On The Tandy Hills Looking For Wildflowers While Feeling Like A Bloated Pig

That Is Not Wild Asparagus Growing On The Tandy Hills

Today, on the Tandy Hills, it became clear to me that whatever I brought back with me from Arizona, that gave me a really bad headache and other aches for a couple days, then slowly abated, is still with me.

As in, usually I go up the Tandy Hills light as a feather blowing in the wind. Today I plodded up the Tandy Hills feeling like a bloated pig being led to slaughter.

Not that I really know what a bloated pig feels like. It's just a guess on my part.

My mom called me Wednesday night and informed me that my sister got sick after I left Arizona, and my favorite brother-in-law relapsed, requiring a doctor's visit, where meds were prescribed. My mom and dad, with their superior immune systems, did not catch this particular ailment.

It is already a week since my now ailing sister and I hiked to the top of Piestewa Peak. On that hike I was still in light as a feather blowing in the wind mode. I could not have done that hike, last Friday, feeling like I do this Friday.

If I'm still feeling like I'm in ailing mode tomorrow, I will need to re-think my plan to go to the Prairie Fest. I would not want to start an epidemic.

I've been getting messages about tomorrow's Prairie Fest on the Tandy Hills.

Methinks someone forgot to send the Tandy Hills the message that tomorrow is the Prairie Fest, because the Tandy Hills is being unusually sparse with its wildflower display. Although, the top of Mount Tandy was quite a bit more colorful today than a couple days ago. But there was nary a bloom on Lost Sunglasses Ridge.

Boris & Natasha Comment About Fort Worth's Pravda While We Get Gritty Without Air Conditioning

A couple times yesterday I blogged about a really weird propaganda puff piece in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that claimed that Tim Love's new eatery had given new life to the, apparently, dying Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

I opined that the Fort Worth Star-Telegram operated more like a government mouth piece than a real newspaper, comparing the Star-Telegram to the Soviet Union's party paper Pravda, opining...

One thing I will say in behalf of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, as compared to the Soviet Union's Pravda. I don't think Pravda printed comments from comrades pointing out the absurdity of Pravda's propaganda. If a comrade commented they likely were sent to the Gulag.

The above paragraph generated amusing comments from CatsPaw, Steve A and Boris & Natasha....

CatsPaw said...

Comrade, you are seeing krasnaya! Let no Crackpottsylvania no goodniks' fiendish plans go unremarked. Keep banging your shoe on the table. Spasibo. Da svidaniya. And yeehaw.

Steve A said...

How do you know those Startlegram commenters are not on their way to a long visit to Huntsville as I write this? Durango, you still around? Durango? Hello?

Boris & Natasha said...

Regarding not getting sent to the Gulag when you criticize Fort Worth's version of Pravda; in Fort Worth, where could we get sent that is worse than where we already are?

________________________________

Mitchell Schnurman's Star-Telegram propaganda piece titled Love's eatery has given new life to river vision continues to be commented on. Below is a comment from someone who just does not seem to understand why so many people complain about so much in a city that is the envy of the world, which has another commenter explaining why it is Fort Worth citizens are cranky about the way Fort Worth operates....

shermrob

Unfortunately the comments on this article are the standard for Star-Telegram readers.  Out of fifteen comments, only three of them were on the positive side and the other twelve are the usual complaining about getting anything nice in Fort Worth regardless of who is trying to do something good for the city.

yakami11

City should really ask the citizens who pay for all of their dream projects what they want instead of telling citizens what they will do and get. I bet you would see much nicer comments if tax payers were asked, What would you like in your city.

_______________________________

I forgot to mention one really really odd bit of information in the Star-Telegram's Tim Love Woodshed propaganda puff piece. Below is an excerpt from the paragraph containing the really odd bit of information...

Granger wouldn't OK air conditioning in the restaurant, because he wanted a gritty, authentic feel and a natural connection with the river.

So, in the above we learn that J.D. Granger, the man with no experience running a big construction project, who was given the job of running the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, as a favor to his Congresswoman mama, so she would be motivated to get federal funds for Fort Worth's equivalent of a Bridge to Nowhere, is also a restaurant entrepreneur who was able to use his dictatorial powers to ban air-conditioning from a Texas restaurant, because everyone knows if you don't have air-conditioning it helps give you a gritty, authentic feel and a natural connection to an extremely polluted river.

Granger nixing air conditioning generated yet one more amusing comment to the Star-Telegram propaganda puff piece....

md
"Granger wouldn't OK air conditioning in the restaurant" Granger is stupid.

___________________________

Granger is stupid? That seems a bit harsh.

Methinks there is way more that is stupid about this entire mess than J.D. Granger.....

This Morning Is Finally The Final Friday Of March With Tomorrow Being The Final Saturday & Prairie Fest 2012 Part One

Stepping outside to my secondary viewing portal on the outer world, in the pre-dawn darkness, on this final Friday of the 3rd month of 2012, confirms that the pool illumination is in malfunction mode.

My air-conditioner malfunctioned and now this? How much hardship is one person supposed to bear?

Currently at my location the pre-dawn air is chilled to 68 degrees. And, according to my computer based weather monitoring device, it is foggy again this morning.

Fog so far from the ocean and any other large body of water always seems very odd to me.

Today is scheduled to heat up to 84 degrees. Tomorrow we are currently scheduled to hit 90 for the first time, I believe, this year.

Since tomorrow is the final Saturday of March, it is Part 1 of 2012's three-part Prairie Festival.

Tomorrow I currently plan to go hiking on the Tandy Hills in the noon time frame and then return at 4 in the afternoon, which is when the Tandy Hills turn festive with the start of Prairie Fest. I expect there to be a large crowd of revelers reveling.

I may go to the Tandy Hills today, weather conditions permitting. Before I do that I am going to go swimming as soon as Mother Nature decides to provide some natural illumination.

Down The Rabbit Hole With Fort Worth's Moribund Pravda Giving New Life To A Dying Vision

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram gets curiouser and curiouser.

I think curiouser and curiouser is a line from Alice in Wonderland. Which is a bit appropriate, I guess. Isn't Alice's Wonderland accessed down a rabbit hole, with Wonderland being a place where all is backwards?

Sort of like the Wonderland that is Fort Worth.

Earlier today I opined about a rather bizarre propaganda piece in Fort Worth's Pravda, known as the Star-Telegram.

Pravda means Truth, in Russian. Pravda rarely printed the truth, Pravda usually printed propaganda, as in bizarre articles in support of the communist regime's goofy schemes.

When I looked at the online version of Fort Worth's Pravda, a short while ago, the propaganda piece I'd opined about earlier had grown to be more prominently featured.

Just the title of the article is Alice in Wonderland Down the Rabbit Holish.

Love's eatery has given new life to river vision

Let's think about that title for a second. Love's Woodshed Smokehouse eatery has given new life to the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle? Really? Has the Star-Telegram had some articles about the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle being moribund? As in dying?

The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle is in such bad shape that a little restaurant next to a muddy, polluted river, outside of the area that the vision originally was seeing, has somehow breathed new life into the barely breathing Boondoggle?

Such a claim is bizarre, even for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Pravda Propaganda Purveyor.

Apparently I am not the only one who is thinking the Star-Telegram is sinking to new lows.

The Lone Star Telegraph blog has opined about today's Star-Telegram TRVB propaganda with Star-Telegram gives away free advertising. The Lone Star Telegraph sometimes mentions my blog. I've been asked more than once who is behind the Star-Telegraph. The answer is I don't know. I've been told it is a guy named Moe, along with several others. I know no one in Fort Worth named Moe.

And then there is an email on the subject of today's latest S-T Propaganda, from Fort Worth's Gail Galtex, who said, in part....

I was writing to tell you about this article in today's paper but just noticed that you beat me to it, haha.  Barf. Glad I finally decided to cancel the sorry Fort Worth Star Telegram paper a few weeks ago.  This story confirms that I did the right thing.  The three-page glowing propaganda story a few weeks ago about how wonderful Kay Granger is made me want to barf too.  

And then there are the comments today to Mitchell Schnurman's Fort Worth Star-Telegram propaganda. Below are some of the comments.......

StBns
If you sit back long enough and look at this endeavour the little light indicating sweetheart backroom deal comes on. Also...Tim Love's food is unimaginative and overpriced. But I suppose some people enjoy that kind of stuff.

whitepeaks2002
Anyone who thinks this is going to be awesome dining in July/August (if not before) is simply fooling themselves. The people with big bucks always flock to the new unusual venues initially, but it's simply a matter of time (and weather) until the elite crowd, drifts to the "next big thing". All that will be left at The Woodshed will be a lot of sweaty college kids...probably the ones that work there.

When I read about people changing the course of a river, I still shake my head. Changing the natural flow of water is against the law of nature and will ultimately cause major problems. I wish all the people who are so insistent on building businesses on the river would go back and look at Montgomery Wards on 7th St. (now Montgomery Plaza) when it was under water up over the second floor, stemming from flooding in May of 1949. The entire area was completely submerged. Men were navigating the area in boats from the Trinity river up past University Drive. If you've never seen the pics or footage, you should Google it.

whitepeaks2002
Also, you've missed it if you haven't seen the river during the Texas hot summers... very slow moving water smelling stagnant....the trees on the banks filled with nesting birds, smelling of bird poop and inundated with flies...with trash of every description, tree limbs, logs and tons of miscellaneous debris piled up like mini-log jams at the overpass at University Dr. near the Zoo. Yeah...classy.    

Chris Danger
Lake Benbrook was built to make sure an event like the '49 flood wouldn't happen again..

formaldehyde
See "Restaurant owners irked by no-bid deal with celebrity chef Tim Love" by Barry Schlacter in this same paper on November 26, 2011

fwcpc
"The TRV aims to move a river, reclaim acres of waterfront land near downtown and attract the development to pay for it" Mr. Schnurman is correct in describing this as a development project. Unfortunately it is our tax dollar that is paying for the work of moving the river. This project was cleverly disguised and sold as a flood control project. It is true the overall project is required for flood control in the event THE EXISITNG FLOOD CONTROL LEVEES COME DOWN TO ALLOW FOR DEVELOPMENT. This information is clearly presented in the Corps of Engineers 1,000 page study of the project and yet mayor Kay was able to push and win taxpayer funding. It is no wonder Tarrant County has the 22nd highest property tax rate in the nation (16 of those higher counties are in New York and New Jersey). This project may well prove to be a nice enhancement to the city but was presented in a very dishonest manner.

justfuninfw 
The food sucks and the service is terrible.  Fortunately the prices are too high too.

relic37
No A/C and the humidity of a nearby river - summer evenings should be delightful! 

blaneatt
First of all the food is unbelievable...second, the view is beautiful...third, the ambiance is relaxing and comfortable...fourth, they have live music (Blue Hat) http://www.facebook.com/Blueha... on the patio...this family friendly band will play next weekend on Saturday 6:30 to 10:00 pm. This place is amazing and shows that in Texas...people can get it right!!!! By the way, the pulled pork is to die for!!!

mpound17
I know I am not the only one here that sees irony in your regrettable use of the word "pork" in praising this particular result of yet another typical city hall backroom deal. The only thing getting "pulled" here is the taxpayers chain. What a scam.

____________________________

One thing I will say in behalf of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, as compared to the Soviet Union's Pravda. I don't think Pravda printed comments from comrades pointing out the absurdity of Pravda's propaganda. If a comrade commented they likely were sent to the Gulag.

The Final Thursday Of March Marveling At Fresh Bizarre Fort Worth Star-Telegram Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Woodshed Propaganda

Looking out my primary viewing portal on the outer world on this final Thursday of the 3rd month of 2012 it appears to be very very dark this morning prior to the arrival of the illuminating nuclear sky orb.

My computer based weather monitoring device, this morning, is telling me at my location it is currently 61 degrees and foggy, with 100% humidity, heading to a high today of 81.

Changing the subject from my favorite one to one I find vexing.

That vexing subject being Fort Worth's propaganda purveyor that calls itself the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

This morning the Star-Telegram published a piece of propaganda titled "Love's eatery has given new life to river vision" written by a supposed reporter who appears to be a publicity agent for the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle and J.D. Granger, named Mitchell Schnurman.

The propaganda piece starts with...

If the Woodshed Smokehouse is any indication of what's ahead for the Trinity River Vision, maybe they could start digging that bypass channel a few years early. How will Fort Worth ever wait? The Woodshed is so good, so soon, that it gives the river project a jolt of new energy and even gives government a good name.

Yes, how will Fort Worth manage to wait for the un-needed flood diversion channel to protect the town from a flood? It seems to me, since this is such an important project, that it should be fast tracked, rather than built in the extremely slow motion way that Fort Worth is accustomed to building its public works projects.

The Woodshed is so good that it gives government a good name? A government entity, operating without openness and transparency, gives government a good name? The Woodshed gives the river project boondoggle a jolt of new energy? A restaurant built southwest of the area touted as the location of the TRV Boondoggle project has somehow given a jolt of new energy to the boondoggle? Really?

Apparently the Woodshed Smokehouse has taken in almost a third of a million dollars in its first month of operating.

Schnurman says....

Eventually, the water district will net several hundred thousand dollars a year, to be funneled into trail improvements and other river uses. That's great, but this was never about maximizing restaurant dollars, which is why some early critics had it so wrong.

I do not recollect any of the Woodshed/Granger critic's criticisms having anything to do with maximizing restaurant dollars. I believe the criticisms had to do with this being a backroom deal giving one specific restaurateur a sweetheart deal without allowing other local restaurateurs the option of competing. That and building a restaurant outside the "Uptown" development area seemed to stray far from what had been, previously, the "Vision."

They complained that J.D. Granger, executive director for the TRV Authority, hadn't asked for bids before signing a 10-year lease with Love. Texas law doesn't require competitive bidding for the water district, and that's fortunate, because Granger wasn't buying gravel for a riverbed.

I thought that previously the Star-Telegram revised its earlier version of how this sweetheart Woodshed deal came about, taking J.D. Granger out of the equation and claiming it was a Tarrant Regional Water District deal, not a J.D. Granger good ol' boy scheme. The Star-Telegram really should make an effort to keep track of its propaganda.

He was trying to prove that river development could be a big-time winner in Fort Worth -- that a prime location on the water might be worth three times more than land a few blocks away. Do that and stoke some pent-up demand, and a decade from now, the tax base would soar and the TRV economics would work.

The above is fascinating. Now the Star-Telegram, via Schnurman, is propagandizing us that the Woodshed deal was part of a brilliant scheme hatched by that savant, J.D. Granger, to prove that river development could be a big-time winner in Fort Worth. And that a location on the river might be worth a lot of money, proving, a decade from now, the tax base will soar and the TRV economics would work.

So, the TRV Boondoggle has been underway for quite some time. A lot of earth has been moved. A lot of businesses have been stolen via eminent domain abuse. Yet, even though all that took place prior to the building of the Woodshed Smokehouse, this restaurant was needed so that J.D. Granger could prove that river development could be a big-time winner in Fort Worth????

Yes, that really makes an awful lot of sense.

I need to go swimming now and experience the real world rather than the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Hunting For Sesame Seeds In Arlington's International District's Cho Saigon

A Field Of Bluebonnets In Arlington's Veterans Park

This morning I decided I wanted to make myself a Chinese type stir fry for my noontime feeding.

Checking supplies I saw I was suffering from a shortage of the type things I need to replicate Chinese food.

Before today it had been a long while since I'd been in the part of Arlington I've called Chinatown, in the past.

Today I realized the part of Arlington, along Pioneer Parkway, that I call Chinatown, would more properly be called Arlington's International District, due to the fact that while there are Asian grocery stores, featuring products enabling the cuisines of various Asian nations, like Thailand, Cambodia, Japan, Korea and, of course, China, there are also grocery stores featuring Middle Eastern food products.

Arlington International District's Cho Saigon

And Russian food products.

And Mexican food products.

And even American food products.

Like the Jack in the Box next to the Cho Saigon grocery store I visited to stock up on my Asian ingredients.

On the way to Arlington's International District I got gas. So, I called my mom and dad to tell them I got gas. They were not home. What a surprise.

After getting gas I went to Arlington's Veterans Park to try and un-kink my kinky legs with some salubrious walking.

After Veterans Park I headed east to the former Chinatown. It takes awhile to find stuff at the Cho Saigon. There are dozens upon dozens of soy sauces to choose from. A long treasure hunt to find sesame oil.

No use asking anyone who works there where anything is located. The helpless hunt makes it funner. Eventually I found the sweet chili sauce I wanted. I gave up on finding sesame seeds.

The stir fry I concocted, after I got back to my abode, turned out quite tasty. Baby bok choy is a good stir fry ingredient, as are oyster and shitake mushrooms. And red peppers.

The Tarrant Regional Water District's Muddy Board Report 2011 Vision

In the picture you are looking at the cover of a publication I found in my mailbox this morning. Actually, I found two copies of this publication in my mailbox this morning.

The publication is Board Report 2011 from the Tarrant Regional Water District.

It is currently 2012. Not 2011.

I do not recollect receiving, previously, in the mail, Board Reports from the TRWD, for years previous to 2011.

On the cover it says that the report is "A clear vision for  a substantial and growth-oriented future."

Looking through Board Report 2011 it appears to be a slick propaganda piece touting the alleged virtues of the Water Board.

I did not see any mention made regarding the Tarrant Regional Water District's branching out into the restaurant business in cahoots with J.D. Granger and his Trinity River Vision Boondoggle and Celebrity Chef Tim Love and the controversial Woodshed Smokehouse.

In the Board Report there is a lot of verbiage about saving water, water restrictions and the Lawn Whisperer.

There is no mention made of the volume of water sold to gas drillers by the TRWD to frac Barnett Shale natural gas wells.

I find the water restrictions really bizarre in the TRWD zone, what with all the millions of gallons of water taken out of the system to be polluted with chemicals and then injected into gas wells.

I recently spent 10 days in the Sonoran Desert.

North Texas, and the area served by the TRWD, is not a desert.

The region may occasionally suffer from droughts, but it is not a desert.

So, how is it that in the Phoenix Metropolitan area there are so many water features? Like town lakes, such the Tempe Town Lake, built without the help of J.D. Granger and his earmark-happy Mama, and with actual signature bridges? Or Scottsdale's Waterfront?

Fort Worth might want to send a task force to Tempe and Scottsdale to see how towns which wear Big Boy Pants manage to create such developments, while Fort Worth is stuck in its Little Boy Knickers, relying on a corrupt congresswoman, (who got this corrupt town earmark money favors, in exchange for her little boy getting a job managing Fort Worth's bizarro water feature project), hinky funding mechanisms and never, God forbid, never, a public vote approving taxes to raise funds to build the pathetic little water feature, its unneeded flood control channel and what used to be signature bridges across the unneeded flood control channel.

And how is it the Phoenix metropolitan area, in a desert, a dry, hot desert, manages to manage its water supply without putting the public on Water Restrictions?

Is it because the Phoenix Regional Water District, or whatever that area's government water management agency is called, does not divert any of its water supply to gas drillers pumping millions of gallons of water into  gas wells?

All the water I saw in the Phoenix zone looked clear and clean. I saw no dirty looking Trinity River type water flowing. Why is that? I saw very little litter in that dusty, windy part of the planet. Why is that?

It is all very perplexing.

And in addition to all I've already mentioned that perplexes me about this issue, I am also perplexed as to how the Tarrant Regional Water District justifies spending what must be a large sum of taxpayer money, on this self-serving propaganda publication.

The Final Wednesday Of March Dawns Dark With News Of Fort Worthington Bluebonnets

Looking through the bars of my patio prison cell at the outer world on this final Wednesday of the 3rd month of 2012, I can see the lights of the pool are not on, thus making the pre-dawn darkness appear darker than the norm.

I hope the lights being out in the pool are simply a timer switch issue and not a dead light bulb issue requiring a partial pool draining to repair.

Currently the temperature in Fort Worth and Phoenix are only one degree apart, with Fort Worth being the the hotter town. temperature-wise only, at 62.

The humidity in Fort Worth remains high, at 86%. With my air-conditioner back working the humidity is not bothering me when I am in my interior space.

Speaking of Fort Worth, I got an amusing blog comment this morning from someone named Anonymous telling me about yet one more thing in Fort Worth causing spasms of Green with Envy syndrome in other cities...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Hiking The Slightly Muddy Tandy Hills Admiring Fort Worth's Iconic Downtown & Bluebonnets": 

Fort Worthington Bluebonnets?

Years ago the Worthington Hotel in downtown Fort Worth commissioned Texas A&M to create a new variety of Bluebonnet that is/was a lighter shade of blue. I think it was named the Worthington Bluebonnet and all other cities were, of course, green with envy over Fort Worth's very own variety of Bluebonnet. Whatever became of that Bluebonnet I cannot tell you. 

The Bluebonnets I found yesterday, blooming bright atop Mount Tandy, appear to maybe be a lighter shade of blue than the Bluebonnet norm. Could these be a patch of the fabled Worthington Bluebonnets that cause spasms of Green with Envy Syndrome in towns that don't have their own town specific brand of Bluebonnet?

Fort Worth really needs to think about dialing back on its incredible specialness that is making way too many towns way too envious.

I think it is time to go swimming now, in the pre-dawn, light-free pool.

Hiking The Slightly Muddy Tandy Hills Admiring Fort Worth's Iconic Downtown & Bluebonnets

The Stunning Skyline Of The Downtown
 Of The Museum Capital Of The Southwest

I was back on the hills of the Tandy Hills Natural Area today for the first time in weeks. The hills were still a bit muddy in places from last week's heavy rain.

The wildflowers are being a bit more sparse than I thought they would be, what with all the rain.

Today was my first look at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth since I learned that Fort Worth's arty aspects are the envy of many other older, larger cities.

I must concede, that, just like New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, Paris, Seattle, Moscow and countless other cities, the iconic skyline of Fort Worth is recognizable world-wide, with constructions as well-known as the Empire State Building, Golden Gate Bridge, Space Needle and Eiffel Tower.

It really is no wonder that Fort Worth draws art lovers from all over the world to experience the brilliance of the Amon Carter Museum, the Kimbell Art Museum and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth; the triumvirate that collectively makes Fort Worth the Museum Capital of the Southwest.

And soon, when the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle becomes clear, in addition to being the Museum Capital of the Southwest, Fort Worth will also be the Vancouver of the Southwest.

Imagine the waves of out of control envy that will bedevil cities, far and wide, when Fort Worth becomes the Vancouver of the Southwest.

Mysterious Un-Natural Arrow Point To What?

I can hardly wait.

Changing the subject to something else that makes Fort Worth the envy of the world. That being the Tandy Hills Natural Area.

Part One of the 2012 Prairie Fest takes place this coming Saturday. From 4 PM til the sun goes down there will be music, wildflower hikes, plus food & drink from Chadra Mezza & Grill, Good Karma Kitchen and New Belgium Brewing and Rahr & Sons Brewing.

Today, on the Tandy Hills I saw the arrow you see in the picture, spray painted on the ground. This did not seem very natural too me. There were additional flags stuck in the ground, in addition to the one you see in the picture.

A Bed Of Bluebonnets Glowing Blue

Marking off what? I could not help but wonder.

Mother Nature was also marking her territory, with the State Flower of Texas, the Bluebonnet, being the wildflower most abundant.

Changing the subject from something blue to getting  cold.

The A/C fix-it guy fixed my A/C today. So, I'm ready for a HEAT wave.

While I Was Out Of Town Fort Worth Again Became The Envy Of Other, Older, Larger Cities

I've been out of the Dallas/Fort Worth news orbit for less than two weeks. Somehow, during that short absence, Fort Worth's Fort Worth Weekly got infected with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram propaganda virus.

That being verbalizing, in print, the absurdly weird idea that anything in Fort Worth is the envy of other, older, larger cities.

Just the "envy of" verbiage makes me cringe.

Below are the first three paragraphs from this week's Fort Worth Weekly cover article titled Second Annual Visionary Awards....

Here’s a conundrum: How can Fort Worth have such an incredible array of art-related institutions and not be an “art town”? (At least not yet.)

Yes, there are arty aspects of the Fort that are the envy of many other, older, much larger cities. The tri-headed brilliance of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Kimbell Art Museum, and Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth make Fort Worth the museum capital of not just Texas (sorry, Dallas; sorry, Houston; sorry, Austin) but arguably the entire Southwest.

So why isn’t Fort Worth considered an art town? Why would an established visual artist tell an up-and-comer seeking career advice to go to Dallas? (Names have been removed to protect the innocent. And the guilty.) Are Fort Worthians simply too enraptured by their Cowtown heritage to care about anything not bovine or floral, forcing progressive artists out of town?

I'm thinking that maybe Fort Worth is not considered an art town, or, really, even considered, by most Americans, to be a town they know anything about, because Fort Worth really is not on the American radar screen.

Example.

Flying back to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, from Phoenix. At the terminal, prior to boarding, the announcements are along the line of "Zone 3 Flight 348 to Dallas now boarding."

While taxi-ing, prior to takeoff, the pilot announces that due to a tailwind we are hoping to land in Dallas a few minutes early.

About a half hour before landing the pilot informs the passengers that we are about 200 miles out of Dallas, where the temperature, in Dallas, is 64 degrees. Upon landing we get a welcome to Dallas.

Fort Worth was not mentioned once during the flight.

Same thing happens when one flies to Seattle. You hear no mention of Tacoma, even though the airport is the Seattle Tacoma International Airport. However, the population of Tacoma is barely over 200,000, while Fort Worth's population is approaching 800,000.

Regarding Fort Worth's "art" scene.

Well, I admit I am a very poorly educated, ill read moron, so it really is no mystery why I'd never heard of Fort Worth's museums prior to moving here.

I do recollect, soon upon moving here, being in downtown Fort Worth,  wondering where Sundance Square was, well prior to learning there is no Square in Sundance Square, and being amused by signs pointing to the "Cultural District," wondering why in the world would a town designate an area as its Cultural District?

I think a really good measure of how far below the national radar Fort Worth flies is the fact that there really is no iconic image of Fort Worth that anyone, anywhere, sees and instantly knows it is Fort Worth. The Fort Worth Stockyards sign does not count, because of the dead giveaway of having the town's name in that particular, sort of, iconic image.

The Fort Worth Weekly article asks "why isn't Fort Worth considered an art town?"

Well.

Have you looked at the town? Really looked? And compared what you see to what you see in towns that have a more elevated reputation?

I'm guessing a town that might be thought of as an "art town" might pay attention to something as basic as landscaping. Other big towns, with which I'm familiar, pay attention to the aesthetics of how their town looks.

In the Phoenix metro area every freeway exit that I saw is landscaped. Roads are landscaped. The entire area  is landscaped.

Meanwhile, in Fort Worth, the freeway exits to the town's only well known tourist attraction, the Fort Worth Stockyards, are un-landscaped, weedy, littered eyesores.

This type thing, that being littered eyesores, are not the type thing that causes envy in other, older, much larger cities.

Or so it seems to me.