Convenience Big Store: The importance of Memorial Day in Houston this year

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Five generations of the Martinez family gather and cheers at the grave of Army Veteran, Lawrence Martinez after a Veterans Day Memorial Service on Monday, May 29, 2023 at Houston National Cemetery in Houston.

We need this Memorial Day reflection

I know it's cliche to say that time is flying by, but it seems like spring break was only yesterday.

Now, we are welcoming a Memorial Day weekend. I'm ready for the break and the school year to end. This has been a tough year, with the drama and constant changes happening with Houston ISD.

But I hope to take some time to reflect on Memorial Day, which honors those who died serving in U.S. military. In 2022, I wrote a column about the Memorial Day celebration at the Houston National Cemetery, where my father is buried. If you have never been to the 419-acre cemetery, I urge you to visit at least once. It's a peaceful place of remembrance.

For Memorial Day, the staff takes three hours to place an American flag on each headstone. Some 4,000 veterans are buried here each year. At 9 a.m. Monday, the cemetery, 10410 Veterans Memorial Dr., will hold a commemorative celebration.

Happy Memorial Day.

Do you have a story to share or know of one that needs to be told? Share it with us here.

Joy Sewing, Columnist

Joy.Sewing@houstonchronicle.com

Worth your time

Scenes from Fort Bend ISD high school graduations.

Photo by: Courtesy Photo, Fort Bend ISD

Fort Bend ISD makes a lingering mistake by not immediately fixing valedictorian ranking policy

Imagine if your high-school senior worked hard, made good grades and earned the valedictorian title.

But because of a new school-district policy, a student in a magnet program across town who has never stepped foot in your child's school, but is zoned for it, gets the No. 1 seat.

This is playing out in Fort Bend ISD. The policy was put in place last fall and has added tension to this week's commencement ceremonies. The district recently changed valedictorians at Marshall and Willowridge high schools after "a thorough assessment."

It's a shakeup that could break students' hearts and dash scholarship dreams. Please read my latest column.

Mail Bag

I wrote a tribute column on the Rev. Bill Lawson, who was an icon and civil-rights leader who helped shaped Houston's diverse community. Here's what a reader said:

"I have rarely read a more beautifully-expressed reflection on a life than yours on Rev. Lawson. I felt through your eyes that I had personally known and loved him, although prior to reading your story, I surely had admired and respected him. Your comment that most deeply moves me is that he saw people as inherently good, with hearts that could be changed. Rev. Lawson was truly a model of compassion in its most essential sense, and, yes, such compassion requires enormous courage and strength! I rejoice with you in your close, enduring relationship with Rev. Lawson and in the perspective it has offered you. I can see that that perspective is a gift for your own North Star-becoming!" - Pam Lewis, Houston

Highlighting Houston

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Photo by: Lone Star College

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Pallbearers carry the casket of Rev. William

Photo by: Brett Coomer, Staff Photographer

Houston community honors Rev. Lawson's '95 remarkable years'

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Photo by: Brett Coomer, Staff Photographer

First look: MFAH reopens Arts of Korea Gallery with new acquisitions, loans

For Asian American Pacific Islander Month, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston celebrates growth of the initial $3 million Arts of Korea Gallery to 100-piece collection.

Ed Dwight, America's first Black astronaut candidate, is shown exiting Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft on May 19, 2024. Dwight was among six passengers that launched atop the company's suborbital rocket.

Photo by: Blue Origin/FELIX KUNZE

At 90, nation's first Black astronaut candidate finally goes to space

In 1963, Ed Dwight, a former Air Force captain and test pilot, completed an elite training program that, for many white men, led to NASA's Astronaut Corps. But Dwight was never selected and left the military without going to space. At 90, he finally got his opportunity.

Urban farmers, Jeremy Peaches of Fresh Life Organics & Ivy Lawrence-Walls of Ivy Leaf Farms, who also are the founders of Black Farmer Box, soft open their first grocery store in Sunnyside on Tuesday November 23, 2022.

Photo by: Raquel Natalicchio, Staff Photographer

Tomlinson: Black businesses make progress but obstacles remain

"The State of Black Business" reveals progress by Black entrepreneurs, but massive obstacles remain, especially with the campaign against DEI programs.

Zen Zheng stands with a photo of his book 'The Significance of Chinatown Development to a Multicultural America: An Exploration of the Houston Chinatowns.'

Photo by: Photo Courtesy Reynaldo Molano, Houston Community College

New book details the history of Houston's Chinatown

A new book by a former Chronicle staffer offers a detailed look at Houston Chinatown's long and expansive history from a small commercial area in downtown to a thriving area in Southwest Houston.