As victims bite the dust, ‘Snakes’ fans bond
When my mother was 6, she was bitten by a rattlesnake. The Boy Scout next door tied a tourniquet around her ankle and whisked her to a Houston emergency room. Sixty-odd years later, she...
Author: Anna
Pirates break all the rules… and we cheer
This summer, I’ve seen the pirate flag, the jolly roger, more often than I’ve seen the Stars and Stripes. The distinctive black flag usually includes a white skull with swords, or bones, crossed underneath....
Celebrate the beauty of just being yourself
Like numerous other women across the globe, I spent July preparing for the “Miss Universe” pageant. As the contestants were practicing keeping a straight face while wearing one of those overspangled, Vegas-inspired “national costumes,”...
Saluting our freedom to celebrate summer
The Fourth of July is our most patriotic holiday. It’s a time of nationwide flag flying, backyard barbecuing and fireworks. June’s pallid Flag Day hardly makes a dent in comparison. On this 230th anniversary...
The Geico gecko’s gone working class– why?
If America is a classless society, why has the Geico gecko on the telly suddenly developed a working-class British accent? Although geckos are the only lizards with a voice, this accent seems odd to...
Beating the blues; Antone’s was home away from home for a lonely UT freshman
Like many people who move to Austin to attend the University of Texas, I didn’t know a soul when I arrived. It was the fall of 1988, and I didn’t have a single friend...
All I want on the radio: cool tunes, quiet voices
Radio waves are all around us. They penetrate into buildings and travel through car windshields. Unfortunately, if you turn on the radio, those radio waves often magically transform into yelling. Much of the time,...
In Austin, we follow a beat all our own
Everyone needs a deep, dark secret. For years, mine was NBC’s supernatural soap “Passions.” In the early part of the decade, I was faithful to it, never missing lunch with its characters, closely following...
Vehicular Easter eggs: Now that’s a smashing concept!
In America, love is a many-fendered thing. Like no other people on earth, Americans adore their autos, embrace them and identify with them. This love affair started with Ford’s first Model Ts and progressed...
Forensics: It’s more than CSI
Last Monday, Sandip Gupta, 19, was having a rough evening. Days away from the national championship tournament, his training session was not going well. His broad face was sweating, his arm hurt, and he...
