Category: Art

Au Revoir Austin

Although our official work week was over, it didn’t mean our education was complete.  Accordingly, we planned out a day that involved virtual exploration, actual exploration, and some adventurous food choices!

Bob Bullock Museum and National Parks

We began our morning with virtual exploration of the National Park system at the Bob Bullock Museum.  The Museum was presenting America Wild: National Parks Adventure.  It was narrated by Robert Redford, whom we had just seen in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid on Thursday, and it reinforced some of what we had learned when we brought Mark Burns to campus in March to exhibit his photos of the 59 national parks he had visited and photographed in Black and White.

The Documentary was created to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of the National Park Service.  Although Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and others had taken steps to preserve America’s most treasured lands, it was Woodrow Wilson who signed the legislation enabling the National Park System for generations of Americans to enjoy.

The documentary was in 3-D, so we put on our glasses, sat back, and enjoyed the show…

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…while reinforcing our appreciation of the National Parks in the United States.

The Bullock Museum also has a limited exhibit of photographs from the National Park System, and we were followed up the documentary with a viewing of the photographs.

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From Virtual Exploration to Actual Exploration

After seeing a high-adventure documentary, we chose to experience some of that adventure ourselves.  That evening, we headed off to the Rowing Dock to get in some kayaking.

It took Karla and me (Alex) a while to find our rowing rhythm, but once we did, we sped up to catch up with the others.

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Karla and Alex Begin Their Kayaking Adventure!

The river was full of kayakers, canoers, and paddle boarders rowing up and down the river and under the busy bridges. I admired the mix of city and nature as we paddled up the river.

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The Austin Skyline from a Kayak

It was a combination that I am not accustomed to seeing. After a while of paddling, we all gathered under a bridge that seemed to be making a strange sound. We stayed there for a while as Professor Yawn explained to us that the noise was being produced by bats! Apparently “South Congress” is known for its bat population that flies out at sunset every day.  We paddled along and saw a few more interesting water mechanisms; a swan boat, a Cambridge Racer…

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….and paddle boards with bicycles as the motor. But mostly we all just enjoyed the exercise…

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Beatriz and Kaitlyn Taking Off from the Rowing Dock

…the skyline…

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Stephanie and Megan Enjoy the River

…each other’s company…

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…the sunset…

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Alex and Karla Sail Into the Sunset

…actually, we enjoyed the sunset a lot…

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Kaitlyn and Beatriz Sail Into the Sunset

…and even the moonrise.

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In fact, we were so taken with the moon that we were a little late getting our kayaks back.

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Kaitlyn and Beatriz Pull in at Moonrise

It was a satisfying adventure all around.

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After learning about the bats under the bridge, we decided to get a look for ourselves.  Accordingly, we scurried off to the Congress Avenue Bridge, where hundreds of people gathered to watch for the 750,000 or so bats that begin coming out around sunset.

 

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We didn’t see 750,000 bats, but we saw a lot of them!  They are difficult to photograph, however, and we didn’t get any usable photographs, at least not of bats.  We did get a decent group shot, though:

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A Food Adventure

With more time than typical, we could explore our food tastes.  And explore we did!

For lunch we enjoyed Indian cuisine at Clay Pit, a place known not only for its food, but also for being housed in the Bertram historical building.  The Clay Pit offers a lunch buffet, giving us the chance to sample varieties of food.  Starting with crunchy fried veggies to the scrumptious Chicken Tikka Masala we stuffed ourselves with food in a classy environment filled with Indian music. Accompanied with these dishes were naan: some filled with melted cheese and jalapenos, while others had sweet cherries, nuts, and raisins. After our meal, we decided to get dessert which consisted of Chai Spice Creme Brulee and strangest of all,or at least not commonly heard of, Gajjhar Halwa. This is a dessert described as a “hot and cold love”.

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Interestingly, it consisted of cold vanilla ice cream and warm carrots, a dish recommended to us by SHAIP (Sam Houston Austin Internship Program) alumnus Shelby O’Brien. Everyone enjoyed this shockingly delicious dessert!

Despite the large lunch, our evening kayaking adventure whetted our appetite for a large dinner, which consisted of Ethiopian food.

Our appetizers were Sambusas, which are pastries filled with onion, green pepper, and beef accompanied by a spicy sauce.

While we waited for our food, we talked about our favorite experiences during our week in Austin. We all had different favorites, but we all agreed that we definitely learned a lot this past week. It was filled with fun and adventure, but also a lot of work and learning time; the best combination!

That learning and fun continued with the arrival of our entrees, presented in a large Ethiopian basket!

Our entrees consisted of the Habesha special meat combo that included Doro Wot, Siga Wot, Kitfo, Yebeg Tibs, Alicha Fitfit, Bozena Shiro, Gomen Besega, Habesha special tibs, and Ayib; thankfully we had a great waiter that could explain each one of these to us! We also ordered from the Poultry menu, the Doro Tibs, chicken breast cubes sautéed with slices of onions, herbs, and sauce. For the least adventurous, we ordered spaghetti with meat sauce. The food really seemed to be authentic Ethiopian food which was a great way to introduce this type of food to us first-timers.

Even as first-timers, we did our best to eat in the Ethiopian tradition, using the injera bread as utensils.  It was great food and a great way to wrap up our adventurous week in Austin.

We headed back to the hotel to pack up and get ready to hit the road the next morning. We were all thankful for the opportunity to intern at the Texas Capitol for the week. We were also thankful to meet extremely helpful people and eat really good food. Until next time, Austin!

Too Bad It’s Friday: A Wonderful Week in Austin

By Karla Rosales:

For most, Friday is a day to exult the end of the work week.  For five SHSU interns, however, it was a sad day, a reminder that our week in Austin was coming to an end, at least for now.

Last Day in the Capitol

I worked in Representative Zerwas’s office for the second half of the week where I was able to apply the concepts I previously learned in Senator Schwertner’s office. I was able to see some differences between the Senate and the House, but in actuality, they work in similar ways. During the week-long “internship” I was able to familiarize myself with Correspondence Management System (CMS), deal with constituent issues via telephone and mail, and even do some bill analyses. Both Senator Schwertner’s and Representative Zerwas’s staff were very friendly and helpful in teaching me how things in their office and in the Capitol function.

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I thought I knew the process on how a bill became a law, but there was so much more to it than I realized! There is a team of teams system behind this process. The Legislative Counsel helps with drafting the bill and the Legislative Budget Board helps assess the budget impact of the bill.  And while the office staff typically initiates the bill, the staff also listen closely to constituents.  Many of the ideas behind the legislation come from constituents, who alert their representatives to what is working and what isn’t.

The great part to this is that everyone in each of the offices works great as a team and everyone I encountered at the Capitol was very friendly and helpful. I think that’s a huge plus when working together to accomplish the same goal.

I also learned much more about how committees get their work done and what it means to be the Chair of a Committee. Representative Zerwas is Chair of the Higher Education Committee, a committee that will be meeting this Tuesday, prompting much preparation.  Interested, knowledgeable, and affected parties often testify at these hearings, providing additional information that may be helpful in finalizing the bill.

I was fortunate to see some of these preparations unfold.  I was invited, for example, to lunch with Representative Zerwas’s staff and David Montagne, a member of the TSUS Board of Regents.  It was a privilege to be able to learn from the expertise of others, and I was glad to be brought into the loop.

Following lunch, we returned to the office, where I finished up working on projects I was given, and thanked the staff for the wonderful opportunity I was afforded.

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UT Tower

After our last day as interns in the Capitol, we headed for a tour of the University of Texas Tower.  As you might expect from the site that witnessed one of the first mass shootings on a college campus, security is tight.  Following a discussion of rules and regulations by the tour guides (UT students), we  crowded into a small elevator…

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At the top, the tour guides offer background on the UT Tower. The tower was completed in 1937, and it continues to be one of the most recognizable buildings in the city of Austin. Paul Philippe Cret designed this building, which is two feet taller than the Austin Capitol Building. The building was originally used as an old-school library, one that utilized the card catalogue system.  Approximately 25 percent of the tourists knew what a card catalogue system was, so that was explained to us, before we were freed to explore the observation deck.

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The wire cage enclosing the observation deck are to prevent suicides, which is a rather sobering thought.  Even with the wire, however, the views are impressive!

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Interestingly, the tower offers a protected view of the Texas Capitol.  By “protected,” I mean that the City of Austin passed an ordinance prohibiting the building of any building that obstructs views of the Capitol from the Tower.  It is one of 35 or so such protected views in ATX.

Dinner

With a play to attend at 8, we had to hustle for dinner.  Fortunately, the New World Deli (“where bland is banned”) accommodated our schedules, offering good foot, to boot.

As we headed for our table at the restaurant we found a huge surprise. Our team mom, Stephanie, joined us for dinner and will join us for the rest of our weekend! We began to tell her all about our week-long internship while we waited for our food which consisted of sandwiches for everyone and salad for Megan. Even though we were stuffed at the end and were in a rush to get to Austin Playhouse, we still made room and time for dessert. We enjoyed some key lime pie and salted chocolate chip cookies which were delicious!

A Little Night Music

After dinner, we headed to Austin Playhouse for the musical, A little Night Music. It was a humorously romantic musical, penned by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler.

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As one of the most famous musicals, it’s plot is well familiar while also being intriguingly complex.  With six main characters and as many love triangles, the play mixes humor, great music, and bittersweet romance.  On top of its complex plot, the songs also offered complexity, with duets, trios, and a couple of patter songs.

Although “LEAP” stands for Law, Engagement, And Politics, it could just as easily stand for Law, Engagement, Art, and Politics.  This was our second musical of the last couple of months (Damn Yankees being the other), and as yesterday’s blog noted, we regularly visit art museums and even sponsor our own art program.

But this was a more complex and serious piece of musical theater than we usually see, and we’re glad we had the opportunity.  The music was great, the acting was fine (the Austin Playhouse uses professional actors), and the cast was excellent!

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It proved another late night for us, but it was a musical and fittingly bittersweet end to our “work week” in Austin.  But just because our work week is over, our education continues, with trips to the Bob Bullock Museum, town parks, and other educational excursions awaiting us tomorrow.  Our panoramic view of Austin and the political world continues!

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I’d like to thank the staff in Senator Schwertner’s office (especially Ariel Traub) and the staff in Representative Zerwas’s office for hosting me this week.  Thank you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Corpus Christi in Six Hours

It’s not easy to prioritize your time in a City when you have just five hours to spend, but we did a pretty good job of it.

Our morning began by visiting The Texas State Aquarium. As a fish enthusiast, Megan was especially looking forward to this underwater adventure. We began with a shark exhibit…

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…before moving on to the Lion Fish and Electric Eels.  One of the highlights was seeing the Aquarium staff in full scuba gear feeding these fish.

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The Museum’s exhibits are well configured, giving you the opportunity to see them up close.  The jellyfish exhibit, for example, is in low light, highlighting the animals translucent tissue.

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The sea otters, crocodile, and bald eagle were outside, and they were in separate exhibits, again configured in such a way as to maximize human interaction with the animals.  In the case of the sharks and stingrays, we could even put our arms in the water and “lightly touch the animals with two fingers.”

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The true highlight of the aquarium are the dolphins.  The trainers brought out four dolphins, two of which were especially good at tricks.  Through mimicry, these dolphins learn to clap, jump out of the water, do flips, swim on their back, and even splash the audience!  Our favorite was a three-spin flip.

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Next door to the Aquarium is the city’s Art Museum of South Texas.  The museum is housed in a structure designed by Philip Johnson and made from shellcrete.

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The current exhibit in the Museum was of Texas Mixed Media, and my favorite artist represented was Mary McCleary, who is actually a Professor of Art at Stephen F. Austin University.  In her artist statement, she indicates she takes found objects and layers them onto paper in a way that “conveys an intensity which the viewer finds compelling.”  That was the case for me (Alex), and I’d like to see more of her work.

We also had a chance to see another Dale Chihuly, and I learned about the “Art Guys,” who have a work composed of clear glass tubes horizontally placed on the wall and filled with broken glass.

Megan, too, found a new artist she liked: Bill Meek.  A glass artist from Houston, his piece “Catharsis” is in a sun room overlooking a piece by Jesus Moroles outside the building.

Speaking of which, the exterior of the Museum is as intriguing as the interior.  The walkway to the building includes a large, ringed fountain.

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Off to the side is a large piece by James Surls, who graduated from Sam Houston State University.

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With all the art hitting close to home, we decided to stray outside the box for lunch.  Thus we went to a Vietnamese Restaurant (literally called “Vietnam Restaurant”) in Corpus Christi.  This seemed like an unlikely pairing, but the food was truly good.  I (Megan) ordered the Vietnam Fried Rice, which was delicious; Alex had the Vermicelli Noodles with grilled chicken; and Professor Yawn had the restaurant’s signature “Hot Pot” which, after being slow cooked for 25 minutes was, indeed, hot!  And very good.  It was our favorite restaurant thus far in the trip.

Before leaving Corpus, however, we felt somewhat compelled to visit “Mirador de la Flor,” which is a memorial to Selena, the Tejano singer.  Selena was shot at the age of 23 but she sold more than a million albums in her short career and paved the way for other Hispanic singers.

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And with that visit, we closed down our time in Corpus Christi.  Although “hooked” by the beaches, baseball, sea-life, and art, we had business in the Rio Grande Valley, so southward we roamed.

But not before getting drinks at Coffee Wave.  We cannot recommend this enough!  The coffee was good; the Mexican Hot Chocolate was excellent, even on a summer day; and the Chai Tea Latte was amazing!  And with that, we waved goodbye to Corpus Christi!

A Capitol Education: The Texas Legislature

We had a dual-view day ahead of us, when we awoke.  Our morning hours would be spent examining the governing side of Texas politics.  Our afternoon and evening hours would be devoted to the campaigning side of Texas politics. Both were rewarding, and both informed and enriched our understanding of the other.

We began with a tour of the Texas Capitol.  Our tour guide was informative, providing us with a nice overview of the capitol while also highlighting interesting side features.

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In the Capitol’s rotunda, for example, visitors can stand in the center, speak, and hear an echo that those around them cannot hear.  Or, did you know that the door hinges weight 7.5 pounds?  These are just some of the interesting facts that a tour will provide.

On a more macro-level, we visited the Texas Senate…

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…where we saw the vivid paintings “Dawn at the Alamo” and “The Battle of San Jacinto,” both by Henry Arthur McArdle, who offered a heroic interpretation of the quest for Texas independence.  Speaking of which, we showed our state pride by taking a photograph with the portrait of Sam Houston, who not only led troops to victory at San Jacinto, but went on to serve Texas as President, Senator, and Governor.

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We completed our capitol tour with a visit to the underground annex, where we admired the window view of Goddess of Liberty, which towers atop the capitol dome.

Following a brief visit to the Capitol Grill—we would later be told, “don’t ever eat at the Capitol Grill, not ever—we journeyed the extension to find the office of SHSU Alumnus Representative Will Metcalf.  There we met Chief of Staff Zachary Stephenson, who provided us with a rewarding presentation on working in the legislature.

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Given the long work days, he said he looks for employees and interns who maintain a positive, professional attitude; avoid excessive participation in Austin’s thriving party scene; can remain productive over the course of the session; and will represent the office well.  It was good advice to students who are interested in the possibility of interning during the upcoming session, and we are thankful for his time and wisdom.

We continued our education on the legislative process with the help of House Parliamentarian Chris Griesel and the Deputy House Parliamentarian Shalla Sluyter.  The House floor is currently under renovation and is closed to the public, but that did not stop us from getting a photograph…

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…or from learning more than we could have ever known to ask about how legislatures work.  Griesel and Sluyter demonstrated their exemplary knowledge of both the history of Parliamentary Procedure and how the legislative process unfolds.

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Parliamentarian Chris Griesel Explaining Parliamentary Procedure

For example, did you know, that because the British upper-class spoke in French during the time of the Magna Carta, the concept of an assembly body fell under the French word for speaking, evolving from parley to Parliament.  Moreover, rather than address all the representatives from the assembly, the King would designate one person to speak—the speaker—a designation that evolved into the U.S. “Speaker of the House.”

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It was interesting speaking to these attorneys, both of whom shared their admirable intellects while discussing drone policy, the legislative process, our careers, and Mae West legislation—a proposed bills designed to get a specific audience to “come up and see me sometime.”

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We should also add that Mr. Griesel very generously gave us two copies of Profiles in Courage, John F. Kennedy’s Pulitzer-Prize winning biographies of US Senators.  When we got back to the car with gifts and opened the book, we noticed that he had marked the chapter featuring Sam Houston.

Although our morning only covered the governing portion of our dual-view day, our learning went well beyond statesmanship.  From the history of the English language to the art of H.A. McArdle to the literary efforts of a former President, we left the Capitol more well-rounded than we entered.  With such a productive morning, we could only speculate on what the evening would hold at our first-ever New Politics Forum Campaign Bootcamp.

Music & Mayhem: Damn Yankees!

Although finals week is rapidly approaching, LEAP Ambassadors were glad to have some free time to see SHSU Department of Theatre and Musical Theatre’s showing of Damn Yankees, the last production of the spring semester.

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Everyone expected Damn Yankees to be a homerun and we were not disappointed!

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Based on the book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop, Damn Yankees is a musical that tells the story of 50-year old Joe Boyd.  As one of the Washington Senators’ biggest fans, he sells his soul to the devil to become the 20-year old star baseball player for the Washington Senators. After the sinful pact is made, Joe is able to accomplish his lifelong dream of beating those “damn” New York Yankees. As the plot unfolds, we discover that perhaps Joe’s selfish ambition may have overshadowed his true love for his wife.

The play incorporated many musical numbers with rich orchestration that captivated the audience members. Although each musical number was entertaining, “Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, MO” was voted as the group’s favorite.

In this whimsical dance number, each move was choreographed so as to playfully resemble a dance off, which captured the spirit of Damn Yankees.

Of course, “Whatever Lola Wants” was also a lot of fun, and later in the week, while volunteering at the HEARTS Museum, we heard a Marilyn Monroe impersonator do the same song!

“It was my first time to attend a musical, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.  But it was fun!  It had comedy, with the addition of great music and dancing!”–Karla Rosales.