Page Two

Robert Bryce's cover story on attempts to regulate the funeral industry raises disturbing, though not surprising, questions about the way the government works in the state of Texas. It is a story of how power, money, and relationships can impact the ordinary workings of a state agency. A legitimate inquiry into whether an industry was complying with state law uncovered an extraordinary exercise of privilege and acts of intervention. This was not done in the best interests of the people of Texas, but rather on behalf of an influential industry. As George W. Bush runs for president, this example of how business can be done in this state is worth noting.

The Chronicle was startedby graduate film students, and our passion for film has often exceeded our passion for journalism. It is thus very exciting to inaugurate online The Austin Chronicle Movie Guide (http://www.auschron.com/film/). Over 2,500 films are cataloged, and more are being added all the time. This represents eight years' worth of AustinChronicle film reviews. Among the many options, the archive is browseable by Chronicle rating and reviewer name. The opportunity to look up every review by Marge Baumgarten, Marc Savlov, Russell Smith, Hollis Chacona, Steve Davis, and Robert Faires is delightful. Online/production manager Karen Rheudasil and Webmaster Matt Williams drove this effort, though the spirit of Film editor Marge Baumgarten hovered over every word. We are extremely proud of this archive, a collection of so many years of reviews. Film is where we began, and this is a wonderful new step. In many ways, this is such an important part of our history -- who was writing on what and when.

Several months ago, I took over editing "Scanlines," our video review section. In this issue, I pay my respects to Edward Dmytryk, the director who just died. During the late Seventies, he taught at UT.

The war over "Automat" as the title for the new food column continues to rage, though we haven't seen that many suggestions. The staff has turned completely against it, which has me warming to it, but that's probably more perversity than intelligence.

It seems like we have been talking about adding some kind of new column in Personals forever. On a couple of occasions, we even started looking. Now we're committed, which mostly means we're looking more seriously. We've decided to invite our readers to send in their ideas.

We'd like something other than a question-and-answer column, but we offer no ideas. We will settle for the right Q & A column. Here's your chance. Send us three sample columns that you would write if you ran the Chronicle's romance column. It can be Q & A; it can be something else. We're looking for intelligence, information, and style -- not just sex stories, dubious advice, and sorry double entendres. Before you start, think, "Do I want to be doing this in a year?" The first 12 columns are easy, then it is hell. Maybe it should be Q & A?

We make no promises. We may find something we like; we may not. We may go in-house or hire some favorite writer. First we're going to surf the waves of our readers. Send any ideas to me at: The Austin Chronicle, PO Box 49066, Austin, Texas 78765.