Tradition Schmadition

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The Texas A&M University Board of Regents has voted to change the University seal. According to the Bryan-College Station Eagle the vote was held without discussion and was unanimous. The 52 year-old  Star-T pattern is out – to be replaced with the block TAM (or ATM depending on your point of view) familiar to fans of Fighting Texas Aggie Band.

System Chancellor John Sharp approved of the change, “When you talk about brand identity, having that ‘Block TAM’ is something that brings it all together. That change makes it very obvious when you see it, where you are and what you’re talking about, that it’s Texas A&M.”

The change may not go over well at the tradition-bound school.  The seal change has already provoked negative online reception, including a petition on change.org asking to return the seal to its original state.

Red wonders what’s next – Marijuana leaf garlands?

Let the Gays Marry and There Will Be Rioting in the Streets

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Raw Story reports that Texas Rep. Bill Flores (TP- Bryan) has linked the rioting in Baltimore to the trend in favor of gay marriage.

On the Wednesday edition of the Family Research Council’s Washington Watch radio program, Flores told FRC President Tony Perkins that crowds of conservatives were showing up at the U.S. Supreme Court to urge justices to support the “rights of tradition marriage.”

Perkins suggested that the government was just creating more problems for itself as courts throughout the nation continued to rule that LGBT people should have equal marriage rights.

“A lot of these problems are created by the breakdown of the family, which the redefinition of would only accelerate,” Perkins opined.

“You’re exactly right, Tony,” Flores agreed. “Let’s talk about poverty for instance… The single best indicator of whether or not a child is going to be in poverty or not is whether or not they were raised by a two-parent household or a single-parent household. And so the breakdown of the family has contributed to poverty.”

“You look at what’s going on in Baltimore today, you know, you see issues that are raised there,” the congressman continued. “And healthy marriages are the ones between a man and a woman because they can have a healthy family and they can raise children in the way that’s best for their future, not only socially but psychologically, economically, from a health perspective.”

“There’s just nothing like traditional marriage that does that.”

Red doubts that Flores intended for this to sound as stupid as it does.

Today in Texas History – April 30

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From the Annals of the Troubadours –  In 1933, Willie Nelson was born in Abbott.  Nelson was raised by his grandparents, wrote his first song at age 7 and joined his first band at 10.  He took the long road to success with stops in Canada, Colorado, Missouri and Nashville before settling down back in Texas in 1972.  He is frequently credited with having helped launch the progressive country era that made Austin a music landmark.

Red has seen Willie play at least a dozen times at venues ranging from his golf course outside of Austin to an Austin City Limits taping.  One of the more memorable times was at the old Bull Creek Lodge on 2222 (now the County Line on the Lake) in 1976.  Willie came out on stage with a cowboy hat and seemingly brand new short hair cut (never explained) which was among the last times the Red Headed Stranger performed without his trademark bandana and flowing locks.  Red and a buddy were out in the parking lot during a break, when we noticed a very short man with an extremely good looking woman talking heatedly to the door man.  We just thought it was someone else trying to get in for free.  Finally, the woman just shouted, “He’s with me” and the door man let them in.  Fifteen minutes later the short man was up on stage and Willie was introducing his good friend Johnny Paycheck.

Photo by Jerry Nelson Young from imgbuddy.com

Abbott Kowtows to Paranoid Fringe of the Tea Party

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Gov. Greg Abbott is sending Texas Guard troops to “monitor” a U.S. Armed Forces training exercise being conducted in Texas.  Abbott is apparently listening and responding to the paranoid fringe of the Tea Party who fear that the Feds are coming to take over the state.  Remember the days when the so-called conservatives supported our military?  It seems so long ago.  What changed? Oh yeah, a black man became President.  The Dallas Morning News reports on the Abbott’s latest attempt to assuage the Tea Party and provides some details on the planned operation.

The operation causing rampant suspicions is a new kind of exercise involving elite teams such as the SEALs and Green Berets from four military branches training over several states from July 15 to Sept. 15

Called Jade Helm 15, the exercise is one of the largest training operations done by the military in response to what it calls the evolving nature of warfare. About 1,200 special operations personnel will be involved and move covertly among the public. They will use military equipment to travel between seven Southwestern states from Texas to California.

On Monday, command spokesman Lt. Col. Mark Lastoria attended a Bastrop County Commissioners Court meeting to answer community questions and was met with hostile fire. Lastoria, in response to some of the questions from the 150 who attended, sought to dispel fears that foreign fighters from the Islamic State were being brought in or that Texans’ guns would be confiscated, according to a report in the Austin American-Statesman.

He was forced to rebut that martial law was underfoot and said misinformation has been spread by those with a “personal agenda.  You may have issues with the administration. So be it. But this institution right here has been with you for over 200 years,” he was quoted as saying. “I’ve worn this uniform across five different administrations for 27 years.”

Radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been sending out warnings for weeks regarding the exercise, saying it is the U.S. military positioning itself to take over the states and declare martial law.

Abbott apparently has heard the concern and ordered the Guard to monitor the training and U.S. military personnel.

“To address concerns of Texas citizens and ensure that Texas communities remain safe, secure and informed about military procedures occurring in their vicinity, I am directing the Texas State Guard to monitor Operation Jade Helm 15,” Abbott wrote in his letter to the commander of the Texas Guard.

Today in Texas History – April 29

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From the Annals of the Spanish Sea –  In 1554, three Spanish treasure ships ran aground during near present-day Port Mansfield. The San Esteban, the Espíritu Santo, the Santa María de Yciar, and the San Andrés had set out from Veracruz on April 9.  But a powerful storm in the Gulf of Mexico doomed most of the fleet.  The San Andrés somehow survived.  Incredibly many Spanish sailors were unable to swim and more than half of the crew of the three ships drowned before reaching the beach on Padre Island.  The survivors organized two efforts to return to Mexico.  One small group sailed in a small boat to report back and organize a relief expedition. A larger group of survivors started an overland journey to Mexico in the mistaken belief that it would be a short trip.  Local natives, however, attacked the survivors and only one Spaniard, Fray Marcos de Mena, reached Pánuco.  A salvage expedition arrived at the site of the wrecks within two months, but only recovered about half of the 1,000,000 ducats lost in the Gulf.

The remains of the three ships lay undisturbed until 1967 when a General Land Office employee discovered that a private salvage company was excavating the shipwreck site.  This set off a decades long legal battle over the right to recover artifacts in Texas coastal waters with Texas ultimately securing the exclusive rights over such wrecks.  The find was  considered a major discovery and at the time was believed to be the earliest Spanish material ever recovered from American waters.  Artifacts recovered from the wreck included a small solid-gold crucifix, one gold bar, several silver discs, cannons, crossbows, and three astrolabes.

Photo of recovered artifact from  nautarch.tamu.edu

Naked and Unafraid at Texas State

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A Texas State University student sat nearly naked on the steps of the Allkek Library for almost an hour as part of an art project and protest about the objectification of the female body.  The San Antonio Express-News reports that the senior art student was overall pleased with the results of the performance art piece.

Monika Rostvold, who quickly became the talk of campus, said in a phone interview that the 45-minute demonstration was for an art project that focused on fellow students’ reactions and objectification of the female body, said Rostvold, a fine arts senior.

“I wanted people to view my body as beauty and power and not a sexual object,” said Rostvold, a fine arts senior. “The fact that it is Sexual Assault Awareness Month I wanted to create a piece about the standards that exist in our society. Being a victim and having friends who are victims of sexual assault I wanted to take control of my body by eliminating my presence and exposing myself.” 

Red holds this out to be an almost totally SFW blog – so no photos here.

The Appropriately Named Charlie Strong

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The Sporting News has an excellent story on Charlie Strong’s struggle to rise to the top of college football’s coaching ranks and his determination to succeed at UT.

A boy who grew to become a young man, who walked on to play football at tiny Central Arkansas, who wanted to be a college professor but decided to give coaching football a shot. A young man who grew to become an elite assistant coach, who was passed over and over and over for head coaching jobs because those same decades of institutional racism that confidently strolled down the streets of Batesville years earlier were engrained in the hearts and minds of university academia, too.

A coach who nearly gave up on his dream of becoming a head coach, only to get a chance at Louisville and win big, and the next thing you know, he’s standing in the posh office that overlooks the gigantic stadium at the University of Texas — smack in the middle of the best damn job in all of college football.

“I went down in the stadium and walked across the field and looked around and thought, wow, this is it,” Strong said. “I said to myself, you cannot fail, buddy. Too many people are counting on you.”

Red has a reason to root for his Texas Longhorns again.  The burnt orange tie is a nice touch.

Texas A&M Galveston Professor Flunks Entire Class – Then Quits Class

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Professor Irwin Horwitz of Texas A&M Galveston flunked his entire management class and quit the class.  Horwitz sent an email to the students informing them of their fate.

“I am frankly and completely disgusted. You all lack the honor and maturity to live up to the standards that Texas A&M holds, and the competence and/or desire to do the quality work necessary to pass the course just on a grade level, I will no longer be teaching the course, and all are being awarded a failing grade. . . .  None of you, in my opinion, given the behavior in this class, deserve to pass, or graduate to become an Aggie, as you do not in any way embody the honor that the university holds graduates should have within their personal character,” 

Horwitz related numerous incidents rampant cheating, rudeness and outright disrespect from the class members.  According to Horwitz:

“Since teaching this course, I have caught and seen cheating, been told to ‘chill out,’ ‘get out of my space,’ ‘go back and teach,’ called a ‘fucking moron’ to my face, [witnessed] one student cheat by signing in for another, one student not showing up but claiming they did, listened to many hurtful and untrue rumors about myself and others, been caught between fights between students,”

A&M, for its part, has apparently rescinded the mass failure and the department head will teach the remainder of the semester.  A&M also claims it will investigate Horwitz’s allegations about the behavior of the students.

Today in Texas History – April 28

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From the Annals of Gunboat Diplomacy –  In 1965, Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson  ordered an invasion of the Dominican Republic.  LBJ sent approximately 22,000 troops in a purported effort to prevent a “communist dictatorship.” Johnson’s action resulted in massive protests in Latin America and further criticism of LBJ as a war monger in the United States.

The events leading up to the U.S. incursion began with the assassination of long-time strong man Rafael Trujillo.  Trujillo was a brutal dictator but  that mattered little because of his strong anticommunist stance.  The U.S. supported him despite horrific human rights abuses.  After his death, a reformist government led by Pres. Juan Bosch won elections in 1962.  He was quickly deposed in 1963 by the corrupt and venal Dominican military. This set off a struggle for power pitting various military and political factions against each other.  Ultimately forces supporting Bosch began attacks against the military dictatorship.  LBJ and others, in the full throes of cold-war thinking, feared another Cuba in the Caribbean and decided to invade.  They were quickly able to end the fighting and install a right-wing civilian puppet for the military.

LBJ’s stated rationale for the action (the fear of the a new communist dictatorship) was never solidly proven. He provided American reporters with lists of suspected communists; but even a quick review of the list revealed almost no real communists at work. Some of the people were deceased and many others were clearly not communists – but were merely persons legitimately opposed to the right-wing dictatorship favored by the U.S.

Photo from www.loeildelaphotographie.com

The National Teacher of the Year is From Amarillo

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Shanna Peeples was named National Teacher of the Year by the Council of State School Officials.     Peeples is the first teacher from Texas to win the award since 1957.  myhighplains.com reports that Peeples is more than deserving of the award.

Peeples teaches at Palo Duro High School in Amarillo, Texas, where she spends half of her day as a high school English teacher and the other half mentoring, coaching and challenging her colleagues to grow in the teaching profession.

At Palo Duro High School, her students come from many different backgrounds. Amarillo is one of several cities in the United States that helps refugees find new paths in life and gain access to critical resources. As a result, Peeples works with many students who speak English as a second language or recently entered the United States from another country.

“My students, survivors of deep and debilitating trauma, have shaped the kind of teacher I am,” she says. “They have taught me to never make a promise I can’t keep because so many already have learned to see the world through suspicious eyes. To be the best teacher to them, I have to remember this and honor their background. I remember so I can gain their trust because I want them to read and write their way out of where they are,” said Peeples.

As the 2015 National Teacher of the Year, Shanna is shaping the conversation in this country about working with students in poverty, and those who have already faced extreme challenges in their young lives. Through a variety of teaching methods, Peeples reaches her students and helps them achieve their full potential far beyond her classroom walls.

On a personal note, the 1957 recipient of the award was Guy Bizzell who taught Red in high school but not in the 50’s.