Women of the West

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Jul 8, 2002

FORT WORTH (NYT) -- The cowboy is enshrined as an icon at the 37- year-old National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. Now the cowgirl is getting her due at the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, which opened in Fort Worth on June 9.

The museum has expanded the meaning of cowgirl to include gritty, independent women who lived in the West. So while it pays homage to such rodeo stars as Tad Lucas, the museum also celebrates the influence of the writers Willa Cather and Laura Ingalls Wilder, the artist Georgia O'Keeffe, the singer Patsy Cline, the former slave and humanitarian Clara Brown and even a Supreme Court justice.

Sandra Day O'Connor, an El Paso native who grew up on an Arizona ranch, is one of five people the Cowgirl Hall of Fame inducted this year. She joins 158 honorees inducted since 1975, when the hall was in its first location in the Texas Panhandle. The Hall of Fame moved to Fort Worth in 1994 and got a permanent home when the new museum opened.

The two-story, 33,000-square-foot museum, in the Fort Worth Cultural District, tells their stories in five gallery areas. Artifacts such as the outfit and boots of the sharpshooter Annie Oakley (on loan from the Garst Museum in Ohio) are on display. In the gallery called "Into the Arena," visitors can watch filmed "great rides" by performers like Lucas. Then, would-be cowgirls can hop onto a bronc (on a spring) for a ride that is videotaped, sped up and inserted into footage from an old-style rodeo.

Expect the worse

ATLANTA (Cox) -- Mail over the next couple of weeks will bring dire news: Homeland Security can't do a thing about bad 401(k) reports.

Large passengers

DALLAS (NYT) -- Southwest Airlines' recent reiteration of its policy to charge passengers too large for one seat for a second has not drawn much reaction from frequent fliers, according to two groups that represent the general flying public.

"We have not really heard much about it," said David S. Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association. "We represent all passengers of all sizes," he said, "but the reality is that when passengers of size are taking up the space of another passenger, that passenger is inconvenienced." It is also a safety issue, he said. "The really telling point is if you cannot get into or out of the seat with the armrests down, you need to use another seat."

Nancy McKinley, manager of consumer and industry affairs for the International Airline Passengers Association, said the issue of passengers' intruding on fellow fliers' seat space is not a top priority. "We do get complaints about it from time to time, but I would not rank it in the top half of what we get complaints about." she said. "We have passengers who are every size, based on the complaints we get," she added.

But what has not drawn complaints, McKinley said, was Southwest's recent actions. "I think anytime you know what to expect, it's better," she said, "even if it's a sensitive subject."

Tipping debate

WASHINGTON (AP) -- American diners will tell you they leave generous tips to reward the cheerful delivery of the hot entree and the frequent filling of the water glass. They'll say they skimp on gratuities to punish the surly and the slow.

American diners would be wrong. In reality, social researchers say, tips depend on sex, race and geography -- not to mention the meal's cost, the after-dinner mint that comes with the check and even the clouds in the sky.

"Whether it's sunny outside has as big an impact on tipping as the rating on the service," says Michael Lynn, a Cornell University professor who has researched tipping habits for two decades, earning the nickname "Mr. Tipping."

People really do tip a little more when the sun is shining, one study found. Tip calculation often causes heartburn, whether it reflects the quality of service or the subtle influence of sunshine and candy. Some people sneak back to the table to add more money, some to snatch back a few dollars. Co-workers kibitz, husbands and wives dicker, mothers and sons debate.

Support for the practice of tipping has grown in recent years, from 55 percent in a 1978 Roper survey to 73 percent in a new poll for The Associated Press. The AP poll, conducted by ICR of Media, Pa., found younger people support tipping more than older Americans. The poll also found people in the Northeast accept tipping more than those in other regions. More than three-fourths think a tip should be earned rather than automatic, and more than half say they've stiffed a server because of poor service.

A smiley-face can help a waitress have a very nice day. Female servers who draw a happy face on the back of the check boost their tips, but male servers who do the same decrease their take.

Tipping research has also found servers who squat to look customers in the eye get about $1 more. Servers who smile or touch diners on the shoulder also net more. Men tip more than women if the server is female, women tip more than men if the server is male.