Innholdsfortegnelse for July/August 2019 i The Texas Observer

Left Behind I was very interested in your article on the dearth of mental health resources in East Texas (“Warning Signs,” May|June issue). My dad, Dr. William Langston, was the first psychiatrist in Longview, arriving in the 1950s and practicing for 50 years until his death in 2004. For many of those years he was the only psychiatrist there. He took all the psychiatric calls from the Good Shepherd ER, day or night. ¶ At one time Good Shepherd had a psychiatric floor on one of the hospital’s wings, but they closed it because it didn’t bring in enough money (breaking my dad’s heart). In the 1990s there was a psychiatric hospital in Longview called Meadow Pines, but it also closed. There was a time when my dad was able…

Texans will now be able to buy six-packs and growlers at breweries, thanks to a new bill. Governor Abbott signed the measure into law on June 3, making Texas the 50th state to legalize takeaway beer purchases. “Our constituents elected us to be bold — and with that, I give you beer to go, baby,” said state Senator Dawn Buckingham, a Lakeway Republican, during debate. Which of the following is not a real beer currently for sale in Texas? a. Cup O’ Beer, brewed with ramen noodles, lime and gingerb. Snörkel, an umami beer brewed with smoked sea salt and oyster mushroomsc. Itsa My Beer, an Italian pizza beer with tomato and mozzarella essenced. Salsa Verde, a hatch chile and tomatillo ale ANSWER: C. The Illinois company Mamma Mia! briefly…

IN 2017, A WORKER IN TEXAS DIED ON THE JOB EVERY 16 hours. They died from electrocution, asphyxiation, falls from roofs, exposure to toxins, equipment malfunctions, heat stroke and automobile collisions. The death toll exceeded the number of murders in Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and Austin combined. 2016 and 2017 were among the deadliest years for workers in the state in two decades. Every year since 2009, Texas has registered more deaths on the job than any other state. Texas also had the highest worker death rate per capita in 2017 among the nation’s 10 most populous states. On May 1 — International Workers' Day — the Houston-based Fe y Justicia Worker Center released a grim report on the state of labor in Texas’ largest city. From February 2018 through…

Visit texasobserver.org/strangest-state for more “Strangest State” and links to original stories. Got a local oddity or some small-town news to share? Tips are welcome at cahalan@texasobserver.org.…

A twisting, tree-lined road carried Constance Hollie-Jawaid and her family through the dense forest until they reached Slocum, a small unincorporated town dug into the Piney Woods of East Texas. A few miles southeast of the old high school, past two trickling creeks, the family pulled off the road near a small red farmhouse. A thick, leafy canopy shielded them from the cloudless midsummer heat as they exited their cars and began to quietly pace along the red fence. It was July 29, 2018, a somber day for the Hollie family. Not far from where they stood, more than a century before, on July 29, 1910, white vigilantes attacked black communities surrounding Slocum. By most accounts, the violence lasted throughout the day and night as white men from across the region…

THE TERM “Freedom Gas” WHO'S USING IT The United States Department of Energy In Brussels this May, Secretary of Energy Rick Perry had an “aha” moment: The 2 million U.S. troops deployed to the European theater of World War II were actually very much like a hydrocarbon gas mixture that’s been cooled to negative 260 degrees Fahrenheit. To wit: “The United States is again delivering a form of freedom to the European continent, and rather than in the form of young American soldiers, it’s in the form of liquefied natural gas.” A cheeky reporter then moved to trap Perry, suggesting the term “freedom gas.” Perry bit and, voilà, “freedom fries” rode again. Later that month, DOE officials sent out a press release in which they deployed both “freedom gas” and…

HAVE YOU HEARD OUR BIG NEWS? THE Texas Observer is delighted to announce that Andrea Valdez, formerly the digital editor of Wired.and, before that, Texas Monthly, will be our next editor. Andrea brings a wealth of experience to the Observer. In addition to being a skilled editor, she’s also the author of How to Be a Texan: The Manual — so give her a call if you need help wrangling a rattlesnake or choosing a belt buckle. We’re as excited as we’ve ever been about the future of the Observer. In March, Megan Kimble joined the staff as the publication’s first senior editor, meaning the top three spots on our masthead are now held by women. And when Andrea starts in July — you’ll hear from her in this space…

In 2004, Javier traveled from Coahuila, Mexico, to Texas, where he worked hauling grains and cotton as a seasonal farmworker on an H-2A visa. Javier, who requested his last name not be used, endured significant hardship during his time as a farmworker. There were the miserable trailers he lived in across three states, at times without water, electricity or toilets; the physical and verbal abuse; and wages of less than $6 an hour after his employer forced him to pay for visa and transportation costs from his paycheck, in violation of his contract. When he injured his head while emptying hoppers at a South Plains cotton gin, rendering him unable to work, Javier told his boss he needed medical attention. “He said there was nothing he could do for me…

KING OF THE MISSISSIPPI by Mike Freedman HOGARTH 256 PAGES; $26 Wharton’s worldview is developing a new name — toxic masculinity — and no longer do money, whiteness and a swinging dick guarantee dominance. IT’S EVERY AMERICAN’S GOD-GIVEN RIGHT TO SELF-MYTHOLOGIZE, EVEN to the point of absurdity. Take the current president (please): Donald Trump has somehow managed to package and sell himself as a swashbuckling working-class hero who clawed his way to the top against all odds. ¶ Other folk heroes keep quiet and let the mythology come to them. There’s a scene in Disney’s 1956 cash-grab Davy Crockett and the River Pirates in which the King of the Wild Frontier meets the self-anointed King of the River, buffoonish keelboatman Mike Fink. The slovenly Fink looks strong-jawed Crockett up and…

She said there was no hope. Like a vulture from some prehistoric mountain top she said again with her old lady mouth there is no hope. No hope for an afterlife among golden thrones. No hope to meet Jesus or perhaps Aunt Sue. She held one leg off the floor as if she would fly around the room shedding feathers and bric a brac Shiny things her black eyes had gathered but not eternal life. Never that. No hope she said with a twisted smile. Jeanie Sanders is a poet and collage artist who lives in Lytle, Texas, with her artist husband and her Italian greyhound.…

EARLIER THIS YEAR, IT SEEMED AS IF POOR PEOPLE charged with crimes in a handful of Gulf Coast communities would finally have a fighting chance in court. In April, commissioners in Victoria County considered a partnership with a nonprofit law firm that provides indigent defendants in rural counties with more robust legal representation. The proposal would have created a countywide public defender’s office in partnership with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA), which would staff a centralized office with attorneys and a full-time investigator. Criminal justice experts said the setup would be fairer and more efficient than the current practice of assigning private attorneys to represent the indigent on an ad-hoc basis. The county would save $1.3 million in the first two years through cost sharing with the state; it would…

JAVIER SALAZAR HAS BOUNCED BETWEEN SCANDALS SINCE he took over the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office in 2017. During his first year, the department drew national attention after deputies gunned down a woman wielding a metal pipe they’d mistaken for a gun, killing a 6-year-old bystander in the process. The ensuing years have been similarly rocky for Salazar. In 2018, police arrested 23 of the sheriff’s deputies and jailers, more than twice the number arrested the previous year, and charged many with violent crimes. Inmates at the county lockup, which was recently flagged for violating state standards, continue to allege serious misconduct. A lawsuit filed in March accuses guards of organizing a fight club among inmates and betting on the matches. The same month, Salazar announced the unrelated firings of seven…

If in 2020, Democrats were to win every seat they lost by less than 5 percent in 2018, they'd win the chamber, which would be an earthquake. For years, the question asked of Texas politics has been whether or not the state would “turn blue” during a presidential election or high-profile statewide race. It’s an all-or-nothing proposition: A race is either won or lost, and you don’t get anything for second place. These marquee contests inspire progressives for good reason. But as a model for enacting political change, the emphasis on the headline bouts is backward. When the 86th Texas Legislature concluded in May, one lesson became clear: Small, local shifts in the balance of political power can have huge policy implications. The 85th Legislature, which wrapped up two years…