Flying Solo

After the Super Bowl, some wonder when the next major pro sports event will hit Houston. Behold the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship at the River Oaks Country Club April 8-16. “It is truly an event like no other,” says Tournament Director Bronwyn Greer of the surprisingly under-the-radar, largely volunteer-staffed event that’s taken place, in various guises, for more than 80 years. She touts its intimate nature, as its two courts hold a total of only 4,000 fans. “You’re close enough to hear the players talk to each other on the court, and you can literally see their sweat.”

When Miah Arnold was looking for a name for her new writing school in the Heights, she wanted something identifiably Texan, so she settled on … the grackle, the ubiquitous sleek-black sharp-beaked bird with a shrill song and the mentality of a scavenger. It’s kind of a perfect, if slightly unfair, symbolic analog for the typical aspiring writer.