answer is no.
  
• 2012 02 04 - Headline: "Indiana election chief guilty of voter fraud." Why voter fraud is issue for GOP. From personal experience. http://t.co/jOGGzPXM
  
• 2012 02 04 - Guys and Dolls at BHS: Celebration of 1940s sexism. Great singing, live orchestra, shoutout to choreography. See it. http://t.co/NUMQVE1k
  

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

Button Pops Off

Yesterday, I predicted that I would support George Clayton over Angie Chen Button in the GOP primary election for Texas House District 112. For reasons, I mentioned her membership on the DART audit committee in 2008 when DART surprised everyone, including the audit committee, with a $900 million budget shortfall that had been building for years. More importantly, I can't support her attitude towards school finance in particular and the state budget in general. She is a safe vote for underfunding schools, health care, roads, water, and other necessities of a modern state.

Now, it's still early and Clayton still has plenty of time to lose my vote, too, but while I wait to hear from him, Button continues to rack up reasons for me not to support her.

After the jump, Button on Voter ID.

Redistricting Musical Chairs

New Texas House district maps were published by the court this week. Maybe, finally, the redistricting fiasco handed Texans by the last Texas legislature is coming to a close.

After the jump, what it means for Richardson.