Texas Tribune - new newspaper

The Texas Tribune is described by the Texas Community College Teachers Association: The TCCTA description begins:  "A new approach to Texas journalism is getting cranked up, and you may want to have a look. It's the Texas Tribune, calling itself a "non-profit, nonpartisan public media organization," with promises to "promote civic engagement and discourse on public policy, politics, government, and other matters of statewide concern."  So far it looks like the effort will devote considerable energy to legislative and education issues." Read more at http://tccta.typepad.com/main/2009/11/texas-tribune-makes-debut.html Or go to the new Texas Tribune, headed by the former head of Texas Monthly, Evan Smith http://www.texastribune.org/ Check its parts Front Page Topics Library Polling Directory Blogs 2010 Calendar CampusWire   Writers include Julian Aguilar Brandi Grissom Reeve Hamilton Jim Henson Elise Hu Ben Philpott Ross Ramsey Emily Ramshaw Abby Rapoport Daron Shaw Evan Smith Morgan Smith Matt Stiles Brian Thevenot

Railroad Commission Turns Over Stones in Oil Patch

Digitizing Historical Records Self-described:  "With a federal grant and state matching funds, the Railroad Commission of Texas will digitize records of national historical significance from regulatory hearings involving fields in the East Texas region beginning in 1932 through 1972—the peak year of oil production in Texas." http://rrcdigitization.blogspot.com/   No doubt the limit of the project is East Texas because Jim Bowie's treasure is buried in Central Texas.

Frank Jennings Died

University of Texas at San Antonio Special Collections notes the passing of Frank Jennings. "Frank Jennings, a longtime donor and great friend of the Archives, passed away Sunday, August 16, 2009 in San Antonio, Texas."   Read more at http://libtmp.lib.utsa.edu/blogs/index.php/2009/08/20/in-memory-of-frank-jennings?blog=7   He followed San Antonio historian Ramsdell.

THC fines Collin brutes

Collin County sold a building (Brutish style architecture) to the City of McKinney which wishes to demolish it.  Texas Historical Commission says, NO, and fines 'em $1,000. http://www.baumbach.org/b2evolution/blogs/index.php/2009/08/21/brutal_fine_for_old_courthouse

Preserving Palo Duro Canyon

A novel historical preservation challenge.  Wind turbines and the Palo Duro Canyon   Read from the Industrial Wind Action Group http://www.windaction.org/opinions/23699 Amarillo.com http://www.amarillo.com/stories/101809/opi_opin4.shtml Protect North Palo Duro Canyon http://www.protectcanyon.com/

James Nava on the Western novel

http://www.jamesnava.com/2009/11/08/literature-the-western-ii/   James Nava, a Spanish native and American adoptee, hold forth on the Western.

Paul Baker's Last Curtain Call

Paul Baker, legendary theater figure in Texas, dies at 98 By Michael Barnes | Monday, October 26, 2009, "Paul Baker, the founding artistic director of the Dallas Theater Center and a legendary presence on the Texas theater scene, has died of complications of pneumonia. He was 98." Read more commentary sparked by his October 25th death in the Austin 360 at:  http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/outandabout/entries/2009/10/26/paul_baker_lege.html     Or other links at http://www.dallasvoice.com/instant-tea/2009/10/26/paul-baker-dies/ http://theragblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/paul-baker-giant-of-texas-theater-dies.html http://www.wacotrib.com/featr/content/accesswaco/2009/10/27/10272009wacpaulbaker.html   No doubt somebody will shortly be working on article for the Handbook of Texas.

Texas Book Festival Commentary

Texas Book Festival: What others said Texas Book Festival: Sales, reflections and what did you think? Texas Book Festival: Barbara Ehrenreich looks on the bright side Texas Book Festival: Luis Alberto Urrea Texas Book Festival: A Jeannette Walls pick-me-up Texas Book Festival: Weirdness in the heart of Russia Texas Book Festival: Tad Friend, Danzy Senna and the perils of writing about family Texas Book Festival: Margaret Atwood, delightfully naughty Texas Book Festival: Andrew Ross Sorkin on "Too Big to Fail" Texas Book Festival: The vision of Buzz Aldrin Texas Book Festival: Jeff Abbott -- thriller writer, genius at the bar Texas Book Festival: Jonathan Lethem's reading list

Handbook of Texas get HOTTER!

A recent electric edition of the Texas State Historical Association's Riding Line mentioned that the cross references in the Handbook were becoming hotlinks.  I checked with Laurie Jasinksi, Handbook Research Editor, and she affirmed in a progress report that now the MAJORITY of qv's (within the text) and cross references at the text's end are now hotlinks, making moving from topic to topic much easier for researchers. I checked articles on three bibliographers, Raines, Streeter, and Winkler, and, sure enough, most such opportunities are now hot.  Jasinki noted that the 25,000 articles compose a large and varied mountain to climb, and they will be continuing to put an electric plug on the remaining qv's (quod vide, Latin for "hey guys, look over there) and cross references. Congratulations and further good luck to the TSHA and the Handbook of Texas Online staffers.   Click and try it out! http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/

Historical Commission appointments

Last February's gubernatorial appointments to the Texas Historical Commission are summarized at http://governor.state.tx.us/news/appointment/11971/ It begins:  "AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry has named Jon T. Hansen of El Paso Chair of the Texas Historical Commission. He also appointed five members to the commission for terms to expire Feb. 1, 2015. The commission works to preserve Texas' architectural, archeological and cultural landmarks."  Others include Thomas E. Alexander of Kerrville Leslie "Kirk" Courson of Perryton Sheri S. Krause of Austin Steven L. Highlander of Austin Nancy Steves of San Antonio Read the news release for further information

Wright Texas fiction 1851-1875 - Indiana Univ.

http://www.letrs.indiana.edu/web/w/wright2/   A simple search of this e-text collection of fiction for "Texas" produced 420 hits, many merely one hit within the volume, some merely on the publisher's advertisement page of other titles.   Indiana University Digital Library Program describes the database as "This is a collection of 19th century American fiction, as listed in Lyle Wright's bibliography American Fiction, 1851-1875. There are currently 2,887 volumes included (1,763 unedited, 1,124 fully edited and encoded) by 1,456 authors. See this page for more information. Collection last updated on September 3, 2005. MARC Records are available for the entire collection."

Texas publishers list

For a list of 191 Texas Publishers go to http://lights.ca/publisher/db/state/TX.html

Book blogger Appreciation

See http://bookbloggerappreciationweek.com/index.php/site/about where last year and again this year Amy Riley declared a week in September as "Book Blogger Appreciation Week."  Hmmm, seems like a good opportunity to remind you of Will Howard's "Texas Blog Notes:  History, Literature, and Other Civil Blogs." at http://texasblognotes.blogspot.com/

Dana Lynn Smith - Publishing Consultant

Dana Lynn Smith is quite pleased to be a 5th generation Texan, and she is strongly informed about how to sell books in Texas, but that doesn't stop her from opening her publishing consulting shop to folks beyond the three rivers. Check her  Texana Publishing Consultants  http://bookmarketingmaven.typepad.com/texana/  within her "Book Marketing Maven" website, an interestingly adapted blog format.

Writers League Book Awards

The Writers League of Texas Book Awards (formerly the Violet Crown and Teddy Awards) of 2009 area announced at: http://www.writersleague.org/contests/index.html .  Some are Texana:   Nonfiction Winner A Terrible Glory: Custer and the Little Big Horn, the Last Great Battle of the American West James Donovan, Dallas, TX (Little, Brown, March 2008) Finalists The Texas Rangers, Mike Cox, Austin, TX The Death of Raymond Yellow Thunder, Stew Magnuson, Arlington, VA Island Journeys, Patti Marxsen Camden, ME The Texas Hill Country, Terry Thompson-Anderson, Fredericksburg, TX The Glen Rock Book of the Dead, Marion Winik, Baltimore, MD   Fiction Winner The Story of Forgetting Stefan Merrill Block, Brooklyn, NY (Random House, April 2008) Finalists The Condition, Jennifer Haigh, Hull, MA The Theory of Light and Matter, Andrew Porter, San Antonio, TX Purple Hearts, C.W. Smith, Dallas, TX Northline, Willy Vlautin, Scappoose, OR   Children's Book Winner The Underneath, Kathi Appelt College Station, TX (Atheneum, May 2008) Finalists Man in the Moon, Dotti Enderle, Richmond, TX Charro Claus and the Tejas Kid, Xavier Garza, San Antonio, TX How Not to Be Popular, Jennifer Ziegler, Austin, TX   Poetry & Literary Prose Winner Meditations on Rising and Falling Philip Pardi Phoenicia, NY (University of Wisconsin Press, February 2008) Finalists Shadow Mountain, Claire Kageyama-Ramakrishnan, Houston, TX A Poetry of Remembrance, Levi Romero, Albuquerque, NM Wild Flight, Christine Rhein, Brighton, MI

Bookstore Day Nov 7

National Bookstore Day on November 7 was a creation of Publishers' Weekly magazine.  Maybe next year Texas could adopt it as something more broadly used across the state, kind of in the tsunamic wave following the Texas Book Festival.   See http://www.publishersweekly.com/info/CA6685688.html

Southwestern Literature @ TTU

At Texas Tech University, "Multicultural Literature of America" is taught with an eye on modern Southwestern, and elsewhere, literature by Dr. Claudia Sadowski-Smith and Dr. Wallis Sanborn. See their course outline at http://www.depts.ttu.edu/ode/courses/samples/college/engl3387_v1_smpcs.pdf

Library Design Institute in Dallas "Going Green"

David Darnell at the Dallas Public Library (aka Library-on'-the-Triniity) sends along this information: "The Dallas Public Library is honored to host the 6th Annual Library Journal's  Design Institute We are expecting a great turnout for this year's conference. Though attendees from across the US participate in the Institute, we would like to encourage our Texas neighbors in this year of limited travel budgets to take advantage of this opportunity while it is being held in our geographic area.  If your library system is planning to build new facilities or planning to renovate current libraries, this is the chance of a lifetime to ask the experts for advice about incorporating "Going Green" ideas and practices into your building plans. We look forward to having you join us in Dallas in December. LIBRARY JOURNAL PRESENTS "GOING GREEN" AN EVENT SERIES ON SUSTAINABLE BUILDING AND DESIGN in partnership with Dallas Public Library Admission is FREE! Attendance is limited. Sign up today to secure your spot. DATE: December 11, 2009 / TIME: 9AM–6PM LOCATION: Dallas Public Library / 1515 Young Street / Dallas, TX 75201 More information www.LibraryJournal.com/goinggreendallas Questions? Contact LJThinktank@reedbusiness.com For its sixth cycle, Library Journal Design Institute moves to Texas for a one-day think tank on green design. We'll bring together leading architects, designers, librarians, and vendors to hone in on the challenges and solutions we face in creating 21st century sustainable libraries. With every Green Design Institute, we've taken a leap forward in knowledge and understanding, but there is so much more we can learn from these experts and each other. Join us for a day-long series of green-themed presentations, panels, and breakout sessions, and learn the latest developments, options, costs and strategies being adopted. Limited to 100 attendees, the seminar is for those considering a new building project or renovation, in the fundraising or pre-bond stage, or in the early building process. Register today at www.LibraryJournal.com/goinggreendallas

University of North Texas Press

A thumbnail history of the University of North Texas Press, now with over 250 titles to its experience, being founded by Frank Vick and James Lee. http://ntdailydatabase.com/?p=704

Collin County Farm Museum Website

Cultivate some Texas history at the Collin County Farm Museum now managed by the North Texas History Center         http://www.farmmuseum.northtexashistorycenter.org/

Protesting SAPL Texana Room Cuts

New leaked out that folks in the San Antonio Public Library are considering cutting staff in their Texana Room, a heavily used resource of quite productive service.  Some protests have been noted in the My San Antonio website.  Read on .........   http://www.mysanantonio.com/life/columnists/Paula_Allen_Texana_Room_cutbacks_likely.html

Best Texas Movie?

Best of Texas started a string on what's your favorite Texas movie.  They start with "Giant" and "Last Picture Show."   Read more at http://blog.bestoftexas.com/?p=4841

Favorite Texas Book - Dallas News

Well, Michael Landauer at the Dallas Morning News last June kicked off a "Favorite Books about Texas"  in the Sounding Off column Find it at http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/06/sounding-off-fa.html

Saving Our History - GLO

Saving Our History is an e-newsletter published by the the Texas General Land Office's Historic Preservation Program.  Its 6th volume, fall issue is available online at http://www.glo.state.tx.us/  Subscription is free.  The contents include STEPHEN F. AUSTIN'S UNITED MAP THE REGISTRO: A MONUMENT TO RECORDKEEPING TEXAS STATE GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY DONATES $20,000 TO HELP        PRESERVE HISTORIC CLERK RETURNS AT GLO SAMUEL MAY WILLIAMS: REVOLUTIONARY BUSINESSMAN A&R OUTREACH: TOURS OF THE GLO ARCHIVES AVAILABLE STAFF BIOGRAPHY Leslie Johnson

Virtual Landscapes of Texas - UT

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/books/landscapes/index.html   The University of Texas various geological type departments, schools, etc. have published for about a hundred years about a thousand publications about our earthen basis which have been captured here in full text with searching capacity.  The UT Library has been a partner in this process and has them on its website.  If you want the real dirt on Texas and have it diluted by water reports as well, it's merely available at the snap of a finger or a click at least.

Repositories of Primary Resources - UI

The University of Idaho has a long list of repositories across the nation at http://www.uiweb.uidaho.edu/special-collections/iil.htm The list of Texas repositories is about 100 institutions long.

Documenting the American South - UNC

http://docsouth.unc.edu/ Self-described:  "Documenting the American South (DocSouth), a digital publishing initiative sponsored by the University Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, provides access to digitized primary materials that offer Southern perspectives on American history and culture. It supplies teachers, students, and researchers at every educational level with a wide array of titles they can use for reference, studying, teaching, and research. The texts, images, and other materials come primarily from the premier Southern collections in the libraries at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. These original Southern materials can be found in several library locations, including the Southern Historical Collection, one of the largest collections of Southern manuscripts in the country; the North Carolina Collection, the most complete printed documentation of a single state anywhere; the Rare Book Collection, which holds an extensive Southern pamphlet collection; and Davis Library, which offers rich holdings of printed materials on the Southeast. " A search for "Texas" brought over 4,000 hits. At http://docsouth.unc.edu/browse/geographic/usmap.html you can find a map of the US with states delineated.  Click on Texas and you'll find the 100 or so LC subject headings under which Texas documents are files, including the almost 30 subject headings for Texas African Americans.  Rather nice option.

LC American Memory Collections

American Memories is a section of webpage by the Library of Congress. Searching for "Texas" one finds 250 pages of items, each page with 15 items, and 250 is the maximum number of pages retrievable.  So Texas likely has far in excess of 5,000 items.  Can so be useful for schools. What items?  Photographs, maps, sheet music, architecture, books, laws, just all sorts of things - graphically depicted !!! The items are mostly from the LC, but other institutions contribute, e.g., UT-Austin. In all probability your town has material there, maybe dozens, maybe hundreds. Topics are broad.  American Memories has bluebonnets, armadillos, longhorns, etc.   Go see !!  http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html You can search by place - lotsa hits for Dallas, Galveston, Houston, and of course my hometown of Marshall, and my places of education Jacksonville, Nacogodoches, Kingsville, and Austin.  You can browse by time period..   You can also browse by topic Advertising African American History Architecture, Landscape Cities, Towns Culture, Folklife Environment, Conservation Government, Law Immigration, American Expansion Literature  (112 hits for Texas) Maps (156 hits for Texas) Native American History Performing Arts, Music Music for the Nation, Creative Americans, more Presidents Religion Sports, Recreation Technology, Industry War, Military Women's History

Texas Slavery Project

http://www.texasslaveryproject.org/   What is it?  Self-description:  "The Texas Slavery Project takes a deep look at the expansion of slavery in the borderlands between the United States and Mexico in the years between 1837 and 1845. Based at the Virginia Center for Digital History, the project offers a number of digital tools that allow users to explore the changing face of slavery in early Texas ...."   Need a some statistics, by area within early Texas, need direction to some primary sources (letters, laws, documents, etc.),  need some maps that show distribution of slaves and slave-holders across the years?  This is a notable place to come.   Torget's self-description: "Andrew J. Torget is the project's founder and director. Andrew is Assistant Professor of History at the University of North Texas, where he is completing a book titled Cotton Empire: Slavery, the Texas Borderlands, and the Origins of the Mexican-American War. Andrew received his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia while serving as the founding director of the Digital Scholarship Lab at the University of Richmond. He is also the co-editor of two books, Crucible of the Civil War: Virginia from Secession to Commemoration (University of Virginia Press, 2006) and Two Communities in the Civil War (W. W. Norton, 2007)."   An excellent website substantially derived from the work at the University of Virginia.   Does not address slavery among Native Texas tribes or the previous military system or peonage systems among the Spanish and Mexican elite, or the slavery in post-annexation Texas, or the prison labor system conducted by the state in subsequent years..

Anti-Ku Klux Klan in Marshall, Texas

Historical anti-Klan activities from Marshall, Texas are  posted on the Marshall News Messenger websites in a series of articles.  The information is good, but another thing that's good is that the articles' umbrella projects the articles as the Ku Klux Klan against Marshall, not just against Afrrican Marshallites - a good step ahead. http://www.marshallnewsmessenger.com/featr/content/features/klan/index.html The articles (now in the archives, not as hotlinks) include Marshall's battle begins: Klan marches into Marshall, changing lives Wake up call as the Rotary stands firm against Klan Grand jury investigation reveals Klan's power Coming out of the shadows: Klan hosts first public initiation with state district judge as speaker Klan: Little variance in Klan's core beliefs Buffin becomes reason to fight Klan in county Frustrated grand jury fails to bring justice in Buffin murder

West Texas History Fellowships

San Angelo State University offers 2 fellowships ($40K each) in their EXCELLENCE IN WEST TEXAS HISTORY FELLOWSHIPS program with the application deadline of January 31, 2010.  The fellowships come though the the West Texas Collection at Angelo State University.  Awards will be announced in April 2010. Contact Suzanne.Campbell@angelo.edu after you've read more at www.angelo.edu/services/library/wtcoll/index.html

Angela de Hoyos Died

Angela de Hoyos (Angelina Sandoval), poet, publisher, song and writer, born in Coahuila in 1923 and a long-time San Antonio resident just recently died on September 24.  At age 86, she was a widely respected poet of South Texas and beyond the state, becoming a an icon of the Tejano Chicano literary movement.  Her collections, Chicano Poems: For the Barrio, Woman, Woman, Selecciones, and Arise Chicano!, will be valued.  And her contributions, with Moises, her husband, through publishing others via the M&A Press will be prized more as the years pass.  Folks with deeper interest may read the work edited by Luis A. Ramos and Jose Armas, Angela de Hoyos: A Critical Look (1979).

Will's Texana Youtube Channel

I've developed a Youtube channel, Will's Texana Youtube Channel.  It's free, It's easy.  An account is called a channel. Yes, I know and groan about the junk and ephemera that's there, but this last summer I wondered, just what IS there?  So I looked.  It took a while to get the hang of it all, but using a very undisciplined method which was also very unconsistent, I cobbled together 1,000 videos from other folks' channels and centralized them into 100 topical playlists.    There are some drawbacks (e.g., Youtube doesn't allow for alphabetizing the 100 playlists, so you'll find them in a jumble of 100.)  I working on a means where by they can be alphabetizing on somebody's separate page, and this alternative would also enable the addition of other folks' playlists on other channels. I'm issuing a report on Will's Texana Youtube Channel as a special issue of my Will's Texana Monthly.  If you'd like a free copy just let me know.  That report also includes a list of the 50 or so Youtube channels to which I subscribe, some rather professionally done - historical, contemporary, nature, gardening, media, etc - and some casually produced by individuals but worthy of notice and maybe your own subscription.   The WT Channel was first intended just as a device to record what I found.  Now it serves as a repository (if temporary) to nudge librarians, archivists, historians, teachers, and other interested folks to further explore Youtube and other video repositories for their long-term value.  Already one WT channel viewer, Joan Hood, has since begun her own channel, Joan's Texas Women Channel, to collect videos exclusively on that topic which I wouldn't be able to do as well at http://www.youtube.com/user/JoanHood1 .   Actually, I encourage you to start your own channel, if not so much to produce your own videos, but to collect along special lines.   And tell me where to go and what to do when I get there!  It's a broad prairie with only slow rolling hills.  I could use some talk and thought.   See the whole shebang at http://www.youtube.com/willstexana

TSHA History Day Special Awards

The Texas State Historical Association's Texas History Day special awards include Oral History Award The C. M. Caldwell Memorial Award for Texas History The Colonial Dames Award The Willie Lee Gay Award for African-American History The Jewish History Award The Hispanic Heritage Award The UT Austin Liberal Arts Scholarship The Descendents of Austin's Old Three Hundred History Award The Jane McCallum Women in Texas History Award The Institute of Texan Cultures Award The Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP Legal History Award The Texas Old Missions and Forts Restoration Association Award The Students' Choice Exhibit Awards The Outstanding Entry Awards The David C. DeBoe Texas History Day Teacher Award Read more about them at http://www.tshaonline.org/education/thd/thdspecialawards.pdf

Wolfe, new Exec Dir at THC

Mark Wolfe is the new  Executive Director at the Texas Historical Commission.  Light T. Cummings, our current official State Historian, provides a brief bio at his blog posting for September 1 - http://historianoftexas.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html#3957752384769446664

Tejano authors resources

Tejano authors, and well for that matter other Texan authors, could be advantaged to inspect the in depth lists of online assistance offerered by "Bronze Word Latino Authors" at http://authorslatino.com/wordpress/ The lists include Agents, Writers Blogs, Authors Who Twitter, Latino Awards, Book Blog Directories, Book Club Resources, Competitions & Awards, Latino Media, Latin Portals, Latino/a Authors, Pubs Friendly to Latinos, Queer Blogs, Resources, Small Presses, THEM, YA Authors Webs and Blogs - literally hundreds of citations.   The Awards include Awards Latino Americas Award Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize Chicano/Latino Literary Prize Curbstone – Mármol Prize Estela and Raúl Mora Award International Latino Book Awards Pura Belpré Award Tomás Rivera Award

Texas Most Endangered Historic Sites - 2010

Preservation Texas has been running up annual lists for several years on endangered historic sites.  Sites are announced in February, Preservation Month.  If you'd like to nominate a site, the basic criteria includes: Significance — the site must be of architectural, artistic and/or historic importance within the cultural or social history of Texas Urgency of threat — the need for immediate action to stop or reverse serious threats; Threats can be demolition, alterations that would change the integrity of the building or structure; significant loss of historic fabric through neglect, or through a new development plans or transportation plans that could affect the site in the future Potential solutions and support — there must be clear evidence of local support for the preservation of the site Learn more at :  http://www.preservationtexas.org

UT's TxTell Stories about Longhorn and the Pasture

Self-described as "TxTell is a web site that chronicles the impact of The University of Texas at Austin on the state of Texas and the world. TxTell relates the personal stories behind the many distinguished people who make up the UT family, past and present. It also provides information about UT programs and collections, describes our research and discoveries, and highlights other contributions that have made a difference over the past 118 years and counting." " Top Ten: (by number of hits received) Austin City Limits Barbara Smith Conrad: Mezzo-soprano, Civil Rights Pioneer Barbara Jordan Catherine Crier: from Judge to Television Journalist Alcoholism Research and the Genetic Equation Robert Runyon Photograph Collection of the South Texas Border Area San Antonio Riverwalk Walter Cronkite Denton Cooley "Courage and the Refusal To Be Swayed": Heman Marion Sweatt's Legal Challenge that Integrated The University of Texas About a hundred stories, some with audio.  http://txtell.lib.utexas.edu/ Stories are presented in "Verbose" and "Simple" forms.

Texas Quotations

The Brainy Quote site allows for searching by keyword.  "Texas" brings up a couple of dozen, some rather plain, but I've selected a few for your inspection.  Go further if you wish, just click. http://www.brainyquote.com/     A lot of the songs start with an image. I was sitting there playing the guitar and I pictured this old, dirty green car, with the window rolled down, in the hot, hot, hot Texas heat, and this beautiful woman I knew when I was a kid sitting behind the wheel, looking out at me. Edie Brickell  After I left Texas and went to California, I had a hard time getting anyone to play anything that I was writing, so I had to end up playing them myself. And that's how I ended up just being a saxophone player. Ornette Coleman All new states are invested, more or less, by a class of noisy, second-rate men who are always in favor of rash and extreme measures, but Texas was absolutely overrun by such men. Sam Houston Allowing Texas to display the Ten Commandments on State property but disallowing Kentucky courthouses from doing the same is a poor and flawed interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. Ginny B. Waite And on election night I'd go down to city hall in El Paso, Texas and cover the election. In those days, of course, we didn't have exit polls. You didn't know who had won the election until they actually counted the votes. I thought that was exciting too. Sam Donaldson And to me, I had come out of Texas, and during that time was when I realized that a lot of people in Nashville, their idea of what country music was was not the same as mine. Lee Ann Womack

Texas author search via Twitter

If'n you'd druther search Twitter, without starting an account, you can go to the search page and enter < texas author > and you'll get results.  The most recent Tweets at 10:30 a.m. on July 22 are below for your inspection.  What it means?  I just don't know, but now you know as much as me.  http://twitter.com/   filedby: Check out Susan Elizabeth Phillips author of "Heaven, Texas" on FiledBy http://bit.ly/18nUvO (expand) about 1 hour ago from web · Reply · View Tweet sporkette: My interview (excerpt 2) with Tweed Scott, author of Texas In Her Own Words is at Sporkette Gazette: http://www.sporkettegazette.com/ about 9 hours ago from web · Reply · View Tweet ADVOCATEGROUP: Business Visionaries: James Galbraith : Professor at the University of Texas and author of ''The Predator State.'' http://bit.ly/73f2A (expand) about 18 hours ago from twitterfeed · Reply · View Tweet pegnewschat: sarahblaskovich on "Book Review and Author Interview: Texas Stadium by Mac Engel" : The above comment was remove.. http://bit.ly/tSVar (expand) about 24 hours ago from twitterfeed · Reply · View Tweet jdhinton: Last stop@Milagro's Coffee. Will meet w/Texas author A. A. Allison then head 2 LA. 1 day ago from TwitterFon · Reply · View Tweet pegnewschat: New_York on "Book Review and Author Interview: Texas Stadium by Mac Engel" : "Oh yes, lots of memories of t.. http://bit.ly/39tPTC (expand) 1 day ago from twitterfeed · Reply · View Tweet easttexasrwa: Speaker for the August 15 Romance Writers of America East Texas Chapter meeting in Tyler - author Tracy Wolff! 1 day ago from web · Reply · View Tweet Executivemom133: CHECKOUT:Leadership&Odd Mind http://snipr.com/nmgf6 (expand) -American Heroes Press-co-author Leadership:Texas Hold'em Style,Lt RayFoster,LAPD-Sep 3 1 day ago from API · Reply · View Tweet HannibalBooks: Author Bob Pearle, president of Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, discusses declining church membership http://tinyurl.com/meo7g6 (expand) 1 day ago from web · Reply · View Tweet policeofficer: @jonesdel good article, am author of leadership: Texas hold em style, would like to get u copy www.pokerleadership.com 1 day ago from web · Reply · View Tweet

Texas Cockroach Satire

Hmm, how do you solve a interpretative problem like the Texas Cockroach, the Parlorians wonder about this mythological small town and its newspaper. It's like a Texas answer to the Onion newspaper.  Yes a small Texas town, La Cucaracha, with the distilled, reduced essences, flavors, and quirks of Texas life.  Popular life styles, sports, religion, politics enjoy deflation.  Surrender your imaginary grip on sanity and be prepared to laugh at yourself and others:  http://www.texascockroach.com/ O P T I O N S   I N C L U D E:  Main Menu Home Retractions Disclaimer Contact Us Reader     Home Local LaCucaracha News LISD News Obituaries Texas From the Capitol Secession News State News Community Fundraisers LaCucaracha Map Sheriff's Report City Council Lost & Found Sports Armadillos Football Hunting & Fishing Report Less Important Sports - includes Lady Armadillos Athletics Church Church Directory Local Issues Church Boycotts & Splits Columns Unsolicited Advice From Old People LaCucaracha History Memories Scrapbook Our First Edition About LaCucaracha, TX Letters to The Editor Your Letters Classified Ads And there's their blog at MySanAntonio http://voices.mysanantonio.com/texascockroach/ And the online store http://www.cafepress.com/texascockroach And a Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Texas-Cockroach/110205667360

Texas, Social Studies, and the Wall Street Journal

Texas' neighbors are watching  and have noticed the initial script lines of "Texas All in the Family" being tried out on the Texas Education Commission's  front porch by actors of yet obscured faces.  Exactly who is acting the roles of Archie Bunker and Meat Head are yet to be defined.   Of all news sources the Wall Street Journal considers the current Texas leaders' special approach to defining appropriateness or inclusiveness for our children's learning.  Texas revisits various parts of the curriculum about once every 10 years.  This year, social studies is one of those being visited for revision.  Stephanie Simon wrote a July 14 article entitled "The Culture Wars' New Frontier:  U.S. History Classes in Texas."   By STEPHANIE SIMON The article begins:  "The fight over school curriculum in Texas, recently focused on biology, has entered a new arena, with a brewing debate over how much faith belongs in American history classrooms. The Texas Board of Education, which recently approved new science standards that made room for creationist critiques of evolution, is revising the state's social studies curriculum. In early recommendations from outside experts appointed by the board, a divide has opened over how central religious theology should be to the teaching of history." By July 16 morning there were 242 comments, read more at http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB124753078523935615-lMyQjAxMDI5NDE3NDUxMzQwWj.html If it weren't for the fact that millions of school children will be affected for the rest of their lives by the eventual decisions, the tragi-comic episodes to come could be viewed as simply entertainment of the "Family Guy" groundling level, not even constructive enough to be "King of the Hill." At the outset, the oddest thing I find is that somebody wants to exclude from the American history textbook Anne Hutchinson, the famous 1600's woman religious dissenter/teacher who was exiled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for refusing to accept the gummit line on the REQUIRED religious formula and not to be confused (I suppose, but maybe not) with the current Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison who'll run in a primary against Governor Rick Perry who controls the commission's appointments.  Anyway, this current Texas ban of Anne Hutchinson brings to memory the recent attempt by some Texans to censor the book "Fahreheit 451," a novel against book censoring.  Connected to that memory is Louis Sachar's book "Holes," a Newbery-winning novel set in modern Texas where nonconformist children are condemned to endlessly dig holes for greedy adults looking for buried treasure.

UNT Portal to Texas History Continues Digitizing Newspapers

The University of North Texas Library's "Portal to Texas History" has received continued funding to digitize historical Texas newspapers.  UNT's New Service offers the fuller story at http://web3.unt.edu/news/story.cfm?story=11520 Previously  "The UNT Libraries first received a two-year $397,552 grant from NEH in 2007, which allowed the Digital Projects Unit to digitize 108,000 pages of newspapers published in Texas. In addition to pages of the Houston Daily Post, which was established in 1885 and ceased publishing in 1995, the unit digitized pages of:  the Brownsville Daily Herald the Jefferson Jimplecute the Palestine Daily Herald the Jewish Herald, now published in Houston as the Jewish Herald-Voice; and the defunct Fort Worth Gazette, which was also published as the Fort Worth Weekly Gazette and the Fort Worth Daily Gazette. The earliest pages of these newspapers date to 1883, and the latest to 1910. All of the pages are now available on the Chronicling America web site and will be placed by the end of the summer on the UNT Libraries' Portal to Texas History, which provides students and others with a digital gateway to collections in Texas libraries, museums, archives, historical societies and private collections." UNT's Cathy Hartman and Dreanna Belden clarify that an addition grant will assure work continues on other titles.  Read more at http://web3.unt.edu/news/story.cfm?story=11520

Bob Wills Radio

Gather around that talking box, put the box on the window, sit in the front porch's swings and rockers, and listen to Bob Wills.  "New interviews added each Monday at Noon (central time) and are available to listen to 24/7 after that. Older episodes are archived, so you won't miss a thing! "   http://www.bobwills.com/radio/ home | history | audio/video | lyrics & sheet music | gallery | store | links | contact | radio

UT Libraries and Google Digitization Project

In case you've forgotten   Several documents http://www.lib.utexas.edu/google/    UT Austin-Google: Program FAQs    UT Austin-Google: Statement of Use    UT Austin-Google: Digitization Agreement [PDF]    UT Austin-Google: Amendment to the Digitization Agreement [PDF]   Newest amendment press release http://www.lib.utexas.edu/about/news/libraries_and_google_amend.html

Betty Sue Flowers leaves UT

Betty Sue Flowers leaves UT after career scattered over 45 years, most recently at the LBJ Library. http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/05/31/0531flowers.html

Texas Oral History Association Awards

The awards are self-described at http://www.baylor.edu/toha/index.php?id=29342 Awards TOHA recognizes outstanding contributions to oral history by both individuals and institutions through three major awards: Thomas L. Charlton Lifetime Achievement Award Mary Faye Barnes Award for Excellence for Community History Projects W. Stewart Caffey Award for Excellence for Precollegiate Teaching Read, too, about the latest winners of TOHA's Texas History Day Student Oral History Award. Visit the links above to discover criteria for earning each TOHA award people and projects who have earned TOHA awards, and Award Nomination Forms

Frontier Times Museum Texas Heroes Hall of Honor

The Museum's self-description:  "The Frontier Times Museum was formally opened to the public on May 20, 1933 at a groundbreaking ceremony held on January 1, 1933. Hough LeStourgeon was one of the men who turned stones from pastures into a landmark museum worth treasuring.  /  Today the museum attracts visitors to Bandera interested in the history of the region. Frontier times and customs hold a fascination that endures and the Frontier Times Museum imparts much of that spirit."         The first honorees for Bandera's Frontier Times Museum Texas Heroes Hall of Honor are  J. Marvin Hunter, J. Frank Dobie, Maudeen Marks, Captain Joe Bowman, Ray Wharton, Cleo Hearn, Kevin FitzPatrick, "Impresario" Terry Boothe, and Dr. Raul Gaona, Sr. Their website will likely soon reflect fuller information, but you can get a quick glance at some short biographies at the Bandera County Courier http://www.bccourier.com/Pages/story_Community.php?recordID=090709C5

In the top 50 tourists sites

The Galveston Daily News points us toward the Stoodthere.com website where currently Galveston's Moody Gardens, San Antonio's Alamo, and Dallas' 6th Floor Book Depository are in the top 50.  http://www.stoodthere.com/

Judy Alter and 30 Years at TCU Press

In Texas Letters: Judy Alter recalls her 30-year stint at TCU Press - Dallas Morning News Alter makes personal observations and glances back over the birthing of bibliographical units - oft called books.  She begins "Nearly 30 years ago, as coordinator of community education at Texas Christian University, I shared an office with the editor of TCU Press. One day he looked at me and asked, "Would you like to be editor?" (He was moving up to be director.) I said, "Sure," and that was my job interview. I knew nothing about publishing, and he knew only a bit more."   Read more from her July 12 column "Texas Letters" at http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/stories/DN-bk_alterNEW_0712gd.ART.State.Edition1.4bab9d1.html

Texas as heroic geography ? - Bottum

Within his longer commentary on "Local Color" Joseph Bottum in his "First Things / First Thoughts" blog remarked on "heroic geography."   He writes, "In other words, we don't have many heroic types in American literature. What we have instead is heroic geography. The Virginian, the Down Easterner, the Texas Ranger, the cowboy, the Hooiser, the hillbilly, the Okie. These are tropes that serve the moral function filled in other cultures and other literatures primarily by heroes. And these geographical tropes survive well into our own era of indistinguishable shopping malls from Maine to California." Read the context at http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2009/07/02/local-color/

Writers' League of Texas

Since August of 2008, the Writers' League of Texas has had a blog entitled "A Brief Word"  at http://writersleagueoftexas.wordpress.com/ The posts categories include Agents Agents & Editors Conference Authors Books Recommended Reading Classes & Workshops Cool Web sites Events Around Texas Kristy's Magical Discovery Literary Contests National Novel Writing Month Poetry Publishing Industry News Uncategorized Wish List WLT Board of Directors WLT Book Awards WLT Events WLT meetings Writing Query Letters Screenwriting Writing Prompts

UTSA Library Blog

T H E    T O P    S H E L F - Blog of the UT San Antonio Library Archives and Special Collections     Seems that around about last December 2008, UTSA's A&SC started a blog.  Rather pleasantly done too.  It's a mixture of new collections, spotlights on single items of interest, personnel matters, departmental themes, preservation techniques, exhibits, newsclippings, hot links to collections along topical lines, hot links to new collections descriptions, etc.  A good all-purpose media to serve the public with content information, technical news, and provision of mini-exhibits. At http://lib.utsa.edu/Archives/ you'll find a departmental self-description "The Archives and Special Collections Department serves as the Library's repository for primary source materials. The department acquires, catalogs and preserves special collections of rare books and manuscripts chiefly documenting the history of San Antonio and South Central Texas, and additionally holds UTSA's University Archives. The mission of the Archives and Special Collections Department is to support and enhance the University's instructional, research, and public service activities by providing access to information resources for learning and scholarship to University students, faculty, and staff. Materials and services are available to UTSA faculty, staff, students, and alumni, as well as to the local, national and international community."

Dallas Morinig News Disturbs Torpor

Those Dallas Morning News folks just can't let a hammock- sleeping Texan sway in the sweltering heat.  Now they've gone and disturbed the "Great Book Cannon."  In the OPINION BLOG Editor Keven Ann Willey, in her July 17 commentary on the Big Rich, stumbles off behind the altar and decides to ask if folks really like the relics left behind by the sancrosanct Texas writers.  She asked, "What's the best book about Texas in your opinion and what makes it so good?"  Yes, friends and neighbors, she got replies.   http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/06/the-big-rich--.html   DMN staff chimed in with their recommendations.  Even the unwashed public, who apparently still read, caressed their keyboards mentioning their druthers. But not one mentioned William Goyen, one of our finest who delicately fingered his way across the ghosts and neurons of your mind.

1836-1985 Texas Newspapers available online

The University of Houston Downtown Blog announced on June 26, 2009   http://uhdlibrary.typepad.com/news/2009/06/texas-historical-newspapers-18361985.html   Texas Historical Newspapers: 1836-1985 "Students of Texas history now have access to Texas Historical Newspapers with full-text articles from 41 Texas newspapers published between 1836 and 1985. The collection includes newspapers from major cities, such as Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Galveston, Houston, and San Antonio, as well as smaller towns like Clarksville, Huntsville, Nacogdoches, and Palestine. It even includes one issue of the early Spanish-language newspaper, Gaceta de Texas (1813). Coverage of the Dallas Morning News extends from 1885 to 1985. Overall, Texas Historical Newspapers has strong coverage of newspapers from the periods of the Texas Republic, early statehood, Reconstruction, and the early twentieth century. Look for Texas Historical Newspapers under History Databases or News Databases on the UHD Library website. "   While a  wonderful resource, it is limited to students, faculty, etc.  Hmm, I wonder if general public folks who  walk into the UHD can use the system or is it available through the library terminals without passwords, etc.

Exquisite Photos of Texas

Exquisitely Bored in Nacogdoches is not boring.  Actually, EBN, nee Chris  also has a remarkable Flickr website by the same name that companions his blog.   http://exquisitelyboredinnacogdoches.blogspot.com/ The blog site, begun in the summer of 2005, is filled with photography and the sidebar has many topically grouped photos, including

TEA Social Studies Expert Reviews

Social Studies Expert Reviewers http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/teks/social/experts.html     David Barton, President, WallBuilders Review of Current Social Studies TEKS   Jesus Francisco de la Teja, Professor and Chair, Department of History, Texas State University Review of Current Social Studies TEKS   Daniel L. Dreisbach, Professor, American University Review of Current Social Studies TEKS   Lybeth Hodges, Professor, History, Texas Woman's University Review of Current Social Studies TEKS   Jim Kracht, Associate Dean and Professor, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University Review of Current Social Studies TEKS   Peter Marshall, President, Peter Marshall Ministries Review of Current Social Studies TEKS    Read de la Teja, Hodges, and Kracht for commentary buttressed by their pro-public school, secular, social studies orientations.  Read Marshall, Dreisbach, and Barton for other focal points.  Contact the Curriculum Division at (512)463-9581 with any questions you may have or for an accessible version of the content on this page. And for the inquisitive: http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/curriculum/social/index.html

Porter Prize from UNT

Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction NEWS RELEASE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS PRESS regarding the 2010 Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction. The winner of this annual award will receive $1000 and publication by UNT Press. Entries will be judged by an eminent writer. Entries can be a combination of short-shorts, short stories, and novellas, from 100 to 200 book pages in length (word count between 27,500 and 50,000). Material should be previously unpublished in book form. Once a winner is declared and contracted for publication, UNT Press will hold the rights to the stories in the winning collection. They may no longer be under consideration for serial publication elsewhere and must be withdrawn by the author from consideration. Please include two cover sheets: one with title only, and one with title, your name, address, e-mail, phone, and acknowledgment of any previously published material. Your name should not appear anywhere on the manuscript except on the one cover page. Manuscripts for the 2010 award should be postmarked between May 1 and June 30, 2009. The winning manuscript will be announced in January 2010. Watch for more details in Poets & Writers. Manuscripts cannot be returned and must be accompanied by a $25 entry fee (payable to UNT Press) and a letter-sized SASE for notification.   Prior Winners— Last Known Position by James Mathews was our 2008 winner, judged by Tom Franklin. Wonderful Girl by Aimee LaBrie was our 2007 winner, judged by Bill Roorbach. Body Language by Kelly Magee was our 2006 winner, judged by Dan Chaon. What Are You Afraid Of? by Michael Hyde, was our 2005 winner, judged by Sharon Oard Warner. Let's Do by Rebecca Meacham was our 2004 winner, judged by Jonis Agee. Let's Do was selected for the Spring 2005 Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers Program. Here Comes the Roar by Dave Shaw was our 2003 winner, judged by Marly Swick. The Stuntman's Daughter, a collection of stories by Alice Blanchard, was the 1996 winner of the Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction. Ms. Blanchard went on to sign a lucrative contract with Bantam for her first novel, Darkness Peering.    Send entries to:  Laura Kopchick, General Editor Katherine Anne Porter Contest / English Department University of Texas at Arlington / 203 Carlisle Hall, Box 19035 Arlington, TX 76019 web3.unt.edu/untpress/potential_authors.cfm#subkap

Fantastic Texas and Lou Antonelli

Lou Antonelli finds Texas to be Fantastic for science fiction and related genres.  Try his sites at   Fantastic Texas http://www.fantastictexas.blogspot.com/   This way to Texas http://louantonelli.blogspot.com/

A Senator's Bibliographical Flow

Should you wish to notice what U.S. senators allow to flow from their offices on a regular basis, check the below links from John Cornyn's office under the "For the Press" button. http://cornyn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ForPress.Home     News Releases In The News Floor Statements Committee Statements Texas Times Weekly Column Photo Gallery Audio Clips Video Clips Podcasts & Newsfeeds Newsletter Signup Newsletter Archives

East Texas Book Fest

East Texas Book Fest Septembe 25, 2009  10:00-6:00 Ornelas Acitivity Center - Tyler     Are you a published author?   Do you want to display and sell your books to a book-loving audience in a fabulous venue?   Would you like to be a part of the first book festival in East Texas to honor and celebrate books, authors, reading and libraries?   Save the date for the first ever East Texas Book Fest, set for Friday, September 25 in Tyler, Texas.   You are invited to apply to participate by completing and the  registration form and returning it along with registration fee by September 1.    If you have questions or need more information – Please call 903-597-9111 and leave a message for East Texas Book Fest. Or email ETXBookFest@gmail.com.   $20 for space reservation but free to the attending public   Chief sponsors of the event are the Muntz Library at The University of Texas at Tyler and Smith County's public libraries (SALT). Spaces are limited, so please respond quickly.

Beautiful Photography - Best of Texas

Ok.  I've been keeping a secret.  One method I use to freshen my mind (also called an open barn by some), is to open an RSS feed I have for a special Flickr account.  Flickr, as you probably already know, is a major photographic storage site, a really big buncha pics.  Well, some are good, others are great.  One of the sites is called BEST OF TEXAS where a group of 500 excellent photographers contribute, or pool, their images.  Membership is restricted.  I wanted to see their images regularly so I opened a free Flickr account and started an RSS feed.  Now, when I'm lethargic from a week of 100 degree temps or a month of snow drifts, I just open my RSS feed list and click the "Best of Texas."  The images are not for your casual use; most of the photographers are professional and expect a bit of renumeration for their work.  But just seeing the images re-charges my batteries.  See more at   http://www.flickr.com/groups/bestoftop20texas/

Paul D. Ruffin - Texas Poet Laureate - 2009

Paul D. Ruffin is the current Texas Poet Laureate.  He is the Texas State University System Regents' Professor and Distinguished Professor of English at Sam Houston State University.  At SHSU, Ruffin founded and still serves as editor-in-chief of the Texas Review, an international literary journal, and he founded and serves as editor of the literary book press, the Texas Review Press.  Ruffin's written about a thousand works, most of which are poetry, but also includes some novels, short stories, and essays.  See http://www.shsu.edu/~eng_pdr/travelpublicity.pdf for a sampler.  And he collected some awards along the way.  Texas is advantaged by his presence.  His critical attention paid to William Goyen, a fine Texas author now gone, is keenly appreciated.   Originally from Alabama, he has written an autobiographical work, "Growing Up in Mississippi Poor and White But Not Quite Trash," which will be interesting reading when it's published.  For more about Ruffin go to http://www.pauldruffin.com/page2.html Mississippi keeps track of him http://www.olemiss.edu/mwp/dir/ruffin_paul/index.html For a list of our poets laureate go to http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ref/abouttx/poets.html

Color of Lighting - Jiles

Paulette Jiles new novel, "The Color of Lightning" enjoys a review in the New York Times.   "HOW THE WEST WAS WON" By STEVEN HEIGHTON Published: April 10, 2009 The review begins:  "The hero of Paulette Jiles's third novel is a historical figure, a freed slave whose journey into the Texas Panhandle to rescue his wife and children — abducted not by slave traders but by Indians — derives from oral histories supported by a few traces of documentation. The novel begins in 1863 and ends in 1871, a few years before the local Indians were subdued and confined to reservations, and the great southern buffalo herd was annihilated, forever changing the land." Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/books/review/Heighton-t.html And in the Texas Monthly http://www.texasmonthly.com/preview/2009-04-01/bookrev

Judy Alter on Texas Small Presses

Judy Alter on "Texas' small publishing houses feel the pinch of a slow economy" from the Dallas Morning News, April 19, 2009.  She begins her considerations as below, on three notable publishers:  Wings Press, Cinco Puntos Press, and Blooming Tree Press.   "The drumbeat of bad news from New York publishers, including declining sales and layoffs, has been constant this year. But what about small independent publishers in Texas? For the most part, they feel the pain, too. Wings Press in San Antonio was founded in 1975 by Joanie Whitebird and Joseph F. Lomax. When they died, the mantle of publisher fell on Bryce Milligan, who runs the press as a one-man operation: publisher, editor and designer. The press publishes multicultural books, chapbooks (small book or pamphlets), CDs, DVDs and broadsides." Read more at http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/stories/DN-bk_alter_0419gd.State.Edition1.4a63780.html

Texas Poet Laureate - Morton - 2010

Karla Morton - Future Texas Poet Laureate of 2010   This Denton poet has published in a variety of journals, including Southwest American Literature, descant, Amarillo Bay, Concho River Review and the annual Texas Poetry Calendar.  She authored the volume Wee Cowrin" Timorous Beastie.  She reads widely in public events and has been taped for some television.  This Aggie graduate is married and has a couple of teenagers.   See her at http://www.kkmorton.com/   Michael Price is telling business leaders in Fort Worth about Morton elevation. http://www.fwbusinesspress.com/display.php?id=10380   Morton next year in 2010 will replace Paul Ruffin the 2009 Laureat (see posting on June 28 for Ruffin.

Cool Jazz, Western Literature, and Wind Power

At Texas Tech just last week amid a conference on wind turbines (there's a lotta hot air in West Texas), one presentation had an unusual title by Michael Borshuk, Texas Tech University, Department of English,   Cool Jazz, Western Literature, and Wind Power: A Metaphor for Energy

Pluma Fronteriza

Out of the El Paso region comes "Chicano Literature Latino Literature - Pluma Fronteriza," a blog on the title's topic.   Chicano Literature Latino Literature - Pluma Fronteriza Self-described as:  "Raza Literature from the Borderlands. Raza Literature from Cd. Juarez, Las Cruces, and El Paso. Chicano Writers. Chicana Writers. "Pluma Fronteriza" has become one of the most widley distributed publications in the history of Chicana(o) literature. Founded in 1999, PF showcases Chicano(a) and Latino(a) writers from the El Paso, TX/Cd. Juarez, Chih, Mex/Las Cruces, NM tri-state region. This region has created the largest geographic niche in the genre."   Some previous posts include Juan Felipe Herrera to visit EPT El Paso and WWII: On the Wings of An Angel Luis Jimenez lecture, El Pasoan makes dean at Cal ... El Paso was a metal town Castillo to release novel: The Guardians Back in El Paso; New Books, Montwood Theatre's Clo... Era el día veintitrés de Junio Alberto Rios releases Theatre of Night Rigo Reviews: Felicia Luna Lemus's "Like Son" Juarez Women Murders Contributors Ray Rojas Alberto Mesta, Jr.   It also contains an extensive electronic list on its side panel of other El Paso literary connections and the broader Chicano page.   Worth keeping track of.

A $ for your food thoughts

Haylee Landford has an interesting scribbler's outlet and maybe a way to make a few bucks or enhance her real estate role.  Writing for selected webpages, Haylee has three items of related interest on separate sites that currently were pulled in though my RSS feeds.  See these brief essays Texas Food http://www.geotravelblog.com/texas-food Texas Eats http://www.gourmetcoffeeonline.net/food-and-drink/texas-eats A Bite of Texas http://food.droone.com/a-bite-of-texas.html

DPL Music Conference and webliography

The Bennett Law Office blog passes along information on Dallas Public Library's one-day "Texas Music Mini-Conference: History of Texas Music" on May 30.  Maybe of more strategic value for those not able to attend is the included webliography on selected music sites. See more at http://ipandentertainmentlaw.wordpress.com/2009/05/28/texas-music-mini-conference-history-of-texas-music/

Texas Mystery Month in May

Texas Mystery Month is May.  Visit Texas Mystery Authors at http://www.texasmysteryauthors.net/curious.htm

The Road movie - Cormac McCarthy

Cormac McCarthy's The Road as a movie will be released in October 2009.  See the official trailer at http://bookpage.wordpress.com/2009/05/18/cormac-mccarthy-news-from-all-over/ The movie's inspriation came to McCarthy, according to his interview with Oprah, one night while in an El Paso hotel, as his son slept nearby.

See the Sites - THC - Blogging for Historical Sites

Recently the Texas Historical Commission began a blog "See the Sites."  The postings' focus on particular historical sites, with some attention to current events at those.  The narrative is supplmented with colorful photos.  And there's a touch of experimentation with embedding video.  Over a dozen postings so far.   See the Sites:  telling the real stories at the real places of Texas: From western forts to Victorian mansions and pivotal battlegrounds, the Texas Historical Commission's 20 state historic sites exemplify a breadth of Texas history. Come explore the real stories at the real places. See more at http://seethesites.blogspot.com/

Light Cummins - Texas State Historian

Dr. Light T. Cummins will succeed Dr. Frank Jesus de la Teja as the official Texas State Historian.  The term is two years.   Congratulations! Cummins holds the Guy M. Bryan Chair of American History at Austin College, where he is a Professor of History and has been a member of the faculty since 1978. A 1946 native Texan reared in San Antonio, he received his Ph.D. from Tulane University. He is a Borderlands specialist.  He has been a Fulbright Scholar to Spain and is the author of several books, including: A Guide to the History of Louisiana (1982) A Guide to the History of Texas (1988) Texas: A Political History (1990) Spanish Observers and the American Revolution (1992) Louisiana: A History 4th Edition (2001) Austin College: A Sesquicentennial History (1999) Emily Austin of Texas: Sister to an Empire (2008) United States History to 1877 (2006)   Other awards have included Appointment to the Stephen F. Austin Bicentennial Committee Appointment as director of the Center for Southwestern and Mexican Studies Becoming an Associate of the Danforth Foundation Becoming a Fellow of the Texas State Historical Association Becoming a Minnie Stevens Piper Professor. Receiving the Premio de España y America by King Juan Carlos I of Spain for his scholarly research dealing with the history of Spain and the United States Becoming a Kentucky Colonel for his work on the Mississippi Valley Receiving the Francisco Bouligny Prize for his publications dealing with Spanish colonial Louisiana  See More at http://artemis.austincollege.edu/acad/history/lcummins/Light%20Cummins%20Vita%20Oct%202006.htm

Blessed Bud Shrake Died

It's an odd phrase, "Bud Shrake Died."  Seems so out of context.  Life is steaming all around us, Bud should be here.  But, Bud Shrake died, at age 77 in Austin on Friday May 8.  Born in Fort Worth in 1931, beginning as a writer for his high school newspaper and getting educated at TCU, Edwin went from being Fort Worth Press police beat writer to a remarkable career in sports journalism (Texas newpapers and Sports Illustrated), novels (9 of his 10 set in Texas), co-authoring a best-selling book on golf (Harvey Penick's Little Red Book), co-biographer (Willie Nelson and Barry Switzer), magazine essays (e.g., Texas Monthly, Harpers), screenwriter (one being Tom Horn, 1981) and all sorts of other paperwork. I first read Shrake's Strange Peaches while in Library School in the 1970's and subsequently fell under the spell of Blessed McGill.  His early literary companions were often Gary Cartwright, Billy Lee Brammer, Dan Jenkins, and Peter Gent with whom he stirred the pot and drank at the well of Texas literature.  But his influence was broad.  He will be buried in the Texas State Cemetery near Ann Richards. Shrake's partial bibliography includes Blood Reckoning (1962) But Not For Love (1964) Blessed McGill (1968) Strange Peaches (1972) Peter Arbiter (1973) Limo (1976, with Dan Jenkins) Night Never Falls (1987) Willie: An Autobiography (1988) Bootlegger's Boy (1990) (the Switzer biography) Harvey Penick's Little Red Book (1992) The Borderland: A Novel of Texas (2000) Billy Boy (2001) Custer's Brother's Horse (2007)   An anthology, Land of the Permanent Wave, An Edwin "Bud" Shrake Reader, was published in 2008 by UT Press.  Shrake introduces himself there in an introduction - revealingly as usual. His papers are at Texas State University in the Southwestern Writers Collection http://alkek.library.txstate.edu/swwc/archives/writers/shrake.html View a Texas Monthly Talks interview collected in Will's Texana Channel Playlist of "Authors" at http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=FEDACCD3C2E25DAA

Secession and Division Questions

The fascinating secession question and its often corollary division question are decidedly interesting to Texans.  The recent discussion followed Rick Perry's reviving the "issue" of Texas secession at the time of annexation.  See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5xTxcFA398 The following two blogs begin with opposite views by the blog hosts, but the truly invigorating numerous Comments in both lead you through a remarkable discussion of Texas AND American history, philosophy, politics, constitutional law - and in some cases international law.  There are some cogencies, some pot-shots, some outright misleadings, some sublime observations - much of which is historially backed up by the various authors.  If you are not completely hide-bound to ignorance (and hence stupid by definiton) both trains of discussions will teach you something, even if you're reluctant.       Ed Darrell - Millard Fillmore's Bathtub http://timpanogos.wordpress.com/2009/04/18/no-texas-cannot-secede-no-texas-cant-split-itself/      Professor Bernardo de la Paz - I Am Simon Jester http://simon-jester.org/2009/04/the-texas-question/       And you have views expressed in a Bryan-College Station newpaper and an Austin newspaper.                http://www.theeagle.com/columnists/Perry-was-wrong--but-why-would-Texas-ever-secede-   http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2009/04/16/could_texas_secede_scholar_say.html        Having begun this posting with Gov. Perry, you may wish to consider another view from an up-coming issue in the Texas Observer.

North Texas Book Festival Book Awards

http://www.ntbf.org/NTBFBookAward09.html   2009 NTBF BOOK AWARD FINALISTS General Trade Book (Fiction) Brooklyn and Braden by Keri Diane Fry Evacuation Plan by Joe M. O'Connell Magnolia Moon, Texas Sage by Janice Rose General Trade Book (Non-Fiction) One Day As A Lion by Ronnie D. Foster A Place to Be Someone by Shirley Gordon Jackson From Guns to Gavels by Bill Neal Children's Book (Fiction/Nonfiction) My Dog Don't Bite by R. Wayne Edwards ill. R. Wayne Edwards Birth of the Fifth Sun by Jo Harper, ill. Irma Martinez Sizer Arrowhead's Lost Hoard by Hazel Spire And the winners are listed at Mike Merschal's Book Blog at the Dallas Morning News.  Those journalists get informaltion before its posted sometimes. http://booksblog.guidelive.com/archives/2009/04/the-north-texas-book-festival.html

Western Writers Spur Awards

Western Writers of American announces its 2009 awards. See Mike Merschal's Texas Books at http://booksblog.guidelive.com/archives/2009/04/press-release-for-immediate-re.html or WWA at http://www.westernwriters.org/awards.htm

Texas Tech University Press Awards

http://today.ttu.edu/2009/04/texas-tech-university-press-garners-national-recognition/

Mike Kearby and Hypocrisy of Culture

Texana Mike Kearby, Spur winning novelist of the Free Parks trilogy, offers an insightful article on the "Hypocrisy of Culture" at Isnare.  Kearby's novels' plots are set in Texas' multi-cultural frontier times after the Civil War. http://www.isnare.com/?aid=373250&ca=Culture

East & West Texas History

The East is East and the West is West and the twain shall meet.

The West Texas Historical Association will meet jointly with the East Texas Historical Association February 26-27, 2010 in Fort Worth.

Américo Paredes Literature & Letters Award

UT's Center for Mexican American Studes awards Ana Castillo, a Chicago native, the first quadrennial Américo Paredes Literature and Letters Award for her contribution as "an individual whose creative and scholarly contributions have had a significant impact in the field of Mexican American studies."  Castillo is a poet, novelist, essayist, and short story writer.  Arte Publico in Houston published one of her many books, Women Are Not Roses, 1984  Read more at http://anacastillo.com/a/   and http://www.utexas.edu/depts/cmas/

Story Corps - National Day of Listening Nov 27

Story Corps http://www.storycorps.org/ states its purpose "Our mission is to honor and celebrate one another's lives through listening. Since 2003, over 45,000 everyday people have shared life stories with family and friends in our StoryBooths. Each conversation is recorded on a free CD to share, and is preserved at the Library of Congress. Millions listen to our broadcasts on public radio and the web. StoryCorps is one of the largest oral history projects of its kind." Some of its stories from Texas are online in their  blog "StoryCorps Facilitator Weblog," http://www.storycorps.org/blog/  .  Listen to some Texas entries:   A picture show: the West Texas frontier, posted on May 1, 2008, from Abilene, Texas Southern sisters from Brazil, posted on April 18, 2008, from San Antonio, Texas Women leading Texas, posted on March 26, 2008, from San Antonio, Texas A Walk in the Clouds, posted on February 28, 2008, from San Antonio, Texas From the open road, posted on February 10, 2008, from San Antonio, Texas The Shiloh Community: A Landmark School and a Deadly Study, posted on January 27, 2008, from Tuskegee, Alabama Austin, TX, posted on October 15, 2007, from Fort Worth, Texas

Texas in World Cat

World Cat http://www.worldcat.org   World Cat is an online database of over 10,000  library catalogs – books and other things.  Older librarians may recall the OCLC (Ohio College Library Center) catalog operation; well, World Cat is its descendant.   Its content is beyond enormous.  It is not a substitute for checking your local library for various reasons, but it's an interesting place.   SEARCHING   For instance, at the homepage, a simple search for the word "Texas" brought 794,604 entries in 2.29 seconds.  Remember that the searched word does not automatically bring entries on the subject, but all sorts of contexts.  A typical entry is Texas by James A Michener  Book : Fiction - Language: English   Publisher: New York : Random House, 1985. View all editions and formats An advanced search allows you to control for keyword, author, title, subject, ISBN, format, publication date, content, audience, and language.  A search for < keyword: Texas; format: book; Content: fiction; Audience: juvenile; and Language: Spanish >, finds 10 entries, e.g. El Llanero Solitario : historia de un rural de Texas.  Book : Fiction : Juvenile audience Language: Spanish   Publisher: Bilbao, España : Editorial Fher ; Racine, Wis. : Wrather Corp., published by arrangement with Western Pub. Co., 1967.   Click that title and you find UT-Pan American has the book.  (Other titles have scads of holding libraries.  If you have an account, the libraries nearest you will be at the top of the list.)   BUILDING A BIBLIOGRAPHY   There are many other search options, but it is useful to know that you can build and save bibliographies of your selections.  You can create a World Cat account.  It is free and easy.  Once you have performed a search, you can click each title you wish on your list, save it to a list which you can name yourself, and, voila, those titles are saved, as in an account I opened to keep titles on African Texana for children and teenagers.  That account is at http://www.worldcat.org/profiles/WillHoward48/lists where you can see several sub-categories and that I have copied them into a single list called Skywriting.

National Poetry Month

Larry Thomas 2008 Poet Laureate http://www.larrydthomas.com/ TSLAC's Laureate roster http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ref/abouttx/poets.html   Poetry Society of Texas http://www.poetrysocietyoftexas.org/ Sol Magazine's http://texaspoetryevents.info/ Sol Magazine http://www.ampersand-poetry.org/ Ampersand Poetry Journal http://www.sol-magazine-projects.org/apj/nav.html Borderlands: Texas Poetry Journal http://www.borderlands.org/ Descant: Fort Worth's Journal of Poetry and Fiction http://www.descant.tcu.edu/ Concho River Review http://www.angelo.edu/dept/english/conchoriverreview.html REAL: Regarding Arts & Letters http://real.sfasu.edu/ Texas Review http://www.shsu.edu/~www_trp/ Southwestern American Literature http://swrhc.txstate.edu/cssw/publications/sal.php Oak Bend Review http://www.oakbendreview.com/ Pecan Grove Press http://library.stmarytx.edu/pgpress/

Newspaper staff cuts

In March and April, Belo (Dallas Morning News) and Hearst (regarding the San Antonio Express- News and the Houston Chronicle) announced staff cuts of 12-15 % of their respective employees.

Lou H. Rodenberger Rests

Dr. Lou H. Rodenberger passed April 9.  Her presence in Texas letters is widely recognized.  She was one of the frist woman to receive a Ph.D. in English at TAMU.  She became regent at TWU.  I most recently read her biography of Jane Gilmore Rushing a remarkable inquiry.   The posting at Molcie's Literary Corner carries her obituary.  It begins "Dr. Lou H. Rodenberger died peacefully April 9 at her home north of Cross Plains. Her funeral is scheduled at 2 p.m. Saturday April 11 at the First United Methodist Church in Cross Plains. The service will be conducted by Rev. Dr. Robert Monk and Rev. John Woody. Dr. Molcie Lou Halsell Rodenberger was born September 21, 1926 in Okra, TX to Austin Carl and Mabel Falls Halsell. She attended schools at the many schools where her parents taught in West Central Texas. She started high school in Cross Plains but graduated from Anson as Valedictorian. At age 16 she entered Texas State College for Women graduating with a BS degree in Journalism in 1943. She worked for the Kerrville Times before becoming the English and Journalism teacher at Levelland High School in 1947. There she met and married Charles A. Rodenberger Sept. 3, 1949."  Read more of Charles' elegant statement: http://molcielou.blogspot.com/2009/04/lous-death-obituary-dr.html

Hubbing Texas with Murrah

Hmmm,  Hubpages is new to me.  Apparently, after establishing a free account, you write articles on just about anything and then you add it or upload it to the Hubpages.com website.  Each individual posting or uploading is called a "Hub."Aside from the joy of being in print you can get paid some amount if visitors to your Hubs click on the advertisements. Searching for the word < Texas history > brought 870 entries, both words appearing in diverse settings.  Search for "Texas history" (i.e., within the quotation marks) brought 56 enties. J. D. Murrah, author of some Texas history books, has over a hundred Hubs and most are Texas history.  The first one I stumbled upon was on Texas history and home schooling.   http://hubpages.com/profile/J+D+Murrah

UNT Texas History Symposium - Native Americans

Texas History Symposium at UNT to focus on state's Native Americans What: "Enduring Frontiers: Indians in Texas" -- The 2009 Texas History Symposium at the University of North Texas. Featuring addresses by Dr. David L. La Vere, professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and Dr. Rodney Stapp, chief executive officer of the Urban Inter-Tribal Center of Texas. When: 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. April 18 (Saturday) Where:   Room 122 of Wooten Hall, located one block west of Welch and Highland streets (1121 Union Circle) Cost: $25, or $35 after April 13 (Monday). Registration forms are available in the symposium brochure at http://www.hist.unt.edu/THS09_color.pdf. No registration will be available on the day of the conference. Contact: UNT Department of History at 940-565-2288 or history@unt.edu. Read more: http://web3.unt.edu/news/story.cfm?story=11408