Category: Texas Page 1 of 13

On the Internet Nobody Knows Who You Are: HollyShorts 2025

On November 16, 2025

In Humor and Weird Wilson-isms, Movies, Pop Culture, Reviews, Texas, travel

Dave Freeman in ‘Dave Nation” Episode #894 as portrayed by Jesse Einstein.

HollyShorts 2025 has many shorts in competition this past three days (most of which I spent on the road to Texas). Last year, the count was 427. The short that caught my eye was “On the Internet Nobody Knows Who You Are,” a 23 minute, 26 second offering from J.M. Logan that starred Jesse Einstein as Dave Freeman.

Jesse films himself for a feed called “Dave Nation” (GoPro?), and the Episode of Dave Nation we open on is #894. He explains that his father took him camping in his youth to a lovely forested area at the top of a mountain Dad referred to as Magic Mountain. Now that his father has been dead three years, Dave wants to take his father’s ashes to the top of Magic Mountain and scatter them there. (It’s a scene reminiscent of a similar undertaking in “The Big Lebowski.”)

Things do not go exactly as planned.

For one thing, even when he was young, Dave wasn’t keen on hiking and camping. “I was 12 years old. The last thing I wanted to do was to be alone with m dad in the woods.”

Dave Freeman (Jesse Einstein) of “On the Internet Nobody Knows Who You Are.”

But Dave sets off, despite the information that the next day is going to require a 6 mile hike. He has many small setbacks, but the bear attack in the night leaves him saying, “I have no gear, no tent, no food, no socks, and I don’t really remember how to use a compass.”

Who knew,” he asks, “that bears ate socks?”

Things get real very fast when Dave thinks he is hopelessly lost.

I love short films like this one that are more about being “real” and less about teen-age eternal love or Grandma (that would be me) becoming friends with a youthful soccer player from Nigeria or Timbuktu. (I won’t name names, because the acting in that one was great, but the originality of the piece was not.)

This one reminded me of the award-winning 7 minute short “Retirement Plan” that Irish Director John Kelly has just posted on YouTube, which is hilarious. (Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mqa4zfJdx4)

Atop Magic Mountain in “On the Internet Nobody Knows Who You Are.”

“Retirement Plan” was the best thing I saw last spring at SXSW, with the possible exception of “The Studio.” This one reminds me of it, except that it was 3 times as long. The cinematography and sound are great and Jesse Einstein—who looks exactly like a real-life friend of mine named Jimmy Mack—did a fine job. The original score by Antoni M. March, used atop Magic Mountain, was suitable in that spot.

Apologies to the HollyShorts people for my belated and unimpressive output this year. I was driving from Illinois to Texas during most of the (short) festival run. Things did not go exactly as planned. Unexpected things happen when two fossils set out to drive 1,000 miles. They generally happen in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. Then, you have to twist tie your car together and drive 6 hours in that condition, which is even worse than Dave Freeman having to hike the last 6 miles to the top of Magic Mountain. Pulling over every so often to remove pieces of your ruined vehicle and keep them from flying off and causing catastrophes for other vehicles on the road: one tactic. Telling your spouse “act invisible” when GPS tells you there is a speed trap ahead: another less useful tactic.

Is “On the Internet Nobody Knows Who You Are” any good?

Does a bear in the woods eat socks?

Buffalo in Kansas? From Snow to Eighties

By Connie Wilson

On November 13, 2025

In News, Texas, travel

The pictures above were taken in Kansas. It was incredibly cold (said it felt like 28 because of the wind, but was technically in the thirties). The “buffalo” are not real.

Until Kansas the first snow of the winter season was pummeling Indiana and Chicago and parts north. The Northern Lights were even visible in Geneseo (Illinois), but, then, on November 12th some saw them in Florida!

The weather in Texas is incredibly warm and nice. It feels like spring or summer. It is going to be in the eighties all week.

Today, I played bridge, which I have not played since we were in town last. The “Chicago” scoring method I had (almost) figured out on a bus trip to Houston, but I do not remember what I had (sort of) learned back in April. After 12 hours spent driving or searching for a motel (ended up in West, Texas) I felt like I needed a nap, but without me the bridge club had only seven players. At one point I tried to trump with a club. Unfortunately, I had made hearts trump and—somehow—simply forgot that mid-game, which I will continue to blame on fatigue. Also in my defense, I was not low for the day, but my score was definitely somewhere in the middle of the pack, even though, on my one good hand, my partner and I took all but one trick, as I was dealt 7 spades with all of the main honors.

The big news today was all about the Epstein files. The e-mails released today show that Trump was well aware of the trafficking in underage girls and, in fact, spent time with Virginia Giuffre, whose book “Nobody’s Girl” was recently released posthumously. Her death by suicide is as mysterious and inexplicable as that of Epstein himself in his prison cell.

We Need to Act on Weather Issues NOW

By Connie Wilson

On July 13, 2025

In Editorial, Education, Essays on Politics: Best Political Essays & Ideology, Local, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Scary stories, Science and Medicine, Texas

[Excerpts from “Flash Floods and Climate Policy in the New Yorker, by Elizabeth Kolbert (7/12/2025)]

Flash flooding in Davenport, Iowa on July 11, 2025

As anyone who has read my blog knows, I am with Greta Tunberg, the Swedish activist for climate awareness, in feeling that we must do what we can to stop the frightening proliferation of weather catastrophes, brought on by the global warming that former Vice President Al Gore has tracked for decades. It isn’t a matter of not believing it is happening any more. We are in the midst of it happening.

On Friday, July 11th (2 days ago) the area where I am currently living (Iowa/Illinois border) was hit by an EF2 tornado. The area where we spend the harsh Midwestern winters, Texas’ Hill Country and the Guadalupe River, has now lost over 110 lives to the rampaging river. Experts say that the warming atmosphere allows more precipitation to be held in the clouds and be dropped during flash floods very quickly.

Areas all over the planet are experiencing flooding. (Italy, China, etc.) We are not immune here in the United States. Obviously, moving 1,000 miles from one area to another in the U.S., as we did in May, has simply exposed us to flooding in both places. It’s raining in Texas in the Austin area right now on Sunday, July 13th.

Camp Mystic, Texas on the Guadalupe River. Over 110 dead and many still MIA.

Read the excerpts from the article (below) and tell me that this isn’t a problem that needs to be addressed with slogans other than “Drill, baby, drill!” And it needs to be addressed NOW!!!

The Trump Administration has made no secret of its disdain for science, and on June 30th it recommended cutting hundreds of millions of dollars from projects aimed at improving climate and weather predictions. Among the many research centers the Administration wants to shutter are the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, the National Severe Storms Laboratory, and the Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations. The last two of these are based in Oklahoma; all are funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is part of the Commerce Department. “I cannot emphasize enough how disastrous closing the National Severe Storms Laboratory and CIWRO would be—for ALL of us,” Stephen Nehrenz, a meteorologist with the CBS affiliate in Tulsa, posted on X after the budget proposal was released.

Nearly six hundred people have left the agency since President Trump took office, many because they were fired and others because they took early retirement. Among those in the latter group is Paul Yura, the warning-coördination meteorologist at the Weather Service’s office in New Braunfels, Texas, which handles forecasts for Kerr County. A story that ran on the weather blog of KXAN, Austin’s NBC affiliate, in April, when Yura announced that he was leaving, noted that he had “tremendous experience understanding local weather patterns while ensuring timely warnings get disseminated to the public in a multitude of ways.”

flash flooding in Davenport, Iowa on 7/11/2025

Davenport, Iowa, Friday, July 11th, 35th St. area and near Duck Creek area were hardest hit.

The amount of rain falling on so-called “extreme precipitation days” has, during the past several decades, increased by twenty per cent in the region that includes Texas, by almost half in the Midwest, and by a staggering sixty per cent in the Northeast. European researchers concluded that the Kerr County floods in Texas bear the fingerprints of warming. “Natural variability alone cannot explain the changes in precipitation associated with this very exceptional meteorological condition,” the researchers wrote.

In a sane country, information like this would prompt two responses. First, steps would be taken to limit the dangers of climate change by reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. Second, more resources would be devoted to preparing for weather extremes. Unfortunately, that is not the sort of country we live in now.

The federal government is openly trying to maximize fossil-fuel consumption—and, hence, emissions. On Monday, as twenty more deaths were reported in Texas, Trump signed an executive order aimed at further hobbling the solar- and wind-energy industries, which had already been kneecapped by previous executive orders, as well as by the provisions of the so-called Big Beautiful Bill, approved by Congress earlier this month. On Tuesday, as the death toll climbed by another ten people, the Environmental Protection Agency held hearings on a proposal to scrap Biden-era limits on emissions from coal-fired power plants. Trump and congressional Republicans have put an end to, as one commentator put it in Forbes, “any notion that a true energy transition is happening in the United States.”

Meanwhile, the White House is actively undermining the nation’s ability to predict—and to deal with—climate-related disasters. In April, the Administration dismissed nearly four hundred scientists who were working, on a volunteer basis, to draft the next climate-assessment report, which is due, under law, in 2027. Late last month, it shut down the website of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, where the Fifth Assessment report and its predecessors used to be available. It has cut off grants to climate scientists, kicked nasa climate researchers out of their offices, and hired climate-science deniers to fill key government positions.

We Ride to Red Lobster to Check Out Its Rebirth

By Connie Wilson

On July 7, 2025

In Editorial, Humor and Weird Wilson-isms, Laughing through Life, Local, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Reviews, Texas

Damola Adamolekun, CEO of Red Lobster at age 36.

Just returned from dining at the Red Lobster. I want the Red Lobster to come back as a business—I really do. (For one thing, I have stock.) I’ve recently seen the ads featuring a tall, good-looking young Black gentleman, Damola Adamolekun, their new CEO. He is the youngest CEO in Red Lobster history at age 36 and came from P.F. Chang’s and Goldman Sachs. Perhaps you’ve seen him doing a nationally televised ad for Red Lobster? One article I consulted said that Damola has “a proven record of transformation.”

Damola reminded me of Brad Pitt’s co-star (Damson Idris) in the movie “F-1” that we had just seen (more about the movie later.)

Good luck with that transformation, Damola. I have some suggestions.

I now have intense sympathy for any animal that has to forage for its food—squirrels come to mind. I ordered the crab special, which advertised a pound of crab legs for $31, plus crispy potatoes (I asked if they were French fries; they were not) and one side dish. I selected broccoli as my side dish. The 3 or 4 small pieces of potato that were swimming in the butter on the plate were not any kind of potato I’ve had anywhere else. I actually never got to eat one, so I cannot comment on how they tasted.

I’ve been taking weight loss drugs that give you no appetite. I can’t eat a dozen shrimp. 2 lobsters, and a bunch of other stuff at one sitting. I can eat 4 shrimp—maybe—and possibly 1 lobster tail. My advice would be to package some meals with smaller amounts for those of us now unable to eat like we used to eat. (*Consult the NYT for articles on how this weight loss craze has changed the “business lunch.”)

Damson Idris, of “F-1”

I thought crab legs, with all the attendant hassle to dig them out of their shells, might be a good choice for me. In other words, I expected this to be a smaller-than-their-average amount of food.

Damson Idris, co-star of “F-1,” another handsome young man on the way up. (Review of film to follow later).

SUGGESTIONS:

1) Advertise that there are small half-sized plates. The local Biaggi’s Italian restaurant has a smaller/cheaper half-plate option.

2) Make it possible for the customer to NOT have to wear plastic gloves and go to work for an hour digging tiny amounts of shredded crab meat from unforgiving shells. You could pierce the shells, but the crab would not come out. (“Come out! Come out! Wherever you are!”)I empathized with squirrels who bury their nuts against the harshness of winter and then spend hours digging fruitlessly, trying to find the hidden food.

3) Get a better tool to crack open the shells, or do it for the customer before serving the entree. With the handy-dandy tool I was given to extract the crab from the crab leg, I now could produce a shell with a needle-sized hole in it. No crab meat emerged. The contents of the shell were still very secure within the hard tube.

4) Make sure that the customer knows, going in, that all of the butter and LOTS of garlic will be dumped atop the plate, unless you specify otherwise.

OBSERVATIONS

I just want to warn anyone who selected this entrée for perfectly, good reasons, as I had: GOOD LUCK. Not only will you end up completely covered with garlic bits and butter, you won’t be rewarded with enough crab meat to adequately feed that squirrel.

My spouse warned me that the crab legs would be messy. I offered up my rationale for selecting the crab legs (my lower appetite), instead of his choice (the Admiral’s Feast). I hate to admit it, but he was right. The crab—no matter what the “deal” currently is—was a bad choice on SOOOO many levels!

In “the old days,” (which means before Red Lobster went bankrupt and DJT 2.0 set about bankrupting us in every other area of life), I would have ordered the meal that consists of fried shrimp, a lobster, and crab. That meal is pushing $50 now and I’m just not that hungry any more. So, I selected the crab legs, knowing it would be less bountiful. That was just fine by sixty-pounds lighter me.

I ordered the crab with garlic butter. I did not know that the “new way” to serve a Red Lobster customer garlic butter was to dump it atop the already-messy crab legs. You don’t get it on the side in a little container (like the old days) unless you specifically ask for it on the side. It would be best to warn Old Time Red Lobster patrons of this fact before they are presented with a large heap of oily crab legs, literally drowning in bits of garlic. (I don’t really like garlic that much; I generally ask my daughter-in-law to not put the garlic in my green beans, because I like a hint of the flavor, but I don’t eat it by the spoonful. But spoonfuls of this aromatic stuff had definitely been used on top of the crab legs.)

Red Lobster flyer.

Even though they gave me plastic gloves (I’m not kidding; actual plastic gloves), this greasy thankless crab-removal task is a job nobody needs nor wants. What happened to the idea of slicing the crab shell open in the kitchen before the customer has to start wearing surgical gloves to retrieve their meal?

When the plate first appeared with massive amounts of garlic garnishing it, our waitress stopped to check on us. I was really sorry to be “that customer” but I told her that, actually, I had not anticipated the giant greasy load of garlic pieces.

“I don’t even like garlic much,” I mumbled.

I feel very bad to EVER send anything back. It’s not in my nature. I cringe just writing this, but I could not just sit there staring at the plate, so I answered honestly. I give high marks to the waitress’s efforts to please an ignorant customer who ordered without complete knowledge of the “new” Red Lobster.

She was great about it. She took the plate with the untouched pound of crab legs and the pound and a half of garlic and butter and the very few pieces of potato that were buried beneath this mess in a greasy liquid butter to the kitchen. The crab legs were returned without the butter and the garlic (also without the potatoes).

If I ever dine there again, (1) I will not order the crab legs and (2) I will definitely ask that the garlic butter of olden days be put on the side, like it used to be. I can’t even finish 1/2 of the 6-pack of chicken nuggets from Chik’ Fil A these days. Damola, maybe consider the smaller plate option with a smaller price if you order less?

I wonder how many times and how many other unsuspecting customers have been burned by this New Way of Doing Things at Red Lobster? Maybe Red Lobster needs to write the advice about the dipping sauce on the actual menu next to the entrée description. The need to re-do my plate was certainly wasteful. For that I apologize.

So now starts the fun part: trying to get the crab out of the shell.

Forget it.

The broccoli was good. I ate most of it while waiting for the return of the garlic-less crab legs. No idea what happened to the “crispy potatoes.” I can guarantee you that they weren’t very “crispy” after marinating in a pound of butter and garlic; then they disappeared. I honestly did not care by that point. I needed to go wash my hands, one of three trips to the women’s rest room necessitated by the overly greasy presentation.

RED LOBSTER REST ROOM

Let’s leave the booth in the bar for a moment and travel to the nearby women’s bathroom in Davenport, Iowa. After the ordeal of foraging for 2 to 3 ounces of crab meat like a famished squirrel, I needed to wash my hands. Repeatedly.

So let me warn prospective patrons about the two (2) stalls in the women’s rest room in the Red Lobster location in Davenport, Iowa. (I was recently locked in the rest room of the Main Street Pizza in Buda, Texas for almost half an hour, calling on my phone for someone to come pry the stuck door open, so bear with me if I sound skittish about being locked in the rest room stall in the women’s rest room of the Red Lobster in Davenport, Iowa.)

Stall #1, the handicapped stall, has a lock that no longer functions. The bar that slides back-and-forth only slides back-and-forth on the wrong side (outside) of the metal thing that you are supposed to slide the bar into. Good luck in trying to hold the door closed with your hand while seated during your time in the stall! (Ahem).

On my second hand-washing trip, a portly woman with a cane tried to lock the door to Stall #1–the one that needs a handyman to come and fix it. She tried to “fix” it by slamming the door repeatedly. That didn’t work, but, as a result, I got stuck in the Stall #2 where the door had (previously) operated just fine.

Stall #2, the stall closest to the entry door, DID have a lock that worked. This was good news. [Since the gizmo given me to free the 3 oz. of crab meat from the shell didn’t work I lost faith in all of the implements provided by the establishment for specific purposes.]

The door to Stall #2 DID work, but wait: Just try to exit Stall #2 after unlocking it. The door only opened 8 inches. It reminded me of my red Prius (the FireBird) after a teenaged driver slammed into us in Okmulgee, Oklahoma on our November 3rd drive to Texas. The side impact crash totaled the car. The door on my car’s passenger’s side only opened about eight inches. My husband had to come around from the driver’s side and pull with all of his force to open the door to allow me to exit. (And then we twist tied the car together and drove 6 hours to Austin, Texas, with no headlights).

The Firebird, post crash.

This Red Lobster door to Stall #2 in the women’s rest room opened almost the same amount, but I had no male companion in the ladies’ rest room to help pry it open. I wonder if the large woman with the cane, in attempting to lock her side of Stall #1, did damage to MY door?

Fortunately, following my Ozempic/Mounjuaro months, I am much smaller (60 lbs.). I was able—just barely—to slip through the very narrow opening and return to the booth to struggle with securing food. [Hungry squirrel returns to the field to forage.]

Finally, I decided to discontinue wrestling with the crab legs. That battle was lost. The bill was close to $100 (2 people, no alcoholic beverages). I figure my 3 oz. of shredded crab probably cost about $20 an ounce. I was still hungry when I left.

Warning to prospective crab leg customers: be sure to ask for whatever kind of butter you select on the side.

[If you’re female, good luck in the rest room!]

Is the Trump Administration Looking Out for You During Weather Crises?

By Connie Wilson

On July 6, 2025

In Editorial, Essays on Politics: Best Political Essays & Ideology, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Politics, Texas

Camp Mystic, Texas.

In the wake of the Texas flash flood catastrophe that has, so far, claimed 68 lives, with over 41 still missing, 27 of them (originally) young girls at a campsite (Camp Mystic) along the Guadalupe River, this seems like a good time to mention how the current GOP administration is taking care of Americans facing weather disasters. Helicopters in Texas are searching for survivors even now, according to the U.S. Coast Guard Liaison to the city of Kerrville, a Texas location which was hard hit. The Cajun Navy (unofficial) is helping try to locate and hopefully rescue survivors. The U.S. Coast Guard is assisting in the search. Army Corps of Engineers and Border Patrol are involved, according to Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

Director of Homeland Security Kristi Noem

Kristi Noem

Kristi Noem, former Governor of South Dakota, is now the United States Secretary of Homeland Security—(also known as the woman who shot her own dog dead.) She was seen on CNN, stylishly attired, saying,”When President Trump took office, he said he wanted to update this ancient system. We can do all we can to fix these kinds of things.” In other words, she offered nothing substantial to reassure residents of any state that things will improve over time, and the facts suggest that they will get worse—much, much worse.

These empty words came from the administration that just dramatically cut major aid to weather forecasting agencies and to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which Trump wants to put entirely under his own presidential control, so that he can “play favorites” in sending aid to states hit by weather disasters. Trump has said he wants to completely eliminate FEMA by the beginning of next year’s hurricane season.

Tropical Storm Chantal is the third major storm of the hurricane season. It is strengthening off the coast of South Carolina right now. It may well be another weather crisis that will hit within 24 hours of the Texas Guadalupe River tragedy. Will Kristi Noem’s agency be prepared? Will she have the right outfit for the inevitable destruction that Chantal might cause? Her previous pose, outside the prison in El Salvador, featured a backdrop of shackled prisoners. Reminded me of Robert Palmer’s videos for “Addicted to Love” and “Simply Irresistible,” (only with a less well-attired backdrop). Will someone steal Noem’s purse while she is on camera, her favorite place to be?

Robert Palmer girls in “Addicted to Love.”

Official Warnings

It might be a flood, a tornado, a hurricane, an earthquake, a derecho or a fire. (Or, today, in Illinois, warnings about dust storms that remind of the Dust Bowl Days.) In Texas, at hours that survivors describe as two to four in the morning, river levels rose from a foot to heights that reached thirty-four feet… a virtual wall of water that swept away everything in its path. Survivors described individuals being swept 6 to 12 miles downstream and—if they were lucky—holding on to trees, bushes and telephone poles to survive.

At 6:16 a.m., the City of Kerrville’s Police Department posted on its Facebook page its first warning about the weather, noting that it’s a “life threatening event” and “anyone near the Guadalupe River needs to move to higher ground now.” Kerr County Sheriff posted on its Facebook page for the first time about the flooding at 6:32 a.m.

At 7:22 a.m., the City Hall of Kerrville posted on Facebook: “Much needed rain swept through Kerrville overnight, but the downside is the severe weather may impact many of today’s scheduled July 4th events. Citizens are encouraged to exercise caution when driving and avoid low water crossings. Kerrville Police and Fire Department personnel are currently assessing emergency needs.” At 7:33 a.m. it posted about road closures due to flooding. At 8:32 a.m. it posted: “If you live along the Guadalupe River, please move to higher ground immediately.”

Speaking on Friday, Lt. Gov. Patrick (the very Lt. Governor whose own staff sued him in a famed whistleblower suit) said there were 14 helicopters, 12 drones, nine rescue teams as well as “swimmers in the water rescuing adults and children out of trees.” He said there were 400 to 500 people on the ground helping with the rescue effort. The numbers of the dead—many of them unidentified—rise hourly.

First-Person Accounts

Interior of Camp Mystic, the 100-year-old Christian camp hit by the flash flooding along the Guadalupe River in Texas.

Caroline and Juliana, daughters of Representative August Pfluger of Texas, were safely evacuated from Camp Mystic. Unfortunately, twenty-seven other female campers are still missing. Carl Jeter of Spring Branch, Texas, rescued a woman from a tree near his house. He talked with the woman, who had been camping above Ingram, Texas. Ingram to Hunt is currently, on 7/6 at 3:30 p.m., being evacuated, as it is near a bend of the Guadalupe River and a wall of water may be coming. Residents of Hunt, Texas, are being urged to get to higher ground and there are non-stop traffic jams.

The four individuals woke up, got in the car, and tried to drive out, but it was too late. The woman and her three companions climbed through the sun roof of their car and into the flood waters. She went through 4 dams and through Sydney Baker Road in town. She saw cars going by and screamed for help as she was swept possibly 20 miles in the raging flood waters. She summoned the strength to grab a tree and climb up, spending 4 hours treading water in the Guadalupe River. She had lost contact with her 3 companions. She is now hospitalized.

Trump’s Budget’s Effect on Future Disasters

Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, which could more accurately be described as the Big Bad Bill, has caused FEMA to lose 25% of its full-time staff, reducing its trained staffers ready to deploy to disasters from 6,588 to 1,952. Twenty-five % of its full time staff, about 2,000 people have been let go or resigned since January. The Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June through November, could produce up to 19 storms and 5 major hurricanes, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This is above the annual average of 14 named storms, which NOAA official say is a result of higher ocean temperatures and lower trade winds. FEMA last year passed $64 billion to states and local governments for disaster relief, cleanup and recovery. Is that likely to continue? Officials are worried that it will not.

Officials now also worry that they won’t receive notification of impending climate catastrophes because Trump’s Big Bad Budget cut 20% of NOAA’s staff. More than a dozen NWS forecast offices along the hurricane-prone Gulf of Mexico are understaffed. The release of weather balloons has been suspended or reduced at sites across the U.S. The Hurricane Hunter unit, which flies planes into storms to collect critical data for hurricane monitoring, lost 2 flight directors and one electronic engineer due to cuts. Its ability to fly 24/7 missions is jeopardized. Retired NWS meteorologist James Franklin said (of the weather service), “They can move the desk chairs on the Titanic but they just don’t have enough bodies to do the job they are supposed to do.”

Acting FEMA administrator Cameron Hamilton testified before Congress in May, saying that he did not believe that it was “in the best interests of the American people to eliminate FEMA.” He was fired by Trump the next day. He has been replaced by another typical Trump appointee—someone with no emergency management experience who is a painter, novelist and ex-Marine. The #2 in command of FEMA, MaryAnn Tierney, quit as the agency’s #2 expert last month. She said, in her resignation letter, “The agency is failing its moral and statutory obligations to the American public.” She added, “Everyone has a line and I have reached mine.”

The current inexperienced novelist-turned-FEMA director, David Richardson, warned that the federal government is no longer going to cover 75% of disaster relief and recovery costs, but only 50%. Hurricane Helene (North Carolina) last year cost $53 billion. FEMA has provided $656 million in emergency aid for North Carolina, but future payouts are in doubt, causing Governor Josh Stein to raise the alarm in the legislature. To scrap FEMA with no careful thought and no good planning—a hallmark of Trump administration moves like DOGE—is described as “frightening” by residents of Florida who suffer buffeting from hurricanes with great frequency.

Thom Tillis (R, NC)

Senator Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Alex Padilla (D-CA) introduced the FEMA Independence Act to make FEMA a cabinet-level agency which would remove it from Kristi Noem’s purview. The way Trump prefers, the federal government will distribute less disaster aid and funding will come directly from the President’s office. This means that DJT will play favorites and politicize aid to devastated states—something that sounds exactly like a dictator in an authoritarian state. Tillis announced recently that he would not vote for Trump’s Big Bad Bill and would not seek re-election, saying he could not vote for the Medicaid cuts, among other horrors in the bill. Trump immediately exulted.

Thom Tillis (R, S.C.)

Is this GOP administration looking out for your welfare in the best way possible? Do you feel reassured that the government will be there to help your state, if your state has a climate catastrophe?

Mid-terms are coming. Vote them out!

1,000 Miles (Texas to Illinois) May 13-May15, 2025

By Connie Wilson

On May 20, 2025

In Editorial, Local, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Texas, travel

Leaving blue skies for Tornado Alley. (Tuesday, 5/13)

We departed Austin, Texas, and headed for the Midwest on Tuesday. It was tough to leave the beautiful blue skies of Austin. It was warm. Very warm. It was unseasonably warm in the 90s all the way to Joplin, Missouri, where we ended up Night One after driving for 10 hours.

Our choices for lodging were either Muskogee, Oklahoma or drive further and make it to the larger Joplin. When we reached Joplin and pulled into a Best Western Inn to secure lodging about 8 p.m., there was only one room left. And it was on the second floor. And the elevator was broken.

We have so many bags. Not having a working elevator was not working for me. Plus there is the wonky left knee that I injured while bicycling on vacation in Green Lake, Wisconsin, in 1997. That left knee blew out on 9/15/2022 and put me in a wheelchair and hobbling with a cane until March of 2023.

We drove to the nearby motel. It did not look promising.

Their elevator, too, was broken. What is the problem in Joplin, Missouri, that when an elevator breaks, nobody fixes it? (The desk clerk made the remark that it had been broken for weeks.)

We kept driving up the street. The next motel was a LaQuinta. It had a working elevator. We stayed there. There is no carpeting on the floor(s) of the rooms; I forgot to pack slippers. There were photos outside the LaQuinta of many pools that looked very nice, both indoor and outdoor pools. I also forgot to pack a swimsuit. Too tired to think about swimming, anyway.

ST. LOUIS, HERE WE COME

Interior of car while driving

The next day (Wednesday), we drove to my brother-in-law’s house in Maryland Heights, a suburb of St. Louis. We were making good time, driving from the bottom left corner of the state to the top right corner of the state. Still hot everywhere. I think our one tank of gas when we filled up was $21. I could be wrong about this, but, thanks to the new car, purchased after we were hit by a young driver in Okmulgee, Oklahoma on the way down to Texas during a tornado, we were getting great mileage.

We had a big delay when I-44 was totally shut down for miles. Two huge trucks crashed, one running into the other and causing a chain reaction and a fire. It’s not a good sign when your GPS suddenly changes the ETA from 1 and 1/2 hours to 3 hours. Also not a good sign when a huge crane, a fire truck, an ambulance, and a hearse go by, while you sit, motionless, for a long time, waiting to be routed around the crash.

As we sat there, the huge trucks on this Interstate were like a stock exchange list of big companies, with Amazon, Home Depot, FedEx and every other major chain under the sun with trucks all sitting, motionless, waiting for the opportunity to circumvent the site of the crash. It was featured on the nightly news, but we never heard whether anyone was killed. For sure the fire trucks were dousing what looked like 2 blackened huge boxes, which once were trucks, I’m thinking, when we drove by.

Horizon

I was serving as a talking book, reading aloud the book “Careless People,” which I finished while in Cancun. It was a good enough nonfiction treat to share. It is a truly entertaining and informative read about Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg, from a woman who worked there for 7 years. I hope every member of Congress quizzing Zuckerberg reads it before asking him questions about his offers to the CCP. (Chinese Communist Party). Any book that opens with a shark attack on the 13-year-old author has me right there. Try it; you’ll like it. And, more importantly, you’ll learn a lot about the back story behind Facebook and what really goes on and has gone one since its inception. (Now, it’s Meta.)

MARYLAND HEIGHTS

When we reached Maryland Heights, we went out to eat tacos with Niece Megan and husband Aaron, and their little people, Winnie and Wesley. (And Mark, of course). Mark now has 4 grandchildren under the age of 4, one (Mickey) a new-born. Mark was our babysitter when he was 12 and son Scott was born. Scott was born in 1968. Mark was born in 1957. He is twelve years younger than his older brother, my husband. Now Mark is babysitting A LOT for Ruthie Kay, Wesley, Winnie, and Mickey. [Good thing we taught him all the tips of the babysitting trade.]

Megan, baby Wesley, Aaron Eddy, Mark with Winnie, Connie & Craig

Dinner at a local taco restaurant

We left the next day on our way to the Quad Cities (4 hours). There were tornado warnings and severe storm warnings with 70 mph winds out even then. Fortunately, the 1 to 8 p.m. warning period saw us arrive safely in the Quad Cities. An EF3 tornado traveled 8 miles through St. Louis not long after we departed and did extensive damage. It was off to the right of Maryland Heights on the radar map.

We’re here, but will be returning to the Texas heat for the annual Family Fest. We hope our newly planted trees and bushes are surviving and thriving.

Here, in East Moline (IL), a week since we departed the Lone Star state, it is in the fifties and sixties. There is hope that we will reach 70 degrees on Friday or Saturday. My clothing from Texas is totally wrong for Illinois. In fact, we had to turn our heat on here. In Texas we were running our A/C.

Rooftop view of Austin, Tx

But we’re home from the land of BBQ and Tex-Mex Food and views like this one:

We learned that two restaurants have closed here, one of them (the former Captain’s Table) the restaurant just down the hill from us in East Moline. The other restaurant closing is Thunder Bay. I haven’t been back to Thunder Bay since Fred Thompson held an event there while running for the Republican Presidential nomination, so I am not as upset about the loss of that restaurant as I am about the Captain’s Table, which burned down once, was rebuilt and opened up as Catfish Charlie’s. The quality of the food and service as part of that chain declined, although the view of the Mississippi River and the outside dining made it a worthwhile stop despite the downgrade.

I also learned that my favorite Hallmark Store in East Moline is closing. I am really sad to see it go. It is a wonderful store. I will miss it a great deal. I wish someone would buy it and continue to run it, but I can understand how difficult it must be to plan for orders in a world where tariffs are arbitrarily imposed on the source nations and then lifted and then put on again, ad infinitum. I can’t imagine trying to deal with the impact of this administration on small businesses, which I was one of for 20 years.

Last year, the Maid Rite and the dry cleaners closed during our absence from town. I found out that the dry cleaners had moved when I entered with some slacks that needed shortening. It had become a nail shop. I went into the next-door Maid Rite, hoping to surprise the spouse with Maid Rites (a Midwestern delicacy). It had become a Soul Food restaurant. I almost had to go outside and look at the signage above the door to make sure I hadn’t taken a wrong turn.

I miss the dry cleaners so much that, today, I spent literally hours shortening my own track suit pants, which had been in my Austin closet, unworn, because they are 3 inches too long. I did my usual inept job, but I did shorten them. I will wear them to Iowa City to make a routine stop at University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics on Friday, with Memorial Day weekend plans for attending a graduation party in Cedar Rapids on Sunday (nephew Chris Castelein’s daughter Sophia).

So, in our trip to Texas: major league tornadoes in Oklahoma and a ruined car (totaled).

The ruined Prius Firebird, the 20th Anniversary Edition after Nov. 3, 2024.

The Firebird Prius after the 11/3/2024 crash

We twist tied my red Prius (the Firebird) together and drove 6 hours after the accident. It was an interesting drive, with the headlights smashed out but the tail lights working. The car had 28,000 miles on it, as it was the 20th Anniversary Edition of the Prius, named the Firebird. The new car is Steely Dan.

My Prius adventures (after 4 Cadillacs in a row) began in 2002 with the WaterBug, which cost $20,050, 0% interest, 0% financing, and a $500 rebate from the government for trying the new hybrid technology. Next was the Firefly (red) in 2004. When daughter Stacey went to college in Nashville (Belmont), she got the Firefly and I bought the Grasshopper, a 2008 Seafoam Green version. That 2008 model was my favorite layout, so when we needed a car to leave in Texas, we sought out another 2008 used Prius, the Silver Fish, which was really sort of a metallic silvery tan color. My 2013 Blue Bird also went to Stacey when the Firefly got old and she expressed the feeling that she had been driving it to so many places that she might be developing a psychological bond with the little red Prius. It did a good job of getting her to and from Tennessee and Colorado and she sold it to a Mexican buyer who paid cash. I drove the Blue Bird the longest—from 2013 until the 20th Anniversary Edition was announced in 2020. Depressed during the pandemic, I decided to buy one of the Anniversary Edition cars, sight unseen.

Steely Dan, the new Prius., purchased on 12/3/2024.

Our dealership was getting only 2 of the cars, a white one and a red one. When the white one showed up with a luggage rack on top, I, once again, took the red one and named it the Firebird. It was a good car and it didn’t deserve the end it had. Neither did the Blue Bird, which was smashed into by some drunk teenagers driving a stolen car who abandoned the vehicle and sped off, leaving it totaled in Madison, Tennessee, a Nashville suburb. The November 3rd accident in Okmulgee led to us buying a silver Prius in Cedar City, Texas, which is one of the largest dealerships in the nation and the largest in Texas. They had 9 new Priuses on the lot and we bought it exactly one month to the day after the death of the Firebird. Steely Dan is doing well and was a very economical vehicle on our marathon trip home. I need a lesson on how to use all of it. It seems much lower than our previous cars and the dashboard is very modernistic but the sleek look with the hidden handle on the back door is very attractive. We also like the little lights that signal drivers nearing you. What I don’t like, so far, is that you cannot open the right side passenger door and it doesn’t open as you approach it with the “automatic” key. I assume that is a safety change, so that, upon approaching your car, some stranger doesn’t let himself into your vehicle, but it is a serious disadvantage when you approach the car loaded with packages and you have to dig around for your key in order to open it. Maybe I’m missing out on some of the manual’s directions, but, so far, it seems this is the way it is going to be for the duration.

I would really like leaders who do something to try to head off the horrible weather that global warming is producing.

Minnesota is on fire.

Places that have never had fires or floods are having fires and floods.

Chicago just had a dust storm reminiscent of the Dust Bowl days.

Mother’s Day, 2025 with daughter Stacey. Welcome Home, me.

One of my most fervent wishes is that whoever is leading the country does something to try to save the planet and save all of us experiencing 25 times the weather anomalies that we experienced in my youth. Sure, we had tornadoes. (One hit my hometown of Independence, Iowa, and dropped part of the roof of St. John’s Church in my back yard when I was about two. My dad built me a playhouse out of the rubble.)

I read somewhere that, in a four month period, we used to have 4 such horrific weather-related events, and now, in the same time frame, we have something like 167. Don’t quote me on that, as I don’t claim that is exact, but I think we can all agree that the weather is getting to be a real problem. Not regulating emissions and eliminating watchdog agencies like the EPA is definitely not the answer to the problem.

But, welcome home, me. It is thundering outside right now. Good luck to us all with the current lack of any plan on the part of those in power to even admit that global warming is occurring.

Donald J. Trump, a loser

God save us from the weather and from DJT.

Cancun, Easter, 2025

By Connie Wilson

On April 19, 2025

In Editorial, Mexico, Texas, travel

Ava Wilson (and friend).

Elise Wilson (and friend).

I admit that I have been on vacation. Cancun beckoned, but, sadly, the perfect weather and laid-back vibe at the Royal Resorts is giving way to the advancing heat of Texas, where a giant rat snake was recently pictured climbing a wall near our house. I enjoyed the remarks from the neighborhood group, who pointed out that it was a harmless rat snake, but also asked, “Which way did it go?”

I wanted to share these photos of Ava and Elise, because they look absolutely beautiful in them–even though they are from a year ago. This is what a sophomore in high school looks like, Folks.

Meanwhile, the full moon over the Veranda restaurant with the daughter sets a mood.

It’s been real and it’s been 30 years of home away from home.

Puerto Madeiro restaurant.

Stacey and me, Veranda Restaurant, Royal Sands

Thanks, Feedspot: Celebrating in Cancun

By Connie Wilson

On April 12, 2025

In Mexico, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Texas, travel

Cancun family group: (L to R) Steve, Regina, emma, Chris, essica, Elise, Connie Craig, Ava, Stacey and Scott.

Cancun, 2025.

Before posting some photos from the vacation week of last week in Cancun, I’d like to call your attention to the new “badge” on the right of my blog, which names WeeklyWilson to the Top 100 Movie Blogs. My thanks to Feedspot, which contacted me regarding this and, as of right now, has not asked for nor received Cent One. Thanks for the recognition of the from-the-Red-Carpet shots at SXSW, Sundance, Chicago, Nashville, and elsewhere.

The Royal Sands.

Last week about a dozen of us wined and dined in Cancun, hitting Harry’s, Sisal, the J.W. Marriott restaurant, the beach and the Royal Sands, our “home away from home.” The Royal Sands opened in 2000, but we owned at the Royal Islander since the 90s (lost it 2 years ago to the state) and stayed at the Mayan and the Fiesta Americana Condessa for a couple years prior. We’ve been coming for 30 years and only missed one year in those three decades. (I banked the week we didn’t come and went to Puerto Vallarta with Joan Clark , a high school classmate, and Pan Hall, a work colleague.

On Friday night we attended a Michael Jackson show put on by our resort, which now is part of the Holiday Inn Vacation Resorts. We got to experience the brand new children’s water park right outside our door for the first time. It’s been under construction since last year, but now it is open. It’s hard to figure out when, exactly, it is open, however. It seems to close early and open late, which is fine with me.

Full moon over pool on Italian buffet night.

Guests in our group arrived from New York, Boston, Nashville, Chicago, Austin and some were missing a small amount of school time (sophomore year).

The flight over from Austin (in our case) was two and one-half hours and it was 87 upon arrival. Meanwhile, the group that departed for New York today had snow and 40 degree temperatures to look forward to.

Ava, Stacey and Elise at Harry’s.

Just enjoying the moments and living life.

“My Uncle Jens” @SXSW Paints A Portrait of Immigrant Woes

By Connie Wilson

On March 10, 2025

In Movies, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Pop Culture, Reviews, Texas

Director Brwa Vahabpour. (Photo by Tori Gjendal).

“My Uncle Jens” is a joint Norwegian/Romanian production which marks the feature film debut at SXSW 2025 of Screenwriter/Director Brwa Vahabpour. Uncle Jens might more accurately be dubbed Uncle Khdr, as the main character has come to Oslo from the Iranian part of Kurdistan. He adopts the alias Jens. Brwa Vahabpour is writing about a culture he knows well. He attracted positive attention for his 2020 short film “Silence” that was featured at the Palm Springs International Shorts Fest.

The plot focuses on a young literature teacher in Oslo (Norway) named Akam (Peiman Azizpour), who receives a late-night visit from his estranged Uncle Khdr, his father’s brother. Why is the movie not entitled Uncle Khdr, rather than Uncle Jens? That explanation goes back to the common ploy of trying to “blend in” to a strange land by adopting a more common surname. In Khdr’s case, he begins using the Norwegian first name Jens after a conversation with a friendly cab driver.

Jens (Hamza Agoshi) claims he is in town for a surprise visit.

THE PLOT

Akam (Peiman Azizpour) doesn’t live alone. He has two roommates, a young girl (Theresa Frostad Eggesbo) and a tall, lanky yellow-haired stork-like Norwegian male, Stian (Magnus Lysbakken). Lysbakken as Stian represents the stereotype of “yellow-haired people” that Uncle Jens references when he says, to Akam, “You’re probably busy with those yellow-haired people.”

Uncle Jens immediately begins shaming his nephew into hosting him in his cramped apartment. He uses the term “peshkesh,” meaning “from me to you.” Uncle Jens is loud, he snores, he takes the one single bed (while Akam sleeps on the floor). Jens has many other annoying and obnoxious habits, including smoking in the apartment, which the roommates object to. Jens also constantly leaves water all over the bathroom floor, throws away the community kitchen brush in favor of a sponge, and just generally behaves as though he is moving in for good. When the roommates ask Akam how long Jens is staying, the answer is always “just a couple days.” In reality, Jens shows no signs of ever leaving.

THE PLOT THICKENS

“My Uncle Jens” (Photo by Jorgen Kluver).

It isn’t until Jens and Akam are out together that Akam begins to find out that his uncle has actually been hanging around a local café owned by a man known as Hussein for a couple of months. Akam begins to realize that Uncle Jens’s “surprise visit” may never end, and he finally begins to realize that maybe his uncle is not in the country legally. What, then, does that mean for him?

Akam is advised by a friend to beware of guests who arrive in the middle of the night. The friend directs him to a girl named Elina (Sarah Frances Braenne), who works for the Directorate of Immigration in Norway and knows the country’s immigration rules.

THE RULES

Akam devises a clever ruse to try to find out what rules apply to people visiting Norway from other countries. He pretends to be writing a short story about a Norwegian girl whose aunt arrives unexpectedly to visit. He asks about Norway’s rules for visitors. For openers, says Elena, visitors should have a written invitation from the person in Norway in order to qualify for a visitor’s visa. Also, the visitor has to have state proof that they are able to return to their country of origin (Iran). Elena adds that, if the visitor is up to no good (human trafficking, etc.) that can lead to deportation for them and for those who might be harboring them. She suggests that the visitor has to have proof of employment and other such signs of being an upstanding individual. Meanwhile, Akim and Elena are hitting it off as a couple which will complicate matters.

What is going through Akam’s mind is “Yikes!”

At one point, Akam almost anonymously turns his uncle in, but when they ask what address the suspect is at, he hangs up, realizing that he will be implicating himself, as well.

DENOUEMENT

My Uncle Jens lead, Akam (Peiman Aizpour).

“My Uncle Jens” lead, Akam, portrayed by Peiman Azizpour. (Photo by Jorgen Kluver).

As Akam and the rest of us feared, there is finally a visit from the representatives of the Directorate of Immigration. They are very polite, but they do search the house, looking for Uncle Jens. It is time for Jens to go, but, before he leaves, he has caused the downfall of the Elena/Akam relationship and has told a harrowing tale of his escape from Iran and assuming the alias Sabir Salehi.

A STORY FOR OUR TIMES

Much like the illegals attempting to flee violence and economic insecurity in their homeland, Uncle Jens has been both physically assaulted and threatened to the point that he made the harrowing journey to Turkey (Istanbul) and, by boat, to Greece. He was placed in various holding facilities while he awaited a ruling on his request for asylum. Unfortunately, the authorities rejected his application and he received a deportation notice. Among other things, Jens says, “I have to prove that my life is really in danger.” Ironically, he asks his nephew, “Can’t you see your lies affect all those around you?”

CONCLUSION

It is easy to see the parallels between Uncle Jens and every immigrant on the run. The country may not be Norway, but there are so many countries in turmoil and so many refugees wanting to settle in a country that can offer them a better life. That list would go on for a very long time. Two people on that list would have been my Grandfather (Ole Monson) from Norway and my Grandmother (Rena Stietske Weirda) from the Netherlands.

This film makes a real effort to show us the hurdles that immigrants face on a personal and psychological level. It also underscores the very real dangers that newcomers face and the lengths they will go to to seek a better life for themselves and their families. Can we blame them for these efforts? Recently, it appears that we do, which is sad, and, to me, un-American. “My Uncle Jens” is a tribute to every new citizen to any country. The directorial touches (ringing phone bookending the action; symbolic watch) are nice aspects of a touching movie.

Houston Art Museum: February 8th, 2025

By Connie Wilson

On February 12, 2025

In Texas, travel

A few of us from the OLLI bridge group traveled from Austin to Houston over the weekend to take in the Gauguin exhibit that is only going to be featured there.

The sculpture gardens outside the museum and the standing collection(s) were also extremely nice, and it was a beautiful 83 degree day (in February!). I’m starting with pictures from the lovely day it was outside.

I had no notepad, as I was depending on my tiny break-away purse, so you’ll simply have to enjoy the pictures without explanation. I do know that the “backs” were Matisse and there was a Rodin called “Man Walking.” The silver-y metallic thing that looks like it should be a cousin of the Bean in Chicago was NOT by Anish Kapoor, but it was still “kewl.”