News Around Texas

This is NOT a paid endorsement, I promise. The folks at Texas Highways Magazine would not recognize my name, but I have admired their publication for years. It would be a terrific way to broaden your family’s enjoyment of this year you’ve set aside for the study of Texas, and it’s more affordable than you might think!

You’ll understand my enthusiasm when you check out their website (http://www.texashighways.com/). There you’ll find feature articles from the current and previous month–always a good mix of really interesting stuff! Be sure to experiment with the Events Calendar map where you can click on any area and get timely ideas for excursions. More ideas, listed by region, are available under the Destinations tab. Explore the other tabs, too! Free e-postcards, recipes…the Arts & Culture tab even has a special section for Texas History posts.

There are several ways you can enjoy Texas Highways Magazine.

• Bookmark their site as a favorite
• Follow them on Facebook or Twitter
• Subscribe to their e-zine for under $20/year
• Download a single digital issue for $3.95
• Have a print edition mailed to your house for $19.95/year
• HINT: They often offer discount subscriptions. Pick up a single copy where you purchase magazines locally and look for the postcard coupon!

And don’t skip their Gift Shop. Prices are surprisingly reasonable for attractive, high-quality Texas-themed t-shirts (great to keep the family together on field trips) and educational supplements like jigsaw puzzles and travel bingo games.

Like I said, I’m a big fan!

Ask anyone what they think of when they think of Texas, and chances are they’ll say, “Cowboys.” This month, two of the biggest cowboys around are throwing two of the biggest shindigs in Texas!

Big Tex welcomes you to the State Fair of Texas in Dallas (Sep 24-Oct 17). Tons of exhibits, a livestock show, great entertainment, and that none-like-it State Fair atmosphere make this event fun for the whole family.

For a savory sampling of cowboy culture, try the Red Steagall Cowboy Gathering & Western Swing Festival (Oct 22-24). Ranch rodeo, chuckwagon cooking, wagon train and trail rides, cowboy music and poetry competitions, and more–right in the heart of downtown Fort Worth. Well worth the trip if you can make it!

And if you can’t, maybe there’s a fair or rodeo in a town near you. No better place to get a taste of Texas!

Today is Columbus Day.

You may have noticed that Christopher Columbus wasn’t on your list of Texas explorers. That’s because Columbus never set foot in Texas. In fact, he never reached the American mainland. But Columbus Day is a good opportunity to put history in context by looking at the world-shaping events that took place in a very short period of time.

• Gutenburg invents the printing press (1441) - Moveable type made printing far less laborious, resulting in cheaper means of communication. News of adventurers, journeys of exploration, recent discoveries, and abundant land traveled quickly. Side note: When Martin Luther made the Bible available in the language of the common man following the Reformation (31 October 1517), Gutenburg’s printing press helped the Word of God travel quickly, too.
• Constantinople falls to the Ottoman Turks (1453) – The “Silk Road” trade route to India and China becomes much more dangerous for European travelers. The kingdom that discovers a faster, safer trade route will be able to obtain silks and spices more cheaply and gain the upper hand in economic markets.
• The Spanish Inquisition (1 Nov 1478) - Established by Ferdinand II and Isabella I, the Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition was intended to restore Christian orthodoxy after the Islamic Moors were driven out of Spain along with the Jews who had supported them. An interesting side note: the Spanish Inquisition did not officially end until 15 July 1834.
• Spanish Reconquista (2 January 1492) - The Muslims invaded Europe in 711. The Crusades were part of the attempt to drive them back. With the conquest of the last Moorish stronghold in Spain at Granada, King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I were able to fund Columbus’ first voyage.
• Alhambra Decree (31 March 1492) - an edict orders the expulsion of as many as 800,000 Jews from the Kingdom of Spain by 31 July 1492.
• Christopher Columbus set sail (3 August 1492) - Some theorize that so many ships crowded the harbors as Jewish residents fled Spain that Columbus could not sail until the evacuation was complete. This pushed his sail date much later in the season when autumn storms would become a threat to the safety of his journey.

Please comment. Do you believe that there are certain times when world events present a greater opportunity to shape history? Are we living in such a time? Does it matter?

Autumn is the time to pick cotton in Texas.

With the drought this year, it may be difficult to find a field being harvested, but if you see one, pull over and watch for a while as the big machines comb the rows, tossing the bolls into huge hoppers. They’ll compress the cotton, bale it, and mark it for the gins.

If there’s a gin in your area, this would be a great time to inquire about a field trip.

Cotton is a major agricultural product in Texas. The simple fact that it may be difficult to find much this year is an indication of how dependent farmers are on water and how much it hurts our economy when there is little rain.

…and it starts this weekend!

The State Fair of Texas features exhibitions, demonstrations, music and cultural events, livestock shows, women’s and children’s cooking and handcrafts, and a whole lot more. Special tickets are available for students and homeschool families (though they go quickly. You might need to put this on your list for next year.)

The Fair is an event, though, and deep fried Twinkies–that’s a cultural experience, right?

Saturday, September 24, 2011

If you live in the Texas Panhandle (specifically, near Levelland TX) you have an opportunity this weekend to visit several ranches and other sites of historical interest at Texas’ Last Frontier Ranch Heritage Tour. (Not that this is Texas’ last tour of frontier ranching heritage. It’s actually the 7th annual tour, and there’ll likely be another one next year, but ranches are Texas’ last frontier. You understood what they meant, right?)

Anyway, if you’ve got $75 burning a hole in your pocket and a hankering to see the T-Bar Ranch Headquarters, a grave from the 1877 Buffalo Soldier Expedition, and many other sites of interest, email johnhope58@gmail.com or phone (806) 894-4062 for more information. Ticket price includes a full day of events (on a comfortably air-conditioned bus), a book about the tour sites, lunch, and a barbecue dinner with western music and entertainment.

As I looked for info on this event, I happened to run across Glenn’s Texas History Blog.  Even if the ranch tour isn’t something you’re interested in, be sure to visit Glenn’s blog for a wealth of other Texas trips and trivia.

Have you met Big Tex?

The official greeter of the State Fair of Texas was “born” in Kerens, Texas 14 miles east of Corsicana. He began life as a larger-than-life Santa Clause in 1949. That makes him 62 years old this year.

In 1952 he was sold and transformed into a 52-foot-tall cowboy. See that 10-gallon hat? Big Tex is so big, it’s actually a 75-gallon hat!

You know what they say–everything’s bigger in Texas! Read more about this Texas-sized icon here.

The State Fair of Texas runs 30 September-23 October this year and is well worth the trip!

Most of us rely heavily on our sense of sight. We can observe the world around us even from a distance…and that can be a problem. The sense we count on most is the most remote.

Hearing is the next most common source of information…and the next most remote. Sound comes to us from a distance. The sound waves may enter our ears to do the actual transmitting, but they don’t really become a part of us.

Touch is more “tangible.” We have to be in contact with something to learn anything about how it feels. When we use our sense of touch, the learning is more immediate–more personal.

By now you can see where I’m going with this.

When we use our sense of smell to learn about our environment, the molecules actually enter our noses and interact with our body’s chemistry to send information to our brains. Recollect of the smell of a tropical storm moving in from the Gulf, the aroma of coffee over a campfire, or the tang of gunpowder. Though we rarely think of smell as it relates to education, it is actually a very powerful tool.

The most intimate sense of all is the sense of taste. Not only do foods interact with neural receptors on our tongues, but the food we ingest actually becomes a part of us in a very real sense. Your students will have tons of fun sampling Native American foods like cactus pears or jerky, imagining they’re explorers tasting corn–or alligator–for the first time, or sampling chuck wagon beans and biscuits.

Try not to rely only on visual and auditory learning.
Tactile learning is a great route to discovery!

El Dieciseis de Septiembre

Today marks the 200th anniversary of Mexico’s independence from Spain.

What does that have to do with Texas history? A lot, since at the time Texas was part of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas! Many colonial Texians, both Hispanic and Anglo, looked forward to a Mexican democracy.

You’ll have to read Volume IV–Texas As A Nation to find out how that worked out…