POTD: Kitchen Makeover

From 2018 06 12 New Mexico

Today's photo-of-the-day was taken at Meow Wolf in Santa Fe, which is an immersive art experience that is,..., well,..., you just have to visit it yourself.

Bonus photo after the jump.

RISD and SMD and CVAP

It's another blog post full of acronyms and numbers. Bear with me, please.

The Richardson ISD school board formally adopted single-member districts (SMD) for upcoming elections. Five trustees will be chosen by voters in geographic districts and two will be chosen at-large by all voters. The districts were carefully drawn to ensure two of them would have minority populations that make up a majority of the voters in those districts. The data show how tenuous that turned out to be.

They Shall Not Grow Old (2019)

Rotten Tomatoes

They Shall Not Grow Old (2019): Documentary footage from WWI, brilliantly restored and colorized by Peter Jackson, with added sound and voices. No historians or generals, only soldiers on the front lines. No one not there can know what it was like but this is next best thing. A-

POTD: Santa Fe Spider

From 2018 06 12 New Mexico

The spiders in Santa Fe are yuuuge. Today's photo-of-the-day was taken at Meow Wolf in Santa Fe, which is an immersive art experience that is,..., well,..., you just have to visit it yourself.

Random Thoughts: Picked Off One By One

Random thoughts from January, 2019:

• Jan 2 2018: Bird Box (2019): The rule in "A Quiet Place" was "don't talk." Here, it's "don't look." Not quite a zombie movie, but a close cousin. Movie cuts between the present and five years before, which robs the earlier scenes of all suspense. Large wasted cast, picked off one by one. C+
• Jan 2 2018: Texas Governor Abbott hates taxes more than he likes kids.
• Jan 3 2018: RT @RepColinAllred: "On my first day in Congress, I'm proud to lead the charge against this partisan lawsuit attacking Americans’ health care. We will not stand idly by while special interest forces and their allies in Washington look to rip away health care from millions of hard-working Americans."
  God it feels good to have a Texas representative in Washington finally standing for individuals.

After the jump, more random thoughts.

High School Musical at BHS

High School Musical at BHS: High school musical about trying out for a high school musical. Kinda meta. With great singing, dancing, a live orchestra, talented tech and an inspiring message of "We're all in this together!", it all makes for a fun night of musical theater in RISD.

More photos after the jump.

Legally Blonde at RHS

Legally Blonde at RHS: A rom-com, a murder mystery, and a coming-of-age tale with a #MeToo subplot. Add in talented singing, dancing, laughs, a large cast, a live orchestra and a talented theater tech team and you have a fun night of musical theater in RISD.

More photos after the jump.

Mamma Mia! at PHS

Mamma Mia! at PHS: The music of ABBA onstage in RISD. Pop hits before these kids were born, maybe before their parents were born, brought back to life with great fun. Live orchestra, great voices, big cast. Be sure to stay for the curtain call and dance in the aisles.

Bonus photo after the jump.

Idle Thoughts on "The Map"

The whole universe depends on everything fitting together just right. If one piece busts, even the smallest piece...the entire universe will get busted.

Source: Hushpuppy, Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012).

The Richardson ISD is adopting single-member election districts. The proposed map is drawing many comments, pro and con. The more I think about all the different careabouts this map has to balance, the more interesting it is. Here are a few of my own idle thoughts. OK, maybe not so few.

RISD Single-Member Districts: The Public Speaks

Finally, after a long year of school board trustees discussing the lawsuit in executive session, after a long year of lawyers sparring over procedural issues in court, the public finally got a chance to weigh in on the Richardson ISD's legal settlement agreeing to introduce single-member districts in elections.