Category: Voices

Some days it takes a little more grit and gumption to stay steady. I say this because this is one of those days. In one of his all-time most outlandish PR stunts, Donald Trump hopes to burnish his image with his MAGA base by turning the nation’s capital into a police state.

This week was historic. If you are reading this, know that you are amazing. We have just begun to fight.

In 2018 my newspaper died. Well, actually, the emaciated carcass of the Austin American Statesman still had a feeble pulse. But its journalistic voice and soul were gone, stripped out by the notorious financial predators of Gannett, the huge media conglomerate that had recently bought the paper.
Happily, though, the Statesman has made a near-miraculous recovery, thanks to a small-but-feisty band of actual journalists who believe in local newspapers. They fought Gannett bosses tenaciously, gaining a voice by forming a union, striking, and finally compelling the giant to sign a union contract. Victory!

Donald Trump would never admit that he is a protégé of P.T. Barnum, but the famous 19th-century showman is an apt mentor. To paraphrase one of Barnum’s most famous quotes: “Without publicity, a terrible thing happens: nothing.” The adage also describes Trump’s entire life, a life lived in front of the camera.

For decades, policymakers claimed to expand college access. In reality, they steered poor students into the least valuable degrees.

Journalist, storyteller, and lifelong reader. A Texan, by birth and by choice.