What was Texas talking about this week? 

The TM Daily Post staff wanted to beat the crowds and take a dip in one the state's best swimming holes. We'll be relaxing in Balmorhea State Park (pictured above) or by Barton Springs Pool until Tuesday, when we'll return to the office. We hope you get to do the same. Happy Memorial Day. 

Houston dad Marc Ostrofsky has five accomplished daughters and stepdaughters. And he is spending some $1.5 million to put them through college. Good thing Ostrofsky, who lives in the posh Houston neighborhood of Tanglewood, penned that New York Times' bestselling book, Get Rich Click!: The Ultimate Guide to Making Money Online.

After nine years at the Austin American-Statesman, Jason Embry is leaving the paper's capitol bureau to become press secretary for House Speaker Joe Straus, theTexas Tribune's Emily Ramshaw reported Tuesday.

There’s no hall of fame for Texas writers, but to the extent that they’ve got a comparable brass ring to reach for, it’s the Texas Institute of Letters’ Lon Tinkle Award for Lifetime Achievement.

I don’t want to fight with a twenty-year-old fashion blogger. 

A few months ago, I attended a party at a Dallas boutique. I don’t remember which designer the forty or so cool folks who were present that night were celebrating. I was distracted by a young woman outside who was smoking a Marlboro Light. I realized it was the redhead behind the personal-style blog Sea of Shoes, Jane Aldridge.

Update:

The Daily Texan editorial board issued another statement at 7:05 p.m. on Wednesday night. 

"WFAA's News 8 Daybreak" sat down with 20 year-old "Sea of Shoes" blogger Jane Aldridge and TEXAS MONTHLY contributor Jason Sheeler, who profiles her in the April issue, this morning.

In addition to discussing Aldridge's preference for living in Dallas and the fact that she can't watch awards-show coverage ("I don't have a TV...") they have a laugh over Sheeler's description of her having a "mean-girl tone." 

The Internet is about to get even snarkier. EnemyGraph, a Facebook plug-in developed by Dean Terry, director of the emerging media program at the University of Texas at Dallas, allows users to litter their wall with disdain instead of fandom.
 

The controversial "homeless hotspots" marketing and charity campaign at SXSW Interactive caught the attention of the Daily Show's Jon Stewart, who criticized the practice as "using vulnerable members of society as objects."