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SOCIAL CAUSE CALENDAR tankOraragematenzaummsEssamassar THE OBSERVER OBSERVED The Texas Observer will ring in its 30th anniversary with a celebration at the Raw Deal, 1110 W. 6th St., Austin, December 17, 6-9 p.m. Chat with your favorite Observer editors, past and present, and reminisce with Texas-born Walter Cronkite. $10 gains admission and a poster by Tom Ballenger depicting Texas political hijinks. Cash bar and good eats, too. EDWARD WESTON IN MEXICO IN FORT WORTH Edward Weston, one of the most influential photographers of this century, first traveled to Mexico in 1923. The photographs produced there during 1923 26 heralded the start of the sharp-focused style for which he became known. An exhibition of 133 of these prints continues at the Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, through January 6. STELLA! The first retrospective exhibition of prints by Frank Stella is now on display at Laguna Gloria Art Museum in Austin. The exhibit runs through January 6. Laguna Gloria is located at 3809 W. 35th St. Featured are prints from 1967-1982 by one of this country’s greatest artists. NEW AMERICAN TALENT: 1985 The Texas Fine Arts Association is calling for entries for a juried competition open to all artists living in the U.S. Winners will receive cash awards, and about 40 works will be selected to travel throughout Texas, beginning June, 1985. All work must be original, completed within the last two years, and not previously exhibited at Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin. 35 mm slides of works to be entered, entry forms, and fee are due by January 21. For more information and an entry blank contact TFAA, Box OBSERVANCES December 13, 1954 The first issue of the Texas Observer published in Austin. December 18, 1865 Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery. December 18, 1972 Christmas bombing of Hanoi began. December 21, 1882 Edith Wilmans, first woman elected to the Texas Legislaendorsed legislation for child support, child care, and the creation of the Dallas Co. Court of Domestic Relations. January 1, 1919 Annie Webb Blanton, the first woman to hold an elective state office in Texas, was sworn in as State Superintendent of Public Instruction. January 3, 1961 The U.S. broke diplomatic relations with Cuba. January 6, 1927 – U.S. Marines invaded Nicaragua. January 15, 1929 Martin Luther King, Jr., was born. January 17, 1970 Chicano activists gathered in Crystal City to found La Raza Unida Party. TO OUR HEALTH! Texas environmental groups are promoting Environmental Action magazine’s November/December issue which examines the state of health in America. The special 32-page issue also looks at deceptive advertising and office health and safety. Environmental Action is available from: EA, 1346 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Suite 731, Washington, D.C., 20036. Single issues, $2.50; orders of 10 or more, $1 apiece. GORDON PARKS EXHIBIT Gordon Parks has gained recognition not only as a photojournalist but also as an author, poet, musician, painter, and movie director. More than one hundred photographs spanning his career will be exhibited at Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, and the George Washington Carver Museum, 1165 Angelina, Austin, January 12 -February 10. The, exhibit will include photographs taken by Parks during his 20 years as a staff photographer for Life, beginning in 1948. A public reception will be at Laguna Gloria Museum, January 12, 8-10 p.m. For more informa4809. MINI BOOK FAIRS Arte Public Press of the University of Houston is organizing Mini Book Fairs throughout Texas to expose communities in smaller cities to the flowering of U.S. Hispanic literature. Program Director, Cristelia Perez, will travel around Texas with an extensive book display and two Hispanic writers who will read, lecture from and autograph their works. At each site, local writers, bookstores and distributors are invited to participate. The following cities will participate: Mercedes, Eagle Pass, Denton, Fort Worth, Baytown, Corpus Christi, and El Paso. To participate, or for more information, contact Arte THE ROAD TO PEACE Camino a la Paz is the San Antonio intercongregational justice and peace office of ten religious orders who have joined resources, personnel, and energies to work for justice as the road to peace. For more information, contact Sister Theresa Billeaud, Intercongregational Justice and Peace Office, 285 Oblate Dr., Box 6778. THE TEXAS OBSERVER 69 sameness of Texan art in general a sameness not only in style but in level, in depth. Concerns which go far beyond this slight essay .. . McMurtry misses the meat because he falls into the first and worst trap that awaits a novelist; he becomes so fond of his characters that he hates to reveal anything dark about their inners. He’s forced to, to a limited extent, by the demands of dramatic narrative; but his novels usually end with the nostalgic rush of a character who, if the truth be told, would like nothing better than to go back to Page One and relive the whole experience again, right now. That’s a good way to entertain and a bad way to tell the truth. A novelist structuring his book for that kind of bitter-sweet rush at the end, limits the sort of things he can tell in the beginning and the middle. He has to exert control where control has no place, a control on his range and his depth, because bitter-sweet rushes are only appropriate in a narrow spectrum of experience. Which brings us back to that distinction between “entertainment” and “art.” “Entertainment” gives us fear, love, grief, whatever, in a manner that feels completely false. Because when we really feel grief, love, fear, or any significant emotion, the very nature of the feeling is to be somewhat out of control, beyond the bounds, into uncharted, dangerous waters. Likewise, when we are in the grip of a new thought, or when our values are being challenged, we don’t feel safe. Unlike entertainment, art is useless unless it dares. . . . Michael Ventura January 27, 1984