Texas, Love It or Leave It?

Dave Meyer, so how is Lindner? I hear he's taken a new pastorate north of Dallas in Garland Texas. Inquiring minds want to know why anyone would want to live in Texas?
Enlighten me, someone.

Actually I've enjoyed visiting Austin and San Antonio several times, especially the class of 77 reunion organized by John Langford, but where are the trees (I mean real 50 foot trees), the mountains, the rugged coast, the cool foggy summers, the 93 days of rain some winters, or a state animal such as a duck, beaver, gooeduck, or banana slug?

Help me grasp the appeal of Texas (I expect a barrage of replies to this one!).Oregonians want to know!!!

Richard GRAYSON ‘78

You’re right you will get a flood of replies on this one and this is the first.

To live in Texas is to love Texas. I always thought the most obnoxious people in the world were in Texas, but once I moved here I learned that they were just Texan's.

Texas exudes a confidence like no other place and is full of possibilities like no-where else. Of course I moved here from Oklahoma, which has to be the worst place in world to live.Yes it is hotter then hell in Texas but that is why God created air conditioning.

The traffic is bad, but so too is it in New York, DC, Miami,St. Louis, Los Angeles, San Francisco and occasionally in Oklahoma City and Tulsa.The worst part about the state is the moron we have for Governor, and the idiots in the legislature.

Melissa PRESTON Sansing ‘75

I spent a decade in Texas one year ...

Tim HARVEY ‘74

The Texas Panhandle...I-40...
Where all the trees lean to the south...
FM 1157
Where my family is from...
Where a tough land made tough people who are good and honest and hardworking...
Where there is nothing to spoil the view...
On a good night in summer, youcan see the lights of a grain elevator 50 miles away...
Where you can ride in a car down a farm to market road (FM 1157) with your college roommate just before sunset after some farmer has finished plowingthe fields...
The feel of the wind in your hair and the smell of dusk...
the anticipation of knowing that your aunt has dinner waiting and it's only 15 more minutes till you get there...
Where you can witness the most magnificent thunderstorms you will ever seein your life...
Where the stars are so clear and so bright that they seem twice as close aswhen you're in the city, if you can even see them from there...
Where there is a concrete slab out in the middle of a fallow cotton field about 15 miles east of Oklahoma and a couple of miles north on Rte 66...
My dad pointed to the corner of the slab where his parents' bed was and said,"I was born right there."

Texas and Hong Kong is it for me when I talk about home and roots, even though I've been in California for 21 years.

Melissa PRESTON Sansing ‘75

Texas ... isn't that the country south of the Oklahoma border? Home of the Cowboys and Roger Staubach, who used to toss footballs to us as kids in Plano, Texas ... ( even the girls!) Where everything is Bigger ...

Judi PORTER Rower ‘75

OH PA-LEESE Tim! I've been holding my tongue about Texas, but after that exegesis, I have to share my own experience. (By the way, using words like "exegesis" in Texas is likely to get you arrested for profanity.)

Texas, I remember it well.
It's where I was voted an honorary foreign exchange student because I was from Hong Kong. The had a club with meetings and everything. I never bothered to show up. They gave me a T-shirt at the end of the year.
Texas, where you could get out of final exams by donating blood in the gym during football season.
Texas, where a whopping 2 members of my graduating class (of 400) went on to college--me and a guy on a football scholarship.
Our school mascot was a goose. Enough said about that.
Texas, where Friday nights were "bricking" nights. They loaded up their pick-ups with bricks and threw them at mailboxes and eachother as they drove around town. Now that's enlightened living.
--where it rained 360 days out of the year and the other 5 it was hot and muggy.
--where getting married and buying a house next door to your parents is considered NORMAL.
--where girls wear the dresses from their wedding to the prom.
--where they had actual classes (for credit) to learn how to apply nailpolish.
--where they eat things like "loose meat sandwiches" (And I thought Wanchai held some horrible food options!)
--where the price for a ticket at the drive-in theater was determined by the size of your neck (10 cents an inch--measured at the gate when you come in).

Now, older and wiser, I try to look back on my Texas years with a sense of appreciation, and find that what I appreciated most, was the plane that got me outta there!!

Dave KOHL Faculty

Missy...Texas is a nice place to visit, I enjoyed the country between Austin and San Antionio...but it seems all Texas cities look pretty much the same, expecially from a distance - sorta like a bell-shaped curve.

Melissa PRESTON Sansing ‘75

I was going to mention the Strawberries (and fresh cream) that Ed's mom served us after the Prom in '74. They were so sweet and such a treat for all of us. I remember the Ketterers' house, designed like a castle, with a suit of armor and a winding staircase. And the most beautiful view of repulse Bay and beyond. What a wonderful memory, I would also like to thank your mom and dad for being so cool as to have us all over!

Judi PORTER Rower ‘75

Oh right, Tim, now I feel like a whiner.

Truthfully, I wouldn't have liked any place that we moved to from Hong Kong because I didn't want to move and I was sulking...for 2 years. But you have to admit, the foreign student thing, the bricking adventure, and the school goose, did give me a lot of ammunition. I'm not making any of that up!!!! Not even the football season blood drive!

I'm glad there are people who like Texas...that keeps them out of California, where, as you know (since you also picked California when given the opportunity) we've had sunshine everyday since last February. Life is very good here.

Love to all of you (I can't believe how much fun this is)

Kathy GRIMES Velchoff ‘78

I have to put my two cents in about Texas, as I've lived here since 1980.

In Hong Kong as a 16 year old junior fresh from the progressive country "nirvana" that was Houston/Austin at the time, I pitied all of the "poor" souls that couldn't experience the truly, unique character of Houston; I even had an I LOVE YOU HOUSTON T-shirt.

Age does bring wisdom. Now, Houston is simply home. I would much prefer to live in Colorado or anywhere else even remotely cooler, but have to be happy with vacations away from the unbelievable heat and humidity that never seemed to bother me as a kid. Must be getting old!

Melissa PRESTON Sansing ‘75

I hope the Hawaii reunion can be done as it is a great place to get together(our 60's group from Brent is planning their reunion in Texas... but I'm not saying anything...okay Tim...not a word...not about the Great State of Texas...home of the Alamo (we remember the Alamo, right?) and Lone Star beer.
The state that gave us the Bush family(...I reserve comment for a later date...just don't vote for any of them until you all hear from me...okay?) (or was that the Busch Family...wait that's Golden,Colorado...) and long horned steers (not cows you goat ropers...STEERS...). But you won't hear a thing out of me about Texas....not today anyway! ;-)

Tim HARVEY ‘74

So what do you have to say about Bush that couldn't also be said about Clinton, Daddy Bush, Reagan, Carter, Ford, Nixon, Johnson, Kennedy, etc. Well, not about Carter maybe, cuz he really didn't do anything, but he was such a clean guy.

Voting, for me, has always been choosing between the lesser of the two evils. I get so disgusted with all of the mud slinging that I just end up voting party line and hope it'll be better next election. It isn't, but I keep on hoping.

As to them goat ropers, I don't even know what they look like so I'll have to reserve judgment on 'em. Sure does make a cowboy mad when you call him one, though.

As to the long horned steers, that steer started out as a bull somewheres unless he was born missin' a few. And, come to think of it, there'd have to be a cow in there somewheres, too, cuz I always reckoned it took two to tango. If you've ever seen a live one, though, they are pretty impressive with a 6 foot wingspan. Have you ever seen a live buffalo out in the field? Have you seen the 9 foot tall stuffed buffalo on display in the museum in Canyon, TX? Did you know that at the time that the buffalo almost became extinct, one of the few remaining herds resided outside Claude, TX?

Melissa PRESTON Sansing ‘75

Why, I'd swear we wuz all from a school in the Lone Star State, y'all, we talk about it enough.
(I actually did live there, twice...) As to politics, I find it to be a wonderful source for humor...not much more...Even that sweetheart, Jimmy Carter...just when you think he's going to get by without any jokes being made about him, up walks brother Billy with a can of "Billy Beer"...

I'm more along the lines of, as we are known in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, a "tree-hugger"... I vote for whoever plans on at least participating in keeping our planet alive, to what extent one person can... another soapbox issue for another day.....

Richard GRAYSON 78

Sorry, I have to give my two cents on George W. I can say something about George W. that I cannot say abt anybody who has aspired to be President of our country - George W. violated my constitutional rights - specifically the 5th amendment which I believe says the state cannot take your property without just compensation. I have a decision from the presiding judge of Travis county Texas stating so.

You see in 1994 I signed a contract along with 42 other people to operate a vehicle emission testing station for the State of Texas in Houston, Dallas/Ft Worth and Beaumont areas. I was a subcontractor who if I wanted to participate had to give up all other business interests to devote my full time to the program. When W. was swept into office the first issue he attacked was this terrible emission-testing program.

Now mind you we began the program in December '94 after the managing contractor had spent $120 million + to build a state of the art testing system. George flushed the whole program down the toilet the first month he was in office.

In '97 we all went to court. The managing contractor won a $240 million judgment; my group won $24 million. The state settled with the managing contractor for $180 million. We agreed to settle for $10 million (the state has a propensity for NOT EVER paying judgments), which was appropriated by the legislature, to date we have not seen a cent - THANK YOU MISTER BUSH.

The city of Houston has the second worse air in the country (second only to LA), and the mayor of the city of Houston is asking the Governor to implement a program just like the one flushed in 1995.

Presently we are in the state supreme court going through the appeals process. And you are right we should never have started this discussion abt Texas.It's a place to live; I happen to like living here and don't want to live anywhere else. If you want to live in Oregon or Hawaii and like it that's good.

Melissa PRESTON Sansing ‘75

My, my, Mr. Grayson ... have you lost sight of the "fun" aspect we are all drawing from...Did you go to HKIS? What year(s)...did you like it...looking for any old friends?

I'm sure, as most of us are, that when Mr. Kohl first made a jab at Texas, he was kidding. I also have been kidding (and will continue to do so...remember the 1st amendment while you are throwing the constitution around...) and you might try to lighten up a little as this is not a forum for serious business, but away for old friends to talk and read and correspond. Politics and Religion are best left to their place, which I do not feel is here in "reunion world".

I am sorry Bush screwed you and hope you will vote accordingly when election time roles around, but to get all huffy in the middle of a bunch of good times is a bit much.

Take a deep breath and try to enjoy these messges for what they are...old aquintances getting to know each other again, or for the first time...not a vent for angry people screwed by the Bush family...we've all gotten it one way or another over the years from our government ( I won't mention the cigar thing...oops, my bad...), you are not alone... not are you the last, sad to say...

Better days to you and yours and I'm not "from" Oregon or anywhere, thanks to the US Navy and then the US Air Force, so I will make fun of everywhere...smilin' in America....

P.S. There is nothing so holy or sacred in any culture or region that it cannot be made fun of...

Tim HARVEY ‘74

Missy,
You said...There is nothing so holy or sacred in any culture or region that it cannotbe made fun of...I'd like to give my version of your quote...There is nothing so holy or sacred in any culture that humor cannot be found (and enjoyed) in the middle of it.

There are things holy and sacred, however, and they ought not be made fun of.

I guess there are different kinds of humor, too. There is the kind that belittles or profanes or abuses. Adam Sandler approaches this at times, but then, some of the stuff that he does is incredibly funny. Wedding Singer is a good example - some funny, some abusive and profane. Much of TV sitcom humor is a "one ups manship" that attempts humor at the expense of others.

There is the kind that sees the humor and then gets the butt of the joke to come around to the other side and see the humor from there and then laugh together. Much of humor rides the razor blade somewhere in between and somebody usually gets cut. But I'd like to think that I lean toward the second kind.

I believe that humor should bring people together and help us to see ourselves as part of a whole rather than polarizing. It seems from your postings that you believe that, too.

Rick, I wish you success in your legal endeavor. It must really hurt to get the shaft like you did. I have never had the guts to invest thousands of dollars into a business venture, much less have the whole thing flushed before my eyes because some politician had a political debt he had to repay one month into office.

If you are unable to recoup your losses, I hope you can come to the point of release so that bitterness doesn't poison you and your family. I'm sure Mr. Bush and his sycophantic cronies aren't losing any sleep over it.I would like to see the discussion of Texas continue, however, but I'd like for people to look for the good things they've found instead of all the things that lend themselves to stereo typical ridicule. You can find those wherever you live.

Now, about my Texas posting...Where there is a concrete slab out in the middle of a fallow cotton field about 15 miles east of Oklahoma and a couple of miles north on Rte 66... In 1979, my dad pointed to the corner of the slab where his parents' bed was and said, "I was born right there."Does anybody out there know of a place like this outside of Texas?

It was a special moment for my brother and me. My dad died three years ago and I enjoyed taking my three boys a couple of summers ago back to the place where their grandfather was born. I also enjoyed taking them to the different towns and cities where I lived. I'm just sad that I don't have the resources(yet) to take my boys to Hong Kong and spend 5-6 weeks. Two weeks just wouldn't be enough! I really want to some day. It'd be so cool to take them to all the places...

Richard GRAYSON ‘78

Most people find me to have a very good sense of humor and easy to get along with except when it comes to W (just ask my wife).

I tried to convey the wish to get away from the "Texas thing" by asking, "what state are we going to flame next week". If we don't want to discuss politics/religion etc then lets not bring them up, I didn't and don't know who did, but now wish they hadn't.

I have very good friends whose marriages and lives were destroyed by W and he is being touted as the next president - I find it repugnant - sorry that is the way I feel.We are in 100% agreement that this should be a list of people who went toschool together and get to remember old times.

To answer your question - HKIS - Class of '78 (if we hadn't moved in 8/77),yes I have some old friends I've located through this list and I am grateful for that (one lives about 5 minutes from my house and I hadn't seen her for 22 years), and would love to hear from others.

At first I didn't want to respond, but don't believe I have anything to "slink" away from. In the infamous words of Rodney King "can't we all just get along".

Bill STEAGALL ‘75

Tim et all,I'm still having a ball reading all of these messages, enjoying the memories, and slowly remembering who some of these people are.

Tim, I really appreciated your comments on humor. Not being a native American, I had trouble getting used to the American cultural tendency toward humor at the expense of others. I agree that there are other types of humor that are much more healthy.

You asked if anyone could tell a story similar to yours regarding your father's birthplace. I like to claim that I am form the deep South, which is a play on my heritage. I was born in Brasil (waaay deep South), but my ancestors immigrated from the South of the US after the Civil War (they lost,they left).

Anyway, I made a sort of pilgrimage back to Brasil with my wife Melissa about 6 years ago to visit my father and other relatives. We were driving along a highway when my father pointed to a pair of palm trees and told us that his sister was born in a house right next to those palm trees. His family had planted the trees.

Lynn BARRATT Frau ‘73

Tim,
Thanks for taking this down another avenue! I was struck the first time I saw that caption in your previous message regarding the "concrete slab". I drove with my four boys out to Saskatchewan (where my mother was from) this summer for a family reunion. Sixty-five relatives camped out at the family farm where my great-great-grandparents homesteaded after coming up from Minnesota. Most of my mother's family (seven kids) were born in that house. It's not inhabited now but it was alot of fun and very interesting for all of us to spend some time there - explore the farm, the house, etc. It even still has the original, luxury, two-seater outhouse!

The farm also has, since the reunion this summer, a memorial site where we held a family service and scattered the ashes of my grandfather, grandmother, mother and uncle. This was a special time for our entire clan - certainly for myself, my sister (Kimberly, born in HK in 1972), my husband and my boys. My oldest son and I are now in the process of designing a bronze plaque to be mounted on the large boulder we placed in a stand of birch trees where we scattered the ashes.

As far as travelling to former home cities goes, as my husband is from Italy most of our travelling has been back to Italy to visit his family since they are all still living there. One of these days I hope to take the family in the opposite direction!
Ciao,

Tim HARVEY ‘74

Lynn,
How good to hear from you! That play sure was a lot of fun. I hadn't thought about it in years and then I got out an annual and so much of it came back to me.
"How does it feel to be the world's ideal when you know and I know that you are not real?"
That's all I remember from the songs we sang.

Lynn BARRATT Frau ‘73

Tim,
Great to hear from you as well! I've been reading with much interest all your missives over the past few days. You're doing much better than I am in the memory department - at least you remembered one line.

I've often felt since doing those HKIS drama productions that maybe I should have gone into theatrical or film make-up. Living in Vancouver, or as it's otherwise known, Hollywood North, I know I should have. Lot's of work here for people in the film industry!

TIm HARVEY ‘74

Lynn,
There's something special about being in those places at those times. It kinda feels like you can look down a tube and see the past and the present at the same time. It gives me a tremendous feeling of being connected and significant.I really like the bronze plaque idea!