Insane?

04/21/03 Yes and No!

Am I the only one who gets exercised when someone writes a letter to the editor at the DMN and talks about "our" this or "our" that regarding a Dallas matter, and below their name is a city that is not Dallas, frequently not even in Dallas County? When was the last time you sent a letter to the editor of the Denton Record Chronicle regarding something going on in Denton, Texas that you thought should be handled differently?

Don't you love it when some Park Cities resident lectures "us" who do live in Dallas about how we should spend our tax dollars or who should be our Mayor? Like Wick Allison who lives on Versailles in Highland Park?

One of our local sages told me about the latest D Mag edition that has the story on the DPD poll and a really catty piece about Laura Miller and a commentary by Allison calling Miller a fox and Mary Poss a hedgehog. Now, wait a minute.

As much as it offends my delicate sensibilities that D Magazine would call Mpossible a hedgehog, it just burns me for a Park Cities dude to talk about "we" when he refers to a Dallas matter:

And on, and on. Got news for Wick Allison. He is not one of "we" who live in Dallas, Texas. He lives in Highland Park. HP assets are not deteriorating. HP and UP spend their tax money on great police protection and continually improving their infrastructure. Park Cities residents tell "us" in Dallas how important it is to spend our money on projects they want done in Dallas.

Makes me nuts -- which brings up another little tidbit in the same D Mag edition.

The Two Faces of Laura Miller
By Jimmy Fowler
May 2003

Miller also upset the Hispanic community with her endorsement of an Anglo in a gerrymandered district designed to increase Hispanic representation on the council. The beneficiary of the new district was presumed to be Steve Salazar -- a former council member variously described as a "nonentity" and a "benchwarmer" by City Hall observers. So it was no surprise that Miller ignored racial politics to recruit a candidate to run against Salazar.

"But if the mayor truly was worried about Salazar's competence, she certainly could have found a better alternative than Sharon Boyd, impassioned gadfly and shrill conspiracy theorist. Boyd emerged from the netherworld by leading the campaign against the arena and was overjoyed when someone as presentable as Laura Miller joined on her side. If Salazar is incompetent, does it help the mayor's cause to support someone is seemingly insane?"

Now, now, was that nice?

If you are not a rich man's wife or daughter, it always offends the likes of Wick Allison for some uppity female from the common folks to dare to challenge the elite. Jimmy Fowler was a theater critic for the Dallas Observer before this gig with D Magazine.   A former colleague of Fowler's calls him a "gentle soul" who would not have written something like this, and the mean results smacked of "a Wick Allison's re-write."

I don't give a care if Wick Allison questions my sanity.   When you are Park Cities dude who owes his good fortune to the benevolence of Ray Hunt, someone like me must seem to be insane. I may very well be nuts, but maybe I am just in a position to be able to speak out and fight for things important to me.

I have a great job, a wonderful house that I can almost afford and a bunch of cats and dogs. My friends are interesting people who get involved in all sorts of causes.   I am seldom, if ever, bored -- mostly because I don't have the time.

Think about what Allison or Fowler said. "Boyd emerged from the netherworld...." Just because Allison did not meet me at some Country Club event or charity function or art exhibit does not mean I was in some "netherworld" before "It's a Bad Deal!!".   I have been involved in community and civic and political activities since the 80's. I have been president of several groups and have served on many boards of civic and community organizations.

I was asked to organize the opposition to the arena sales tax, and I initially declined thinking we needed some high profile person. No high profiler wanted to challenge Our Downtown Betters (the ODB) because they knew anyone who did would be punished for breaking ranks.

Dallas was not always such a stratified city with rigid class lines mostly delineated by fortune or lack thereof.   Allison or Fowler disapprove of a commoner challenging the status quo, but Allison thinks Mpossible should.

What a pretentious hypocrite!

I got this great note from my best friend from high school regarding the DMN un-endorsement:

That was pretty much how I reacted to the DMN slam and then having D Mag take a swipe. If the big shots in this town are so aware of me, I must be doing something right.

A reporter called me to see if I had plans to sue D Mag. Oh, sure!

A neighbor sent me this little story about a strong willed woman, who might seem a little tetched to some:

A teacher gave her 5th grade class an assignment to have their parents tell them a story with a moral. The next day the kids came to class, and one by one, told their stories....

Little Kathy went first and said, "We live on a farm and have hens that lay eggs for market. Once we were taking a basket of eggs to market on the front seat of the pick-up truck and we hit a big bump in the road. The eggs went flying and broke all over everything."

The teacher asked, "And what is the moral to that story?" Little Kathy said, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket." The teacher said "Very good" .

Little Tammy was next and said, "We live on a farm, too. But we raise chickens for the meat market. We had a dozen eggs once but when they hatched, we got only ten live chicks.

The teacher asked "And what is the moral to that story?" Little Tammy said, "Don't count your chickens before they are hatched." The teacher said "That was a fine example."

Then it was little Johnny's turn and he said, "My daddy told me that my Aunt Sharon was a flight engineer in Desert Storm and her plane got hit. She had to bail out over enemy territory and all she had was a bottle of whiskey, a machine gun, and a machete.

"She drank the whiskey on the way down so it wouldn't break.
"Then she landed right in the middle of 100 enemy soldiers.
"She killed 70 of them with the machine gun until she ran out of bullets.
"Then she killed 20 more with the machete before the blade broke off.
"Then she killed the last 10 with her bare hands."

"Good Heavens!" said the horrified teacher. "What did your daddy tell you was the moral to that terrible story?"

"Stay the hell away from Aunt Sharon when she's been drinking."

I don't drink very much, but I will fight for what I believe with the tools at hand.   There are a lot of men and women in this town who will stand up to the ODB. That's why I scare the DMN and D Mag and the ODB. They are afraid I am setting a bad example for other residents of the Dallas netherworld.

They are afraid other netherworld dwellers might see themselves as equal in intellect to those who are in positions of power, either by birthright or acquisition of wealth. God, I hope so.

It is very telling that Allison sees those of us living in the real world, who aren't on the charity ball circuit, who don't sit in private boxes at sports events, etc., etc., as living in the netherworld.

There are two old sayings -- "You are known by the company you keep." and "You are known by your enemies." I am proud of my friends who never give up or give in. I equally proud that the Wick Allison and the DMN Editorial Board are so disturbed with my activities.

If my tilting at windmills encourages others to step up and out, all the better.