Cowboy Who?

Art venues in Beaumont, Lufkin, Marshall, Orange, Texarkana, and Tyler have announced their summer exhibitions. Learn more below about shows presented by the Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Michelson Museum of Art, Rockport Center for the Arts, Tyler Museum of Art, and other Gulf Coast, East Texas, and southeastern Texas art spaces.

To celebrate Juneteenth, the Texarkana Regional Arts & Humanities Council (TRAHC) invites the public to the Juneteenth Family Jam on Thursday, June 19 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The free event is hosted by Rooted Movement Collective, who will lead an interactive dance experience for people of all ages and backgrounds. Local nonprofit The Scholars will open the event sharing the significance of the newest U.S. federal holiday.

The TRAHC requests an RSVP for the free family event.

East Texas artists Latosha Keagy and Dylan Statler are featured in Art on the Edge at the Michelson Museum of Art in Marshall. Ms. Keagy’s Decked Out show presents her glossy, detailed skateboard deck paintings, complemented by Mr. Statler’s intensely colorful Brushtrokes of Life painting series.   

Art on the Edge is on view at the Michelson Museum through August 8, 2025. 

The normally Western art-focused Stark Museum of Art in Orange focuses on youth for its summer exhibitions. Childhood Classics: 100 Years of Original Illustration from the Art Kandy Collection presents drawings by noted children’s authors and illustrators such as Dr. Seuss, Maurice Sendak, and Garth Williams, featuring beloved characters, including the Cat in the Hat, Stuart Little, Babar, and Eloise. Off the Shelf: Children’s Literature of The W.H. Stark House displays children’s books dating between 1881 to 1924 from the library of Southeast Texas lumber magnate H.J. “Lutcher” Stark.

Childhood Classics is on view at the Stark through July 20, 2025. Off the Shelf continues through December 20, 2025.

Catch the paintings and graphite drawings of southeast Texas artist Carlo Busceme IV at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas (AMSET), featured in its Café Arts quarterly series exhibiting local artists. Obliquely titled There’s So Much Crying in Baseball, Mr. Busceme’s work references abstraction, graphic design, and technical drafting in what the artist has described as “amalgamations of loose thoughts … slapped down and then built upon.”    

Carlo Busceme IV: There’s So Much Crying in Baseball will be on view in the AMSET café through July 27, 2025.

Summer exhibitions at the Tyler Museum of Art present works on paper and photographs of Big Bend National Park. Prints by enduringly popular Pop Art artists Roy Lichtenstein, Ed Ruscha, and Andy Warhol are featured in Pop on Paper through July 27. Closer to home, Unearthing Big Bend presents work by Irving photographer Terry Cockerham and Austinite Sarah Wilson, recently announced as Texas Book Festival 2025 poster artist. Both have made regular visits to the famed Texas national park over the past decade to capture its natural beauty and mystery.

The Tyler Museum of Art will display Pop on Paper: Lichtenstein, Ruscha & Warhol through July 27, 2025 and Unearthing Big Bend through September 7, 2025.

Under new leadership, the Rockport Center for the Arts offers the figural sculptures of Mississippi artist James Tisdale, the Rockport Legends group exhibition drawn from the annual juried Rockport Art Festival, and textiles by Aransas County resident Susie Black.

Susie Black: For the Love of Fabric runs through July 27. Past Master Artist | Rockport Legends and James Tisdale: Reflections run through August 10th, 2025.

The Museum of East Texas offers four summer exhibitions, beginning with a preview of the October exhibition From the Air: A Different Perspective of East Texas by photographer Bill Walterman. Four paired images including bird’s-eye-view drone photographs will tease the upcoming show. The Lufkin Art Guild 50th Anniversary Show gathers works by the guild’s past and current presidents in watercolor, paintings, and sculpture. Echoes of Resilience: Lauren Selden presents sculpture exploring connections between human relationships and the natural world. The artist will be present for a reception on Saturday, September 13. Twenty Years Waltz: Works by Kristi Rae Wilson collects works by this New Mexico metalsmith in the museum’s hallway exhibition.

Visit the Museum of East Texas website for more information on these summer shows.

The post Exhibitions Coming to East and Southeast Texas Art Venues this Summer appeared first on Glasstire.

Glasstire counts down the top five art events in Texas.

For last week’s picks, please go here.

1. Un Dique: Iteraciones Del Espacio Interrumpido
Rubin Center for the Visual Arts at the University of Texas El Paso
February 20 – June 27, 2025

From the UTEP Rubin Center:

“Un Dique is an independent curatorial project based in Ciudad Juárez that considers the urgency of creating artistic spaces in the border zones of Juárez and El Paso, with the objective of sharing and expanding these practices into public spaces. Organized by artists Octavio Castrejón and Alonso Robles, Un Dique has curated numerous exhibitions across Juárez in diverse public spaces. In this exhibition, curated by Rubin Center Assistant Curator of Practice Henry Alfonso Schulte, Un Dique makes visible their curatorial praxis while also presenting new projects in Juárez. The exhibition makes transparent the process of exhibition-making and questions the role of arts institutions in determining cultural histories and values arguing, instead, for the dynamic potential of public space as its own kind of museum.”

Read a review of the exhibition here. Para leer este artículo en español, por favor vaya aquí.

2. Emilie Duval: Landscapes of Digital Existences
Andrew Durham Gallery (Houston)
June 21 – August 9, 2025
Opening Saturday, June 21, from 6-8 p.m.

From Andrew Durham Gallery:

“Landscapes of Digital Existences is a journey through the intersection of physical and digital realities, an exploration of how technology reshapes our understanding of nature, identity, and authenticity. This series draws inspiration from mid-century aesthetics, with their utopian optimism, and the vibrant compositions of David Hockney, whose innovative use of light, space, and perspective deeply influence Emilie’s work.

In these paintings, Emilie juxtaposes the clean lines and bold colors reminiscent of Hockney’s aesthetic with digital distortions that reflect the complexities of our contemporary world. This fusion of organic and artificial elements becomes a lens to examine how algorithms, artificial intelligence, and virtual environments not only redefine how we perceive the world but also how we exist within it.”

3. Big Pour
MASS Gallery (Austin)
June 14 – July 12, 2025

From MASS Gallery:

“Big Pour is a collaborative exhibition by Audrey Blood, Erin Miller, and Alexandre Pépin, rooted in the physical and sensory act of paper making. Created through an intensive, process-driven approach, the works explore the relationship between body, memory, and material. Impressions of touch, color, and movement echo the artists’ shared experiences — both meditative and improvisational — as they navigated vulnerability, trust, and transformation through making.

The exhibition also includes community-made pulp paintings, created during a public workshop and incorporated into the show in improvisational ways. Big Pour is a celebration of collaboration, contemplation, and the power of sensation to shape meaning. It is an embrace of uncertainty.”

4. Brantly Sheffield: MetaFORE
Ro2 Art (Dallas)
May 24 – June 28, 2025

From Ro2 Art:

“Brantly Sheffield (b. 1991, Edmond, OK) is a Dallas-based artist whose paintings and drawings explore the complexities of identity, relationships, and the emotional landscapes that define human experience. With a BFA in Illustration from the Kansas City Art Institute (2014) and an MFA in Painting from Boston University (2017), Sheffield has cultivated a distinctive style that merges the intimate with the universal. His work often combines exaggerated and distorted figures that act as metaphors for the fluid and contradictory nature of identity.”

5. Printmaking from San Antonio and Beyond
Bihl Haus Arts (San Antonio)
June 14 – July 12, 2025

From Bihl Haus Arts:

“Bihl Haus Arts presents Printmaking from San Antonio and Beyond, a compelling exhibition of fine art prints highlighting the diverse voices and innovative techniques of contemporary printmakers. Featuring works from both emerging and established artists, the exhibition explores how printmaking continues to evolve as a dynamic medium for expression in the 21st century. From intricate etchings and bold screenprints to experimental mixed media works, the exhibition showcases the breadth of approaches that define the contemporary printmaking landscape.

‘This exhibition reflects the energy and creativity driving today’s print artists,’ says Kathleen Baker Pittman, curator of the show. ‘Printmaking has always been rooted in tradition, but the artists featured here are pushing the boundaries of what prints can be – technically, conceptually and materially.’ Pittman has included printmakers from Texans from San Antonio, Austin, and Houston, as well as artists from California, New Mexico, New York, Virginia and Mexico.”

The post Top Five: June 19, 2025 appeared first on Glasstire.

LOS ANGELES—Confirming that doctors had performed the procedure successfully, sources reported Friday that Sabrina Carpenter had undergone a state-mandated lobotomy to cure her medically diagnosed nymphomania. According to eyewitnesses, the 26-year-old artist arrived at a state mental hospital early this morning strapped to a gurney so that she could not act on her depraved sexual thoughts. Several reports indicated that Carpenter muttered “Hor…hor…horny” as an anesthesiologist secured a breathing mask over her head and a neurosurgeon brandishing an ice-pick-like instrument prepared to insert the tool into her frontal lobe in compliance with a court order issued by a California judge. At press time, a doctor was reportedly standing by the singer’s bedside asking if she still felt like man’s best friend.

The post Sabrina Carpenter Undergoes State-Mandated Lobotomy To Cure Nymphomania appeared first on The Onion.

Tina Webb, 25, died Saturday night, becoming the fifth assistant that Xander the Magnificent has burned through in as many weeks.

The post Tina Webb appeared first on The Onion.

It’s a special “where are you now?” season at Ask a Manager and I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past. Here are four updates from past letter-writers.

There will be more posts than usual this week, so keep checking back throughout the day.

1. My team member won’t stop talking about their Keto diet

The advice definitely helped. If nothing else, it validated that this kind of behavior can be disruptive in the workplace. What ended up happening is that shortly after the column, we had some formal complaints from new employees who were part of an onboarding cohort, led by our Keto nut, and they said they were uncomfortable with some of the personal commentary given during their sessions. This was perfect stepping stone for the direct supervisor of the person to step in and have a conversation.

It was shared with them that their personal life choices and lifestyle are not part of what they should be sharing with people at work. If someone expresses interest in talking to them about it, they need to leave the office and have that discussion during a lunch or break. The direct supervisor said the comments could be taken the wrong way and seem judgmental about countering viewpoints and to just refrain from talking about it at work.

Since the conversation, it has improved significantly. There are still a few side comments here and there about their choices and no longer eating sugar, etc. when office treats are brought in, but it is MUCH improved. The conversation was a tough one, because it is hard to tell someone not to be passionate about things they enjoy – however, bringing it back to “how is this relevant to your work?” was the best way to hammer that message home. The supervisor also joined the next few onboarding sessions to listen in and ensure that the behavior improved.

2. My new coworker seems to be asking us if he should cheat on his wife (first update)

Five years ago, just before the pandemic started, you answered my question about how to handle a new coworker who was just absolutely oozing red flags in his first week.

As I’m sure surprises no one, Tulio turned out to be an absolute trainwreck. Fortunately I never did have to hear about his wife again and as far as i know, they stayed (begrudingly?) married. But he was SO awful at his job that would-be affair wound up being a drop of tea in the teapot.

For the sake of anonymity, let’s say we’re all teapot salespeople, a combo of inside and outside sales. He was hired because he purported to be an expert in how to mix milk in tea (actually fairly analogous to what we actually do), claiming he had taught classes on it at a university, and claimed he had all these special certifications in tea mixing. We already had a tea mixing expert in our group, but having another person would be even better. If it had been true.

In reality, he had no idea what he was talking about when it came to tea mixing. We all (even the non-experts with more general knowledge like me) regularly corrected him during customer calls or had to backtrack or clean up after him. He never answered (or read) his emails, he regularly ignored customers he didn’t view as “high value” (lower sales) and even five years on was asking incredibly basic questions akin to “can teapots have different designs on them?” When we had our monthly sales meetings, he made shit up on the spot and our boss was regularly correcting him. Oftentimes he wouldn’t even know we had gotten orders in even though he was copied on everything.

It was incredibly frustrating to watch this man stumble for five years with no consequences. My team was at the end of our rope dealing with his incompetence. We couldn’t understand why he was still here.

And then, at the end of March, he was unceremoniously let go and we were notified in an all-hands meeting. They restructured his role such that, had he been doing anything at all, he would have been fine. But since he wasn’t, they fired him. Everyone else in that role was safe, and actually are excited about the role changes. It also meant my job is changing a bit, but I’m looking forward to it.

I do think there were things going on in the background that we couldn’t see. About a year ago, we took my boss aside at one point to tell her how much we hated working with him and she found out that every other team also couldn’t stand him after asking around. I think she might have started then, but I also I think my grandboss had tied our boss’s hands in a way we couldn’t see. But I think it did reach a point where the entirety of the sales team (about 15-20 people) got so fed up that leadership finally actually looked at stuff and realized how screwed up it all was.

So, long story short, he’s FINALLY gone. Took WAY too damn long. But he’s gone, my job is easier, and I don’t have to regularly clean up stupid messes he made and cover for him with customers. Maybe not the most satisfying update but I cannot overstate how much of a relief him being gone is.

3. I desperately want to change jobs but I’m five months pregnant (#4 at the link)

Thank you so much for giving me the confidence to search for a new job! I was feeling very vulnerable and your encouragement was exactly what I needed. You were right, job searching made me feel like I had more control of the situation, and it takes a while.

Unfortunately, the stress at work started to impact my pregnancy. I was having regular panic attacks and my blood pressure was high. My doctor was getting concerned. I have never left a job without another one lined up, and I was so worried about a gap in my resume, but it was starting to impact my baby, so I resigned. I felt like such a failure, but I thought of the kind Ask a Manager community, and thought, “If this were one of them, I would tell them that their health comes first and no job is worth your health or the health of your child. You are not a failure. You are taking charge of the situation.”

I am incredibly lucky that my wonderful, loving, supportive husband was able to work several overtime shifts to make sure we were in a reasonable place financially, and I continued to apply and interview. Thanks to your advice, I felt confident heading into interviews, even though I was in my third trimester and very large. At 37 weeks pregnant, I interviewed for a job in a snowstorm wearing my husband’s shoes. I thought it went well, but I was unable to send a thank-you note because I went into labor two days later. I never heard back from them.

I had a beautiful, healthy baby boy at 37 weeks, and everything else melted away. I continued to job hunt whenever I could but didn’t have much luck. About a month and a half later, a former manager (from the job I was laid off from) reached out. She had moved on to a new company and was hiring and wanted to bring me on board if I was still looking. I went back to work two and a half months postpartum. They let me start part-time and work from home to make the transition easier. This place isn’t perfect, but I have a good manager, I make a decent living, and I never think about work after I leave for the day. I feel incredibly grateful for my beautiful life.

I’m glad to have found a corner of the internet where people are very kind and supportive. This community is one-of-a-kind. Thank you all for helping me through an emotional and turbulent time.

4. My boss wants my employee to report to him (#2 at the link)

I appreciated all the comments, and read every one. It gave me some food for thought on why I felt the need to push back on the change, as well as what would be good about the change. One commenter said something like, “Sarah’s been under you for seven years, maybe she deserves some growth!” and that really struck me.

I spoke with my supervisor about my concern of how I was being asked to remain Sarah’s manager, just without the title. I inquired about whether there were any new projects Sarah could take on under him, and I clarified what he meant when he said I would handle the “day to day” of Sarah’s work. We wrote down a chart of specific areas on which he wants Sarah to report to me and specific tasks on which she would report to him. He also clarified that he wanted to hold Sarah’s performance reviews jointly together. I felt when we delved into specifics, he was reasonable about addressing my concerns and it made it easy for me to accept the change. I’m happy for Sarah and for myself to have a new dynamic as well.

We’ll see how this all goes for Sarah but when I told her about the upcoming change, she was indeed happy to get a little bit of mobility and to be recognized for her professional growth with new responsibilities. We ended up with a win-win-win!

The post updates: team member won’t stop talking about their Keto diet, the cheating coworker, and more appeared first on Ask a Manager.

It’s a special “where are you now?” season at Ask a Manager and I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past. Here are three updates from past letter-writers.

1. Telling a new employee he’s not cut out for the job

First, a clarification for the readers: I was new to the team, but my direct report Tom had been in his role for 2 years.

I did worry over the readers’ advice that maybe I was jumping to conclusions, so I started with a few one-on-ones directed at learning why he chose this path in the first place and what he enjoyed about it. Basically, he said he likes black-and-white work with clear rules, and our specialty involves rule enforcement.

After a few more weeks of learning his side of things and carefully watching some of his work, I explained to him that a robot can blindly enforce rules, but someone good at our specialty needs to understand and be comfortable using grey zones. I also explained that his skills XYZ were a better fit in other departments, and ABC would hold him back in this one. I mapped it out on a Venn diagram with the role I was recommending, which I was honestly kind of proud of.

Before talking to him, I met with the other department head to let her know I might have someone who could move over to replace a planned vacancy in her team, and to expect an informational interview request from Tom. I also gave Tom the contact info for a friend I have in the proposed specialty, who works at a different company, so that he could get some outside feedback. And I gave him a pile of alternate job descriptions and explained we could keep looking if the proposed path didn’t appeal to him. Tom never spoke to either person.

Instead, he went to a mentor (in our specialty at this company) and told the mentor that I told Tom he “sucks at his job” (for the record, I definitely didn’t say that). The mentor reassured Tom that he was a perfect fit for this job, and then told me off for hurting Tom’s confidence. The mentor agreed to take a more direct role in teaching Tom, since we thought maybe a different teacher/perspective would help. About a month later, the mentor came to me, apologized and said it was hopeless and suggested I put Tom on a PIP.

During this time, Tom’s performance significantly dropped off. He stopped trying hard just to tread water, and just stopped treading entirely. I caught him leaving work hours early multiple times, he was hours late 1-2 days a week, and came in probably-hungover every Monday when he wasn’t calling off entirely. At that point I got HR involved and explained that I was worried about mental health issues or burnout. We put together a tough-love conversation outlining the behaviors that needed to improve immediately while also offering flexibility and support, and advised him of resources like FMLA. To Toms credit, he did 95% return to the required work hours.

Then, an opportunity came up to create a project-based position on my team. To be honest, it’s a really fun job, and other members of my team probably deserved it more, but I was still feeling somewhat obligated to help Tom after he had such an unsupported start to his career. Plus, it was right in his skill wheelhouse. So far he’s doing … extremely mediocre at it. He’s doing the bare minimum despite it being work he said was interesting. It’s a little frustrating because I can tell he knows what a “C” level effort is, and puts in exactly that much effort. But he seems in better spirits, and the backfill for his old role is much better received by the team, so everyone is a little happier now.

When this project ends, if things don’t miraculously change when he goes back to a more traditional role, I’m afraid it’ll be well past time to execute the PIP. At this point, I can’t in good faith recommend him to another department. Overall, I think I was probably too soft on him throughout this process, but I also feel good about trying everything in my power to help him be successful.

Sometimes you can lead a horse to water, but they have to learn the hard way.

2. A nonprofit kept badgering me to interview their disabled client

I had mentioned in comments that my HR was really against me talking to the woman, or any of the applicants at all. I did feel bad for basically ignoring her, even when I got back from my brief vacation. I think in the future, if I have something like that, I’d actually either reach out and explain that I can’t answer questions or ask HR to speak to them.

I did end up emailing the rep after we called for interviews and explained how we weren’t interviewing Ferguson and apologized for not getting back to her earlier. She was very nice in her reply, and didn’t seem too upset. I get the feeling she’s this hands on no matter where she sends in his app and isn’t surprised by the lack of contact. We regularly have a part-time position open in a different department, so I told her that Ferguson should apply and we can’t communicate with applicants but if she sends it through the system, she’ll get notification when it’s been accepted. As far as I know he hasn’t, so I hope that means he’s employed elsewhere!

3. A good news story

(This was a letter from a manager who successfully helped a struggling employee whose mental health crisis had been affecting his job.)

It’s been six months since I wrote in my experience managing Cedric using a lot of the tips and tricks I’ve gleaned from AAM over the years.

Overall Cedric is continuing to thrive. Once we established a good way of working I was able to pass a few of my projects to him, as he thrives on being busy and being able to choose what he works on. Some of these were new to him, like comms strategies and budgets. It turns out he loves comms and hates budgets, so we pivoted and all the finance stuff is now back with me. On his own, Cedric said, “Before you arrived, I would have felt like a failure with how the budget project turned out. But you encouraged me to treat it as an experiment in seeing where my skills and interests lie, so it’s not a failure — it’s just gathering intel about myself.”

Unfortunately the funding for our department has come under strain lately, and Cedric’s fixed term contract is not being renewed for next year. However he’s actively job hunting, and most importantly he told me that he knows what accommodations to ask for, and he knows he can rely on me for a good reference.

When I started this role, I honestly thought Cedric was going to make it difficult. But it’s been the opposite — creating an environment where he can thrive has been one of the most rewarding challenges of my career so far. He’s a great guy and I’m hoping we can keep in touch professionally once his contract finishes up.

The post updates: telling a new employee he’s not cut out for the job, and more appeared first on Ask a Manager.

The post What Are Our Dietary Restrictions? appeared first on The Onion.

#CowboyWho

Also there is some fourth, floating animal.

#Mia #Ully #WhiteBlaze #RoninWarriors

Van Horne married Blythewood Saturday, turning his bewitched household appliances back into humans.

The post Fiona Blythewood and Dexter Van Horne appeared first on The Onion.

HOUSTON—Recounting the deeply spiritual event as one that was life-changing but contractually difficult to articulate, area man Kyle Hartsfield recalled angels asking him to sign a nondisclosure agreement following a near-death experience, sources confirmed Thursday. “It was incredible, and I really wish I could talk about it,” said Hartsfield, describing the series of events in which he lost consciousness only to be awoken by an angel stoically sliding a stack of legal papers across a desk for him to sign. “I saw a blinding white light, I felt a warm glow envelop my body, and I can’t legally say more than that at this time. Heaven was beautiful, though. Somehow I felt both outside my body yet very calm—but I shouldn’t even be telling you that. I remember seeing a vision of St. Peter leaning down to whisper in my ear that he would destroy me if I ever revealed anything. I wasn’t religious before, but now I definitely believe in NDAs.” At press time, Hartsfield was reportedly able to share the detail that there was beautiful harp music playing in heaven’s lobby.

The post Man Returning From Near-Death Experience Recalls Angels Making Him Sign NDA appeared first on The Onion.

OTTAWA – Canadians thinking of planning a trip to the United States are being advised by the Government of Canada to perhaps consider going anywhere else on the entire fucking planet for their summer vacations.  “Have you people not seen the fucking news? Does that look like a fucking good time to you?” asked a […]

The post Canadians travelling to the US advised to not fucking do that appeared first on The Beaverton.

“Despite franchise fatigue with Marvel and Star Wars, U.S. and Israeli producers are releasing a big-budget reboot of the blockbuster property.” Party at Carney’s house! Ian and the Panel (Clare Blackwood, Megan MacKay, and special guest Andrew Ivimey) discuss how the G7 definitely still exists, why Canada’s No Kings protest would need an asterisk*, and […]

The post America announces reboot of early 2000’s Middle Eastern war appeared first on The Beaverton.

A new tale begins on Monday and I have endeavoured to make it a good one. I had the idea for SAVAGE SWORD OF SUSAN when I was working on my Conan comics. If that project hadn’t had to be curtailed, I think some version of this story would have immediately followed it. Some people have asked me if this is a repurposing of the Conan material – it isn’t. I didn’t even re-use the one panel I could have copied and pasted for a flashback.  In retrospect, I’m not sure why I didn’t.

The whole 34-page comic will be available to download for my Patreon subscribers as a PDF on Monday. If you prefer to read it here, look forward to eleven weeks of titting about in a forest.

The post SAVAGE SWORD OF SUSAN starts Monday appeared first on Bad Machinery.

This is a time to celebrate. Put yourself down for two honey-glazed hams.

I’m going to exact petty childish revenge on you. Yeah! And I’m gonna have to pour beer on your most beloved object!

That’s right! You’re gonna get what you’ve got coming, mister cool.

In brief: Hurricane Erick is expected to make landfall early Thursday morning in the state of Guerrero, east of Acapulco in Mexico as a major hurricane. Heavy rain, bad surge, and powerful winds will impact the Mexico coasts of eastern Guerrero and Oaxaca. In the U.S., a major heat wave will rev up this weekend and next week in the East.

Hurricane Erick

One look at Erick on satellite this afternoon, and you can see that this thing is well put together.

Erick was a 50 mph tropical storm this time on Tuesday, and it’s now a 100 mph hurricane. While there is still some uncertainty on how high Erick’s ceiling is, the track is coming into pretty clear focus now. Erick should make landfall later tonight in eastern Guerrero in Mexico, with significant impacts there (east of Acapulco) and in Oaxaca. Hurricane warnings extend from Acapulco to Puerto Angel, with hurricane watches west of Acapulco and tropical storm warnings on both sides of the hurricane warnings.

Erick is rapidly intensifying, and several models are pushing Erick into major hurricane status by tonight. Given that satellite loop above and the conditions ahead of Erick near the coast of Mexico, I see no reason why Erick won’t be at least a low-end Cat 3 when it makes landfall tonight.

Obviously, Erick will bring a high end hurricane impact to the coast of Mexico tonight near and especially east of where it comes ashore, which includes much of Oaxaca. But impacts will go far beyond just wind and surge. In fact, rainfall forecasts call for a total of 16 to 20 inches (400-500 mm) of rain in coastal Oaxaca.

This will be a very bad night in coastal Oaxaca and portions of coastal Guerrero. Thought with folks there as the first big storm of the 2025 season bears down on Mexico.

Erick will dissipate over Mexico as it lifts north inland over the mountains.

Eastern U.S. heat wave upcoming

With the rest of the tropics quiet at this time, we’ll take a quick look at the upcoming heat wave that’s expected to unfurl over the Eastern United States. An extremely impressive and large area of sprawling high pressure is going to intensify and expand over the eastern half of the country this weekend and next week.

In some areas, it’ll be interesting to see just how strong this ridge gets, with the Euro ensemble suggesting that there’s a non-zero chance that upper level heights will reach all-time records.

This type of heat event will likely threaten a number of records in the Midwest, Northeast, and Mid-Atlantic next week. In fact, you can see based on current NWS forecasts (which are often somewhat conservative 6 to 7 days out), we’ve got several dozen record warm minimums forecast or threatened and several record highs as well.

It’s the nighttime minimum temperatures that never cool off that can separate a bad heat wave from an unbearably bad one. So seeing this many forecast records this far ahead of the event is impressive and concerning. Heat precautions will be advised next week in the East!

The pattern should relax some later in the week.

And just what do you call that?
Ah well ... we don't know those guys. #CowboyWho

In March, the Trump administration clawed back more than $11 billion in public health funding that had been distributed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Harris County and other local governments from across the country subsequently sued.

SUNRISE, FL – The Florida Panthers have defeated the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final, securing both Florida and Calgary their second consecutive Cup victory over Edmonton. “I’m happy my team, anyone other than the Oilers, won” said Marco Hildebrandt. “Seeing the Oilers lose for two straight years feels as good as seeing the […]

The post Florida, Calgary win Stanley Cup Final appeared first on The Beaverton.

The post Texas Doctor Tapes Pregnancy Pamphlet To Comatose Woman’s Forehead appeared first on The Onion.

The Japanese have a saying, Kingyo no fun, which roughly translates to an unreleased, dangling goldfish poop. The phrase is used to refer to one who blindly follows, mindlessly tagging along to a trend. I’m reminded of this phrase often when viewing art these days, especially art that swings for the bleachers and embraces spectacle — engrossing experiences meant to catapult the audience into a Tron-like reality, wowing the senses and hyper-fixated on being reflected on social media. In fact, often the end result of the viewing experience is one of obligation, an annoying goading to take a selfie and post it as if documenting the experience and sharing it is the greatest meaning the work can contain. 

Most of the exhibitions that fall into this category are lacking sorely in the way of concept. It’s like the equivalent of watching the latest Marvel movie in the cinema; overwhelmingly impressive CGI and ACTION!!!!, along with a predictable narrative and a plot unraveling indistinguishable from any of its peers. Art always manipulates, but to absolve it of any cathartic responsibility, when it capitalizes on nothing else but its own shimmer, reduces the experience to one of mental grazing, the audience is expected to behave like cows churning cud in their empty heads.

Thankfully, there are exceptions. Floating World: A.A.Murakami, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, is a remarkable presentation of work that is indeed spectacular, in the sense that the ideas implicit from the start remain the focus of the exhibit, despite the hugely impressive nature of the work.

Studio A.A.Murakami is composed of artists Alexander Groves and Azusa Murakami, and is based in both Tokyo and London. Their backgrounds respectively are in studio art and architecture. The two met in graduate school for product design (they also run Studio Swine, fabricating one-off furniture and the like). The duo focuses on the confluence of nature and the experiential qualities we too often ignore. They are interested in exposing potential wonderment found only in moments of presence. Rather than alienating the viewer with the implicit command of “Look at me! document me!,” the four “stages” of the exhibit allow for proper contemplation in a way that makes one feel like they are actually a player in the game, not merely an observer. There is something essentially human in the work that is quite amazing, given the mechanical underpinnings of it all.

The engineering and programming that went into the exhibition is impressive. In the last stage of the exhibition, Under a Flowing Field, several plasma-filled glass tubes are suspended at an angle from the ceiling, the whole space bathed in a red monochrome. The plasma that shoots lightning bolt-like inside of each tube creates a little pitter-patter of clinks, resembling the seasonal crickets in Japan that mark the coming of fall. I went back to the room again and again and always had a strong feeling that I was on a David Lynch set, just waiting for a well dressed little man to walk out and start talking backwards. Uncanny, really… 

Another room labeled Beyond the Horizon presents the audience with a vast space. The huge back wall houses mechanical “arms and lungs,” which synchronize in a fantastic bubble-making enterprise that fills giant soap bubbles with fog. As they form and gently float along, one is expectant of their imminent demise where the bubble pops and the fog is released. The metaphor is clear and simple, therefore effective. 

The installation is perfectly synched with LED lights that glow and dim based on the bubbles’ release. I revisited this room, as I did the whole exhibit, and was happy to see another human element evidenced. On repeat viewings it was apparent that the water-to-soap ratio was a delicate one. Sometimes more bubbles were popping immediately than were obviously meant to, making the installation fail to a certain degree. This realization may only be apparent in the mind of the viewer who had seen the installation as it was intended. This malfunction was indeed frustrating, but it was also a relief, a glimpse into the delicate nature of the physics involved. The human element, or rather the analogue aspect of the show, was laid bare, a refreshing experience in an increasingly digitized world full of flawless and essentially meaningless pixels.

Perhaps the strongest installation presented in the exhibition is titled Passage, another huge space with a mechanical wall that contains fog ring-making contraptions, all sporadically timed to produce puffs of smoke, resembling a cigar’s smoke rings. Again, anticipation is key in this set up, as well as the subtle and constant drone of the apparatus. The lighting is an intense blue hue, making the viewers’ clothes that are warm in hue glow, adding yet another layer to the experience. I was lucky to view this room several times when children were present, their interactions with the rings being the highpoint of the entire show. The ephemeral nature of the rings floating about, sometimes interacting with each other, sometimes just hovering before whooshing out of existence reminds one of the capricious nature of our lives, the rings resembling various interactions we encounter daily, some banal, some profound, all to be manipulated by our hands if we can only get close enough. 

Writing about his architectural practice, the unparalleled Peter Zumthor describes architecture as more than just structure; it should be a poetic experience that engages the senses and evokes a sense of place and belonging. In this age of new media we seem to have lost any notion of the real, settling for diminutive displays on our phones, posted to socials, which prove we were never really there. A.A.Murakami is interested in the ephemeral nature of our existence and how we choose to engage it with our senses. The lack of any digital component is key to the success of the show in that it eliminates what would be another layer of abstraction, one based solely in memetics. The Floating World, an exhibition based in the tectonics of experience as it were, direct experience, rather than a re-presentation, allows for the child in everyone to explore and behold how truly profound life is, in and of itself. 

 

Floating World: A.A.Murakami is on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston through September 21, 2025.

The post Review: “Floating World: A.A.Murakami” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston appeared first on Glasstire.

George, elected as a Democrat in 2018 and 2022, has faced increased scrutiny over alleged criminal activity. He is facing felony money laundering charges as well as a misdemeanor charge of misrepresentation of identity.

Whitmire reversed his initial position that none of the $315 million in grant funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which awarded the funding in response to last year’s storms, should go toward housing. Community advocates say unmet housing needs require at least $100 million.

It’s a special “where are you now?” season at Ask a Manager and I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past.

There will be more posts than usual this week, so keep checking back throughout the day.

Remember the letter-writer whose colleague at their church wanted help raising money for a bad idea? Here’s the update.

This is a funky follow-up.

First, as I went about learning more about the situation with Laurel’s mission, I was told that Laurel does have some experience pertinent to the “tree planting mission field.” (As an aside, some commenters on the original post got bogged down in the exact details of tree planting, and I’d like to remind everyone that it’s an anonymizing fiction.)

When I talked to my manager about what I learned from following up on a member’s request for me to look for grants that would help support Laurel, I was told that it was none of my business and that I shouldn’t have done it at all, as it was not explicitly stated in my job description.

I talked to the committee the church has organized to support Laurel’s work. One reassuring thing I heard was that the committee had been encouraging her to wind down her work in Chile and transfer it to local leadership for several years. There’s a specific thing she does, say it’s teaching people how to test soil for suitability for trees, that is unusual in that country and would be helpful for local people to incorporate into future tree planting work. There is a professional in the field on her committee, and I trust her judgement when she speaks to this thing’s value. Passing this specific thing on was the primary aim of the most recent trip she took, which happened after I sent the first email to Alison. It was pointed to me all that work of this nature has some degree of inefficiencies. That’s both true and Laurel’s is on the extreme of tolerated inefficiencies.

I held Laurel’s bookkeeping high regard despite this conflict. She works as an independent contractor for many small churches maintaining their books, as she does for our church. I certainly hold them less highly now! It came to light that she made a $7,000 error while submitting our church’s taxes. It was a technological issue, and she’s not very adept with computers, nor did she take me up on my many offers to help in many different ways (remember that I had been doing the books before this, so I did know how to fix this!). Laurel also pushed for a specialized bookkeeper to come in and clean up the books after my time with them (and in my defense, I was working with an outside bookkeeping firm who was supposed to be doing the more technical parts of the work, and apparently weren’t doing a good job). This bookkeeper cost our church $15,000 over three months. I have no idea if that’s a reasonable sum for a contract bookkeeper, but shouldn’t Laurel have been able to handle the clean-up as part of her work if she’s such a lauded bookkeeper? Not coincidentally, our church has been in the red this year for the first time in a century’s operation to the tune of exactly $22,000.

Even more frustrating, given that it’s been emphasized to me again and again that Laurel knows what she’s doing and I should trust her, is that she’s not correctly doing the books for money related to her mission. Missionaries are considered clergy for the purpose of taxes. If they are paid directly by the church, they are an employee and the church needs to file the appropriate payroll taxes and file documentation to report that they have employed this person as an employee. It’s pretty common for missionaries to direct any funds they’ve raised to an outside organization who can handle the legal and financial aspects of their work. Laurel has skipped this entirely! I know from doing the books for one mission trip of hers that money comes into the account of the church from donations and payments go directly out to her, with nothing taken out. This leaves our church in the position of having underpaid payroll taxes for decades. When I brought this up to Laurel’s committee, the general response was that it’s all so complicated, how could anyone be expected to know what was required financially around Laurel’s mission? But if Laurel is a bookkeeper with a specialization in small churches, shouldn’t she have known this? From what I can tell, the amount of donations that came in was the amount that was paid out to her, meaning that there weren’t overpayments. Until she took over as bookkeeper last year, our church’s bookkeeper (not her) managed these payments. She’s provided financial reports to the church every year. The one good thing I could say about the external bookkeeper is that if they did the deep dive into the books they were paid for, financial impropriety (beyond Laurel conveniently not paying taxes on her work!) would have turned up.

I struggle to understand all of this. Why no one pointed out that being paid money to go somewhere and do work means that you’re an employee and need to pay taxes in the last few decades Laurel’s been doing this isn’t something I understand. While I don’t have training in bookkeeping, I found what seemed to me to be pretty clear answers to that in a quick google. There was a lot of discussion with me about how poorly I was doing with the books while they were my responsibility, and it’s been made clear to me that part of what allowed me to keep my job is because Laurel’s taken over the financial aspects of the church’s administration. There’s this story of me as a colossal fuck-up with the church’s books. But from what’s been shared with me and what I’ve seen, the primary origin of that story is Laurel! I didn’t get payments and reports to her about her work’s financials to her as quickly as she wanted, and I know that deeply annoyed her. While there certainly may be errors that I may have made as bookkeeper that are beyond my ability to understand, what I can say for my work is that I always filed taxes and report on time, and certainly never cost our church thousands of dollars because I was too stubborn to admit I didn’t understand how to fix a technology problem with the filing system. The $22,000 in the red really grieves me. It is a hard thing for a small church to come back from that kind of deficit.

I’m much younger than Laurel, I’m much newer to the church, I have this story of deeply fucking up the books and so costing the meeting tens of thousands of dollar attached to me. I’ve talked to many people about this problem, and no one’s interested in taking this on. Probably not least because if the church paid the back payroll taxes, that would cost us thousands of dollars when we’re already in the hole!

At the end of the day, Laurel’s planted more doomed trees, she’s continuing on unquestioned, and I can’t get another couch for the office because there isn’t the money for it. I’m staying in this job becauses its very mellow and flexible part time work that accommodates my disability in a way that’s hard to replicate. There’s some things about it that drive me absolutely crazy, there’s some things I find deeply meaningful. I’m planning to leave this job in the next year, and I’ll take with me a lot of lessons about how even well-meaning organizations can go hugely astray.

The post update: church member at my job wants help raising money for a bad idea appeared first on Ask a Manager.

Use the doors, PLEASE.