Madison Simmons

For the fine folks of Nightshade Burlesque, every season is spooky season. Even so, they managed to crank up the dial for their November 1 show at The Cicada on the Near Southside. The night held a little something for everyone, from disco-inspired dance numbers to stripteases from the devil herself. Qween Quan, a drag and burlesque performer from New Orleans, joined the regular cast this month. “I think of my drag as my inner child’s babysitter,” they said before the show.

Like every other kid raised in Fort Worth, I’ve seen The Herd a handful of times over the years. And like many other Fort Worthians, I’m guilty of becoming a little jaded about the whole affair. What’s so great about watching some cattle walk down a street? Twice a day? Last week, I went to the Stockyards for a closer look. By the time I parked at the Stockyards and walked over to East Exchange Avenue, it was 11:15, just 15 minutes before cattle-drive time.

There’s not much job security in the news business these days. The past few months have seen mass layoffs rocking institutions like the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed, Business Insider, and Forbes. By the end of this year, the country will have lost a third of the newspapers we had in 2005, based on the findings of a report by Northwestern University. This has grim implications for those working in the industry, naturally, but, more critically, just where are readers getting their local news?