I always take off for the Juneteenth holiday  The occasion of emancipation is worth celebrating regardless of when the news was received.  Most of us celebrate Christmas in the winter with a pagan Christmas tree so it should be all good.  If our ancestors thought Juneteenth was worth celebrating then I think we should do so, if only to honor them.  With all that said, I took off work and my family and I traveled to Commerce to witness our friend and fellow Parisian Carlton Cooper installed as the new athletic director at Texas A&M - Commerce University.  It was a fitting way to celebrate the holiday because Carlton is one of the few black athletic directors at a predominantly white institution.  When the school was founded as East Texas Normal College in 1889, few would have imagined such a position occupied by an African-American. On Tuesday, Texas A&M Commerce President Keith McFarland made it official, as he introduced Carlton at a standing room only press conference in the university's Administration Building.  Carlton's wife Niesje was present as were his daughters Chanel and Ava.  Also in attendance were his mother Barbara and his brother Keith.  There were a number of ...

          Following a nationwide search, Texas A&M University-Commerce President Keith D. McFarland has announced the hiring of Carlton Cooper as its new athletic director.   Cooper, who has spent the last nine years working for the athletic department at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, comes with an extensive athletic background as a former student-athlete and as a supervisor of internal and external affairs within intercollegiate athletics. At Texas A&M-Commerce, Cooper- will be responsible for the oversight of 11 intercollegiate sports that participate in the Lone Star Conference.   Since 2000, Cooper has served as the Senior Associate Athletic Director for Internal Operations at SMU, where he was responsible for the coordination of day-to-day internal operations of the athletic department while assisting the director of athletics in supervising and providing leadership for department initiatives. He has been involved in the development of long-range and annual operating plans. Duties he performed at SMU include: personnel, conference liaison, fund raising, facilities operations, facilities enhancement, sports supervision, game-day operations, sports scheduling, academics and making financial bids on conference and NCAA Championships.  In addition, he has also served on multiple committees for the university, Conference USA, Western Athletic Conference ...

After a one year hiatus, Real Men Cook Dallas came back in a major way on Father's Day at the Dallas Convention Center.  Terry Allen produced the local version of this nationwide event. There were over 1,100 tasters who weathered Sunday's rain to celebrate African-American fathers and men. Men from throughout the community prepared all sorts of dishes; including crab cakes, collard greens, sweet potato pie, chicken sausage, gumbo, and many other savory delights.  Unfortunately I didn't get to take many good picture because I was busy serving Not Yo Mama's Banana Pudding. Real Men Cook , now in its 18th year, has become a Father’s Day tradition.  It is the largest and longest running national Father’s Day celebration of it’s kind. The Chicago originated event is now held in 11 cities around the country, including Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles and Detroit. Chef Jeff Henderson served as celebrity chef for the evening in Dallas. Chef Jeff is the author of Cooked: From the Streets to the Stove, From Cocaine to Foie Gras.  He most recently held the title of executive chef at Cafe Bellagio in Las Vegas. The energy and spirit throughout day were unbelievable.  From the ...

Dear 7-11, I hate to bother you guys over in your new digs at One Arts Plaza, but I was hoping you might be able to do me a solid.  It seems this big storm blew through town on May 2, and we got hit pretty hard down in Oak Cliff.  There were trees and power lines down everywhere, and even some signs that were destroyed by the hurricane like winds that blew through that day. That's where you guys come in.  There's a 7-11 at the southwest intersection of Polk and Kiest (let me know if you need directions) that was blown out in LAST MONTH'S storm.  As a matter of fact I have some pictures of how the sign looks right here.  (Just click on the images to enlarge)         I'm hoping you all will consider sending someone out to get this thing fixed. After driving by this hulled out structure for six weeks, I didn't know who else to contact. Since your headquarters is here in Dallas, maybe someone has an extra sign in their office or under a desk somewhere.  I just drove by the store this afternoon (Sunday Jun. 17) and ...

It's been ten years since I left the campus of Texas A&M. Soon after my departure, the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum came to town.  The library quickly became a university fixture and tourist destination.  . Friday happened to be my first time visiting the library.  Due to a redesign and construction currently taking place at the facility, there was little to see. When we entered the building there was a short film on the life of Bush 41 that was about to start.  The whole time the film was running my mind wondered, "how in the world are they going to make George W. Bush's life seem this interesting?" George Bush the senior was a war hero who had returned home and married Barbara before his 21st birthday.  He matriculated through Yale in 2 1/2 years and struck out on his own to become a business man. The film almost made me regret that my fraternity once hosted a program titled "Is George Bush the biggest drug kingpin ever?" on that very campus.                                         The ...

I've gotten a few requests for the conference call info for Rep. Johnson's Town Hall Meeting.  Per her office here you go. Who:  Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson What:  Telephone Town Hall Meeting on Immigration Reform When: Tuesday, June 26th 2007, 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. (CST) How:   Call in number: 866-447-5149, Pin 12854

Dallas Progress has information regarding the destruction of Timber Creek, a plan for which Ed Oakley cast an affirmative vote.  According to Mike Davis, developers will remove 1,000 trees and fill a creek with sand while displacing 2,000 apartment residents. See Dallas Progress' full story here.  Friend of the environment huh? 

I had my radio locked on 104.5 this morning because I knew that Skip and the crew were scheduled to speak to their audience about the station's decision to fire Nanette Lee and Wig.  Murphy called the segment Real Talk, and in teasers leading up to the discussion he promised to get the real story out on what really happened. One of the reasons Mr. Murphy offered for the need to make the info public was negative phone calls, emails, and letters regarding new cast members Lady Jade and MoZan.  He said that many of the communications accused him of "bending the truth" in regards to why Nanette was let go.  Skip said that his intent was not to mislead the public, but to keep from having to trash Nanette on the air.  Skip and the rest of the show then proceeded to trash Nanette and Wig for the better part of the next 25 minutes. As far as Ms. Lee goes, the reasons offered for her dismissal were failure to follow the "plans and policies" of the station.  They went on to add that Ms. Lee was "constantly late and unprepared," even a day after a meeting discussing her ...

Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson today announced that she would be holding a telephone town hall meeting on immigration reform on Tuesday, June 26th at 7:00 p.m local Dallas time. Congresswoman Johnson will be listening and commenting on her constituents questions regarding the current immigration reform bills pending in the U.S. House and the Senate. "I have been getting more calls, faxes, and emails about illegal immigration into my office than any other issue." Congresswoman Johnson said. "It is my hope that this telephone town hall will give my constituents yet another opportunity to share their views, questions, and comments about pending immigration reform proposals and will encourage more people to get involved in the discussion." The telephone town hall will begin at 7:00 p.m. and constitutuents will be given a chance to ask questions about pending legislation before Congress and express their opinions on immigration and border security. "There are currently several comprehensive immigration reform packages under consideration and I intend to weigh the potential consequences of each before making a decision that will directly impact the residents of the Thirtieth District, as well as, every American living in the United States." Congresswoman Johnson concluded.   Who: Congresswoman ...

Day baseball always sounds like a good idea -and it is- as long as you don't live in Texas.  I've had today's game circled for a long time, but as the temperature has risen over the last week or so I thought about bowing out gracefully.  Yet and still my son and I loaded up the van and made the trip from the southside up towards Oklahoma to check out the boys in Frisco.  With an 11 o'clock 1st pitch I figured we'd miss the brunt of the heat.  Not so much.  It was a scorcher from the start.  Things were going well until the 4th inning, when it seemed that hell literally broke loose.  The Midland RockHounds scored 8 runs in the top half of the 4th to take a 9-0 lead.  Not to be outdone, the RoughRiders scored 5 runs in the bottom half of the inning, which had to have been one of the longest in my baseball watching career. I know for sure it was the hottest inning I've ever seen. The one thing that made the trip worthwhile was getting to witness John Mayberry's first Double-A game.  If points were awarded for looking like ...