Texans aren't shy. Perspectives is where our writers and contributors make the case — on politics, power, culture, and the fights that define this state. Sharp arguments, firsthand accounts, and the occasional righteous holler. You won't always agree. That's the point.
Culture
Last month, my mom sent me a video of a little girl named Galilea from Dallas. She’s sitting on her gray couch, clutching a brown plush dog, remembering her mom’s voice, her clothes, and the way she would say goodnight. “My mom is supposed to be with us,
Culture
It’s almost the Fourth of July, and I have no idea what to do with it this year. I guess I could grill something? Or wave a sparkler and pretend things are normal? But it just feels bizarre, like clapping for a magic trick while the magician bleeds out
Perspectives
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past week, you know that a young democratic socialist just swept away establishment opposition in the New York City mayoral Democratic primary election. Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old state assemblyman in New York defied polling odds — and conventional wisdom
Culture
I can still remember Sister Loria McQueen, a tall tawny-complexioned woman who I thought was the embodiment of elegance as a child. She wore eggshell blue tailored suits and elaborate hats on Sundays in our apostolic church in my hometown of Sherman. At some point in the 1980s, when
News
Local lawmakers in Texas are responding to recent reports that some law enforcement agencies are using automated license plate reader technology to support Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions. Last week, The Barbed Wire delved into data first reported by 404 Media and found that at least five law enforcement agencies
Culture
It was May 2020, I was five months pregnant when I walked into the perinatal office, referral in hand, and said, “My name is Kayden Coleman and I have an appointment here at 2:00 p.m.” The receptionist looked at me — disregarding the paperwork I was holding — and said,
Perspectives
Gov. Greg Abbott can’t be enjoying all this. On one side, his powerful lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, is foaming at the mouth to rid Texas of THC products, waving candy-flavored edibles around like they’re contraband at a kindergarten show-and-tell. On the other, you’ve got
Immigration
Many law enforcement agencies across the nation, including in Texas, use networks of cameras to automatically track cars — and some are using them to support federal immigration enforcement. That’s the topline from data recently obtained through a public records request first reported by 404 Media that The Barbed Wire
Perspectives
Well, we’ve done it again, Texas. Added yet another deeply embarrassing chapter to our ever-growing “Are We the Problem?” scrapbook. This time, it involves a doomed piece of legislation so absurd, so disconnected from reality, you’d think it was cooked up in an internet comment section. But
Perspectives
If you need a visual metaphor for Elon Musk's current life trajectory, just picture a human piñata with a fading hair transplant. First, Donald Trump goofs on him during a White House press conference, and then Musk’s own AI chatbot jumps in to confirm it. Folks, we
Perspectives
In the late 1940s through the 1950s, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and Republican Sen. Joseph McCarthy were leading figures in the Second Red Scare. The campaign of persecution targeted people accused, often falsely, of being communist and subjected them to public shaming, blacklists, and raids. You may know it
Culture
There’s a lot of talk these days about threats to society — AI, Grand Theft Auto VI, birds that may or may not be government drones — but I’d like to nominate a new one: people who back into parking spaces. You know them. You see them. You feel them