Patrolling Chaos - Robert Lee Maril

Patrolling Chaos: The U.S. Border Patrol in Deep South Texas.

By Robert Lee Maril. Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2004. ISBN-13 978-0-89672-594-2 (pbk) 368 pages. $24.95 http://www.ttup.ttu.edu/

This book is real – real life of border patrolling, and it’s messy. Experienced sociologist and book author, Maril spent several long months living the work and private lives of a dozen agents on the McAllen border. His intent to “understand” the agents and their world comes out honest and clear. His sharp prose and psychological insights leave the reader feeling the wrinkles on the agent’s tanned faces and hands, the family strains, the hardship of solitary midnight duty, in the dark, often subject to danger from narcotraficantes and immigration coyotes.

The chaos comes from the agents existing in a kaleidoscopic world where the illegals are unpredictable, the bizarre, surreal federal bureaucracy functions in la-la land, practicalities of daily living emerge, and frequent social disdain covers entanglements. All this is back-grounded by the obvious reality that the border is not under control.

Maril’s book can be viewed in four perspectives – agents’ work and lives, historical retrospectives, and the rigid, politically driven policies and rules.

Yes, incompetence, bribery, beyond-dumbness on many sides, racism, and violence all play a role. And the agents, most good, honest folks, show up for shift work each day to patrol your Texas border. Maril puts you there, and he does it well.

Last Chance in Texas - John Hubner

Last Chance in Texas: The Redemption of Criminal Youth.

By John Hubner. NY: Random House, 2005. Cloth on boards with a jacket. 277 pp. No illus. $25.95 ISBN 0-375-50809-0. http://www.randomhouse.com/

Hubner has been a Massachusetts and California writer on juvenile crime and justice. He heard of Giddings State School’s ( http://www.tyc.state.tx.us/programs/giddings/ ) surprising success with some youths. He spent months at the “school” observing capital and violent offenders. He draws their stories from their dialogue, records, and interviews. Gidding’s gets the worst, and this book genuinely mirrors much of their lives and predicaments.

Beyond the individual and societal tragedies, Hubner finds that sometimes Texas love and nurturing, along with discipline, saves some of those previously ill-destined kids. It reduces crime in your future too

Shaping My Hat - Jake Billingsley

Shaping My Hat.

By Jack Billingsley. Plano: WordWare Pub., distributed also by author, 2005. 165pp. $15.95. pbk. ISBN 1-59822-006-3. http://www.jakebillingsley.com

Jake, of Tyler, Texarkana, and McKinney, writes a column for the Sherman Democrat, speaks to groups, guides big game hunters, and swims – according to the blurb. He was on CBS’ “Survivor: Thailand” at age 60. By telephone relates he is busy shooting commercials for real estate companies right now. My goodness! He tells us how to live better, happier lives. His 12 chapters are initiated with quotations from world figures. Readers will follow his life and world adventures; often interspersed with jovial entries. His loves, his lost encounters, and his business life parade before the reader. His emotions and personal development are open, sometimes dramatically. Billingsley’s photo shows a “rugged individual” with cowboy trappings and a well-shaped hat.

What's Right About America - Kay Granger

What’s Right About America: Celebrating Our Nation’s Values.

By U.S. Representative Kay Granger from out were the West begins, foreword by Sarah Ferguson, Duchesse of York. Los Angeles: World Ahead Pub., 2006. Paper over boards with a jacket. No illus. ISBN 0-97778984-0-7. 119 pp. $21.95. http://www.worldahead.com/

This Congresswoman since 1997 divides her 12 chapters into three sections: Life, Liberty, and (yes) the Pursuit of Happiness. Therein she reveals our values in the individual, family, community, service, equality, justice, compassion, religious freedom, responsibility, progress, courage, and vision – not a bad platform. She concludes that we value our values. The appendices contain the Declaration of Independence and the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Dwight Eisenhower, and Surgeon General Dr. Antonia Novello.

The 12 chapters are initiated with quotations from folks such as Captain Scott O’Grady, Ben Franklin, and Eleanor Roosevelt who then become the model for the “value” discussed. If there is a Texana chapter, it is “Progress” focused on Neil Armstrong. Shelve this one beside Senator Kay Hutchison’s American Heroines and Leading Ladies. Granger’s photo shows a happy, confident, competent blonde, and in Texas that’s senatorial qualifications.

Cocina Ranchera - Bill Moran

Cocina Ranchera y Creationes.

By Bill Moran. San Diego, Texas: Moran, 2004. ebook, 152 pp. Moran can provide electronic or paper copy. Contact: texaschef@the-i.net, or go to his blog at http://texas-chef.blogspot.com

Bill’s been around Texas cooking for decades as part of his Food Service Food Broker career. He retired, left Houston, and moved to San Diego in the middle of Texas Mexican ranch country. He’s comfortable in the corn kitchen, talking masa, mole, atole and terra cotta pots. He suggests “Comino, garlic, and black pepper should be called the ‘Mexican Trinity’ just as celery, bell peppers, and onion is called the ‘Cajun Trinity’”. Readers may recall the basic “Mexican Trinity or Three Sisters,” corn, beans, and squash. This is his second cookbook, Texas Chef being the first and projects another Texas Chef Bakes. He calls the Columbian Exchange a “huge food processor.” The admirably long table of contents divides his recipes into “Traditional” and “Creations.” Some are his recipes.

He begins with a routine for making masa and further on treats other primaries for scratch preparation. He suggests Americans should use instant coffee to flavor their atole to acclimatize. Occasionally, Moran’s commentary turns historical, as explaining the Spanish introduction of wheat leading to flour torillas.

Moran attends small details, as in recommending covering your homemade ancho “Chile Paste” with a little oil after transferring to storage jars to reduce deterioration. He well advises us to add cilantro (his substitute for epazote), salt, and pepper late in the cooking process for “Frijoles de Olla,” the omnipresent pinto bean. He appends information on chile peppers and cheeses, and a glossary. It’s a full menu from breakfast to desserts. One of my favorites is “Chicken Breasts in Cream Chipotle Sauce.” From “Menudo” to “Prickly Pear Dessert Topping” to rather fancy dishes, Moran tells you how to satisfy and delight ranch hands and city slickers. In his spare time, he’s compiling a list of “Endangered Foods.”

Texas Neighbors: Grace for New Beginnings Abides in Three Endearing Romances.

By Debra White Smith. Urichsville, Ohio: Barbour, 2003. $10.95 pbk. ISBN 1-59789-111-8.

Here’s a warm and sentimental breeze, or three breezes, three novellas in the Christian romance genre – “The Key,” “The Promise,” and “The Neighbor.” Aside from the bluster and blow of most novels, Smith writes of slower life, gentler folks who take care of each other. The first two works are set in Jacksonville and the third in Tyler. Christian love and long and Smith provides models and, yes, rather pleasant reading. Readers get to know the characters. Christians do try to handle things differently, a little prayer and Bible helps. Amid abandonment, disloyalty, anger, and near-lusting, familial care and meddling, lovers succeed. The reviewer planned to read only the first entry, but I had to go on and follow these graceful figures.

The plain dialogue and natural settings are realistic. The novellas do contain hand-holding, passionate kisses, and an occasionally accidental light brushing of bodies, but this review can attest to such behavior in East Texas. Recommended.

See related note at:

http://texasparlor.blogspot.com/2006/08/romance-or-smut-collectors-alert-susan.html

Take Your Time Coming Home - Cleatus Rattan

Take Your Time Coming Home.

By Cleatus Rattan. Huntsville: Texas Review Press, 2005. pbk. 81 pp. ISBN 1-881515-82-6. $12.95. http://www.shsu.edu/~www_trp/

Cleatus Rattan, Mayborn Professor at Mary Hardin-Baylor, has published several volumes, his own poems and explorations of major Europeans poets, and placed poems in many literary journals, including the prestigious Sewanee. Another recent title, The Border has been selected for wide study in Texas by the UIL. His honors accumulate.

Here, the reader has sections: Now and Then, The Nerve of Some People, Remainder, and The Players. Rattan is plain-spoken, even seemingly casual, in his word plays. Sophomoric teenagers may roll their eyes, but adults will find Rattan’s offerings insightful, amusing, melancholic, and tragic. Fortunately the “Good News” is that “Aunt Mary popped from a coven of Methodists” but was saved by the family. So through scenes of personal quandary, family moments, poetic dissonance, football, motorcycling, and ranching, Rattan reticently leads the reader to his places of private dialogue. It’s worth listening and taking your time.

For poets laureate, see also:
http://www.unt.edu/northtexan/archives/p05/poetrattanmore.htm
http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ref/abouttx/poets.html
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/PP/kzp1.html
http://www.loc.gov/rr/main/poets/texas.html

Spurs of Inspiration - George Getschow

Spurs of Inspiration, Archer County, Texas, July 2005.

Edited by George Getschow and Paul Knight. Denton: Mayborn Graduate Institute of Journalism, University of North Texas, 2006. photographs 116 pp. Interspersed with some poetry. Stiff paper cover, folded back, with interior illustrations. ISBN 0-9786521 contact Brandee Harrawood 940-565-4564.

News from the Archer City Writing Colony! For the second year in July George Getschow, through his professorship at the University of North Texas, has wrangled together students of his “Literary Nonfiction” writing course for a three-week stay in Archer City. They came from near and far to learning writing skills under the influence of Larry McMurtry’s north Texas ranchlands of Archer County, home of the Last Picture Show near where the Horseman passed by. The students resided in the Spur Hotel listened to Getschow and other writers, former students, and generally gad about the town and countryside.

Their last weekend was spent at the second annual Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Writers Conference of the Southwest in Grapevine (see report in August WTM) and primarily sponsored by the Mayborn Graduate Institute of Journalism at UNT of Denton. Spurs of Inspiration shows some of those students’ successful efforts. After that, the students prevailed upon Getschow to conduct a “Literary Journalism” workshop of some weeks, so the essays of this volume came to calving from several roundups and cullings. All became very much place-driven.

In his “Prologue” to the Archer City tales, Getschow tells us he wishes to introduce students to experiences outside their usual worlds and to nurturing inside the McMurtry world. Student Paul Knight served as co-editor. Thereafter Getschow and Knight penned essays respectively on “The Rancher & the Writer” and “Herdin’ Books.” Getschow reveals that McMurtry’s first book of inspiration was Sergeant Silk: The Prairie Scout, and other biographical aspects, and Knight recounts origins of McMurtry’s famous bookselling career and massive shelves in Archer City.

Michael Mooney lets “time fall away” as he explored the back roads with locals Chris, Mike, and Mayor Carl. Brantley Hargrove relives an 1837 Indian battle in the local with local historian Jack Loftin. Sarah Whyman is confronted with the sudden justice of a hangman’s noose and note about women in the jailhouse kitchen. Knight explores the shared brokenness of patrons at the American Legion, the old cowboys, and all of us at some time. Kristen Flory discovers the almost secret miracle of St. Mary’s Church grotto. Timothy Soliano compares the rich music of Prague with the solitary silence of the place. Kelly Saxton somehow works her old story of time travel into the setting. Carrie Ferguson-Killough re-discovers herself and the rejuvenation of her acceptance of others. Co-editor Knight clears the smoke between their past and his present while learning to work the writing trade; he got a journalism job out of it.

Archer City residents may have seen the students as Magi arriving from the Texas east in affirmative of His Gray Eminence, once our terrible infant of Texas letters, and lacking honor among some Archerians.

Well done, George, Paul, and the ring o’students. We’ll be looking for your traces on down the trails – trails that may be asphalt and concrete, but no doubt with a little Archer City dust coloring the crepuscular sun.

Western Story - Jon Tuska

Jon Tuska’s new edition of his anthology The Western Story: A Chronological Treasury (University of Nebraska, 1995, updating the earlier 1982) contains 20 stories (most not in the previous edition) grouped by named time periods: “The East Goes West,” “Founders of the Golden Age,” “Storytellers of the Golden Age,” and “Visions of Dreams and Dancing.” Only two stories have genuine Texas connections, and both are in the last time slot: Elmer Kelton’s 1982 “Desert Command,” a military story of a thirst-driven command set around San Angelo, and Texas-born Cynthia Haseloff’s 1994 “Redemption at Dry Creek,” set in a generic dry country featuring human conditions in response to earlier killing and hard life.

While reading Tuska’s introduction, readers will notice the dates marking the inauguration of the modern Western story are scattered in the 1890s and spilling into the first decade of the 1900s. Some of the authors mentioned in the introduction or cited in the final bibliography of the period are Owen Wister, Rex Beach, Jack London, Marah Ellis Ryan, Stewart Edward White, Mark Twain, Frederick Remington, Bret Harte, John Neihardt, Clarence Mulford, B.M. Bowers (a woman), and Texans Andy Adams and O. Henry. Tuska mentions that this edition’s collection is different from the previous and from other Western anthologists.

Economic Impact Study - Gregg Higgins

Economic Impact Study of Arts & Cultural Organizations in North Texas, 2006.

[Survey by Greg Higgins]. [Dallas, North Texas Business for Culture and the Arts/Deloitte & Touche, 2006.] 75 pages, various paginations, paperback, wire-bound. Over 20 charts and graphs. B&W. 8 ½ x 11. With a 13-photo color montage on the cover. Download at www.ntbca.org

Speaking of education and cultural values, Dallas and Fort Worth area has gotten organized and is clearly including many organizations beyond schools and colleges in their plans. Back around 1988 Raymond D. Nasher and other business leaders of the area determined to effectively improve life by better connecting the business, arts, and cultural leaders. That became the non-profit North Texas Business for Culture and the Arts, now led by CEO Patricia Porter. They wished to bring a clear awareness to the business community that the cultural and arts life of the region made a difference – so they set about talking business to the business leaders. The NTBCA efforts enable business and the C&A to learn of each other and how business can help the C&A because, well, it’s good for business to do so. NTBCA does not raise money, in kind contribution, or volunteers for the C&A organizations from business, but rather helps the two find each other under good conditions. The present survey, only one of NTBCA’s services, makes clear that the C&A improves the local economies.

The present survey has been done for 12 years under the guidance of Greg Higgins (grhiggins@gamil.com). Deloitte & Touche are the lead sponsors although over a hundred other businesses assist. Presently the NTBCA serves Dallas, Tarrant, Collin, Denton, and Ellis counties. In summary, nearly a billion dollars is generated by the C&A community for the local economies. This amount includes the usual “multipliers” used in such matters. The survey includes responses form C&A organizations in the five counties.

How is a billion dollars possible? Aren’t the C&A affairs just fluff, maybe marginally educational but still bread and pastries for the Coliseum crowd watching the lions maul the Christians and sideshows for the kiddies? In much greater detail (remember the survey is for business folks) Higgins lays it all out. Here we will summarize the 2006 projections. Of the total 828.5 million, $422.7 million is from operational costs, $327.7 million is from indirect audience spending associated with the events, and $78.1 million comes from construction and capital expenditure activity to new and existing facilities. The impact on Dallas alone is $549.7 million, half a billion. Fort Worth gets $241.0 million. Remember this doesn’t include professional sports.

The C&A respondents gave 7,000 performances/exhibits in 2005 to over 23,000 “audience opportunities.” They had 7.9 million admissions, of which 35% were free or reduced-price. Their direct total income was $280 million, balanced by direct personnel and operating costs of $212. All other money flowed back into other parts of the local economies. In support of all this, there were 493,000 volunteer hours expended. (Hmm, that sounds like a ratio: 1 volunteer hour representing $2 of the billion)? So, when you volunteer, you know you are generating money for your community.

The respondents were 28% musical, 16% museums, 13% theater, and a variety of smaller categories. Out of 230 survey sent, 98 were returned, 43%, a very high rate. This included the larger organizations. The approximate population of the area is 5 million, so does that create a per capita ratio: 1 person representing $200 of the billion)? Would that ratio hold true in Woodville, Bonham, Laredo, and Canyon?

But does it affect the job market? The direct spending creates almost 10,000 jobs; the indirect spending creates almost 9,000 jobs, and the construction creates over a 1,000 jobs. And this does not include the regular school and college budgets and personnel; in fact, the survey only includes those tiny portions in the formal educational arena that fall into very narrow definitions.

If you have associates who roll their eyes over the importance of culture and the arts, tell the clods that their life every day is surrounded by activity bringing welcome economic stimulus and opportunity to their neighborhood and, well, even some culture into their life. Greg Higgins says so, and he says so for the North Texas Business for Culture and the Arts, and besides that Deloitte & Touche agrees.

Public Perceptions by Stephen Klineberg

Public Perceptions in Remarkable Times: Tracking Change Through 25 Years of the Houston Survey: The Houston Area Survey 1982-2005.

By Stephen L. Klineberg. Houston: [Rice University’s Sociology Dept. Center on Race, Religion, and Urban Life], 2005. 47 pages, paperback, stapled. Over 40 charts and graphs in color. 8 ½ x 11. With a 9-photo montage on the cover. $10, plus ppd. Or download at http://www.houstonareasurvey.org. You may anticipate the soon to be released newest edition, polled earlier in 2006.

Stephen Klineberg was college educated in Philadelphia, Paris, and Harvard before joining the Rice Sociology Department in 1972. Ten years later, he began the “Houston Area Survey.” Now the survey is supported by a host of about 60 major corporate underwriters, sponsors, and friends as well as individual citizens; the back cover spotlights the Houston Endowment, Inc., SBC, Vinson & Elkins, Jain & Jain, P.C., Gallery Furniture, and the Houston Chronicle. The survey is now an integral understanding and planning document of many. It began 2 months before the strategic oil price fall, and the survey is now an integral understanding and planning document of many in the area. We are now embarked on upon another strategic population change with the rise of rise Hispanic population. In addition, the telephone survey deliberately seeks responses from folks who speak Vietnamese, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Korean. Occasional distinctions are made between Houston and Harris County. So, who are the Houstonians? Further commentary here is selective and subjectively chosen; Klineberg’s other data and narrative is insightful and improves its understanding.

In general. Jobs are, of course, essential. 50% believe job opportunities are excellent or good. The economic gap between rich and poor is clear and continuing to widen. 74% have environmental concerns. Traffic is still the big problem, over economy and crime. 66% support spending more to make the place attractive. Over 70% rate Houston as a good or excellent place to live. 77% want more public transit. About half acknowledge the importance of Downtown development. 86% want mental illness covered by company’s insurance. Half believe abortion is wrong, but only a third support legislation to restrict it. About half believe homosexuality is wrong, while the other half believe it is “not something people change.” Ethnic discrimination is still widely observed, more strongly against Blacks. Houston is 37% Hispanic, 31% Anglo, 25% Black, and 7% Asian and other.

Education. Latino immigrants have sharply less education, 51% with no high school degree. Asian immigrants are the reverse, 18% with some college, 36% with college degrees and 25% with post-graduate work, Filipinos particularly excelling. African immigrant also excel, with 92% having some college, degrees, or post-graduate work. Among Latinos, Cubans excel with 63% having some college, degrees, or post-graduate work.

Houston is the 4th largest city in the U.S. It is meaningful to understand Houston because Houston leads the state.

Cinco de Mayo Collection

This last Cinco de Mayo [2006],

the Editor went out browsing some west Houston retail outlets for material on Texas written in Spanish.

First on the list of stops was the book store Libreria Amigos (5401 Bissonnet, Houston, Texas, 77081, near the Bellaire Triangle, 713-667-7772) where the kindly caballero Celso Alonso, un cubano, will tell you he has “miles de libros en espanol.” And it’s true. Inside the clean and well-lighted place as it has been for several years, you’ll find over 300 shelves of books from Latin America. Philosophy, history, cinema, children’s books, novels, culinary guides, and whatever is appropriate. I already knew he didn’t have a Texana shelf, but there was a title that fit the mark.

Ningun Ser Humano Es Ilegal.

Por Marcello Marini. Houston: n.p., 2003. 160 pages, paperback. Cover illustrated with a collage of facial profiles clustered into the shape of a tree. $10.00. Marini was born in Argentina in 1939, college educated there, and got into the communications business through journalism and television and teaching at the college level. He came to Houston in 1968 and continued his career, adding community leadership to his portfolio. Most recently he has associated with Channel 47 Telemundo through his program “Nuestra Gente.” The present volume is in three parts. First there are brief essays of Marini reflecting on the condition and status of the Latino immigrant to Texas and the wider Estados Unidos, then a translated summary of those essays into English by Sybil Moncivais, and finally the story of Juan Bautista, a Mexican immigrant. Gracias, Sr. Alonso.

The Editor’s next stop was the grocery giant Fiesta where the usual mixture of magazines and books are found, many in Spanish but little connection to Texas – the usual grocery store mix. Separately, a couple of small book cases were set off to the side, near the pharmacy. I was amazed. There seemed to be a hundred paperback novels, virtually all at 96 page length with the usual colorful cover image of cowboys, horsemen, outlaws, city women, and such. They were Westerns, not Max Brand or Louis L’Amour, but Westerns, plain and simple. Apparently, somebody in Barcelona and Madrid, Spain (the Bantam of their market maybe) has found that a good penny can be made writing and publishing and then marketing (even in Fiestas) the traditional Western story to Spanish readers. And to top it off one of the many sub-series was “Texas.” I found a dozen of them. I bought two, Del Sudeste de Texas and Charles Lane, ‘El Tejano,’ each respectively connected to Santa Fe and Colorado. They are written under the name of Marcial Lafuente Estefania. They cost only $1.30 each. They are distributed through the BRAINS Company in Miami, in association with Atheneum in Boston which oozes us into the mainstream book publishers.

Next the Editor opted for some air-conditioning at Barnes & Noble and Borders. There the usual homogenized fare was found as well as titles from Arte Publico, Cinco Puntos, and Wings. More popular titles were several children’s picture books of Texan Carmen Lomas Garza (one co-authored by Sandra Cisneros), a biography by Maria Arras of Selena, El secreto de Selena, the translated version of Joel Osteen’s new Su mejor vida ahora, and Kitty Kelly’s La familia: la verdadera historia de la dinastia Bush. The Spanish language books at B&N were grouped on 50 shelves next to the area where the Benavidez Elementary School was having the book-sale fund raiser.

On another day, these stores may be visited, Libreria Cristiana Ebenezer, 10709 Gulf Fwy (713) 946-0713, Libreria Espanola, 620 W Alabama St (713) 523-4444, and Los Diez Mandamientos 10709 Gulf Fwy (713) 910-2656.

Travelling Lady - Horton Foote

The Travelling Lady. [Theatrical play].

By Horton Foote.

Charles Isherwood in the New York Times March 6 issue reviews this New York production of Mr. Foote’s 1954 script. Foote is one of Texas’ most renowned playwrights. This revival began in 2005 at Baylor University and was supported by the Horton Foote Society.
reviews at
http://www.nytimes.com
http://www.curtainup.com/travelinglady.html

Foote’s “Trip to Bountiful,” possibly his most popular work, is also currently on stage in the Big Apple. Well, for that matter, there was a recent production there of Steve Earle's play, "Karla," a story about Karla Faye Tucker, the first woman to travel to execution in Texas since the Civil War.

Katherine Anne Porter

Katherine Anne Porter: The Life of an Artist.

By Darlene Harbour Unrue. Illustrated. 381 pp. University Press of Mississippi. $30.

Paul Gray in the New York Times January 1 issue reviews this new biography of Texas’ greatest writer. (http://www.nytimes.com/)

Strong West Wind - Gail Caldwell

A Strong West Wind: A Memoir.

By Gail Caldwell. 228 pp. Random House. $24.95.

Readers may wish to read Joyce Johnson’s review from the April 2, Sunday New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/)

http://www.randomhouse.com/

Caldwell has been in the northeast for some decades now, along with her Pulitzer Prize for book reviews in the Boston Globe. Her own words are the most compelling invitation to read her volume on her life, especially her Texas home. She writes that "my want for Texas was so veiled in guilt and ambiguity that I couldn't claim it for the sadness it was. I missed the people and the land and the sky — my God I missed the sky — but most of all I missed the sense of placid mystery the place evoked, endemic there as heat is to thunder. You can be gone for years from Texas, I now believe, and still be felled by such memories.” Then there’s "Mine is a story that begins with the fragments of dreams on the most desolate of prairies, where a child came of age listening to the keening of dust storms drown out the strains of Protestant hymns."

Listen to this one, “The past has no compass. I know this now as surely as I know that the land itself has a voice, capable of keening. Anyone who finds this a pathetic fallacy has never lain on a rock in high wind. It's hard listening, God in the vortex and all that, because the answers there usually have nothing to do with the questions posed. You have to walk out into it to learn anything."

Further on, while unloading her father’s shotgun for his protection she "realized how I must look — a barefoot woman in the yard with a rifle in her arms — and I remembered where I was and thought, Oh hell, it's Texas, no one would even care." Place this one on the shelf for literature.

Best American Sports Writing

Best American Sports Writing: 2005.

Edited by Mike Lupica. Boston: Houghton Mifflin http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/, 2005.

356 pages, paperback, $14.95. ISBN-10: 0618470204

Scanning HM’s 2005 Travel anthology, the editor found no obvious Texas connection, but maybe he just doesn’t know what he’s doing.

However, the Sports anthology was different.

The full text selections included Michael Hall’s “The Duke of Dunbar” and Katy Vine’s “Alive and Kicking” both from Texas Monthly issues. In the list at the back for other notables of the previous year were three citations, including John Spong’s “The Shot Not Heard Around the World,” (Texas Monthly), Jose de Jesus Ortiz’s “Braves Exercise Poor Judgment” (Houston Chronicle October 10), and Paul Kix’s “All the Rage” (Dallas Observer, August 12-18).

Weird Texas - Wesley Treat

Weird Texas: Your Travel Guide to Texas’s Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets.

Compiled by Wesley Treat, Heather Shade, and Rob Riggs. New York: Sterling, http://www.sterlingpub.com/, 2005.
288 pages, $19.95, paperback, ISBN: 1-4027-3280-5, oblong

In these pages, 1 or 2 photos per page illustrate the over 200 brief narratives about strange people, unique places, recounting of fables, legends, ghost stories, Indian lore, descriptions of caves, sinkholes, extra-terrestrials, unidentified flying objects, mystery lights, and just plain strange phenomena. It’s written with fun and so will be the reading. Two of the compilers previously had websites dedicated to related matter.

Everybody will learn something, natives and newcomers. The series editors, Mark and Mark, first did their home state of New Jersey and then did the nation. Texas was their next local target.

http://www.sterlingpub.com/

Mascot Mania - Paul Ruffin

Mascot Mania: Spirit of Texas High Schools.

Compiled and edited by a class of 20 students of Paul Ruffin’s graduate course in English.

Introduction by Gary Wilkens. Huntsville: Texas Review Press, http://www.shsu.edu/~www_trp/, 2005.
160 pages, $16.95, paperback, ISBN 1-881515-72-9, 6x9 inches.

This little book can be often used. The compilers found about 300 different mascots from about 1,200 schools. The most popular were animals, Eagles, Bulldogs, Tigers, Panthers, Mustangs represented about 50 schools each. The most popular human figures included Indians, Pirates, Warriors, Trojans, Rangers, Rebels, and Knights. Weather included the Hurricanes and Tornadoes. Other creatures abounded. My favorites are the Hutto Hippos and the Hamlin Pied Pipers.

Friends of Libraries and Archives of Texas

Friends of Libraries and Archives of Texas (FLAT).

Friends Forecast [newsletter]. Quarterly.

Copies in hand include March 2001, March 2002, April 2003, Spring 2005, and Fall 2005.

http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/friends/ & friends@tsl.state.tx.us

FLAT’s brief serial publication addresses the general interests of libraries and archives of Texas and more particularly as expressed, in the March 2001 issue, through enriching “library and archival services for the benefit of the individual, the community, and the state by promoting and supporting the services of the Texas State Library & Archives Commission,” the agency in Austin, now long established. Therein, in addition, FLAT extends its networking toward the local level by intuitively and immediately encouraging and assisting other Friends groups through its advice on purpose and procedure toward those groups’ local interests and goals.
The 2002 issue notes its funding approval of State Librarian Peggy Rudd’s request to microfilm the “Convict Records Ledgers, 1848-1954” and an interactive kiosk in the building’s lobby area. Also noted was TSLAC’s launching of the online exhibit “The McArdle Notebooks” through a combination of scanning and application of HTML description. Some comments from the Texas Library Association’s Library Friends, Trustees, and Advocates Round Table complemented the lateral networking goals of FLAT.

The 2003 issue reviewed the continuing service of FLAT’s president, Patrick Heath, the roles of Friends and some fund raising options for those local Friends groups.
The Spring 2005 issue carried Rudd’s commentary on the opening of the Legislature and a brief history of White House Conferences on Library and Information Services” in 1979 and 1991.

Further mentioned was the opening of a the exhibit on Governor O’Daniel, who according to Bob Wills would “Pass the Biscuits” during O’Daniel’s successful Depression era campaign.
The most recent issue of Fall 2005 promoted the Texas Book Festival, a microfilming project of military records, and the developing renovation of the Lorenzo de Zavala building that houses TSLAC. The issue records its leaders’ accomplishment by announcing the induction of Patrick Heath, Commission leader Sandy Pickett, and the San Antonio Public Library Foundation into the American Library Association’s National Advocacy Honor Roll, thereby demonstrating FLAT’s networking toward the national level.

The Newsletter to some degree substitutes for the content of TSLAC’s serial, Texas Libraries, that ceased in the 1990s.

Members receive the newsletter with their dues payment of $10 to $1,000 a year.

The Earthquake Winter: Bringing Hannah Home.

By Lou Sanders. (Authorhouse, 2005). Available through authorhouse.com, Amazon, and River Oaks bookstore. $14.95. http://www.authorhouse.com/

Like many Nashville folks, Sanders, a former teacher, finally came to Texas and now resides in Houston. The Earthquake Winter is not strictly Texana, but it does provide historical background for those filtering through the early Spanish-American frontier.

"The Earthquake Winter" is a delightful, engaging tale of one of the most fascinating periods in American history. Written for children and made colorful by the carefully researched historic detail, readers of all ages will cheer the spunky young heroine, Hannah, throughout her adventures. The appealing orphan survives a cruel foster family, finds refuge and friends with the local Indians, and braves the dangers of the Old Natchez Trace (near Sanders childhood home) to return to her family.

Hannah must deal with pirates and murderers to reach the home of her family who has journeyed to Natchez, Mississippi, to bring her home. Lou Sanders has created a riveting tale of the Old Natchez Trace, using the theme of the New Madrid Earthquake of 1811-1812. The quake rivals or exceeds San Francisco’s 1906 quake in intensity and may have created Caddo Lake, Texas’ largest natural lake.

This is a story of love, faith, and family, and what a family will endure in order to recover one of its own. Children will immediately like the Indians, pirates, and particularly the plucky, inventive, and resourceful heroine who will use all her resources of heart and mind to reconnect to her family. Sanders uses adventure and a richly detailed history as the background for this story. She portrays an engaging protagonist growing up in a fascinating and under explored era of American history. All ages will cheer Hannah and her family onward in their efforts to bring Hannah home. Highly recommended! Rev: Julia de Berardinis, Librarian - sand6403@sbcglobal.net