Those of us who want a progressive fairy godmother to wave her magic wand over Marshall, Texas are a pretty self-absorbed bunch.

We see our struggle for a revived downtown, through tourism dollars, as personal, rather than a challenge that's been accepted or rejected in other municipalities across the state; with accompanying consequences.

Even the MEDCO versus tourism controversy has played elsewhere.

One such town is Archer City, the setting for "The Last Picture Show," by Larry McMurtry, and the movie by the same name.

When I saw Archer last fall, boarded up businesses surrounded the 1892 sandstone courthouse dozing in the middle of the square. Main street had so little traffic the red light blinked rather than changed colors.