Letters – Three Cheers to Staff at Southwest and American, Jesus Jimenez, Public Works Dallas

1 American Airlines and Southwest Airlines scheduling and operations staff — I know it's a little early, but I'd like to submit my nomination for Texans of the Year: the scheduling and operations staff at both Southwest and American Airlines, who've had to keep entirely too many balls in the air (or not, as the case may be) in order to keep passengers flying for what now seems like an indefinite period after the grounding of all Boeing 737 Max aircraft in March. I have a custom travel planning business so I probably enjoy the minutiae of scheduling and putting together the puzzle pieces of travel more than the average person, but I don't think I'd want their job right now. There are so many moving parts here and I can't even imagine what they all must be. Which flights to cancel? What equipment (planes) to be relocated or redeployed? How to reschedule affected passengers? How to effectively plan an airline schedule 335 days into the future under these circumstances? What about all the crew on those canceled flights? What if your tightly planned, no-fat fleet is affected by a ground hold at a major airport? My respect for the unheralded and unseen airline staff tasked with keeping their companies airborne during this turbulent time is boundless. I salute them.Nicole M. LeBlanc, Dallas2 Dallas Morning News reporter Jesus Jimenez — Jimenez does an excellent job of writing interesting, informative weather articles. Instead of listing dry statistics, he makes the weather a full-bodied subject worth reading about.Linda Lee Andujar, Irving3 Public Works Dallas — Toni Morrison wrote that many in our country still assume that being an American necessarily involves "whiteness." She was right about that, thus the urgent need to be actively engaged in healing our wounds and welcoming one another in our pursuit of life, liberty and happiness. Polarized national politics isn't helping us do this. But I find hope among the diverse Dallasites who are working hard nights and weekends to create a heartwarming musical version of Shakespeare's As You Like It.Public Works Dallas, in its third summer, is staging this comedy at the Wyly Theater, transformed into the imaginary land of Arden, where all are welcomed. As a member of the cast, which comes from every part of Dallas and is diverse yet unified in our love for one another, I hope you will join us in celebrating and in healing our wounds.Gary Looper, Dallas  Continue reading...