| Larry Powell: Dust bowl can't compare to icy horror 12/15/2000 By / The Dallas Morning News Good morning. Well, that was enough winter weather for me.
And winter, my consistently accurate researchers confirm, doesn't start until Thursday.
From my luxurious columnist's cubicle on the third floor of our building, I can look across downtown Dallas and see a cloud of dust – the traditional cloud that appears after the city has sanded streets and bridges. Seeing the airborne dust reminds me of the advice Mayor R.L. Thornton Sr. is credited with giving this town: "Keep the dirt flyin'."
Like most things, this dust cloud is bound to blow over.
The national glue
The whole election episode ought to make you feel better about America – no matter who won, we didn't have to put up with a bunch of gunfire and "cleansing."
There are things that bond Americans – we may not be "marching in lockstep" politically, but politics isn't real life in this country. For most of us, politics is a spectator sport.
Here are the bonding agents. Think of them as the flour and gravy that hold a chicken-fried steak together:
• Fear of paperwork: If the nation fell apart, it would be too much trouble to cancel all our credit cards and get new ones.
• We citizens are united against a common goal – trying to keep utility companies from draining our savings in extreme weather.
• A civil war is too much trouble – none of us wants anything to foul up our plans for the weekend or to put more potholes in the roads.
• All Americans – red and yellow, black and white, rich and poor, and especially middle-class – live for the day we beat the IRS.
• And, currently, we all want a tranquil America that allows us to see what happens after inauguration day. Will President Bill Clinton become a contestant on the next Survivor series? Will he spend his lonely Friday and Saturday nights sitting in on sax with Roger Clinton's First Brothers Blues Band in the Presidential Ballroom at the Dewdrop Inn in Hot Springs, Ark.? Will the president take a turn in the Monday Night Football booth after Dennis Miller gets the exit pole? Will he be an X or an O on Hollywood Squares? Will he ever return to Arkansas? And, finally, will he start dating again?
See – drama holds us together. And the comedy of life.
Critters at Christmas
Dallas' taxpayer-funded Oak Cliff Animal Shelter will be open from noon to 6 p.m. Sunday and on Christmas Eve so people can adopt puppies, kittens and adult critters. These dogs – some are purebreds, some are pure fun – all come from the streets of Dallas. The only way they'll have a merry Christmas is to get adopted. Otherwise, it's curtains at Christmas. Visit the shelter – it's by the Dallas Zoo at Interstate 35E and Marsalis Avenue, south of downtown. (Call 214-670-7430.) Remember, you're not just getting a Christmas present, you're adopting a member of the family. Put love and thought into the effort.
Power play
During all this election turmoil, the phrase "orderly transfer of power" kept popping up. Around here on ice-bound Wednesday, "orderly transfer of power" meant how quickly the electric company could get the lights back on.
Larry Powell can be reached at 214-977-8487; P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, TX 75265; fax 214-977-8319 or at .
|
