Daily Tribune (Mount Pleasant, Tex.), Vol. 141, No. 225, Ed. 1 Wednesday, December 16, 2015 Page: 4 of 8
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Seeing stars over Star Wars
Patrick: Steep learning curve
MALLARD FILMORE ®° by Bruce Tinsley
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MALLARD FILMORE ®° by Bruce Tinsley
Vyi--s
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is finding out he
may not have as much clout as he’d pre-
sumed.
Consolidated with Mount Pleasant Times
and Times Review on July 31, 1972.
Jordan Moss is a staff writer for the
Daily Tribune. Email:jmoss@tribnow.com
Dave McNeely writes about politics. Con-
tact Dave McNeely at davemcneelyl 11 @
gmail.com.
Lisa Lerer writes for the Associated
Press. Follow Lisa Lerer on Twitter
at: http://twitter. com/llerer.
In addition to being
next in line to become
governor if something
happened to Greg Ab-
bott, Patrick is also the
presiding officer of the
Texas Senate. That is
an important job that
can have a big effect
on shaping the state’s
budget.
In addition to ap-
pointing to committees
and their chairmen,
Patrick during the past
the original films as they
were released, it means
a chance to go back to
a simpler time in their
lives. To return to their
childhoods and once
again be filled with won-
der in a way that many of
them no longer feel on a
daily basis.
For my generation that
grew up watching the
original movies on TV
or VHS and then lived
Turner Third Time Charm . . . State
Rep. Sylvester Turner finally won a race
to be mayor of Houston, in a runoff over
businessman Bill King. He won by less
than two percent, on his third try. He had
lost races in 1991 and 2003.
Though he may not agree, Turner’s
long-sought victory comes after a quar-
ter-century of seasoning in the Texas
House of Representatives. He’s matured
from a politician into pretty much of
a solution-oriented, work-with-others
statesman.
through the release of the prequels, it’s a
chance to return the series to its original
glory. ,
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate the
prequels. I actually rather enjoyed all of
them. Yes, even the much maligned “Epi-
sode I: The Phantom Menace”. I could
find something I liked in all of the pre-
quels. But I won’t pretend they came close
to living up to the lofty expectation set by
the original trilogy.
For the generation that came after mine
and grew up with the prequels in theaters,
it’s a chance to also return to their child-
hood joy of seeing lightsabers and awe-
inspiring planets. Many of this generation
view the last set of movies far more favor-
ably than most of the older fans. To them,
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4A • Mount Pleasant Daily Tribune • www.dailytribune.net • Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Opinion
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ASSOCIATION
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Hillary C.: What’s
in a name?
As a young girl growing up in suburban
Chicago, Hillary Rodham decided she’d never
change her last name. Three decades later, an
entire state debated her childhood choice.
Arkansans grumbled about invitations
to public events from Gov. Bill Clinton
and Hillary Rodham. Businessman Frank
White, the Republican challenging Clinton’s
bid for re-election in 1980, made a point of
referring to his wife as “Mrs. Frank White.”
Bill Clinton lost that race. But it
was his wife who ended up making
the most lasting recalibration.
“I’ll be Mrs. Bill Clinton,” she told
reporters in February 1982, on the day
her husband announced his intention
to run again for the office he’d lost. “I
suspect people will be getting tired of
hearing from Mrs. Bill Clinton.”
Today, they hear from Hillary Clinton.
That’s the name aides to the front-runner for
the Democratic presidential nomination say
she now prefers. You might not know that
from looking at her campaign website, on
which she’s simply referred to as Hillary.
She was Hillary Rodham Clinton
throughout her time as first lady and
secretary of state. That was also the
name she used as an author of two best-
selling memoirs and how she signed
legal documents — “H R Clinton” —
as recently as this past summer.
Citing Clinton’s preference, The Associated
Press this past week changed its style and
refers to her as Hillary Clinton. Several other
news organizations have done the same.
The shifting monikers fit into an
attack line Republicans have pushed for
years — that Clinton is an unprincipled
creature of Washington whose positions
move with the political winds.
Longtime Clinton observers have a
slightly different take. They say the changes
reflect necessary political calculations
in a country that remains conservative
about family names, even as family
structures have become less traditional.
“Given the pattern that evolved, she clearly
had strong feelings about her name,” said
Max Brantley, aneditor at the Arkansas Times
who has known the Clintons since 1974. “She
kept trying in various ways to hang on to it.”
Roughly 8 percent of married women
in the U.S. use their maiden names alone,
while 17 percent use their maiden names
in connection with their husband’s last
name, said Pennsylvania State University
sociologist Laurie Scheuble, who’s studied
the choice of last names by married women
and based her research on census data.
“When Clinton drops her first
surname, she’s just following the norms
in society,” Scheuble said. “She wants
to be president and middle America
doesn’t want her to be Rodham. It’s
a good political position to take.”
That was certainly the opinion of Arkansas
voters all those decades ago. Statewide polls
later found that her use of her maiden name
had cost Bill Clinton as much as 6 percentage
points in that unsuccessful race for governor.
Longtime friend Ann Henry urged
Clinton to make the change after the loss.
“I’m sure it was a hard choice for her to
make, because she had been steeped in what
women could do up East and she’d given
that up to come down here,” Henry said.
public and private universities cost a lot
more than they used to.
One UT regent a few years back half-
joked that the percentage of legisla-
tive funding of public universities had
declined so much that they should no
longer be called “state universities,” but
rather “state-assisted universities.”
Also, it seems there is a difficulty for
many legislators to understand the word
“inflation.” UT has kept tuition and fees
pretty steady since 2012.
But since then, according to the Con-
sumer Price Index calculator of the U.S.
Department of Labor Statistics, it would
take $103.59 to provide the same buying
power in 2015 that $100 did in 2012.
The regents are talking about a 3.1 per-
cent increase per year over the next two
years.
“Any proposed increases are likely to
take into account cost escalations due to
inflation over the last few years and needs
of greatest institutional priority,” said UT
System spokeswoman Jenny LaCoste -
Caputo, “with a continuing emphasis on
student affordability.”
Gov. Abbott, the new number-one guy
in state government, has made it a goal
for Texas to have more top-notch public
research universities. He was the driving
force behind converting some of Rick
Perry’s pet business incentive fund into
the Texas Research Incentive Program.
For whatever reasons, most of the UT
regents didn’t heed Patrick’s serious urg-
ing. On Oct 2, -- the day after Patrick
expressed his frugality wish -- they voted
6-2 to approve a framework for consider-
ing proposals from UT’s 14 branches to
raise tuition and fees over the next two-
year spending period.
In other words, they decided that it was
more important to try to provide what
they considered enough money to pay for
a quality education than to take a chance
on dumbing down for a lack of funds.
We’ll see how all this plays out.
#3
AM,
seeing a child version of Anakin was cool
because they were children.
To another group of fans that span
across all generations, it’s a chance to
see the return of what first made being
a geek or nerd somewhat cool. For the
longest time before “Star Wars” arrived
in theaters in 1977, being into science
fiction was something reserved for social
outcasts. Even the so-called cool kids
that were into sci-fi would never admit
it.
“Star Wars” changed all that. Sci-fi be-
came cool. The franchise has crossed over
with such mass appeal that now you’re
more likely to be ostracized for not loving
“Star Wars”.
The series spans generations and brings
family and friends together like few
things can. My oldest friend from where
I grew up in San Antonio was extremely
disappointed I couldn’t take off work to
make it down for the midnight showing
on Thursday night.
I kind of was too at first. My memo-
ries of waiting in line and gawking at the
costume-clad fans outside of the theater
in South Texas were among my favorite
experiences as a movie buff. The cheers
when the Lucasfilm logo hit the screen
and the thunderous applause when Mas-
ter Yoda first drew his lightsaber are
things I will truly never forget.
But now I get to share the experience
of seeing the new film with my girl-
friend. Star Wars has a very special place
in her heart too. She admitted the other
day that as the movie starts while others
clap she will most likely cry. That’s how
creased by more than $100 million over
the previous biennium which provides
a state match to private donations for
research.
“The budget increased overall higher
education formula funding. The legisla-
ture also passed over $3 billion in tuition
revenue bonds (TRBs),” Patrick said.
“It is my hope, instead of looking at
ways to potentially raise tuition in the
future, they will look for ways to make
college education more affordable for stu-
dents and families across Texas,” Patrick
said.
In 2003, faced with a budget shortfall,
and then-Gov. Rick Perry determined to
balance the books through cutting spend-
ing cuts rather than increasing taxes,
the Legislature punted control of setting
public university tuition rates to the in-
stitutions themselves. Repeated legislative
attempts since then to take back control
have gone nowhere.
“I encourage (the regents) to remember
that we must keep the cost of college tu-
ition at a level that is within reach of all
Texans,” Patrick said. “With the dramatic
increase in funding from the legislature
this session, I am surprised that they are
already looking at ways to raise tuition on
students.”
The problem is that over the past half-
century or so, the cost of a college degree
has increased a lot.
And particularly at public universi-
ties, legislators in Texas and several other
states haven’t kept up with their share of
costs as they have increased. As a result,
Don’t you dare call it just a movie.
To millions of people worldwide the
opening of “Star Wars: The Force Awak-
ens” this week means so much more than
just seeing their favorite film franchise
back on the big screen.
For the generation that grew up with
year has released press statements on a
bunch of things.
One in early October drew special at-
tention.
Patrick cautioned that regents of the
University of Texas System were consid-
ering raising tuition rates.
“It is my understanding that the Uni-
versity of Texas System board is discuss-
ing the framework for how they may raise
tuition and fees in the future,” Patrick
said in an Oct. 1 press statement.
I’d prefer they didn’t, Patrick indicated.
After all, every dollar spent on higher
education is a dollar that can’t be spent
on other state needs.
“Texas higher education institutions
are currently funded at historic levels,”
Patrick said. “The Texas Research Incen-
tive Program (TRIP) funding was in-
SNPA A
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Marcia Davis, Managing Editor
Tina Vincent, Business Manager
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happy seeing “The Force Awakens” will
make her.
It’s with her permission that I tell you
she often felt quiet lonely growing up;
and that Star Wars was one of her favor-
ite escapes. It’s what led her to want to
study film and pursue the career path
she’s on today.
For so many others out there, Star
Wars is an escape from reality to a won-
drous place. I wonder how many kids
made it through hard times by likening
their struggles to the characters of the
series or just needed that, however brief,
escape to somewhere happy for a while.
When “The Force Awakens” opens,
grandparents will have a chance to take
their kids and grandkids. Generations
will come together to experience the
new adventure on the big screen. And
a whole new generation of kids will be
exposed to the magic for the first time.
Who knows, maybe some of them will be
influenced like so many of us that came
before.
A long time ago (in a galaxy far, far
away. Sorry I couldn’t resist) “Star Wars”
ceased to be just a movie. It’s a cultural
phenomenon that brings generations to-
gether, brings fans to tears and applause
while providing an escape for those who
need it the most. All while making sci-
ence fiction cool.
I for one cannot wait to return to the
Star Wars universe for another trip to a
galaxy, far, far away.
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Davis, Marcia. Daily Tribune (Mount Pleasant, Tex.), Vol. 141, No. 225, Ed. 1 Wednesday, December 16, 2015, newspaper, December 16, 2015; Mount Pleasant, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1428809/m1/4/?q=green+energy: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Mount Pleasant Public Library.