Archive: September, 2016 - Gary Borders

The Ex-Governor Does the Tango

I cranked up the television about 45 minutes before the first presidential debate. We only have over-the-air channels beamed into a single television, and subsist primarily on Netflix and Amazon — and not much of that. I wanted to make sure everything was working properly before the event. That is how I ended up watching “Dancing With the Stars.” There I saw our former governor, Rick Perry, tangoing with a beautiful woman less than half his age. He was wearing a black-and-white toreador outfit that led me to conclude Gov. Perry has considerably more courage — or less sense — than most...

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Climate Change: Still Swimming as Fall Arrives

Autumn has officially arrived, which generally means little in East Texas as far as a break in the weather. As climate change continues wreaking havoc, with massive storms, heat waves and other freakish weather, no one knows when the first cold snap actually will arrive here. This year is certain to be the hottest year on record, according to NASA. Last year was the hottest year before that, and 2014 the hottest prior to that. See the pattern? At the same time a dispiriting number of flat-worlders — including the Republican nominee for president — continue to deny climate change exists,...

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Being Pursued by a Robocaller

A woman named Julia is harassing me, calling my cellphone at all hours of the day, from all across the United States. In the past week, Julia (not to be confused with my wife, Julie) has called from Sanford, Florida; Winchester, Missouri; Bayonne N.J.; Gig Harbor, Washington; and Stone Mountain, Georgia. It is getting tiresome, these calls from a woman I do not know — nor do I wish to make her acquaintance. But I must admit Julia gets around. I wonder if she has a private plane or just drives through the night, eventually stopping somewhere to give me a ring. The call always begins the same...

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Fifteen Years Ago

Fifteen years ago on Sept. 11, like most Americans, I recall exactly where I was when the attack began. I sat alone on that Tuesday morning in the newsroom of the Daily Sentinel in Nacogdoches, laying out the editorial page for the next day’s paper. It was my routine: Show up about 7:30 and produce the page before the doors open the phones started ringing. As always, the 19-inch television mounted on the wall was broadcasting CNN. My standing orders, as editor/publisher, was that the police scanner was always on, and the TV as well. If something newsworthy happened, we needed to be on top of it. It made...

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Two Pieces Recently Published in Texas Observer

Click on these two links to read two pieces I wrote this summer on the battle between Luminant andEast Texas taxing entities over the valuations of its coal and nuclear plants: https://www.texasobserver.org/luminant-corp-property-tax/     https://www.texasobserver.org/the-community-hospital-in-glen-rose-may-close-because-of-corporate-bullying-by-luminant/

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How I Spent My First Day of School

Labor Day is just around the bend. When I was growing up that meant school was about to commence. Now it means classes have been underway for a couple of weeks, and most students and parents get a three-day weekend. Labor Day also means summer’s days are drawing down. Already, our oak trees are beginning to shed leaves, presaging the arrival of autumn. Eventually, slowly, fall arrives. This is East Texas, after all. I got to thinking about my first day of public school — Sept. 5, 1961 — 55 years ago. The school district in tiny Allenstown, N.H. did not offer kindergarten at the time, so my first...

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