Sometimes I feel stuck like I’ve caught the Dallas Disease. What’s that? Well it’s a burning desire to be better, to be more, stunted by a combination of complacency and fear of being different. Most of the people here suffer from it. This city has so much potential, but no idea how to create the city it’s meant to be. Dallasites are oblivious to our lack of identity. What is Dallas? What are people from Dallas like? What is there to do in Dallas? Everyone will say something different. The disease is rampant here. It’s a terrible climate for an artist to thrive in. Most up-and-coming artists leave Dallas once they’ve caught the bug because they hit a glass ceiling. Their careers could take off much more easily somewhere else. When you get the disease, the seemingly only way to cure it is to leave. Why is that? I desperately desire that to not be true. We can make something here! But why has no one cracked the code? Why can’t we cure Dallas of this sickness right here? Why can’t Dallas be known for the amazingly talented, young scrappy and hungry artists whose light was birthed here? Instead Dallas is known for assassinating a beloved president… and we can’t get over that hurdle. So scarred by our past that we are incapable of grasping an identity. When I say I’m a successful actor/artist here, people tell me I should move to a “better city for artists.” But I’m committed to tapping into the resourceful potential of this city. In all honesty though… sometimes I think they might be right… what do you think?
