Author: Margaret Downing

Any public school district in Texas can declare that it is going the online-only instruction route — for the first four weeks, according to the latest update from the Texas Education Agency. Districts like Houston ISD and several other area school dist…

Sitting on a front porch in Houston, Dabrina Sandifer reads out the poem “Great Grandmother’s Pearls,” running through the words about the woman who “gave me pearls. She gave me pistols.” It’s an affecting delivery captured by photographer/videographer…

Houston ISD will start the fall semester on Tuesday September 8 with virtual classes through Friday October 16 and then reassess before proceeding. The last day of school for the 2020-21 school year will be June 11. Houston ISD Interim Superintendent G…

Pivoting with the best of them, Stages has once again redesigned its 2020-21 theater season, moving three plays to virtual viewing status, replacing some plays with ones with fewer cast members on stage and — perhaps most surprisingly (and ingeniously?…

Following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the Houston Police Department like many around the country, took several steps away from community education and awareness and toward a much more aggressive policing that placed a premium on enforcement and tact…

The Texas Renaissance Festival is looking for actors, holding auditions over the next two (maybe three) weekends to ensure that if everything goes as planned, they’ll be opening their doors in October as in years past. Of course, somewhat appropriately…

Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath Tuesday opened the door wide for on-campus school instruction in Texas in continuing summer school classes now and in the fall — never mind the upward spiral in number of coronavirus cases across the state. His …

An unmasked Gov. Abbott announced today that he was ordering everyone in Texas living in counties with 20 or more confirmed cases of COVID-19 to wear a mask or other face covering while out in public. Trying to make the case that he was not reversing c…

The Last Trial By Scott Turow Grand Central Publishing 449 pages $29.00 The prologue begins with a woman screaming. The lead counsel has collapsed at the defense table. The defendant, a celebrated physician, yells that the elderly attorney has no pulse…

Broadway at the Hobby has just announced two of its shows planned for this fall will instead be delayed until 2021, citing the difficulty of negotiating “the challenges of scheduling touring Broadway shows during this unprecedented time.” My Fair Lady …