I have long since believed that Dallas cannot afford to lose a single talented person. So it will be hard to say goodbye to Peggy Anschutz when she leaves at the end of May, to live in Cape Cod. Peggy Anschutz virtually has been the mayor of Forest Heights neighborhood in South Dallas. Nestled in a triangle bounded by Interstate 45, Martin Luther King Boulevard and Lamar, only a short space from the Trinity River, this is a section of the city that was harassed by the vilest kind of degradation until Ms. Anschutz arrived and willed it into renewal.

Never underestimate the canniness of leaders in Beijing. No sooner had they riled Washington with an anti-secession law that called for force against Taiwan if its feisty President Chen Shui-bian made any moves toward independence than they invited the chairman of Taipei's two top opposition parties to China for high-level talks.

Suddenly the color orange is hot, hot, hot. Look at men's ties. Notice blouses on women. Take a look at bridesmaid's dresses this season.  Orange has spread from Hermes in Highland Park Village, where it's long been the signature shade, to fashion emporiums all over the city. It connotes sunshine, radical youth, radiant independence. Threatening always to be too much, orange can scarcely contain its own exuberance.