ustxtxb_obs_2010_02_05_50_00025-00000_000.pdf

F: 17 Vo’ ART SEA Seafarer, by Helmut Barnett an abstract artist who works with acrylic, oil, charcoal and collage, has been a fixture in the Austin art scene since the mid-1970s. An exhibit of his work, Helmut Barnett: Big Paintings’ Little Drawings, will be on display at the Wally Workman Gallery in Austin Feb. 6-27. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, Feb. 6, from 6 to 8 p.m. INVEST IN THE NEW TEXAS OBSERVER Why should you become an Observer Partner? Aside from the benefits you receive when you join, you will help found a new era of journalism and discourse from The Texas Observer and be part of a new progressive dialogue on www.texasobserver.org*. Pick your level Sustainer, Watchdog, Muckraker or Maverick? Give what you can and enjoy the benefits. And we’ll list your name on our Web site as a founding Observer Partner. Here’s what your money means for The Texas Observer: 57,1 Supports The Texas Observer and the future of investigative journalism in Texas. ‘..Itiatchclo1 $150 $250 $500 $1,000 $150 pays a photographer for a print/web photo spread; $500 purchases new video editing software; $1,000 replaces a writer’s outdated computer. Muckraker $2,500 $5,000 $10,000 $2,500 pays a writer for a feature story; $5,000 pays for telephone/internet service for nine months; $10,000 pays health care for three writers. ..4averick $15,000+ Contact us to talk about benefits and named reporting projects and positions. *New online privileges for Observer Partners You’ll be able to: build an individual profile page with a personal blog; network with Texas Observer staff and other Observer Partners; get full access to our archives; participate in our online book club, political discussions, polls and contests; and contribute information to ongoing investigations. For more information on Observer Partner levels and benefits, go to www.texasobserver.org , email Julia Austin at [email protected] , or call 800-939-6620. BECOME AN OBSERVER PAk INER Jack Myers Finally one night my wife and I looked at each other and said we’re old. It took decades to admit this. But we’re young at heart and have made ourselves go on a diet that requires we drink our weight in water once a week to burn away what we don’t want faster. I had to get old to learn the hidden secrets of the aged, that even straight-laced, pasty-faced Episcopalians think stupid thoughts and continue to have sexual fantasies like teenagers, but much more slowly as if they’re tumbling underwater. That’s why they’re quiet and smile a lot. And we have to eat tiny little meals all day, like cows do, and there’s a lot of getting up and down instead of the jolts of power walking. It’s not that we need to lose weight. It’s the feeling that something in us is missing and it’s growing larger and we’re disappearing and there’s no time left to find it. JACK MYERS, one of the great lights of Texas poetry for decades, passed away in Dallas in November. The author of17 books of and about poetry, he was Texas Poet Laureate in 2003 and the recipient of two NEA Fellowships and two Texas Institute of Letters Poetry Awards. His books included Routine Heaven \(Texas Review Press The Glowing River and As Long As You’re Happy \(National Poetry Series selection chosen by Nobel Laureate Seamus literary center; with his wife Thea Temple; served on the Vermont College MFA faculty; and was professor of English and creative writing at Southern Methodist University for 34 years. Students, readers and colleagues will long remember his dazzling genius and wit. He is already deeply missed. Naomi Shihab Nye FEBRUARY 5, 2010