How Houston Lost Its Mind Over a Trump Shirt

[TexasTowelie]

Note: This is a long article, so you may want to bookmark it to read later.


t’s hard to imagine a safer space in Houston than West University Place. Its unofficial motto is “The Neighborhood City,” and on a sweet spring night that was blessedly cool and clear, with mature live oaks spreading their protective branches over the tidy streets and the azaleas blooming in a riot of coral, fuchsia, and the whitest white, that’s what it seemed to be: a cozy, friendly oasis in the middle of a big, complicated metropolis. A place where four girls just entering their teens could head out for ice cream and cookies, unaccompanied, to a spot called Tiny’s Milk & Cookies. It was March 31, 2018, the Saturday before Easter. They were coming from a church group meeting.

West U is a prosperous place—the median household income is well over $200,000 a year—but it isn’t as flashy as wealthy neighborhoods like River Oaks or Memorial; it’s an orderly quarter where older brick bungalows and modest two-story colonials reside in peace alongside grand—but not too grand—new construction. Rice University professors and Texas Medical Center doctors live there because of its proximity to both places; so do many successful lawyers. Its schools are well funded and well appointed. It has playgrounds and parks with secure, nontoxic equipment. The police department is famous Houston-wide for enforcing speed limits with a vengeance.

So there they were, four girls around the age of fourteen, with long, shiny hair and braces on their teeth. They were chatting and giggling as they took their places in line at Milk & Cookies, which is basically a take-out window for a restaurant called Tiny’s No. 5, which itself is pleasantly appointed with assiduously tended gardens of Texas wildflowers and other natives.

There’s often a line at Milk & Cookies because its chocolate chip cookies are considered some of the best in town, even if they cost $2.50 each. The ice cream flavors—from plain old vanilla to Honey Lavender and Coconut Milk Chocolate—satisfy the cravings of both picky kids and grown-ups with artisanal tastes.

It took a few seconds for the girls to recognize the commotion behind them and then to realize it was directed their way. A woman in line, a few spaces back, seemed to be in some sort of state. She was tall and thin, and her hair was cut short. She was with a man and two little boys. “Grab ’em by the pussy!” the woman declared, staring straight at the girls while using that very bad word. She had a fist up in the air. “Woohoo!” she added, along with what sounded like the start of a crazy chant: “Maga!!”

Read more: https://www.texasmonthly.com/politics/houston-lost-mind-trump-shirt/

[PatrickforO]

1. That's pretty f-ed up.

Seriously.

Because we all have to keep standing up to what's going on.

It's just how you do it, I guess...

[Buzz cook]

2. I hope people read the whole article.

Stuff is fucked up. The last paragraph is just a stunner.

[SWBTATTReg]

3. Wow...what a mess...guess what my grandma used to say, don't ...

talk about religion, politics and something else (I can't remember right now) but just wow...

It seemed to get a life of it's own and accelerated way beyond the ability of either party to resolve and control.

With the internet and other rapid means of dispersing information, it goes to show that before you know it, anything that you say or do via a somewhat public forum can rapidly get out of control.

Trolls and the like will climb on board and propagate raw feelings and tensions by drudging up every slight (real or not), and propel the original argument way beyond what it began as. A simple misunderstanding.

[bobbieinok]

4. Slightly OT until Fall 57 there was no girls' dorm at Rice. They lived in apt complex offcampus

About 4 guys were admitted for every girl

Relation to topic- The article incident occurred close to Rice campus.