steve’s column

Measuring jobs by meter and lyrics

By STEVE LANG

“I’m a lumberjack and I’m O.K….” – from Monty Python’s Flying Circus, sung by Michael Palin

Nadine Stair wrote that if she had her life to live over, she would have picked more daisies.

I write, if I had my life to live over, I should have been an actuary.

Or …

¡ask a mexican!

Proud to be Mexican and Spanish, too

By GUSTAVO ARELLANO

Dear Mexican: Although I’m familiar with your column, I don’t read it regularly. But today, I was struck by something you said in a recent column about how Mexicans can make Americans like Mexicans. So I quote: “We called ourselves Spanish, we considered ourselves white.” I’m Mexican, and …

high desert sketches

Sage answers more high desert questions

By GEORGE A. COVINGTON

After I answered a number of deep and mystical questions about West Texas, I was swamped by other readers’ pleas to answer questions that had haunted their psyche for many years.

Bill Ivey, of Ivey’s Emporium sent both a request for answers and a job offer.

George,

I am so …

make it fun

I think I’ve become my mother

By PAM YOUNG

When I was young, sometimes my mother would ask me to do something for no good reason. Like, “Pam, please clean out the dog’s dish and feed her before we go.” I was a curious child and I probably wore out the word “why,” because when I’d use …

the idle american

Out-smarted by a smart key

By Dr. Don Newbury

Introspection of retrospection should never be taken lightly. Generally, getting on with life is preferable to dwelling on what might have been.

On rare occasions, though, it is profitable to re-visit bad decisions, declare intent never to make them again, and share details of painful experiences. Perhaps I can …

the anti-fan

When in trouble, blame the messenger

By JIM GORDON

Say something, get called on it, deny you said it.

It’s a natural inclination of the human species.

Six-year-olds do it. So do 36-year-olds.

Brendon Ayanbadejo recently told Newsday that his outspoken support of gay rights cost him a roster spot with the Baltimore Ravens.

“My bark is louder than my bite,” …

dick decent – carnival cruise to boquillas

rambling boy

Américo Paredes and the beginning of Chicano studies

By LONN TAYLOR

This Cinco de Mayo is the 151st anniversary of the Battle of Puebla, in which a Mexican army led by Texas-born General Ignacio Zaragoza defeated an army of French invaders. It is also the 14th anniversary of the death of Américo Paredes, a Texan who fought …

golliver – guns are people, too

correspondence

We would like to address some of the misinformation that has been spread around lately about the use of CSCOPE in the Marfa, Alpine, and Fort Davis ISD’s. CSCOPE is a comprehensive online curriculum management system. The CSCOPE system includes a curriculum framework for grades K-12 in all foundational academic subject areas aligned to the …