The city’s water supply has been nearly depleted by a prolonged drought and a recent boom of oil refineries in the area. Locals have been limiting outdoor watering, shower time and car washes.
In brief: An absolutely incredible spring heat wave has taken hold of the West, Central, and parts of the Mid-Atlantic this weekend shattering monthly records from coast to coast. More of it to come. In Texas? Records fell, multiple times in some cases in the Panhandle, West Texas, and near the Red River, with another surge of heat to come this week.
Record obliterating heat
I’m not going to dive too deep into this Western and Central U.S. heat wave from the last several days. I’m going to wait for some of the final numbers to be compiled and then do a bit of a recap. But I would be foolish to not at least touch on this. The reality is that this was an extraordinary event by any measure. Hundreds of records smashed daily.
When it comes to events of this scope and magnitude (breaking April records in March, for example), there are very few analogs. In recent years, the only thing really comparable in North America was probably the insane Pacific heatwave of 2021. According to coolwx.com, March 19-22 had the greatest number of hot temperature records recorded of any days since 2010. Daniel’s map above was from Saturday, with monthly hot temperature records being set from SoCal through southern Minnesota. Even on Sunday at the same time, we had numerous monthly records ongoing too, over an even wider segment of the country.
Unofficial monthly record warm temperatures for March on Sunday extended from Maryland to Nevada. (Coolwx.com)
Monthly records don’t typically fall multiple times in a week over multiple locations from coast to coast. Clearly, this is an exceptionally rare event and one that is becoming more likely, more plausible, and more common in a warming climate. Dozens and dozens of additional hot temperature records will be set over the next 5 days.
As we’re trying to regularly do, here’s a look ahead at the weather across Texas for the upcoming week.
Let’s start with rain, or a lack of it.
Rain? No rain. (Pivotal Weather)
Let’s not expect much in the way of rain. We need it. Especially in South Texas. The situation in Corpus Christi is dire, and we’re planning to do something on that over at Space City Weather, hopefully by next week. But legitimately: We need rain.
The recent record heat has not helped.
Amarillo: 98° on Saturday establishes a new all-time record for March, breaking 96° from March 1907.
Lubbock: 98° on Saturday is a new March record as well, breaking the old record set the previous day, which tied the original record set on March 11, 1989 (96°).
Midland: 99° on Sunday was a new March record breaking the old record set on Saturday which broke the previous record of 97° set on March 31, 1946.
El Paso: 96° on Sunday broke the old March record of 95° set the previous day, which broke the prior March record of 94° set on Friday, which broke the original March record of 93° set on March 22, 2017. Another chance to do it comes Thursday.
You want more? Ok then.
Abilene: After coming up one degree short on Saturday, Abilene matched their all-time March heat record on Sunday with 98°, last set on March 21, 1916.
San Angelo: They broke their record for March on Saturday by hitting 100° and then matched the previous record of 98° on Sunday. That record has stood since St. Patrick’s Day 1908.
Wichita Falls: They fell 1 degree short of the record for March on Saturday when it hit 99°, so the March 27, 1971 record of 100° still stands. They have another opportunity on Thursday.
So for West Texas, the Panhandle, and parts of North Texas this will be the March heat event of record now. And we may not be done yet. Another surge of heat arrives this week, with daily records already forecast or close to forecast across much of Texas on Thursday.
Record or near-record highs forecast on Texas for Thursday. (NOAA WPC)
Basically, it’s a week of heat ahead.
For those keeping track of the 90 degree derby in the Texas Triangle region
High pressure will build in through the week, allowing for this heat to percolate. Friday may see a chance at 90+ or record highs in Houston ahead of a cool front that will allow for slightly more comfortable weather across the Central U.S. late this week and weekend.
Unfortunately, however, we may see the heat surge again after the weekend and heading into next week. We may see a wetter pattern return to Texas after that. Fingers crossed.
In brief: In today’s post we take a look at the likely development of El Niño, and what that means for this summer, as well as next year. We also report on a forecast this week that will bring a lot of sunshine to Houston before a weak front arrives this weekend.
El Niño looms, and what it means for summer
It is becoming increasingly likely that a warmer phase of the tropical Pacific Ocean, known as El Niño, is likely to develop later this year, possibly by the summer. Although localized to the Pacific Ocean, the periodic warming and cooling there has global impacts, including providing upward pressure on global temperatures (The Climate Brink has a good overview of this). The latest modeling suggests that the El Niño likely to peak later this year will be a rather strong one, potentially one of the two strongest experienced during the last 40 years.
At this point you might be expecting me to say something like, with such a strong El Niño the United States will probably experience its warmest summer on record. And while that is possible, I would point out that the response from global surface temperatures typically lags the peak of El Niño by a couple of months, and right now I don’t expect it to peak until the end of this year. So the summer of 2027? Yeah, probably brutally hot.
NOAA temperature outlook for June, July, and August. (NOAA)
But what about our forthcoming summer? Temperatures running about six degrees above normal for March 2026 do not give me the warm and fuzzies about what is to come. I would note that NOAA’s recently updated outlook predicted above normal temperatures for this summer, but not abnormally so.
In reality I expect we will see one of our warmest summer ever. My basis for this prediction is pretty simple. Based on average temperature (which is, simply, a daytime high and low temperature, divided by two) the last four summers have all ranked among the 10 warmest summers on record in Houston. The torrid summer of 2023 set the mark, at 88.0 degrees, but last summer was not far behind, ranking sixth overall at 86.0 degrees.
Top ten warmest summers on record in Houston. (NOAA)
Monday
If you’re out hunting for meteorites to the northwest of Harris County today (NASA has a detailed map of where to look) you can expect fine weather to do so. We will see mostly cloudy skies this morning give way to more sunny conditions, with highs likely reaching the mid-80s for most locations. Winds this afternoon will reach about 10 mph, with gusts up to 15 mph. With dewpoints around 60 degrees it’s modestly humid, but not oppressively so. I have been finding recent evenings to be quite pleasant outside. Low temperatures tonight will fall into the mid-60s for most parts of the area, a little warmer near the coast and a little cooler further inland.
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday
There will be a little variation for the rest of the week. Some days (Tuesday, perhaps) may have a few more clouds. But for the most part these will be mostly sunny days with highs in the vicinity of the mid- to upper-80s, modest humidity, and lows in the mid-60s. It will feel more like early May than late March, but that’s not to say it won’t be fairly nice outside. Rain chances are basically nil, but I wouldn’t entirely rule out a sprinkle on Tuesday. Fog is also likely to return during the overnight and early morning hours.
Expect another warm week before a slight cooldown this weekend. (Weather Bell)
Saturday and Sunday
A weak front will likely push into the Houston metro area on Friday night or Saturday morning. This is unlikely to bring any precipitation with it (more on that in a moment) but it should usher in some slightly cooler weather. Look for highs this weekend to likely top out in the 70s, with lows perhaps in the 50s. Regardless, skies should remain mostly sunny. If you’re planning to attend the Houston Open golf tournament this week and weekend you really have no weather concerns aside from warmer-than-normal temperatures on Thursday and Friday, and the need for sunscreen on all four days.
Next week
Next week does begin to look a little more promising for rainfall. Obviously we’re days and days away, but most of our model guidance points to increasing rain chances by Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. So it’s something we’ll monitor, but not about which I’m prepared to make any promises yet.
The late Sunday night collision crushed the nose of the aircraft. Around 40 passengers and crew members were taken to area hospitals, some with serious injuries.
I do communications and marketing and would love your advice on something that happened my first time managing a team.
I had a marketing assistant, “Kitty,” who was very earnest and a brand new grad from the fancy university in town. She was good at visuals (so the promotional graphics and fliers touting our products on social media) but less so on writing up the descriptions needed for a company like ours.
Typical interactions would go like this:
Kitty’s draft: CompanyName just released a new line of teapots inspired by London. The teapot are red.
Me, when, reviewing drafts: This is a good start, but let’s try to make these teapots sound like the best thing ever! How would you do that? What do you think of when you think of London?”
She never got it, so in the draft I would use Track Changes and change it to, “Transport yourself to London each morning, with our latest teapot collection. Using the same shade of red as London’s historic phone booths, Painty Fancypainter…” (You get the idea.)
Then I would say, “Look over the edits I made and let me know if you have questions, but that’s how I’d like to jazz things up.”
Anyway, it goes on like this for a bit and she never has questions and I’m struggling to figure out how to explain it/teach it better.
Then I go on vacation for a week. Before I went away, I pre-edited as much as I could, but instructed her to go to our skip-level boss, Lydia, our very harried head of our division without a marketing background who runs six other teams.
During our first meeting after I come back, Kitty looks agitated before bursting out, “Lydia only made one change to the floral teapot post I had to do while you were away. Unless there is a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT STANDARD for when you are here, I don’t know why you edit me so much.”
She goes on to say that I’m super critical and her therapist told her that I am an insecure person who “wants to be her friend” and that I’m threatened by Kitty’s brilliance because she’s young. (I was 39 at the time.)
And then she repeated the part about how if our harried boss Lydia approved the one (1!) post while I was away, there was a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT STANDARD for when I was here versus when I was on vacation, and that the vacation standard was clearly correct.
It quickly became clear that the “ask her about the completely different standard” line came from the therapist. Kitty also used the “it makes me feel bad when I get edits” line, and while that framing might be helpful in conversations with a parent, romantic partner, or friend, I really just want to get my social media posts out and was frustrated that she was prioritizing her feelings over honing her skills.
While this part was none of my business, I was also upset at Kitty’s therapist for giving her such terrible advice and never once considering that maybe a new grad still had skills she needed to develop? (I’m older and still have skills I need to develop!)
I didn’t say any of this, but I’m still wondering how I could have handled this episode better in the moment.
There are a lot of therapists out there giving weird work advice.
Who knows if Kitty’s therapist was actually one of them, because Kitty could be a very unreliable narrator, but it’s definitely a thing that some therapists don’t get how work works … or they are correctly focused on their patient’s feelings in a way that wouldn’t translate appropriately to a work setting.
That said, if Kitty was legitimately confused about why she got very different feedback from Lydia than she had been getting from you, it’s reasonable for her to ask about it. The way she did it was terribly executed, but the crux of the question itself could be a legitimate one.
Ideally you would have calmly and matter-of-factly responded with something like, “Lydia runs six other teams and doesn’t have the time for the line editing I’m responsible for when I’m here. Part of my job is refining copy and coaching you do that, whereas Lydia is just doing a brief review for glaring issues. My review and her review are different by design.”
In response to Kitty saying that getting edited made her feel bad: “I’m sorry to hear you’re having a rough time with it. When you write professionally, getting edited is a very normal part of the job. It’s also how we all get better and better at what we do. My experience has always been that the more you can actively welcome feedback on your work, the better your work will get over time and the more successful you’ll be in your career. I’m giving you feedback because I care about developing your skills, and also because I’m ultimately responsible for the work we put out.” You might add, “There’s no version of your role where the person in it wouldn’t be getting edited; it’s an inherent part of the job, like with most writing-heavy jobs.”
But that’s before getting to the part about her saying that you’re super critical, insecure, and threatened by her brilliance and youth. I mean, maybe you were super critical, I can’t know for sure, but based on the totality of facts in your letter I’m inclined to think Kitty was the issue, not you. Particularly with the “threatened by her brilliance and youth” piece, it sounds you were dealing with someone having a pretty ridiculous and over-the-top outburst, and the best response would be something like, “I can talk to you about why our team is structured the way it is and why I operate the way I do, and I will hear you out if there are parts of that that aren’t working for you — which doesn’t mean they will change, but I will certainly listen with an open mind — but at this point you’re making personal attacks in a way that isn’t okay to do to any colleague. So I’d like to resume this conversation tomorrow and ask that you be prepared then to talk from a calmer place and without personal attacks.”
All that said, though … at that point I think you also needed to look at whether Kitty was the right person for the job. In addition to what sound like significant issues with her writing and ability to incorporate feedback into her work, it sounds like there were some serious maturity issues there too, and those tend to show up at work in all sorts of ways.
The Food and Drug Administration canceled a plan to regulate tanning salons that would have prohibited anyone under 18 from using a tanning bed and required adults to sign a waiver acknowledging the risks of skin cancer. What do you think?
“I want my daughter obsessed with her weight, not her complexion.”
Barry Dugas, Marshmallow Puffer
“Protecting minors isn’t this administration’s strong suit.”
Spotting the big brown eyes that peeped out from a shelf of stuffed animal toys, a traveler browsing in a Tasmanian airport gift shop discovered a real Australian brushtail possum nestled among the plush marsupials. What do you think?
“I just hope it was safely chucked into the woods.”
Markwayne Mullin has been nominated to succeed Kristi Noem as the secretary of homeland security. The Onion shares everything you need to know about the senator from Oklahoma.
Ethnicity: Brother-in-Law
Raised By: Momwayne, Dadwayne
Known For: Being forcibly dragged off your flight
Humanizing Quality: Hates Rand Paul
Dream Job: special envoy for the Shield of the Americas
Fighting Style: Brazilian why-I-oughta
Could Pull Off An Earring: You know what? Yeah.
Difference From Noem: Would have killed the dog with bare hands
WASHINGTON—Opening his eyes after nodding off for several minutes at his desk in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump is said to have awoken Friday from a beautiful dream about kissing an underage girl only to find himself being licked in the face by a St. Bernard. “Oh yeah, Vanessa, I love how slobbery your kisses are,” said the commander-in-chief, the last vestiges of the dream state in which he was making out with a 14-year-old model reportedly disappearing to be replaced by the reality of a large dog with its paws on his shoulders enthusiastically lapping at his face. “Mm, your long, brown hair is so soft and luxurious, and I can feel your hot breath on my neck. You’ve got to be one of the sexiest teenagers under 18 ever. Ooh, yeah!” At press time, sources confirmed Trump had had fallen asleep again only to be woken by a tail repeatedly whacking him in the face.
Several Islamic schools sued Texas for excluding them from the voucher program. Iman Academy is instead calling for fairness while hoping to be judged by its work — not stereotypes.
The government is installing the first 17 miles of industrial-grade buoys in Brownsville. Experts warn the buoys could intensify flooding and change the river’s course.
The space rock zoomed across the sky at 35,000 miles per hour on Saturday afternoon, according to NASA, which says it broke apart about 30 miles above the Bammel area.
1. My coworker overheard me complaining about them
I have a new-ish colleague, Jaime, who I feel hasn’t really been pulling their weight. I was talking to someone else in the office about a project we’re working on and how I thought Jaime would be leading the project but that they were pushing all of the work onto other people when the project is what Jaime was hired for. I know my tone was very negative about Jaime during the conversation.
Well, I didn’t realize Jaime was in the office that day and am pretty sure they overheard the conversation. I ran into Jaime later that day and they gave me a sad look, but did not say anything to me.
I’m mortified and feel like a jerk for talking about someone that way behind their back. Obviously, I am going to be mindful in the future not to talk about people like that, especially when I’m frustrated. Should I say something preemptively to Jaime though or wait to see if they bring it up? I would like to apologize for the way that I talked about them, but don’t want to make the situation worse either.
You should apologize to Jaime and take responsibility for what they overheard. Sample script: “I think you may have overheard me talking about you the other day, and I want to apologize. Candidly, I’ve been frustrated that you’ve been asking other people to do the X work, but I should have talked to you or Jane directly about that rather than complaining to someone else. I also realize there may be pieces to this that I don’t know, and don’t necessarily need to know. But I shouldn’t have complained to someone else about it, and I’m sorry I did. I won’t do that again.” (In this script, Jane is Jaime’s manager.)
This acknowledges that you have legitimate concerns rather than pretending that you don’t and is straightforward about the parts you did get wrong. Of course, it’s possible that Jaime didn’t hear anything and now you’ll have introduced awkwardness where there didn’t need to be any — but it sounds more likely than not that they did overhear, and taking responsibility for it is the right thing to do.
2. Is my work friend the problem or is it really all her managers?
I work for a large distribution company with its national office and several warehouses. One of my work friends, Linda, did so well in the warehouse that she applied for and was promoted to an office job about 10 years ago. She’s been in three different but related areas and has had bad luck with supervisors each time. According to Linda, they have all been guilty of favoritism on her teams, never offer her any praise, and give her unrealistic workloads and all the problem customers because they know she’s good at dealing with problems. Whenever she recounts her run-ins with these supervisors, the conversations are nasty and the supervisors’ attitudes toward her are condescending, rude, and threatening.
The thing is, I know all these supervisors and have had to work with them at various times over the years, and they have been nothing but friendly and professional with me! (I’m a couple of levels above her on the org chart but I’m not a manager.) I can see where her current boss might be kind of a suck-up to people at my level, but I have never seen her be downright ugly to anyone the way Linda describes.
I’ve been here for 20+ years and have seen a lot of people come and go. The vibe here is friendly and fairly relaxed, and jerks are usually not tolerated for long. Is it something Linda is doing/not doing that has these people pick on her? Or is she maybe confusing her bosses’ authority to tell her what to do with being persecuted?
It’s definitely possible for supervisors to mistreat their teams while operating totally differently with people above them. It’s less likely — although not impossible — that Linda has had the exact same type of terrible luck with supervisors on three different teams, particularly if you know this to be a company that doesn’t generally tolerate jerks (and if she’s found all three managers “threatening,” that’s a pretty big deal). I’ve gotta say, I’m skeptical — but who knows, I could be wrong.
Does she ever share specifics that would give you more insight? The fact that you’re wondering whether she might have an issue with authority makes me think she’s shared enough to point you in that direction, at least.
All this said, as long as you never have to work directly with her, you can just enjoy her as a friend and not have to solve this mystery.
3. Can we use first names in letters?
I do communications work for a smallish nonprofit. Recently, an issue came up with an (admittedly older) board member, and I hoped to get your input on it.
I often find myself writing letters to donors, prospective donors, clients, and people with questions. The letters are friendly in tone, and in most cases we do not know the recipient personally, but we do have their name. If I don’t know anything about the person (other than their interest in our organization), I prefer to begin with “Dear First Name,” but a board member consistently insists it should be “Dear Mr./Ms./Miss/Mrs. Last Name.”
I find this not only old-fashioned but potentially problematic since we do not know how that person identifies. We only know their name from their inquiry. And even if we were to rudely assume they are cisgender, we don’t necessarily know their gender. I’ve known ladies named Frank and Mitch, guys called Dana and Ashley, not to mention gender-neutral names like Chris and Pat. And, of course, there are non-English names.
To me, it feels kinder and safer not to assume a gender, but our board member feels that the use of first names crosses “an inappropriate line of informality.” Neither our organization nor our mission is terribly formal, if that makes a difference. What say you? Is it acceptable to use first names in this day and age?
Loads of organizations have moved over to using first names in letters like the sorts you’re describing, but at least as many still haven’t. So you’re not wrong that using first names is increasingly considered fine to do, but your board member isn’t wrong that their practice is still very much in use too (and if a lot of your donors/prospective donors are older, they may prefer your board member’s way).
So the question becomes how much capital you want to spend on this, and there are probably better places to spend it. That said, I’m interested to know how your board member thinks you should be handling names like Chris, Pat, and Dana — since the risk of irritating people by misgendering them is at least as serious as the risk of seeming too informal (and likely more).
4. Can I ask if a company is hiring my coworker before I accept a job with them?
A coworker and I are currently both in the running for two different jobs on the same team at another company. However, after years of working with this coworker, I have decided I cannot continue to do so anymore. (Please trust that I did not arrive at this decision lightly and that I will firmly stand by it.) Is there any possible way to tactfully suss out their odds of an offer so that I can make my own choice accordingly if also presented with one?
And I know, I’m working off many assumptions here, but I want to be ready just in case.
It will also be difficult for me to stall my particular hiring process in the hopes of confirming my coworker’s offer status before I have to commit to anything.)
Not really. If your coworker has told you she’s applying there, you could ask if she’s heard anything back; if she tells you that she’s out of the running, you could more safely move forward. But you can’t ask the other employer how likely they are to hire her. If it’s a total deal-breaker for you and you need to give them an answer before you’re able to find out what’s going on with her, you’re probably stuck turning down their offer.
The exception to that would be if the position they offer you would be managing her; that opens up your ability to ask more about where things stand before you accept.
5. Is this salaried-to-hourly rate off?
I received an offer for a new job at a different company. When I told my old job about it, they tried to counter but I said no. So I took the new job and gave generous notice. My old company has asked me if I would stay on at the company, still as a W-2 employee, but instead of salaried I’d be submitting hourly timesheets to do as much of my role as I’d be willing to do remotely, ideally until they could find the right person to fill the role. The work would be a few hours a day after work at my new job, whatever schedule I wanted. The hourly pay-rate they offered is the same as my salaried rate, but I wouldn’t receive any of my full-time benefits like retirement matching, healthcare, etc.
Am I right in thinking this offer is essentially asking me to continue doing the same work for them but for cheaper? If they wanted me to do this in my free time after work at my new job, shouldn’t they be offering more money to account for the loss in benefits? My old manager is supportive and would want me to stay on as a remote part-timer but only if it was also beneficial to me. They mentioned that hypothetically I could inflate my timesheet hours a bit to make it worth my while and she’d sign off on them. Obviously that’s dishonest, but I don’t know how big a deal this is, and I would enjoy having some extra income. What do you think?
Yes, they are asking you to continue doing the same work for them but cheaper. Your compensation used to be your pay plus time off, insurance, retirement, and whatever other benefits you got. They’re removing everything except the money.
They’re also asking you to cut deeply into your off hours to do it — so not only should you be earning more because of the missing benefits, but you would also ideally be earning more because of the inconvenience to you (and because it sounds like you have a lot of leverage here, because they really want you to do this, while they have very little because you’re willing to walk away).
Frankly, I’d suggest not doing it at all, even if they offer more money, because it’s exhausting to start a new job and you want to be able to focus on it fully, not have to come home and do hours more work for your old job. But if you really want to do it, quote them a rate that would make it worth it to you (and it should not be dependent on fudging timesheets like your manager suggested).
A Scoville brand smart watch! Very niche. Some of you may be aware of Paul Scoville, the CTO of Fishman Industries. Those that aren’t, well, you’re not really missing out.
Have you ever noticed that I've never done that whole influencer thing? That's all thanks to people like you! Viewer support through Patreon keeps this channel independent and possible. If you'd like to join the amazing folks who fund my work, check out the link below. Thank you! https://www.patreon.com/technologyconnections
I've been assigned to this program to make sure the councles standards are strictly adhered to. Eh ... well that includes such gramatical mistakes as I have just made, that is, ending a sentance with a preposition. I was only testing you and I will be more alert in the future!
Robert S. Mueller III, former FBI director who reshaped the agency into a counterterrorism force after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and later served as special counsel investigating ties between Russia and Donald Trump's campaign, has died at 81.
Can you use AI for war in minecraft? Yes, as it turns out. And you can use it for real-world war too! Fun.
Also, I give an update on the project. Tldr: I'm feeling burned out on mindcraft. Progress has stalled, and I feel conflicted about its future. I'm not abandoning it, but its not my priority for the moment.
TIMESTAMPS (0:00) WarClaude (2:28) Anthropic vs Government (3:46) AI vs AI (7:39) Update: I'm burned out (9:02) Technical Issues (14:58) Moving Forward
Juneteenth Houston, an organization dedicated to honoring the history of the federal holiday, has announced open calls for a new Texas-based Juneteenth flag, logo, and temporary public art installation.
Greater Houston area artists and designers are invited to submit designs for a Juneteenth 161st anniversary commemorative logo, to be used for T-shirts and in promotional materials. According to the open call announcement, the design “must be an artistic representation of the number 161.” The logo design deadline is Monday, March 23, at 11:59 p.m. CDT, and the selected designer will receive a $500 stipend.
Also due Monday, March 23, are submissions from Texas artists for a Juneteenth-themed public art installation, to be installed for the one-day Celebrate Freedom Festival on Saturday, June 6, at Emancipation Park in Houston’s Third Ward. The theme for 2026 is “Homecoming: Our Heritage, Our Home,” and the call for submissions seeks an artwork that “highlight[s] the beauty in our individual stories that make up the traditions and legacies we honor and celebrate during Juneteenth.”
Those traditions include Black churches, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, community center events, and family functions such as cookouts and reunions.
Lastly, Texas-based artists and designers are invited to submit designs for an official Juneteenth Houston flag, to be used for annual celebrations. The organization seeks “a design that powerfully symbolizes the profound sacrifice and enduring legacy of the 250,000 formerly enslaved individuals who were freed on June 19, 1865, as well as the millions who never knew freedom but upon whose shoulders Black Texans stand today.”
In its announcement, Juneteenth Houston recognizes the existing Juneteenth flag designed by Ben Haith, a Boston-based activist, but specifies that the organization seeks a design recognizing the Texas origins of Juneteenth celebrations.
The flag design, due by Friday, April 3, at 11:59 p.m. CDT, should be of standard flag size (three-by-five feet), should not incorporate words, and may be in any solid colors the artist deems appropriate.
Flag design submissions will be reviewed by a panel of Texas arts and advocacy leaders, who will submit their top three designs for a public vote. Members of the public may register their votes on the Juneteenth Houston website and social media account from Friday, April 12, through Thursday, April 18. The winning artist will receive a $2,500 stipend, along with their flag design framed.
Visit the Juneteenth Houston website for more information on eligibility and design requirements, and to submit applications for the logo, public art, and flag open calls.
This article is part of a series of pieces celebrating Glasstire’s 25th anniversary. To see other stories from this series, go here. To see pieces from the month of March, around the theme Texas Topographies: Examining Place & Practice, go here.
For most of my life, my Texas travel experience was a fairly straight line between Fort Worth, my longtime hometown, and Galveston, my birthplace where I still have extended family. I-30 to 287 to I-45 with a bathroom break and food stop in Buffalo — I made this trip four times a year from when I was four until I was 39. Of course, throughout that time I also took occasional trips to Marfa, Austin, and San Antonio, and I explored the state park system with various camping trips across the Panhandle, West Texas, and Central Texas. But, it has really been through my work at Glasstire that I have come to know the state through more intentional travel to big cities and smaller towns. And on these trips, one thing I quickly learned was that people have strong feelings about Glasstire’s Texas map.
Is Albany part of the Texas Panhandle or the Dallas-Fort Worth region? Is Lubbock in West Texas or the Panhandle? What about San Angelo? Where does East Texas begin and end? What about Wichita Falls? It’s definitely not Dallas-Fort Worth, but it’s also not The Panhandle. Where do Corpus Christi and Rockport fit, because they are not The Valley but they are also not San Antonio or Houston (the closest regions on Glasstire’s map). What about Laredo — is that the upper Valley or something else entirely?
A screenshot of Glasstire’s Texas map, c. 2024
Last year, when Glasstire updated our website, the Texas map was one of the redesigned graphics. Past iterations of the map had pinpoints or icons hovering over the eight regions as defined by our publication — The Panhandle, Dallas-Fort Worth, West Texas, Austin, East Texas, San Antonio, Houston, and The Valley — but without clear lines identifying the boundaries of those regions. Interestingly, the map used for a significant part of the 2010s included a dashed-line border around the state of Texas, perhaps alluding to the permeability of that line.
A screenshot of Glasstire’s Texas map, c. 2017
The current version of the map features a thin black outline of the state, which now makes visible the undulating borders shaped by bodies of water, and its regions, which include many hard angles as the line moves around county boundaries. In planning for this version, we consulted several maps, including the Texas Almanac’s “Popular Regions 2010,” the Texas Parks & Wildlife’s map of the state’s ecoregions, and others we found on various websites attempting to define these boundaries for various reasons.
A screenshot of Glasstire’s Texas map, 2026
Dealing with political borders — cities, states, countries — is difficult enough because despite how they are portrayed on maps, we know these are porous and imperfect lines intended to define and separate things that cannot be neatly defined or separated. So, outlining Texas’ unofficial regions is an even more daunting task. Identifying and demarcating these areas is important because it relates to how exhibitions and events are listed on Glasstire. One solution has been to double list certain venues’ events. An exhibition at K Space Contemporary in Corpus Christi might be listed in both The Valley (which according to our current map is more expansive than a traditional understanding of that region, more in line with the term South Texas) and San Antonio, because Corpus and San Antonio have such strong cultural ties — a reality that cannot be elucidated by a map alone.
One thing that makes Glasstire’s map precarious is that it includes both large cities and expansive regions. I put together a simple survey regarding Texas regions and received some interesting and thoughtful responses. Caitlin Duerler Chávez, a Glasstire contributor, spoke about the need to consider both physical and political geography. She explained that the former connects in a region through environmental concerns — “like hurricanes in the Gulf Coast [and] drought in West Texas” — while the latter “consider[s] allotment of resources and value attributed by locals for arts and culture.”
Another respondent spoke specifically about West Texas and the Rio Grande Valley (RGV). While they felt that our West Texas region was fine as is, they noted that it could make sense for “El Paso and everything that falls west of the Pecos River” to be categorized as Far West Texas. Additionally, they pointed to the strong cultural region of the RGV as needing its own category separate from a region that would incorporate everything else from Del Rio to Corpus Christi.
Another respondent suggested a step away from the use of cities and a focus on regions to include: The Valley, The Gulf Coast (which would incorporate Houston), South Texas (which would include San Antonio), East Texas, Central Texas (including Austin), the Hill Country, West Texas, Far West Texas, The Panhandle, and North Texas (which would include Dallas-Fort Worth). In truth, this is my favorite scenario — though I might combine the Hill Country with Central Texas — because it seems to put every place on equal footing while considering both physical and political geography.
There is not a perfect solution, as our Publisher Brandon Zech recently pointed out, Texas is “about 800 miles in diameter. It is many states, subcultures, ideologies, and ways of thought, all crammed into one landmass.” Any map we use will present issues and will need to be updated as the state and its many regions shift and change from year to year.
With that in mind, we’d love to hear your thoughts about Texas’ regions, particularly about what region you feel your city fits into, but also what regions you would use in a map of Texas. Share your thoughts in the comments section below or fill out this survey.
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