The Idle American – Uncle Mort

Please welcome Dr. Don Newbury to our Big Bend Blog. He’s a former Alpine resident and Sul Ross State University news and information director. Now retired after an illustrious career in Texas higher public education, he lives and writes in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

By Dr. DON NEWBURY

My Uncle Mort claims to have a sixth sense …

Breaking up is hard to do

By Texas Senator CARLOS URESTI

Pecos, meet Poteet.

Fort Stockton, let me introduce you to Charlotte and Christine.

Alpine, I just know you’re going to like Crystal City and Pearsall.

Rocksprings, say hello to Carrizo Springs.

Beginning next year, you will likely be a part of the family known as Senate District 19.

While the redistricting process is still playing out …

Fine in the Pine – We wear many hats

By ROXANN CHAVEZ

“Who are you? I’ve never seen you before.”

I’ve been asked that question a lot lately, and I didn’t quite know how to answer the question. I just simply smiled and said, “Well, I’m me.” What this individual didn’t know is that I am a mom, a wife, a columnist with The Big Bend …

In Praise of Marfa Elementary School

By Kathleen and David Walstrom

No Child Left Behind legislation and its subsequent rules, regulations and labels remind us a bit of the Federal Tax Code.  Put in the hands of politicians, both are difficult to understand, and both are constantly changing.  In the case of the TAKS test, now named the STAAR, our experience indicates that …

Star Gazer – The winter circumpolar region

By PAUL DERRICK

Polaris, popularly known as the North Star, is the star, which, by chance, happens to be almost exactly straight up from Earth’s North Pole. As such, it is the only star, which seems never to move, always being in the same place any time of night and every night of the year.

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Rambling Boy – The secret history of Big Bend, part III

By LONN TAYLOR

This is the third installment in my ongoing series about the secret history of the Big Bend and the people who have recorded it. By secret history I mean the history of the Spanish-speaking people of the region, which has been omitted from most published histories of the Big Bend. Albert Alvarez of …

Golliver – Who are you for?

Library Talk – New history titles on the shelves

By RENEE MICK

I’ll bet there are a lot of history buffs here in Marfa. Satisfy your need for knowledge at the library. How about these titles?  “December 1941: 31 Days that Changed America and Saved the World” by Craig Shirley. “Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President” …

Dick Decent – Arrested

Correspondence

We would like the community of Marfa to mark their calendars for the Marfa Elementary Science Fair to be held on Tuesday, January 31.

Science projects of students from the third through sixth grades will be on display in the Hibbitts Gym located behind the Marfa Elementary School.  The community is invited to view the projects …