High Society's Revenge

Spring Break's over for the rest of us too

I enjoyed a Spring Break last week even though I never left my desk.

Like thousands of other Houstonians who actually work through the week that grinds the city's social scene to a halt (CultureMap's own Shelby Hodge might have actually enjoyed a night at home last week), I can vouch that there is nothing like the break that's provided by everyone else high tailing it out of town. Especially if you commute into downtown.

For one magical week, you're the king of the roadways, able to zoom to wherever you please. One day last week, I made it from Tomball to Kirby Drive in a half hour at the heart of the morning rush hour, a trip that would normally take an hour and 15 minutes on a good day if you left after 7 a.m. A few days into everyone else's spring break, your commuting habits completely change. You start sleeping in. You practically sneer at the snooze button. You call up friends and bug them to meet you for breakfast. You envision following old Beach Boy Mike Love's lead and joining a Haute Yoga class.

And the ride home is almost as good. You see dads who never make it showing up early for T-ball practice.

"It's like you're living a completely different life for a week," Spring's Ryan Jones said.

Then, Monday morning of this week hits — and everyone's back and driving worse than ever. Does a week in Aspen take away one's ability to merge?

Suddenly, a drive that takes 75 minutes turns into an hour and 40 minute slog, even though there's perfect sunshine beating down the whole way. If this is high society's revenge, I want a recount. This phenomenon is largely a uniquely Houston one too. Having lived in the shadow of New York City, outside of Chicago, in Scottsdale, in Las Vegas, there is no equivalent one week where those cities' traffic completely changes for one glorious stretch.

Maybe people in those other locales don't love their kids as much — or at least don't love taking their kids on exotic vacations all at the same time — but you don't get this elsewhere.

It's all too fleeting though. By now, the high of the spring break commute is long gone. You start to wonder if it even really happened. If it's not just something from your personal episode of Lost. You can't think about it anymore. To do so would render you incapable of facing Tuesday morning's traffic.

Till next year ...

And hopefully a future where Houston's schools adopt a more European-view of the calendar. Is two weeks too much to ask?

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”