Most Admired Woman

Michelle Obama returns to Dallas' Winspear to lead off star-filled speaker series

Michelle Obama will appear in Dallas on September 26.

Photo courtesy of ABC13

UPDATE: Single tickets will go on sale at 10 am Friday, August 30, the Winspear has announced. Tickets may be purchased online at www.attpac.org/hearhere, by phone at 214-880-0202, or in person at the AT&T Performing Arts Center Winspear Opera House Box Office at 2403 Flora Street.

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Former first lady Michelle Obama will return to Dallas for a one-night-only speaking engagement in the fall. The event will take place at 7:30 pm September 26 at the Winspear Opera House and will open the AT&T Performing Arts Center's 2019-2020 "hearhere" distinguished speaker series.

Obama, whose memoir, Becoming, sold more copies than any other book published in the United States in 2018, recently was named the most admired woman in the world in a poll conducted by online research firm YouGov. She last appeared in Dallas in December 2018, at a stop on her book tour, at the American Airlines Center. She spoke on the "hearhere" series at the Winspear in March 2018.

ATTPAC announced her new appearance in a release on July 22. Other speakers in the series will include renowned film director and actor Spike Lee, astronaut Scott Kelly, culinary expert Samin Nosrat, and science expert Neil deGrasse Tyson.

“Everyone in this season is preeminent in their field, and we’re excited to bring them to Dallas,” says Debbie Storey, president and CEO of AT&T Performing Arts Center, in a release. “All of these shows will be cerebral, inspiring, and fun.”

Current subscribers can renew their seats now through July 29. New subscriptions will go on sale at 10 am August 2. Five-show packages will range from $211.50 to $852.50. Tickets may be purchased online at www.attpac.org/hearhere, by telephone at 214-880-0202 or in person at the AT&T Performing Arts Center Winspear Opera House Box Office at 2403 Flora St.

Here's a closer look at the season, with descriptions provided by ATTPAC:

An Evening with Former First Lady Michelle Obama — 7:30 pm Thursday, September 26, 2019
Michelle Robinson Obama served as first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. As a transformative first lady, Obama launched and led four key initiatives: Let’s Move!, to address the challenge of childhood obesity; Joining Forces, to support veterans, service members, and their families; Reach Higher, to inspire young people to seek higher education; and Let Girls Learn, to help adolescent girls around the world go to school. Now a best-selling author, she and husband Barack Obama currently live in Washington, D.C., and have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.

Spike Lee — 8 pm Saturday, December 14, 2019
Oscar-award winning Spike Lee is a director, writer, actor, producer, author, and NYU Graduate Film tenured professor whose body of work continues to grow over the last three decades. Recent projects include BLACKkKLANSMAN, based on a true story by Ron Stallworth, an African-American police officer who infiltrates the local Ku Klux Klan during the 1970s, which also premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and received the esteemed Prix de la Jeunesse Award. Lee’s filming of the play Pass Over, premiered at Sundance. He also directed all 10 episodes of the hit Netflix series She’s Gotta Have It, which will be returning for a second season. Spike has directed and produced more than 30 films since his first feature film, the independently produced She’s Gotta Have It, which also premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 1986 and received the esteemed Prix de la Jeunesse Award.

Captain Scott Kelly — 7:30 pm Thursday, January 23, 2020
Captain Scott Kelly’s epic Year In Space, now a New York Times best-selling book, solidified his status as one of the greatest pioneers in history. In his acclaimed speech appearances, he now brings audiences to the edge of their seats with transcendent insights that inspire and challenge them to dream big, test the status quo, and “choose to do the hard things.” One of a select group of Americans who embody a defining moment in the nation’s history, he captivated the world and seized the imagination of millions during his record-breaking voyage — proving that the sky is not the limit when it comes to the potential of the human spirit.

Samin Nosrat — 8 pm Saturday, June 13, 2020
As an undergraduate studying English at UC Berkeley, Samin Nosrat took a detour into the kitchen at Chez Panisse restaurant that happily determined the course of her life and career. Since 2000, she pursued her twin passions of food and words with equal vigor, aiming to create work that inspires, creates community, and raises cultural, social, and environmental awareness. Her book, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking is a New York Times bestseller, and also 2018 James Beard General Cookbook of the Year, 2018 Fortnum & Mason Debut Cookbook, 2018 IACP Cookbook of the Year, 2018 IACP Julia Child First Book Award, and Sunday Times Food Book of the Year 2017. A documentary series based on the book is now streaming on Netflix.

Neil deGrasse Tyson, “Delusions of Space Enthusiasts” — 7:30 pm Monday, June 22, 2020
Neil deGrasse Tyson earned his bachelor of arts degree in physics from Harvard and his Ph.D. in astrophysics from Columbia. Tyson's professional research interests are broad, but include star formation, exploding stars, dwarf galaxies, and the structure of our Milky Way. In addition to dozens of professional publications, Tyson has written and continues to write for the public. For five seasons, beginning in the fall of 2006, Tyson appeared as the on-camera host of PBS-NOVA's program NOVA ScienceNOW, which is an accessible look at the frontier of all the science that shapes the understanding of our place in the universe. During the summer of 2009 Tyson identified a stable of professional standup comedians to assist his effort in bringing science to commercial radio with the NSF-funded pilot program StarTalk. Now also a popular podcast, and a limited-run television series on the National Geographic channel, StarTalk combines celebrity guests with informative yet playful banter. The target audience is all those people who never thought they would, or could, like science.

celebrities

Animal News

Latest animal to die at Dallas Zoo is young male gorilla named Zola

Dallas Zoo

Zola RIP

Another animal at the Dallas Zoo has died an untimely death: Zola, a young Western lowland gorilla, died on Wednesday, November 5, at age 23.

The zoo does not know why Zola died. According to their post, he showed symptoms of lethargy, reduced appetite, and signs of discomfort at the end of October. A necropsy will be performed.

"Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to begin breathing on his own afterward, despite the extraordinary efforts of our veterinary and animal care teams," their post says. "With his comfort as our priority, we made the difficult decision to let him go peacefully."

The zoo did not announce Zola's death immediately, instead waiting two days until Friday afternoon at 3 pm. Politicians and government agencies prefer to choose Friday afternoons to post news that is negative or controversial, since fewer people, and definitely fewer journalists, are online on Friday afternoons. It's called the "Friday news dump."

The death is very inconvenient for the Dallas Zoo since they were just about to ship off their male gorillas, which also include Juba, B'Wenzi, and Zola's half-brother Shana, to the San Antonio Zoo. Animals are very dear to the zoo — until it's time to ship them off to another zoo.

For now, the relocation of the other three male gorillas is "temporarily on hold" but the zoo says they will be moved "when the time is right," and that is all you need to know about that.

The zoo has already said that they'll be shipping in other gorillas to replace them — although we do not know which gorillas and from where. The Association of Zoos & Aquariums, the overseeing body for zoos, only divulges that kind of intel on a "need to know" basis. Right now, you and I do not need to know. If we did know which gorillas were coming and where they were coming from, we might ask questions that would force the zoo to explain what it's up to.

Zola was born at the Bronx Zoo in 2002 and became internet famous as the "breakdancing gorilla" for splashing in pools and puddles. Some animal experts attributed his actions to frustration at being locked inside a zoo. He was relocated to the Calgary Zoo in 2009 when he was only 7 years old — zoos always play up what great bonds and family ties their animals have, until it's time to ship them somewhere else, and then suddenly the bonds and family ties don't matter.

Unfortunately, Zola did not "integrate well" at the Calgary Zoo, so he got shipped off to the Dallas Zoo in 2013.

At least now he won't have to be relocated again.

Death count
Zola's death is one more in a long-running series of deaths at the Dallas Zoo in recent years, the most previous being Jata, a 7-year-old painted dog who died in June 2024. Jata also showed signs of lethargy and decreased appetite, reportedly due to kidney disease.

Whenever a death occurs, they always wax on about their "extraordinary" veterinary and animal care teams — and yet, so many of these deaths were either unexplained or completely caught their teams by surprise.

Zola the Western lowland gorilla is the latest to join this death march of animals at the Dallas Zoo:

Jata, one of the zoo's three African painted dogs, died in June 2024, at seven years old.
Ferrell, a 15-year-old giraffe, died in December, 2023, following "an unexpected fall in the barn" that injured the giraffe's jaw so badly, they were forced to euthanize him.
Ajabu, a 6-year-old African elephant who died on May 8, 2023, from the herpes virus.
Pin, a 35-year-old lappet-faced vulture, died on January 22, 2023, cause unknown.
Jesse, a 14-year-old giraffe, died on October 29, 2021, cause unknown.
Auggie, a 19-year-old giraffe, died in late October 2021 of liver failure.
Marekani, a 3-month-old baby giraffe, sustained a mysterious injury and was euthanized on October 3, 2021.
Kirk, a 31-year-old chimpanzee, died in August 2021 due to "surprise" heart disease.
Keeya, a 6-year-old Hartmann's mountain zebra, died in March 2021 due to a mysterious unexplained head injury.
Subira, a 24-year-old silverback gorilla, died suddenly in March 2020, due to a cough, or maybe cardiovascular disease. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Hope, a 23-year-old Western lowland gorilla, died suddenly in November 2019 after being at the zoo for only two years.
Ola, an 8-year-old female African painted dog, was killed in July 2019 by two other painted dogs, less than a month after she was transferred to the zoo.
Witten, a 1-year-old giraffe, died in June 2019 during a physical exam under anesthesia when he suddenly stopped breathing.
Adhama, a baby hippopotamus, mysteriously died in 2018.
Kipenzi, a baby giraffe, died in 2015 after running in her enclosure.
Kamau, a young cheetah, died of pneumonia in 2014.
Johari, a female lion, was killed in front of zoo spectators in 2013 by male lions with whom she shared an enclosure.

And in February 2021, they lost a crow called Onyx who was part of their "animal ambassador team," "participating in a training session" for a bird show. He was never found.

animals

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Michelle Obama returns to Dallas' Winspear to lead off star-filled speaker series

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