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    Lifestyles of the HMNS

    It's not all about Lois: Museum staff the real stars of endless Corpse Flowerwatch (with progression photos)

    Caroline Gallay
    Jul 14, 2010 | 12:33 pm
    • On Tuesday, Horticulturalist Zac Stayton explains what he believes (hopes) willhappen soon: The section he is gesturing toward will continue to pull out as theflower begins to bloom. And Lois is standing at more than 6 feet tall.
    • Lois at 50 inches on July 6
    • Lois at 53 inches on July 7
    • Horticulturalist Zac Stayton documents the corpse flower's growth at 10 a.m.every day (here, July 8).
    • On the afternoon of July 9, Lois had grown almost an inch since that morning -and her bract fell over halfway.
    • Compare the deep purple interior of the spathe on July 10 to what it looked likethe day before.
    • On July 11, Lois' spadix began to wilt - another sign that blooming was near.This feature of the plant is actually hollow, as it contains the scent the plantreleases when it blooms.
    • On July 12, a deep purple stream appeared on the outer spathe.

    If you've been anywhere near the Houston Museum of Natural Science this week, you know that despite the buzz and the crowds, not a whole lot is going on with Lois, the cheeky corpse flower.

    Having been on Smelly Flower Watch for several days now, I can attest that though many people report that the rare foliage is "fuller" or more "frilly," it's just wishful thinking. I've revisited my trusty mobile phone documentation, and Lois looks pretty much the same early Wednesday afternoon as she did on Monday.

    Twenty hours ago, the HMNS tweeted, "We think she may have started blooming, but it's a very slow process — nothing dramatic yet." There's nothing dramatic and there's this .... the endless bloom that never seems to even get going.

    Still, it's cool to see Houston so wrapped up in something (especially something sorta scientific) but I think Lois is getting more credit than she deserves. The real stars of the show are the museum staff, who remain embarrassingly chipper despite the 24-hour days, stifling body heat and uncooperative fauna.

    There's Zac Stayton, the sweet horticulturalist who's become the unwitting star of a torrid (and sometimes graphic) romantic saga painting him as the jilted lover of the giant plant he cares for — the invention of whoever's behind those CorpzFlowrLois tweets.

    There's Rich, the docent who's constantly explaining to herds of disinterested children that soon, this enormous flower will smell like dead stuff. "Coooooool!"

    There's the tech team that's run around for me for days, fetching extension cords and pointing out secret nooks with cushioned seating to make sure I'm up-and-running as comfortably as possible.

    And at 8 o'clock this morning, Brad Levy and his fellows couldn't bear to see me make a breakfast of McDonald's coffee and offered me a bagel and schmear from their employee breakfast stash. So while Lois might be lackadaisical about giving me the story I'm here for, the museum is rife with stories of its own. Here's what we've observed:

    Via Rachel Hanley: At 9:30 pm Tuesday, the line to see Lois was half the length of the museum. Everyone wants to see the flower, and everyone wanted a picture. Some had ambitions to get on the webcam — one guy went as far as to flash his business card in front of a camera, but sadly, chose the wrong one. Many people thought they saw flower movement. Lois’ room has turned into a psychological breeding ground for group hallucination.

    Via Sarah Rufca: When I was on flower watch Tuesday evening there were three or four ladies hanging out with Lois all night, shooing people in and answering questions in great detail. While I thought for a couple hours that they were HMNS staff, it turns out they didn't work at the museum — they just described themselves as corpse flower "groupies." Flower children live on.

    And via Brad (although I missed it): There were a couple of aged new-agers earlier this week (who identified themselves as "Indians") who sat cross-legged around Lois, chanting prayers with such vigilance that security almost had to be called because they were disrupting the interviews.

    What kind of craziness have you seen on Flower Watch?

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    telling stories

    Black-owned Houston bookstore opens new home in historic Third Ward space

    Craig D. Lindsey
    May 13, 2025 | 2:45 pm
    Kindred Stories bookshore Eldorado Ballroom
    Photo by Craig D. Lindsey
    Kindred Stories has moved to its new location.

    Even though its grand reopening will be held this Saturday, May 17, Third Ward bookstore Kindred Stories has already begun a soft opening at its new location inside the Eldorado Ballroom at 2310 Elgin Street.

    Since September 2021, the Black-owned bookstore was located on Stuart St., one of many businesses that came to life thanks to Project Row Houses’ Incubation Program. Last year, the nonprofit informed Kindred and the other business that they had to vacate their premises at the end of this month to allow new businesses to occupy the spaces.

    Thankfully, Kindred already had its eye on the Eldorado location, next to neighborhood eatery The Rado Market (which has a collection of cookbooks curated by Kindred). It’s a space previously held by Hogan Brown Gallery, which abruptly closed in December. “I had caught wind that this space might be available,” Kindred founder/owner Terri Hamm tells CultureMap.

    Hamm turned the moving process into a fun little event for her and her loyal customers. “Last Tuesday, we invited about 20 of our top community members that, you know, are always in the store and have really supported us all of the year,” she says. “We packed up all the books in the space in an hour and, then, we moved everything in an hour. So it was like the beautiful way to close out that space in the midst of the community that has really supported us throughout three-and-a-half years there. And we spent the last four days kind of unboxing and just getting all set up.”

    Hamm says the new location is certainly roomier (around 1200 square feet) than their previous spot, which was only 450 square feet.

    “There's more room to just spend time in the store,” she says. “I feel like that's the ideal bookstore experience, when you can go in and really take your time. I feel like in the other space, it was so small, people kind of felt like they were in a rush.”

    Although Kindred is open and ready to welcome anyone looking for Black-and-proud literature, Hamm insists they’re only 90 percent done. More light fixtures need to be installed. Plants and furniture have to be brought. They even have custom-made wallpaper that needs to be installed.

    “So, we have a few little things that need to happen,” says Hamm, “And, then, I feel like the space will be really, really ready – probably in another six months.”

    In the meantime, it’s business as usual. This month’s calendar of events includes various appearances from authors as well as a couple of book clubs. Hamm is looking forward to new bookworms coming in and discovering what Kindred Stories has to offer.

    “The bestsellers are selling,” she says, “But I feel like, in this space, people are going to get to discover a lot of under-the-radar titles, just because there's more space to see the books and explore.”

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