ALL ABOUT GEORGE: The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History is currently hosting “Discover the Real George Washington,” an exhibition on loan from Washington’s Mount Vernon estate. The idea of the show is to discover the man behind the myth. “If you only look at the iconic Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington, all you see is a staid, wooden figure,” Carol Cadou, senior curator at Mount Vernon, tells dfw.com. “What we’ve tried to do is go beyond that impression of Washington. What you see in this exhibit is the early life of George Washington as a surveyor, an entrepreneur and a veteran of the French and Indian War, that ‘action hero’ element of his life that many people don’t know about.” The show runs through Jan. 22.

STUDY TIME: Planning on catching the Dallas Opera’s Lucia Di Lammermoor? Friday night is looking perfect for the free simulcast in Sammons Park. To prep yourself for the show, the opera has just posted its study guide on the opera. Check that out, and then read an interview with Italian baritone Luca Grassi, who’s making his U.S. debut.

QUOTABLE: “I always work to the point where I know I’m going to regret what I’ve done on the page. But we change across time. As we grow older I always think, why didn’t I do more when I was young, why didn’t I risk more? And so now I operate with a theory that if I can conceive of a thing, I should put it on the page, to the point where I’ve begun to challenge myself and I begin to worry about how my friends will receive it. Because unless I go too far, I don’t feel like I’ve gone far enough.”

– Chuck Palahniuk, discussing the disturbing elements of his books, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. The author will be in town on Tuesday to talk about his new book, Damned, at Art&Letters Live.