License Plates into Musical Instruments

YAY TEXAS!

Governor Abbott with the new license plate.

So if, like me, you want to support music in schools, all you gotta do (at least in Texas!) is buy a license plate! $22.00 of the $30.00 price tag goes directly to buy instruments for schools. How cool is that? Don't you wish you lived here? It's already the best place for lots of things and I hope it becomes the best place for music in schools, too. Read more about it here.

Photo via Office of Gov. Greg Abbott

At It Again

So Dan Patrick, Lieutenant Governor of Texas, gets into trouble with his tweeting...  Just as last October, when Gov. Abbott congratulated the Astros on their "win" over Kansas City, his ill-timed tweet a couple hours after the massacre in Orlando shows how out of touch he is. What is it with these guys? His excuse is that this post, a Bible verse, was chosen the previous Thursday. I don't know about you, but as an American citizen I kinda don't want to have an elected official posting Bible verses in the first place, regardless whether it's appropriate or not to the day's events. Why is no one asking about his beliefs on the separation of church and state as outlined in the constitution? Am I missing something here? As a transplant to the Lone Star State I am thinking I just don't understand the Texas mindset. I don't know. I am living in Michigan now and we have a governor who thinks calling himself a Nerd makes it acceptable for him not to take responsibility or show that he cares about the people of Flint, MI, who have had to deal with lead in the drinking water here and other, lesser indignities, to put it mildly, for an interminably long time. I mean, can you believe a governor who thinks getting a bottle of water to drink from a bar in Flint is actually going to mean anything? Ugh. The insensitivity and lack of awareness is ming-boggling, as is the self-aggrandizement on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line.

Wow. Texas has a reputation of being independent, arrogant, and free. But yet, it seems, some are freer than others. Full disclosure: I don't live in Texas anymore, Toto, but that doesn't mean it won't happen again. Here's the latest installment in the freakshow that is Texas politics:

“A Woman’s Job Is To Be At Home”

Check it out before you get all excited about how awesome it is there. It gives the phrase " home on the range" a whole new meaning... 

This is more like it.

I just read an article on Houston Chronicle which outlines some of the arguments heard around here and, frankly, around the country. In my home state of Michigan, the Confederate flag was sometimes seen as representative of southern roots (rhymes with "foots") and down home values. My home town's nickname was and probably still is "Hazeltucky" because of the number of folks who settled there from the hollers and hilltops of the Great Smoky Mountains region. However, that's not what the flag stands for. To them, maybe. But not to itself, not to Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard who first used it as a battle flag, and certainly not to those dusty skeletons who fought under and for it. This is truly a misunderstood and misrepresented item from our past. Please read and share this article! 

http://www.houstonpress.com/arts/5-jerks-that-show-up-in-the-comments-in-confederate-flag-news-stories-7541331

Texas: Taking Corporal Punishment to a Whole New Level

Texas state Representative Dan Flynn has proposed a bill to allow teachers to use deadly force to keep students in line. I'm not sure how he came to the conclusion that this would need legislation. A brief look at Mr. Flynn's background does not help with my understanding of his views. Kids, don't try this at home, but a Wikipedia article states that he was born in 1943. So eligible to fight in Viet Nam, and maybe a hippy (but apparently not a peace-loving one). He seems to be expert in banking. He is even a past member Center for Banking Advisory Council, School of Business, Texas Southern University, a historically black university right here in Houston. I'd like you to take a look at his district.

This is the "piney woods," northeast of Dallas. Maybe they have really unruly kids there? Not sure if his business acumen is why he was on the advisory board at TSU. This is pretty far from the mean streets of H-town.
I think I would be mortified if my state representative proposed legislation of this type. Especially since he doesn't seem to have any history as an educator. Make me wonder what prompted this. Here's a link to the original bill. It's in its second reading at this time.
Mr. Flynn had also previously proposed a bill that would require public documents to be in English only, ostensibly to help people learn the value of understanding English. Also, he dabbled in trying to legislate when life begins. So I guess he wants to be able to say when life ends, too: don't act up in school, children.

Truth scarier than Fiction?

So there's this book called Don't Mess with Travis by Bob Smiley, in which a newbie cowboy congressman decides that Texas is under siege by the Federal government~ I haven't read it yet; here's the synopsis from Amazon: Don't Mess with Travis tells the story of Ben Travis, a no-name Texas senator who becomes governor after a late-night accident takes the lives of the men ahead of him in the chain of command.

Before the paint has even dried on his parking spot, the recently divorced Travis uncovers the latest Washington power grab and decides there's only one solution: secession. The stunt pits Travis (and Texas) against the president, a golf-obsessed, progressive egomaniac with spotty leadership skills. The liberal elites are behind the president, and they will try every dirty trick to derail the new governor and hold on to the most prosperous state in the Union. Despite the doomsday threats from D.C., Travis forges ahead in a thrilling and hysterical quest to fight big-government tyranny and restore sanity to the nation.

Ok. So this is a novel. And it's a right-wing take on how left-leaning the Federal government has become (?) and how Texas should fix it. Here's what's going down for real in our fair state (which god help me I live in and completely do not understand). We've got the Texas State Guard to monitor a Navy SEAL exercise. Because, you know, we can't be bothered to be part of the union for heaven sake! This is not an Onion piece~ it's actually happening.

It would be interesting to know whether Governor Abbott ever read Bob Smiley's novel, and if so, does he know how ridiculous all of this is?  I don't know which truth is worse-- if he actually believes that the Federal government is going to take over Texas? Or is he that easily swayed by the nutcases who are?

Houston is so not like the rest of Texas. I suspect Austin isn't, either. However, those with power and money (and there's lots of both in Texas) tend to do really weird stuff in government while we happily speak about a thousand different languages, listen to awesome music, and take care of each other here in H-town. I hope those in state government don't manage to wreck it for the rest of us. 

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott
Image Credit: Eric Gay/AP

 

Welcome to Houston!

This is the first installment of a blog I have been meaning to write for awhile now. I named it "Armadillo by Morning" as nod to the iconic "Amarillo by Morning" which is a pretty cheesy song but hey! Texans relate.

I have been in the Lone Star State for four years now. Some Statistics:

• Houston is the fourth-largest city in the country, and is a minority-majority city, purported to be twenty years ahead of every other city in the country in terms of diversity. 

This may be true. If you miss the foods from your country, chances are if we're talking international, you can find it here. However, if you're looking for Detroit pizza, Philly cheese steak, or locally grown apples, you won't find an adequate substitute here.

• Texas ranks "...50th in percentage of high school graduates among its populace high school graduation rate, first in amount of carbon emissions, first in hazardous waste produced, last in voter turnout, first in percentage of people without health insurance, and second in percentage of uninsured kids." (http://www.texasobserver.org/texas-on-the-brink-we-can-do-better/) 

So, there's that.

The climate throughout the state is different depending on where you are. In the gulf coast region, where we are, you kinda want to stay away between approximately May 15-October 15. Many folks will compare this to winter in the Northern states. While this seems an adequate comparison, while in the north the weather may be warm enough in February to allow daffodils to come up, summer in the Gulf Coast is relentless, and it's common to be 77 degrees and 93% humidity every. single. morning. Makes for not very nice workouts in the AM. Lots of people I've talked to who can, leave in the summer months.

The birds are cool though.

More later!