honoring our veterans

Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

May your new year be filled with many gifts -- including a new president.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne

season's greetings

Merry Christmas
Buon Natale ~ Joyeux Noël ~ God Jul ~ Mele Kelikimaka ~ Feliz Navidad ~ Happy Christmas

happy thanksgiving

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

We hope you get the chance to spend Thanksgiving with those you care about and love. Eat lots of green bean casserole and cheer for the Cowboys. And stay warm! We'll see you after the holiday.

happy halloween!

Have a safe and spooky holiday!

ntl honors the life of martin luther king, jr.

Today, Jan. 15, is the celebration of the life of a true American hero... it's Martin Luther King Day.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a political activist and Christian minister that famously led the American civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1955, after Rosa Parks famously refused to give up her seat and was subsequently arrested, King led the 382 day Montgomery Bus Boycott. The boycott ended with a Supreme Court decision that totally banned segregation on all public transportation.

King continued to passively lead the fight against racial discrimination in the United States for the rest of his life, leading marches and protests across the country, promoting equality, and even speaking out against the Vietnam war.

He was assassinated on April 4, 1968.

In 1964, King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his teachings of non-violence and equality. Nine years after King's death, President Jimmy Carter posthumously awarded him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Dallas, reminds us that we recently lost the beloved leader's wife, Coretta Scott King.

This is the first year that we’ll recognize Martin Luther King Day since the death of Mrs. Coretta Scott King. Mrs. King and I were friends and confidants for many years. She was an incredible woman – graceful and dignified – who showed strength in the face of indignation and tragedy.

Following Dr. King’s assassination, she continued his legacy promoting social and economic justice for all. Mrs. King was determined to make his dream a reality. And we would not be celebrating the legacy of Dr. King today without her contributions.

If you are looking for something productive and meaningful to do on this day off of work or school, Dallas South Blog has a few suggestions, including the 26th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration, sponsored by the City of Dallas, and a sermon preached by Rev. Jesse Jackson.

happy holidays

Dear Readers,

We appreciate you welcoming us into your lives this year. We started this blog in February as a place to rant about local (and occasionally national) politics. Little did we know that along the way we'd become enamored with this blog and the desire to inform.

With nearly 300 posts about everything from James Leininger's lobbying in Austin to CWA protests in Fort Worth, from the South Dakota abortion ban to the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld, we have grown so much this year, as writers, as friends, as people. We wouldn't have come this far without your support. We hope to continue providing you news pertinent to progressive minds in North Texas, so keep us turned on and we'll keep you tuned in.

In short, thank you for a great year. Happy holidays to you and yours... may the rest of this holiday season be bright and spent with those you love most. We'll see you next year.

And because they're irresistible, here are the holiday cards sent out by Sen. Barack Obama and his beautiful family.

happy thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving

Memorial Day Musings

We cherish too, the poppy red,

That grows on field where valor led.

It seems to signal to the skies

that blood of heroes never dies.

Monica Michael -1915

I literally grew up on Main Street, in the heart of the Midwest, and Memorial Day celebrations there were always marked by a community parade right past my front door. Main Street itself was only two blocks long, but the parade was a little longer than that, winding by the community park with its war memorial and the rusted metal sign of Uncle Sam pointing solemnly-- "I WANT YOU for the U.S. ARMY".

No self-respecting person would be caught dead appearing at the parade without first buying a Buddy Poppy, bright red crepe paper flowers with wrapped wire stems. They were fairly fragile things, so if you had the change, you bought a few, one for a boutonnière and another to intertwine in your bike spokes and maybe a couple to give away. After the parade, we would ride to the family cemetery and plant geraniums on the graves of "Momma", the grandmother who died before I was born, and a few other kin. The graves of veterans would have already been decorated with small flags.

Monica Michael was inspired to write her poem after reading John McCrae's "In Flander's Field." She also popularized the idea of wearing Flanders Field poppies to honor the war dead, a tradition that later became known as the Buddy Poppy. The Memorial Day parade is still a tradition in many communities and Buddy Poppies are still sold, although it's been years since I've seen one.

If you weren't able to attend a Memorial Day commemoration in your area, take a moment to think about our veterans, to thank them for their service and honor their sacrifice. Texas Monthly keeps an updated list of solidiers lost in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, "Fallen Heroes" (subscription required). And the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram has a multi-media tribute, by columnist J. R. Labbe and photographer Rodger Mallison from the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery.

And if in your wanderings you should be lucky enough to come across a Buddy Poppy, buy one for me.