Calm down, critics. Taylor Sheridan shows are good Texas-flavored fun | Opinion
Just enjoy
Couldn’t Ryan J. Rusak just suspend reality and enjoy Taylor Sheridan’s shows? (May 15, 9A, “Taylor Sheridan, we’re breaking up. I just can’t watch ‘Dutton Ranch’“) Good TV dramas are few and far between, and these series are excellent. I hope that Sheridan’s creative mind will continue to crank out dramas for quite some time. As a fellow Texan, I applaud his foray into showing the West as it is today and what it was as the precursor of modern times.
- Frank Davis, San Antonio
Strong women
Taylor Sheridan’s fans aren’t stupid. We know we can’t send our problems to the “train station.” But we all sometimes wish we could. Beth on “Yellowstone” and the new “Dutton Ranch” is a strong character and will make a great Texas woman. And Rip is a great cowboy.
We Texas women are usually pretty tough. But these shows are fiction, and we all know it. We see enough reality every day, and when we turn on the TV, we just want to be entertained.
- Lana O’Brien, Fredericksburg
Shalt not
Ken Paxton wants school districts across the state to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms “to ensure that Texas kids are able to learn from (them) daily.” (May 10, 9A, “Texas AG investigating Fort Worth ISD over Ten Commandments, prayer in schools”)
I propose that educators use Paxton and President Donald Trump as examples when teaching children the Seventh Commandment: “Thou shall not commit adultery.”
Preferably daily.
- Dorit Suffness, Dallas
Budget focus
Fort Worth’s approach to growth for the past several years has been to prioritize so-called “economic development” rather than city services and infrastructure. (May 10, 6C, “Budget crunch proves Fort Worth’s approach to growth no longer works”) This is proved by the top items in the city budget each year. This is basically abuse of tax dollars that should provide services to taxpayers, not subsidize developers.
- Irene Kjornes, Fort Worth
Heavy issue
I’m calling out Bobbie Kumar’s column stating that the obesity problem is not behavioral. (May 10, 6C, “Weight-loss pill means doctors can stop mistreating obese patients”) I recently looked through pictures of my siblings and me in elementary school in the 1960s. Maybe two kids in classes of 25 to 30 were overweight, and they certainly would not have been classified that way by today’s standards.
I’m convinced that the proliferation of fast food, along with more limited exercise, is the reason. In most families back then, the mother stayed home, so there was more home cooking. And we played all day when we weren’t in school.
I’m not suggesting anyone is totally at fault. But the assertion that we shouldn’t focus on behavior is misleading.
- S.R. DeWees, Stephenville