Clik here to view.
Teaming up to promote health and the environment
Alcalde magazine writer Valerie Davis cherished her quiet office near Waller Creek on the University of Texas campus. Then her bosses at the UT Alumni Association told her to make room for the new...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Readers recall Duval and other lost Travis County towns
To some readers, they are mere dots on old maps. To others, lost towns such as Duval, Watters, McNeil, Dessau, Fromme, Merrilltown and Abercrombie — long since swallowed up by Austin sprawl — live in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Human Rights Campaign Dinner
The sacred and the profane alighted at the Human Rights Campaign dinner on Saturday. Kevin Smith Ribald and unscripted, Kevin Smith, creator of “Clerks,” “Chasing Amy” and “Red State,” rambled...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Rodeo Austin Gala
Early Saturday evening, I mingled with rodeo fans at the immense Palmer Events Center. The hat per-capita ratio remains high at this heady event, which later scooted to the tunes of Dierks Bentley....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Report: The Nobelity Dinner 2013
The Nobelity Dinner delivers more celebrity firepower than dozens of other Austin galas put together. The list of musicians, filmmakers and literary figures goes on for days. Our table was headed by...
View ArticleClik here to view.
12 Neighborhoods for REAL
At the edge of Circle C, three steep hills surface above a creek. Around them winds a five-mile trail. Obeying signs and avoiding collisions, hikers go one way, bikers the other. The Slaughter Creek...
View ArticleClik here to view.
UT's Caring for Camo backs U.S. Troops
Last spring, Alan Dukor had just dropped off 75 letters and two care packages for U.S. troops at the post office, when he stopped in his tracks. “I felt an unbelievable feeling of doing what I could...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Wednesday Night Odyssey
This tale weaves together traffic, theater, food, wine and, oddly enough, kava. The odyssey begins, aptly, on Interstate 35. I don’t do traffic. I walk. Or I take mass transit. When I take the car, I...
View ArticlePhilanthropy Day 2013 Awards Luncheon
The Philanthropy Day Awards Luncheon is a triple gift. The crispy managed meal at the Hyatt Regency Austin allows one to visit with the askers and givers of the city’s nonprofit community. It also...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Truth and Beauty
I didn’t expect to choke up. Eric Draper and Alison Beck at the LBJ Presidential Library After all, “News to History,” a photo show arranged by the Briscoe Center for American History at the LBJ...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Art, Links,Teeth
That little ol’ college art museum is all grown up. The Blanton Museum of Art threw a 50th anniversary gala on Saturday while unveiling “Through the Eyes of Texas: Masterworks from Alumni Collections.”...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Profile: Super-Volunteer Paul Reinartz
Even before the Lady Bird Wildflower Center opened in 1995, Paul Reinartz Jr. was there. Tall, creased, working without wasted motion, the retired nuclear weapons officer and master gardener moved...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Profile: Elizabeth S. Gonzales
The daughter of a single working mom, diligent student Elizabeth S. Gonzales dropped out of a Corpus Christi high school when she became pregnant. “A lot of my passion about education comes from that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Profile: Mando Rayo of TacoJournalism
To Mando Rayo, the ideal taco begins with the right tortilla. “It’s a tool for eating,” he says over breakfast tacos at Joe’s Bakery, which has been doing the them deftly for decades on East Seventh...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Profile: Chef-Owner Larry McGuire
At age 10, Larry McGuire made bagels, cakes and intricate pastries at home. At age 16, he prepped food for innovative Austin chef Lou Lambert, becoming his pizza maker. At age 21, he helped open and...
View ArticleMarch Social Calendar
The social lion of March is South by Southwest (March 8-17, various locations). Music, movies and technology are only three of the cultural activities exalted by this festival of unquestioned global...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Real Magazine: Block House Creek profile
This neighborhood profile ran in the March issue of REAL magazine. It’s crystal clear why people have flocked to the Block House Creek area for hundreds of years: the deep, sparkling, undying stream at...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Weekend social report: It's about the people
It’s about the people, not the parties. Zoltan and Patti David Alert readers have learned that less than 20 percent of my articles follow the patterns of traditional social reporting. Even then,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Report: Texas Medal of the Arts ceremony
All in all, the Texas Medal of the Arts has matured into a dignified and honorable awards ceremony. Joe Straus and David Dewhurst Staged by the arts advocates at the Texas Cultural Trust, the show...
View ArticleClik here to view.
First Tee 9 Core Values Luncheon and UT President's Citations Dinner
At the First Tee 9 Core Values lunch, I sat with a covey of UT McCombs School of Business graduate students who have formed groups to promote early volunteerism and philanthropy. My first responses...
View Article