Cheer Up 

I’ve been a loyal subscriber of Texas Monthly since I was in college in the seventies. I realize that in a digital world, selling magazines is an uphill battle. That said, I’m severely disappointed that your cover story [“A Half Century of High Kicks and Hot Pants,” September 2022] is about the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. Will your next cover be about “Bennifer” or the Kardashians? Thought you were better than that.
Nicki S. Morgan, Saginaw 

Dissenting Opinions

Your double standard bias has come fully to the surface in “Politicians in Black Robes” [September 2022], summed up by the lament of one Fifth Circuit Court critic: “They know where they want to go, and their view is that legislation shouldn’t stand in the way.” For seventy years, liberals have relied on the federal judiciary to transform American society in ways they could never get state legislatures or Congress to do. Now that the shoe may be on the other foot, the left is crying foul. Cue the finger violins.
Mike Mahaffey, Austin 

I’ve been dismayed about the political turmoil in America, especially in Texas, where the far right has slipped off the scale of reason. After reading Michael Hall’s “Politicians in Black Robes,” I’m now seriously frightened for the future of democracy and of our republic. The far right has taken over the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s claim that the court is not “a bunch of partisan hacks” is sadly inaccurate.
Pat Quadlander, Euless 

Worth the Weight

By 2030, it’s estimated that 50 percent of Americans will have obesity. In the Rio Grande Valley, as Aaron Nelsen writes in “The Price of a Miracle” [September 2022], the time is now to address obesity and stop our spiraling health-care costs of downstream diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The GLP-1 medications Nelsen describes improve metabolic health and are the first real options for sustainable weight loss. But for these drugs to work, we must put health policies in place to ensure that those with obesity can both affordably access these medications and combine them with physiological changes. Obesity is a chronic disease, and it’s time we started treating it with the evidence-based approaches combining medication and lifestyle intervention that we know work.  
Isabelle Kenyon, CEO, Calibrate, New York City 

Sail Mail

After I read the article “Rough Waters,” in the September 2022 issue, about San Antonio native Christopher Cross, I had to pull out the vinyl LP of Cross’s “Sailing” from a collection my husband kept from his years in broadcast radio. I was glad to have my Texas Monthly subscription and to be able to read this wonderful article. I didn’t realize Cross was 71, also our age. “Sailing” does take me away to a warm, safer time.  
Rose Mary Gunn, Scroggins

This article originally appeared in the November 2022 issue of Texas Monthly with the headline “Roar of the Crowd.” Subscribe today.