Bird's the Word

I gotta tell ya, I enjoy my Twitter account more than anything else online, including Facebook. The few people I follow have sharp wit and can capture thoughts with just a few words. I keep thinking I need to have hundreds that I follow, like everyone else, but I feel like my group is the best and just reading what they have to say keeps me busy enough.

My top two favorites are Elizabeth Baker, author of  Half-Baked Twice as Good, and Linda Sharps, who writes for The Stir. Both of these women are hard-core, living life as normal women, both as wives, one also as a mom. I like the real way they talk, their cynicism and their big, but not too mushy, hearts.

Alex Hyde seems to be from somewhere near Austin and an educator. He's very clever and not arrogant.

Shriek House provides humorous and cynical outtakes on family life. For some reason I'm thinking she also writes for The Stir.

Chris Sherman is an excellent Associated Press writer. He is the Rio Grande Valley correspondent here in Texas. He has written many articles about the big damn mess that's going on at the border. I admire his unbiased and factual writing style. He has a great voice on paper. He's currently on leave for a fellowship, but I hope to see more articles by him this August.

Linda follows a few people, like I do, probably for informational purposes only, but I like knowing she's out there watching and I try to keep her updated about what's going on in the community.

I urge you to get your own Twitter account! Then you can inform the world of such things as "I love this song", and "Just dropped ice cream on my shoes". It's fun.

SISD Feels Budget Cuts, Closes Hobbs School

The Hobbs School has closed doors behind another school administration. According to a Sweetwater Reporter article written last December, the Sweetwater Independent School District will consolidate their alternative education program with the Colorado (City) ISD to save the school district money. The savings at that time were estimated to be $75,000 for the alternative education program (AEP) and $35,000 for the discipline alternative education program (DAEP). The amount was increased to $130,000, collectively, according to a February SR article. Students will be transported to the Wallace School in C-City.

The Great Divide

Well, it's very dismaying to watch the chasm widen between politicians and constituents. Politicians are following some blind path, being led by the call of an old, decrepit, mythical bird, and constituents are left at the camp alone, wondering why tortillas are three times the price they were two years ago.

And seriously, when the candidate's platform is president bashing, they are of less than no use to me. Also, dispense with the general promises and projections. Who needs another candy machine in the cafeteria, Charlie Brown?

Who are these politicians pandering to? Not me, that's for sure.

I want someone who is smart and savvy. Not someone who declares to have a solution to all the problems, just someone who makes sense.

Honestly, I think the the people I see on tv who are running for public office don't understand the regular person's day to day life. You would think we're all obsessed with abortion, health care and smoking policies if the news was any indicator. I'm frenetic about paying my bills, although the people I owe money to might think otherwise. Vehicle maintenance is also a daily factor.

That's another issue. Politicians make blanket promises when the needs of the many are diverse. Country, city, north, south, shore, land, old, young, the list of variations is never ending. But the incumbents and nominees hammer away at dead horses.

I've noticed in my life that if someone keeps harping on a subject, you eventually form an opinion, even if it's an issue you could care less about. So then here we are, arguing about things that we don't give a damn about in general, forgetting what's really important to us.

Dear Politician, I don't want you to solve my problems. I don't want new laws. Just be a good, dependable manager of public policy.

Dowell School Memories

It's one fine country morning here. Sue the dog and I just made a trip to the Hobbs Cemetery to fulfill some requests for Find A Grave. Early morning is the best time of the day, especially if you're not having to hurry off to work.

The cemetery always reminds me of why I love living out here. When I was a kid, I thought we owned the world. Our family gravestone is right at the front, which made the place ours in my mind. We had a great big farm that I had no idea had boundaries, and there was always talk of Big Daddy, as my late grandfather Les Templeton was referred to when I was a child. He was an icon in my life, this man I never met, and everything that Hobbs stood for to me. Just because he bought a farm back in 1941, I have been allowed to live in a community that feels like an extension of my yard. I mean, I just went to the graveyard in my pajamas and thought nothing of it, except that it was a luxury. It seems like a perfect opportunity to say: "You might be a redneck if you've ever...".

On to today's photo. I read an article this week in Texas Co-op Magazine entitled Never Fade Away by Harry Noble. It's about Noble's autograph book from his school days in Rosevine, TX circa 1939. The picture I've posted is of a similar autograph book belonging to my aunt Imogene. When we came across it we wondered what it was about, whether it marked an occasion or if it was a fad of the day.

Documentation in the book indicates the most of the autographs were collected at Dowell High School from December 1936 to April 1937. One or two were gathered in Hamlin. Such clever and witty people! One says "When you grow old and wear patched pants (could she have meant britches? Or maybe that was the joke, to say pants instead of britches), think of me between the stitches (Juanita Cooper)", and another quotes "When you are old and have snuff on your chin, think of me and lick it in (Ruth)". One wishes Imogene a happy married life, so I went back and found that she was married in April of 1937.

Since my aunt went to the trouble to list her classmates and teachers, I am going to also list them here.

Classmates: Pauline Levens, Vesta Merlyle Barker, Norma Aleen Coan, Jesalea Aken, Juanita Cooper, Aileen Hodo, Birtie Belle McCright, La Merle McCright, Elizabeth Winzer, Mae Dene Eaton, Estellene Hodo, Melvin Clements, Harold Aken, James Winzer, Welton Jameson, Buddy Levens, Merril Eaton, Odell Finch, Leroy Eaton, Bessie Phillips, Preston McCleskey, Paul Cooper, Ozelle McKay, Ruth Watley, Nadine Hodo, also the Maxines, Maxine Calwell, Maxine Compton (that is how they are referred to in the book, as the Maxines).

Teachers: Mr. Charles, Miss Hancock, Mr. Martin, Mrs. Foreman, Mrs. Collinsworth, Mrs. Murff and Miss House.

Dowell, according to the Handbook of Texas Online, was located four miles northwest of Rotan. The school was combined with Rotan in 1946-47.