Category: Civic Engagement

We stated off our day with lunch at the Woodbine Hotel located in Madisonville, Texas. The Woodbine is the oldest building in Madison County. As you enter, your eyes are immediately drawn to the hand-made quilts in the main lobby of the hotel; some of which were made by the local residents of Madisonville. The Woodbine is best known for using fresh locally grown mushrooms in many of their entrées. One of my personal favorites is the East Texas Lunch Plate; it consists of grilled chicken topped with a mushroom sauce and served with a side of sautéed vegetables. I recommend it to everyone.

Once we arrived in Dallas, our first stop was the 6^th Floor Museum. It is the notorious site where Lee Harvey Oswald shot and killed President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. We could not have chosen a better time to visit this historic site, which is nearing the 50^th anniversary of the tragic shooting that ended JFK’s life. The museum creates an atmosphere that takes you back in time to the events before and after the assassination. The combination of the visual displays as well as the audio devices provided, helped me visualize and have a better understanding of the type presidency that Kennedy had. Classroom learning can only show you so much, actually looking down onto Elm St. where the two x’s mark the spot where the bullets struck Kennedy gives you a better appreciation history.

For dinner, we decided to eat at the Spaghetti Warehouse in downtown Dallas.  Its cuisine is classic Italian pasta. The restaurant presents a lively, comfortable feel complete with a wonderful staff.  The warm environment helped to facilitate conversation between the students, who did not know each other yet. By recommendation of our waitress, I decided upon the Four-Cheese Manicotti, something I’ve never tried before. Big pasta tubes are stuffed with Italian cheese covered with a blend of fresh tomato sauce and Alfredo sauce. The tangy tomato sauce and the creamy rich Alfredo was a surprisingly nice combination that complemented each other well; I do not regret my choice at all.

As a nice unexpected surprise, the Dallas Museum of Art was having “Late Nights,” which is an event on the 3^rd Friday of each month.

It offers various tours, performances, activities, and reading throughout the night, free of charge. We decide to take advantage of this opportunity and explore the museum. One of my favorite exhibits was the artwork by Piet Mondrian. The exhibit showcases the transformation Mondrian made from being a post-impressionist landscape painter to an austere abstract artist. It was impressive to see the various stages of his art. His early work consisted of paintings of the Dutch countryside; he uses different shades of greens and browns to depict nature.

Later in his career, his art presented abstract bright colors that pop out to the modern viewer. Another fun aspect the museum has to offer is “Late Night Creations”, which allows the public to create their own form of expression through art. I chose to participate the Line Work with Amie Adelman.

This consisted of art with straight lines to create an illusion of 3-D art. I helped in assembling a group art display as well as started my own. The staff and volunteers engaged to public to add their own special touch to the wall. It was exciting to see the art come to live before your own eyes. Collaborating with strangers to work on a common goal was probably the highlight to my day.