|
Article Excerpt
An economic downturn might not be a good time to have a mortgage or a car payment, but it's a fine time to have an idea. When things are going well, there's no incentive to experiment; hard times like these force us to consider creative alternatives to the status quo. Enter the Texas Monthly Brainstorm. Taking as our premise that the state of the state can always be improved, we asked 82 people to send us one idea (in one hundred words or fewer) for how to make Texas a better place. Our correspondents were a motley bunch and included CEOs, pastors, artists, politicians, journalists, professors, publishers, activists, university presidents, district attorneys, economists, musicians, a mayor, a rapper, a blogger, a coach, a rancher, a gamer, and a first lady. Some agreed; some disagreed; some came up with things we'd never heard before; some sent back riffs on the basic idea. The result is an inspiring Stew pot of optimism and possibility. And who knows? Maybe, just maybe, one of these ideas (personal pod transport, anyone?) will Change our lives.
FOR STARTERS ... MAKE A DIFFERENCE
by Joel Steen
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Making Texas a better place starts with each individual being a catalyst for change. We need to ask ourselves, "A hundred years from now, will it have made a difference that I lived? Did I wake up every day and give my best? Did I keep my heart of compassion open, helping others, giving, caring? Did I give credit to God for the good things in my life?" Each of us should be determined that Texas (as well as our fellow Texans) will be better off because of us. Let each of us declare, "I'm going to make a difference." Osteen is the senior pastor of Lakewood Church, in Houston.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
LEGALIZE DRUGS
BY RAY BENSON
CHANGE IS NEEDED IN OUR drug laws. Prohibition of alcohol preceded the Great Depression and fed a criminal world with the proceeds of illegal alcohol and a culture of murder, intimidation, and violence. Drug prohibition and the war on drugs has preceded this great depression and brought violence and money to Mexican and Colombian drug cartels as well as financed terrorists in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Add to this the incarceration of hundreds of thousands of drug prisoners at a cost of billions to our prison budgets and the loss of productive citizens. Over 850,000 arrests for marijuana in 2007! Benson is the lead singer of Asleep at the Wheel. He lives in Austin.
(On the Web: similar ideas from El Paso city councilman Beto O'Rourke and Bobby Byrd, the co-founder of Cinco Puntos Press.)
CREATE UNIVERSITY--HIGH SCHOOL PARTNERSHIPS
by Elsa Murano
Our state's demographic tsunami is waist deep and rising daily. If we don't bring more historically underserved students into higher education, we will face a lower standard of living as we fall behind in economic competitiveness. Higher education needs to institutionalize the pathways to a college degree in our state for these promising students. By partnering with high schools, universities can provide academic counseling and summer programs to transition students into their new roles as college freshmen and help develop the next generation of Texas leaders. We cannot afford--economically and socially--not to aggressively pursue such an agenda. Murano is the president of Texas A&M University. (On the Web: a related idea from Mike Feinberg, the co-founder of the Knowledge Is Power Program.)
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Let El Paso Go
BY ALFREDO CORCHADO
As an adopted El Pasoan I suffer from a nagging headache: Austin's indifference. Solution: El Paso secedes from Texas and takes up with New Mexico. Instantly it becomes that state's largest city, perhaps even the capital. The result: Kids won't grow up with an inferiority complex and will learn to speak Spanish and English fluently in one sentence, o como quieran. Gorditas de chile verde will replace fajitas as the state's dish. iHijole! We might even get our own professional football team or be booted back to the Lone Star State. CORCHADO IS THE MEXICO BUREAU CHIEF FOR THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS.
"WHISKEY RIVER" FOREVER!
by Ethan Hawke
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
IS IT POSSIBLE FOR US TO SOMEHOW MAKE WILLIE NELSON IMMORTAL?
HAWKE, A NATIVE OF AUSTIN, IS A STAGE AND FILM ACTOR.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
OPEN YOUR WALLET
BY ROLANDO HINOJOSA-SMITH
IF JUST 270,000 OF US Texans , out of 25 million, donated $75 to alleviate the current economic situation, we would raise $20,250,000 for the state of Texas. We, as individuals, would be participating directly in our own recovery. The donations would not be counted as a deduction for income tax purposes. Texas could serve as the model, set the standard, and lead the rest of the country by example. If this proposal were to include the remaining 49 states, contributions by employed citizens could possibly reach $2.25 billion. Hinojosa-Smith is an author and English professor at the University of Texas at Austin.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Tear Down Racial Barriers
BY SHERYL COLE
My husband and I, raised thick in African American culture with our extended families in Wichita Falls and Houston's Fifth Ward, are always amazed by how integrated our sons are. But if Texas is to be strong, it must continue to see racial barriers eliminated--this includes everything from an unequal education system that keeps certain kids from succeeding to freeways that tear cities apart along racial lines. I owe it to my Grandmother Willie, a housekeeper who corrected my grammar with her last breath, to create a Texas that respects difference and does not use it to divide. COLE IS A MEMBER OF THE AUSTIN CITY COUNCIL.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
MAKE THE LEGISLATURE MEET MORE OFTEN
BY DAN PATRICK
BY 2040, TEXAS'S population will have doubled. Thirty-one years may seem like a long time, but that's only fifteen legislative sessions, and since we only vote about four months each session, that gives us only five years of actual legislative time to deal with this incredible growth. In my opinion, we won't be able to properly govern Texas with a part-time legislature that meets every other year. We need to study how the Legislature can adapt. My...
|
