 The awards are self-described at http://www.baylor.edu/toha/index.php?id=29342 AwardsTOHA recognizes outstanding contributions to oral history by both individuals and institutions through three major awards: Read, too, about the latest winners of TOHA's Texas History Day Student Oral History Award. Visit the links above to discover
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Monday, July 13, 2009
Texas Oral History Association Awards
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 |
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 |
Saturday, July 11, 2009
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 The posts categories include Agents
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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. 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 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. 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
David Barton, President, WallBuilders
Jesus Francisco de la Teja, Professor and Chair, Department of History, Texas State University
Daniel L. Dreisbach, Professor, American University
Lybeth Hodges, Professor, History, Texas Woman's University
Jim Kracht, Associate Dean and Professor, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University
Peter Marshall, President, Peter Marshall Ministries
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 |
Friday, July 10, 2009
Porter Prize from UNT
Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short FictionNEWS 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 |
Fantastic Texas and Lou Antonelli
Lou Antonelli finds Texas to be Fantastic for science fiction and related genres. Try his sites at Fantastic Texas This way to Texas |
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.  |
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? If you have questions or need more information – Please call 903-597-9111 and leave a message for East Texas Book Fest. 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. |
Monday, June 29, 2009
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 |
Sunday, June 28, 2009
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 |
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
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" 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." 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 |
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
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 Michael Price is telling business leaders in Fort Worth about Morton elevation. 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. 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
Contributors
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 A Bite of Texas http://food.droone.com/a-bite-of-texas.html |
Thursday, May 28, 2009
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 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/ |
Thursday, May 21, 2009
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: 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 |
Sunday, May 10, 2009
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 |
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
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 Professor Bernardo de la Paz - I Am Simon JesterAnd you have views expressed in a Bryan-College Station newpaper and an Austin newspaper.    Having begun this posting with Gov. Perry, you may wish to consider another view from an up-coming issue in the Texas Observer. |
Saturday, May 02, 2009
North Texas Book Festival Book Awards
 2009 NTBF BOOK AWARD FINALISTS
And the winners are listed at Mike Merschal's Book Blog at the Dallas Morning News. Those journalists get informaltion before its posted sometimes.  |
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 |
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. |
Friday, April 24, 2009
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.
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/ |
Thursday, April 23, 2009
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: |
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Texas in World Cat
World Cat World Cat is an online database of over 10,000 library catalogs – books and other things. Older librarians may recall the OCLC ( SEARCHING For instance, at the homepage, a simple search for the word "
An advanced search allows you to control for keyword, author, title, subject, ISBN, format, publication date, content, audience, and language. A search for < keyword: El Llanero Solitario : historia de un rural de Texas. Publisher: 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. |
Monday, April 13, 2009
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. |
Sunday, April 12, 2009
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: |
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. |
UNT Texas History Symposium - Native Americans
Texas History Symposium at UNT to focus on state's Native AmericansWhat: "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. |
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Western Nature Essay
 Texas Christian University Press' Literary History of the American West has wonderful 10 pages on "The Western Nature Essay since 1970." It begins"1970, the year of the first Earth Day and of several important pieces of environmental legislation, makes a logical starting date for a summary of recent trends in the western nature essay. In truth, though, the "Environmental Decade" saw no startlingly new developments in western nature writing; what happened was that the theme and concerns of the genre, as they had evolved for almost a century, now became public themes and national concerns. Indeed, as Paul Brooks has argued in Speaking for Nature (1980), the work of such writers as John Muir, Mary Austin, Enos Mills, and Joseph Wood Krutch may have been a major impetus to the environmental |
Dobie and Others Museum Exhibit
 The Brazos Valley Museum, over College Station way, mounts an exhibit on Texas Writers and J. Frank Dobie, circulated from Humanities Texas. |
Texas Nature Project
 The Texas Nature Project, at Northpoint Ranch out around Mason, self-describes itself "Texas Nature Project offers one-semester, for-credit internships for qualified students of all majors enrolled in one of Texas' accredited four-year colleges or universities. This integrated learning experience is especially suited to students who are seeking ways to live their lives with meaning and make a positive contribution to the world. Texas Nature Project students are enthusiastic learners and find joy and inspiration in the camaraderie that comes with being a member of a community of scholars." Read more at http://www.texasnatureproject.org/overview.html Seems attractive in idea and goal. |
Bump's Nature Writing at UT
Over to the Forty Acres on the Colorado, there's a Jerome Bump who taught a course in Nature Writing back a few years ago, maybe still is. The course is described at http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~bump/E309K/ Although some of the links are dead some lead to interesting options, including a tour of outdoor sculptures on the campus E309K Nature Writing / Spring, 2000 / Jerome Bump Course Description Course Schedule Course Anthology Class Contacts Local Sights/Sites Examples of Student Nature Sites Texas Nature Writing (summary) Dobie, Bedichek, and Webb Harry Ransom Tom Lea Local Nature Writing in U.T. Library Roger Rouland's Course on the Nature Essay Eric Lupfer's Course on the Nature Essay FORUMS |
Southern Nature Project
The Southern Nature Project's writers of note can be arranged by state, see Texas at http://www.southernnature.org/writers_list.php?case=state&State=Texas The Texans who write and think about the Southern landscape include |
Friday, April 03, 2009
Austin Postcards - Weaver
 Casey Weaver and his friends have hundreds of historical Austin postcards and some photograhs and essays. He's mounted them on his website http://www.austinpostcard.com/ |
Dorman Winfrey Rests
Dorman Winfrey died March 27, 2009 at the age of 84. Winfrey served, among his many contributions, as State Librarian for over twenty years. See the Austin American Statesman article " Longtime state librarian called devoted historian: Winfrey authored several articles and books about Texas history" by Joshunda Sanders at http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/04/02/0402winfrey.html and the Henderson Daily News at http://www.hendersondailynews.com/articles/2009/04/02/obituaries/01winfrey.txt As a minor footnote to is remarkable career and life, Winfrey was important to the Texas Parlor's host during the 1970s. My first job at TSLAC was in the Genealogy Dept. on Saturdays. Thereafter he eased my transferral to several different posts through which I became aware of the broader view of Texas bibliography. While this writer was still a student at UT, Winfrey offered essential encouragement to me toward the UT Library School "Indexing and Abstracting" class project of indexing of the TSLAC's "Texas State Documents" monthly checklist. Then he then saw to it that it was permanently funded by the Legislature at the next biennial budget of TSLAC. Winfrey was a fellow of graceful vision and practicality. He left behind him a legacy of Texas history, Texas archives, and classical music. Winfrey is now buried in the Welch Cemetery at Henderson, not far, he pointed out to me, from my hometown of Marshall. I'll stop by there on my next trip home. In the meantime I'll listen to and watch Toscanini conduct Verdi's "Hymn of the Nations" on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9B70Ku5qSg |
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