July 24, 2019 1100 PM
Dear Editor,
VP Mike Pence and a delegation including GOP Senators John Cornyn and Lindsey Graham visited border Detention Centers. Ungodly was the physical and moral stench of overcrowding’s unsanitary conditions. Glossing-over Administration crimes, Pence opined: “They’re well-cared for,” contradicting plain sight.
When others suffer from the politics of cruelty Evil prevails! His deeply held Christian values? Exposed was Pence’s ‘integrity’ when character matters most! Meanwhile, Jews around the country protest, some arrested acting upon a commitment to a promise! “As Jews, neither our history nor our values will allow us to sit idly by while our neighbors are locked in camps.”
Empathetic memories birth compassion. 3,331 years later, Pharaoh’s cruelty to God’s chosen people is remembered at the Passover Seder; Jesus’ Last Supper, celebrated by Christian Communion. Jewish lament; 79 years since the Holocaust, has been “Never to let it happen again!” May People of the Book and others respond to Justice’s cry: “Evil shall not triumph when keeping a sacred vow!”
Rev. Barry Abraham Zavah
Alpine, Texas
Dear Editor,
Many, many thanks to all the Marfa citizens and interested tourists who supported the Marfa ISD Cheerleaders in their fundraising quest to get to cheer camp at UNT, Denton, TX, next week.
Heartfelt thanks go out to the following local businesses who supported our fundraising campaign with generous gift certificates: Mando’s, Pizza Foundation, Porter’s, Marfa Brand Soap, The Big Bend Sentinel, The Well, Big Bend Coffee Roasters, St. George Laventure, Frama, The Get Go, and Jett’s Grill. Your generosity is what finally allowed us to make the registration and travel fees. We look forward to seeing you in the stands this fall.
Crawford Marginot
Jacqueline Hernandez
Dear Editor,
I thank you for your coverage of Lonn Taylor, one of a dying breed of true historians. I cannot image Lonn ever using history as a political weapon. His histories were straightforward and objective.
As a Marfa native, I was blessed to have studied journalism and history from teachers who believed that students should never write what they did not know to be true, that history recorded our past and should never be used as a tool for other purposes. In journalism at MHS, if we used a statement, like “confidential sources tell us,” we would have received a grade of F. But in those days, journalism was still an honorable field: news was separate from opinion; news was not distorted with a political agenda in mind; name-calling did not happen; and we were not allowed to editorialize on the front page. I also remember when the New York Times was a great newspaper. The NYT index were also a reliable source of information for research which I remember using as an undergraduate.
I will always be grateful to Lee Bennett, a superb history teacher, whose teaching prepared me for my research in the history of technical communication. Thanks to her, my study of the history of English technical writing, has yielded numerous papers and two books. I have been able to show that technical writing is one of the oldest forms of writing. I also owe much to Emma Lou Howard and Mary Lou Kelly, both fine English teachers, who taught their students the value of great literature.
Growing up in Marfa was a blessing that gave me the perspective I needed to have a fine career in higher education and hopefully make a difference in the lives of students.
Elizabeth deVolin Tebeaux
Professor Emerita Texas A&M University
