Forward Times

With the offseason winding down and 2026 expectations firmly in place, Forward Times Sports Writer John Hickman is asking the question every Houston fan has already been thinking about: what would actually be surprising about this Texans team?

The ceiling for this team is real. Whether they reach it depends on the details.

Read the full analysis here: https://bit.ly/3PP4FYF

🗣️ Forward Fam, What would shock you most about the Texans in 2026? Share your take in the comments.

Long before anyone knew his name, Hype South was already doing the work.

He started in music — making beats, rapping, figuring things out — until he hit a ceiling and started looking for something that gave him more control.

He learned to edit by sitting in silence, watching someone else do it for hours.

He bought a Canon T5 Rebel and shot whatever was in front of him just to learn the camera.

He walked into Mathew Knowles' office as a young man and saw Grammys and Nickelodeon blimps on the wall and realized for the first time what the craft could actually look like at its highest level.

He got three-quarters of the way through his own film — a full cast, real music, real work — and stopped. He sold it, and said he wanted to get better before he put his name on it.

That's who Hype South is. A filmmaker who has never been in a rush to arrive before he was ready.

Forward Times Cultural Writer DeVaughn Douglas traces the full journey — from the beginning all the way to the Cypress set of Don't Miss the Bus, dropping in June.

Read the full feature here: https://bit.ly/439tzVS

Twenty-five chefs.

Five courses tableside.

One room full of people who came to invest in the children of this city.

On May 11, the Four Seasons Hotel in Downtown Houston was transformed into something that felt less like a fundraiser and more like a love letter to the next generation.

Bon Vivant 2026, the annual culinary gala benefiting the Youth Development Center, raised a record-breaking $325,000 — a number that keeps certified teachers in classrooms, hot meals on tables, and doors open for at-risk students in Northeast Houston who deserve every resource this city has to offer.

From the Spice Boyz Supper Klub’s diaspora-rooted menu to Chef Joseph Boudreaux bringing Louisiana Cajun cuisine to the Four Seasons with full confidence, every table in that room told a piece of Houston’s story.

Read the full feature in collaboration with dnglyfe by Victoria-Pearl Wright here: https://bit.ly/4vc7JNi

While working families are making impossible choices every single day, the federal government just found nearly $1.8 billion for something else entirely.

Associate Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Chelsea Lenora Small has a few things to say about it — and about what this moment means for democracy, civic engagement, and what's at stake right here in Texas.

You can read the full letter here: https://bit.ly/4uOShHh

🗣️ Forward Fam — how are you staying engaged and informed right now? What's keeping you motivated? ⬇️

Boots Riley is back — and I Love Boosters might be his most audacious swing yet.�

Keke Palmer leads the film as Corvette, a booster running a sticky-fingered operation out of Oakland with her crew, passing savings from stolen fast-fashion hauls to their community like modern-day Robyn Hoods. ��

But what starts as a hustle becomes something larger — a sharp, surrealist takedown of the fashion industry, corporate theft of Black creativity, and the exploitative machinery capitalism runs on. ��

Add Demi Moore as a foul-mouthed fashion mogul, a surprise Don Cheadle turn, LaKeith Stanfield captivating in every frame, and a factory worker named Jianhu who flips the whole story on its axis — and you’ve got one of the year’s most wildly original films.�

Read the full review by Terrance Turner, Forward Times Staff Writer, here: https://bit.ly/4e9bKfU

🗣️ Forward Fam — have you seen I Love Boosters yet? What did you think about the film?

Fort Bend ISD transformed River Pointe Church's Richmond campus into something that looked and felt far more like a professional awards show than a school ceremony — and that was entirely the point.

The 4th Annual FAB Awards brought together student athletes, coaches, family members and community supporters to honor the district's best across every sport imaginable, from football and basketball to water polo, swim and dive, golf, soccer, cheer and cross country.

Students arrived in floor-length gowns and tailored suits, walked a red carpet, and took their seats at elegantly arranged tables in front of a stage lit for a moment that many of them will carry for the rest of their lives.

Serving as emcee was Jarren Small, Co-Founder and CEO of Legends Do Live and Director of Strategic Partnerships for Forward Times — himself a Fort Bend ISD product and Hightower High School standout — who brought energy and heart to every envelope he opened throughout the night.

But the most powerful moments weren't the awards. They were the stories.

A student who fought back from a serious injury. A young man who lost his mother and his coach during his senior season. A coach who shared her battle with lupus and her journey toward building a family.

These are the stories that remind us why we invest in young people in the first place.

Read the full article by Chelsea Lenora Small here: https://bit.ly/42XSewD

📸: Photos by Simon Silva

Houston’s teachers have long been asked to give everything to their classrooms while receiving very little in return — no infrastructure, no professional community, no room designed just for them.

Reading With A Rapper is changing that.

On May 22nd, the organization soft-launched The Teachers’ Lounge at Studio Eight08 in Downtown Houston — a new membership community that functions as part professional network, part curated lifestyle experience, and part career development space for educators who deserve more than the system is currently offering.

NBA Foundation’s Lauren Sills headlined the evening’s fireside chat alongside RWAR CEO Jarren Small, sharing the kind of career story that doesn’t fit neatly on a résumé:

A TFA classroom with no support, six months of cold calls during lunch breaks, a pivot to D.C., and ultimately a seat at a table overseeing $300 million in economic opportunity programs.

Her throughline: don’t wait to be noticed. Build your own scaffolding.

In a year when HISD is navigating staff cuts and the national climate for public education grows more precarious, a community that sees educators’ full range — and honors it — isn’t a luxury.

It’s a form of resistance.

You can read the full story by Victoria-Pearl Wright here: bit.ly/4od4Z0d