Home and deranged

From KKG to 713, I'm home for the holidays

The Kappa Kappa Gamma house at the University of Missouri
Caroline Gallay

It’s my first Christmas living back at home, and the weeks leading up to the big event have been decidedly different.

It seems like I was just in Columbia, Mo., doing white Christmases at the Kappa House with four fully-decked out Christmas trees (and a solitary dreidel and menorah on a corner table for our far-outnumbered Jewish members).

Donny, Dennis and Jim — our house staff — had the sprawling columned house decked out with white lights and garlands, and were constantly serving up plates of cookies to decorate with every color of icing and accoutrement imaginable.

Dennis has been with Kappa for 35 years, and the transformation that house underwent every year at his hands after the Thanksgiving break was totally breathtaking. I don’t need my heater often in Houston, but when it acts up like it did at school, I wish I could hear him bellow “Man on the floor!” and come to my room to fix it.

Christmastime at home is a little different. There is no staff to look after us four girls like there was to keep up with the 89 back at school. We have one tree and it’s a palm (my mom thinks it’s kitschy). Our lights just went up last week.

I can guarantee that as I sit writing this column on Christmas Eve, my family is maniacally wrapping presents and distributing them under the canopy of artificial palm fronds littered with mismatched ornaments. We’re not experts in the kitchen, either. Our favorite dish to make is a peppermint ice cream cake, solely because it involves hammering peppermints (literally) into smithereens.

My real house is messy and so is my family. Everyone is always yelling and interrupting each other and someone is always, always, in crisis. My mom has always said that a mother can only be as happy as her least happy child, and I think it's true. It's definitely true for her.

She's got all three of us under her roof now for an unlikely period. One sister is on the brink of high school, one's on the brink of college, and one (me) tumbled back into their lives. I ended up back in my old room after a series of events that can only be called unfortunate.

But this Christmas morning, under our festive palm tree amid the chaos, I know I'll feel lucky to be home.

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no more trips to Colorado

Bill to legalize marijuana in Texas filed by Dallas Democrat

Photo courtesy of Texas Original

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Texas Rep. Jessica González (D-Dallas) has filed a bill to legalize recreational marijuana in Texas. House Bill 1208 would legalize the cultivation, manufacturing, transportation, and sale of cannabis.

The bill would allow adults 21 and older to use, possess, and transport up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana for personal use. Adults could also keep up to 10 ounces of cannabis in their residence, as long as it is stored in a secure location.

Smoking or consuming cannabis while in a public place or in a car on a public road would not be allowed.

Gonzalez filed the bill in mid-November, one in a suite of bills that also included expanding insurance coverage for in vitro fertilization for LGBTQ couples; and requiring landlords to disclose all fees before a rental lease is signed.

Her bill was filed prior to an initiative launched by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on December 4 to ban THC products in Texas entirely.

In addition to legalizing recreational use, the bill also makes provisions for its production and sale including requiring that the packaging be child-resistent and clearly labeled, so that it's not confused for candy.

Businesses looking to grow, transport, test, or sell cannabis would need to be licensed by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. A 10 percent tax would be imposed on the sale of all cannabis and cannabis products. Some of the profits would go towards funding public schools.

If passed, the bill would take effect on September 1, 2025.

Medical cannabis is currently legal in Texas under the Texas Compassionate Use Program, which allows low-THC cannabis to be prescribed for conditions such as epilepsy, MS, autism, cancer, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Some cities have also approved decriminalization for the possession of four ounces or less of marijuana, including Austin, Bastrop, Dallas, Denton, Elgin, Killeen, and Lockhart.

politics marijuana