The players from Northwestern State (our opponents in football) were not the only visitors we had in town this Saturday. On this delightful afternoon, we were also accompanied by the Brady Team, comprised of Congressman Kevin Brady and his district and D.C. staff. As part of their district retreat, Congressman Brady and his staff toured various parts of the district with Sam Houston State University as their prime stop in their Huntsville itinerary.
While the LEAP Ambassadors were wrapping up their presentation to the Colonial Dames, Christina and Brian excused themselves to join the staff in Huntsville’s very own Bennie J’s restaurant, where they met with Brady’s team. And, from there, the group traveled to the Gaertner Performing Arts Center (GPAC).
During their tour at the GPAC, they were joined by Craig Brossman, the Facility Manager of the GPAC, and Ronald Shields, the Dean of the College of Fine Arts and Mass Communication. The staff visited the atrium, where they saw works by Jesus Moroles, James Surls, and Kathleen Ash, and also visited Dean Shield’s office, where they saw art by Harry Ahysen and Michael Henderson, which put them in a contemplative mood…
Of course, we also took them to the main Recital Hall, where we joined by President Dana Hoyt and her husband, John. Congressman Brady introduced Hoyt as “the best University President in the country,” and, in a pleasant surprise, the SHSU Choral Group returned from their lunch break and offered to perform!
It was at this point that the hall’s perfect acoustics were put to use and shown off. With voices resonating across the hall, and the reverberating organ playing in the background, they entranced all with their musical talents.
Congressman Brady thanked the music director, Dr. Joshua Bronfman, and noted that the performance “gave him goosebumps.”
Of course, congressman Brady’s staff could not leave Huntsville without learning about the man who started it all, so the team headed to Sam Houston Memorial Museum. Luckily, Mac Woodward, the former Huntsville Mayor, was on hand to give a museum tour.
We always appreciate time spent with Mr. Woodward, and this was no exception as he took time out of his Saturday to educate visitors about Sam Houston and Huntsville, Texas.
Mr. Woodward began with some historical facts of the Tennessee senator who would one day make his way down to Texas. The staff was left to roam the museum freely and learn about one of the greatest politicians in Texas History.
Mary Cordes, District Operations Director for Congressman Brady, told us that during her tour of the nation’s capital she learned that Sam Houston’s desk is one of six still kept in the old senate chamber. It was exciting to hear that Texas roots are famous even in DC! Congressman Brady’s staff was intrigued by the amount of historical artifacts the museum held.
The Museum has Sam Houston’s constitution from the time when he served in the US Senate and a few things that belonged to Margaret Houston.
Before leaving, Congressman Brady talked about the unveiling of the Elisabet Ney bust and how excited he was to be placing it in the Ways and Means committee room.
This was the last stop In Huntsville for the staff before heading on to other parts of Congressional District 8.
It was an enjoyable afternoon with Congressman Brady and his staff, not to mention President Hoyt and Mayor Woodward.
Arriving early at Houston’s The Black Labrador we found that the venue was still being prepared for the evening’s program. Fortunately, this gave us the opportunity to engage in a short-lived game of giant chess, which was available to guests in the restaurant’s courtyard. While awaiting for the night’s main attraction, we enjoyed the company of the other attending guests and snacked on the appetizers that were offered. But it wasn’t long after that the speaker of the evening was introduced.
Retired Lt. Colonel Geoffrey Corn, now a professor at South Texas College of Law, spoke at length about the law of war, the reality of combat, and the effects of combat on soldiers. He explained that for a decade the U.S. involvement in the Middle East has not been a war but an “armed conflict.” He further elaborated how the U.S. has not been fighting a foreign government or country, but rather an ideological group spread amongst an area undefined by borders.
Lt. Corn also pointed out how the U.S. soldiers fighting against this poorly defined group are not fighting the same fight as the enemy. In previous conflicts the enemy was clearly distinguishable from local civilians. This held true up until the Vietnam War, where the guerrilla tactics employed blurred the lines in the ever-present turmoil of a live battlefield. The fog of war was thickened by the fact that these combatants now acted differently than most armies in history. We learned how international laws have been set in place to try and bring civility to conflicts such as these, but the situation is still tricky for our men and women fighting over seas.
A comment Lt. Corn made near the end of his speech stuck out to me and forced me to think long and hard on the drive home. “How we choose to fight our enemies and how we treat our prisoners is a reflection of us and not of our enemies.”
It was an enlightening presentation, and we very much enjoyed the presentation and the chance to meet Lt. Col. Geoffrey Corn.
The last session of the TTF was a highlight, a rare joint appearance by U.S. Senators Cruz and Cornyn. When we arrived at the UT campus we were met by a cluster of protesters who’d decided to take advantage of the senators’ presence to voice their opinions on a number of issues.
We navigated the crowds and managed to snag ourselves seats before the auditorium filled up. Evan Smith, the event moderator and the Texas Tribune CEO, first began by thanking all the donors who made the festival possible. He also warned the crowd to be respectful or risk being escorted out by security, before introducing the senators.
The prompts ranged from climate change to immigration and many of the responses were met with boos and hisses, even with the earlier warning from the moderator.
Even with the tough crowd, we considered ourselves lucky to be able to attend an event with a pair of the most important figures in Texas politics today, and we each took something different from the experience.
At the very end of the program, the boos and hisses turned into an all-out protest.
By this time, however, Senators Cruz and Cornyn were leaving the building, so the protesters also moved outside, to catch at least some of the crowd as an audience.
Home Slice Pizza, by Staci Antu
Home Slice Pizza is a local favorite in Austin, and it’s a particular favorite of the LEAPsters who interned in Austin this past session. It has been serving its New York style pizzas since 2005 with booming business ever since . It was even forced to open an adjacent restaurant specifically for carry out and single slices when it could fit no more people in the original building. We enjoyed having that time to reminisce the time we spent in Austin and, as for actually eating, we shared some pepperoni pizza for the non-adventurous; pepperoni and mushroom for those who thought they were “adventurous”; and a white clam pizza for those who liked living life on edge. With our stomachs full we headed on towards the Elisabet Ney Museum.
Elisabet Ney Museum, by Staci Ney
Elisabet Ney’s Museum was our last stop in Austin, Texas before heading back to Huntsville. Elisabet Ney was a German-American sculptor who spent her first half of her career in Europe and later immigrated to Texas. She is well-known for her famous life-seized marble figures of Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin, among others.
As SHSU students, it was nice to see the different versions of Sam Houston she sculpted.
This was especially true for the five students heading to Washington, DC, later this month to see her bust of Sam Houston unveiled in the Ways and Means Committee room in the US Capitol building (thank you Congressman Kevin Brady!).
Today, her house in Austin, Texas remains standing as a museum dedicated to her life and her art.
Her sculptures are not only located in her home in Austin but are also in the Texas State Capitol, Washington D.C., and in different countries across Europe.
We were able to view and admire her sculptures and explore her home as most of it has remained the same as when she lived there dating back to the 1800s.
Downstairs had most of her sculptures and art supplies…
…while the upstairs rooms contained exhibits of her furniture such as their old bath tub. Many of us couldn’t believe how tiny it was, especially when the whole family had to use it in order to save water. There were history timelines on the wall that showed us a little bit of how she met her husband and his history. Important items such as her marriage license are also conserved in the home.
The tour guide had invited us to explore the “magical secret door” which many ambassadors were interested to take up on the challenge of finding it! There were small dangerous spiraling stairs in the second floor that led us up to her study room. Once there, we found a type writer that was placed there so that guests could leave messages to other guests.
As we searched, I was able to locate the secret door that was used as book shelf but was sad to see that another door behind the secret one remained locked. I was still proud to say I had taken up on the challenge to find the famous secret door.
After touring her house and viewing the art it was time to head back to Huntsville.
We were sad to leave but this was a perfect ending to a fun fill weekend learning about politics and art.
Every year, the Texas Tribune hosts a 3 day-event that attracts people from all over the United States. The Festival offers approximately 60 sessions that, in turn, feature some 250 different speakers addressing topics ranging from the flooding in Houston to the presidency of Donald Trump.
Such a format is ready-made for us, because it allows us to split up and attend different sessions, then regroup and discuss. Accordingly, each of us took different things from the festival and had different favorites.
Chase, for example, was particularly fascinated with the Festival, and he found the Susan Rice presentation most interesting. Rice, the NSA/UN Ambassador under President Obama, was highly critical of President Trump, noting that he had “broken more than four decades of diplomatic protocol” and concluding that the nation “is in grave danger.”
For Victoria, the “All about Flooding” panel was most interesting. In this panel, engineers and politicians discussed what will need to take place to prevent another major flood in Houston. The hope is to build a coastal wall to keep storm surges at bay, but they are less certain how to drain the type of flooding that occurs inland. For the wall, a 1 percent tax on sales might cover the costs of such a project.
Staci’s experience was more personal Her father was a citizen of Reynosa who had worked with the Governor of Tamaulipas, Francisco Cabeza de Vaca. Not coincidentally, the session that she most liked was the “Trump and Mexico,” where Governor Cabeza De Vaca, Antonio Garza (former ambassador of the U.S to Mexico), Victoria Escobar (El Paso County Judge), Congressman Henry Cuéllar, and Sid Miller (Texas Agriculture Commissioner) discussed hot topics such as NAFTA, DACA, the wall, and more.
The panel underscored the importance of having a trade deal with neighboring countries (NAFTA) and the number of people depending on such a deal for jobs.
The panel offered some unexpected humor…
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…and interesting information.
Being a resident of McAllen and a neighbor to Reynosa, Tamaulipas it was a pleasure being able to meet Cabeza De Vaca and learn so much about a topic so close to home.
Of course, it helped that Governor Cabeza de Vaca was also very nice!
Brian, Karla, and Beatriz all shared that their favorite session was the “One on One with Speaker Strauss.” We were lucky enough to get to sit in second row and be right in front of the action.
As he was interviewed by The Texas Tribune’s Evan Smith, Speaker Strauss gave his take on the success of the 85th session, his opinion on his opposing candidate for House Speaker, and other matters concerning Texas politics. Karla was very excited because once it was over, a few of us were able to go up to the stage and shake Speaker Straus’s hand!
Christina was also impressed to learn that Straus had worked two presidential campaigns to start his political career. However, her favorite session was the one dealing with “Big City Economics.” It dealt with how much legislation has changed the economic procedures. There she was able to learn how pensions affected the city of San Antonio who actually have one of the best pension systems in the state. Also, El Paso, San Antonio, and Fort Worth all gave their pitch as to why Amazon should put their headquarters in the city they govern. She was fortunate to meet Bill Hamilton who is the president of the Retired State Employee Association. He told me that he was excited for the 86th session and wanted to hope for a lot of changes to the retirement plans.
Last of all, Kaitlyn liked the session dealing with Higher Education where members of the Texas Legislature recapped the past legislative session, discussed the funding of higher education, and some of the controversy behind passing a budget. The speakers included former Representative Dan Branch, Senator Kel Seliger, UH Provost Paula Short, and Chancellor Brenda Hellyer. The panel was especially important to Kaitlyn, inasmuch as she is the TSUS Student Regent. At the Texas Tribune Festival, she also happened to cross into Annie Jones, the Student Representative for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. They had previously met over the summer at a Student Regent Forum. It was great that they saw each other and were able to discuss some of the panels together.
Dining at TTF
With such a busy day, we needed fuel. For lunch, we were able to choose from various local Austin food trucks.
At the end of the day, we went to one of our Austin favorites, Kerbey Lane Cafe. It filled us up and let us wind down after a long day.
Skyspace
Also helping us wind down was James Turrell’s “Skyspace,” which is part of UT campus’s “Landmarks” program. For many of us, it was our first experience with a “Skyspace,” and it was a relaxing delight!
The hour-long program offered an almost endless variety of colors to relax…
It was exciting for all of the LEAP Ambassadors to be back in Austin again. Even though we were here for the Texas Tribune Festival, we still had so many fond memories of our adventures, friends, and learning opportunities made while working at the Capitol. It was a place that had taught us about politics, the legislative process, and of course the great state of Texas.
After a summer away from the capitol, we decided to visit some old friends, co-workers and possibly even future job opportunities. A lot had changed since we had been gone, especially us. As we stepped into rotunda, we were no longer the inexperienced interns, but hardened veterans yearning for more.
And yet some things had stayed the same. All of our Legislative Session coworkers happily greeted us back into our old offices. There are many of the LEAP Ambassadors who hope to work in the Capitol again, and it was nice to re-acquaint ourselves with friends. This is even more important this year because Professor Yawn will get to watch 7 out of the 9 ambassadors walk the stage (he’s sad to see us go even if he won’t admit it) and LEAP into our futures!
One new thing, though, is that we ran into Karl Rove while in the Capitol!
For political junkies, it was a real treat, one that would be bookended by seeing Senator Al Franken later in the evening.
Lunch at Leaf
Lunch was in a healthy, green restaurant called Leaf, which specializes in making made-to-order giant bowls of salads. Most of their produce is local and their portion size is huge! We were all happy to be able to go there because we had heard many great reviews of this restaurant and it sure did not disappoint. We left with great big smiles on our faces and recharged to continue with our day.
Time with Art, Part 1
After a quick trip to our hotel rooms to freshen up and change into more comfortable clothes, we headed to see some wonderful art by artist Daniel Arredondo. Mr. Arredondo grew up in East Austin and always knew he wanted to be an artist. Now, he fulfills his dream by telling his interesting, and sometimes personal, stories through his artwork. Many of his paintings show landscapes, but the recurring motif of his pieces is “Beneath the Surface”.
He explained this with an example of his trees and how the roots of trees represent the places where we come from and how the darker spots beneath the surfaces are our most treasured secrets. Just recently, he began a new project. For many years, he collected cigar boxes until he accumulated over a thousand of them! He decided to repurpose these boxes by painting on the bottom part.
Amazed by all the wonderful and unique art, we appreciated every piece in his studio. Later, he surprised us by asking us to pick our favorite small painting as a small gift to us. It was such a wonderful gesture that we treasured. Some ambassadors purchased additional paintings. Mr. Arredondo was so hospitable and cheerful.
We certainly enjoyed his studio, his art, and the interesting conversations!
Time with Art, Part 2
Mr. Arredondo had previously informed other artists in the building that we would be dropping by, and each artist and art dealer welcomed us.
It was exciting to see the developing stages of a print and to compare each step with the finished product.
Just down the hallway, Gallery Shoal Creek Art Gallery displayed beautiful artwork as well. Ranging from Japanese influenced art to contemporary collages; my favorites were vintage books transformed into art. The artist Karen Hawkins expanded the book’s physical properties by manipulating, folding, cutting, and designing each book into a work of art. Each piece was intricately designed and unique.
In the same building, Austin Books Arts Center was a fun find for the LEAP Ambassadors. We learned how to use a book press, about the classes the books center offers, and the other workshop services the Center offers. We only wish we would have discovered it during our Austin Internships. One of the volunteers was even nice enough to give us a brief tour of the studio before taking a selfie with us.
Al Franken
Excited to begin our Tribune Festival adventure, we attended the opening keynote “One on One with Al Franken” that focused on his latest book, “Al Franken: Giant of the Senate.” We navigated through the UT Campus to find the Hogg Memorial Auditorium. But as we neared our first event’s location, a chill of fear ran through our skin. Although the line on the entrance was small, festival staff stood at the doorway menacingly assigning numbers to those entering: 12, 13, 14. Professor Yawn enters the door way. 15, 16, 17. Most of the group is in, but not Kaitlyn. 18. She’s in now. 19. 20! That is it! No more admission!
The conversation between the Tribunes’ Evan Smith and Senator Franken was filled with amusing anecdotes and political commentary that made for an interesting session.
As to be expected, the Saturday-Night-Live-writer-turned-senator knew how to captivate his audience’s attention. Going through the comedic highlights of his book, Senator Franken commented on the nation’s political atmosphere.
Knowing his audience well, he knew exactly which political figures to bring into the conversation, and most importantly, which to direct his jokes at.
The session soon ended and we joined the throng of exiting festival guests. After regrouping with the rest of the group who had just arrived from Huntsville (Staci, Victoria, and Chase), we decided to visit some of the Festival’s first day attractions at the Opening Night Party.
Dinner at the Clay Pit
After the Friday group joined us in town we headed to dinner to one of our favorite restaurants, Clay Pit.
It was not our first time at Clay Pit (except for Chase) and while we waited to be seated, everyone had already picked what they wanted to eat for dinner. The restaurant is known for its delicious traditional Indian food, and for appetizers we ordered variety of Naan with a side of hummus. I had the Goan Yellow Curry, Karla and Chase shared Lamb Rogenjosh, and Beatriz and Christina shared the Mughali Chicken, to name just a few.
After planning for our second day and a late dinner we headed back to the hotel to get some rest before our second day at the Texas Tribune Festival.
The LEAP Ambassadors are hosting journalist James Reston, Jr. this week. In the spirit of the LEAP’s interdisciplinary mission, Reston will speak to Dr. Melissa Mednicov’s “Modern Art” class, to an audience at Brazos Bookstore (in Houston), to a group of students in a studio production, and at our heART of Huntsville program.
His appearance is timed with the release of his latest book, “A Rift in the Earth,” which the New York Times called “superb” and Ken Burns called “extraordinary.” The book addresses the aftermath of the Vietnam War and the controversy over Maya Lin’s Vietnam War Memorial Wall.
Prior to his main events on campus, he enjoyed a dinner with the LEAP Ambassadors at 1836…
…where he discussed his cameo in “Frost/Nixon,” which was based on his book, his work on Jim Jones and the Jonestown Massacre, and other interesting topics.
*Tapping Gavel* “I’d like to call this meeting of the Huntsville City Council to order,” Mayor Kaitlyn Tyra states as she addresses the other people across the city hall room. You may be wondering, when did Kaitlyn become the mayor of Huntsville? Well, she didn’t, not officially. But in the Mock City Council that the LEAP ambassadors host annually, there is no other person that could fit the role better.
The Mock City Council meeting is held once a year at City Hall to help the LEAP Ambassadors (and other students) understand how an official government meeting is conducted, the parliamentary procedures in place to maintain the order, the outline of documents such as city ordinances, and the many other aspects of a City Hall meeting.
All participants had a variety of roles to play, from angry Huntsvillians…
…to the Cultural Arts Director, and of course the Mayor. We conducted the meeting as close to the original as possible. And while Professor Yawn and Stephanie had to interject a few times for teaching opportunities, the LEAP Ambassadors and fellow students conducted the mock city council well.
The primary proposal being discussed was the Ordinance No. 2017-49. This ordinance would authorize the city to enact a “penny for arts” program which stipulated that for every $100 property valuation, 1 penny would be invested into art and cultural enhancements in the city for the fiscal year 2017-2018. Upon authorization, the ordinance would require these funds to be set aside in public art, public art programming, arts or cultural related tourism, or in the Wynne Home Arts Center. It would raise a revenue of $123,000 per year that could be dedicated to this project. (Please note, this is a made-up proposal, designed simply because of the students’ familiarity with the Wynne Home and the fact that other cities have similar programs).
Of course, this topic was a very interesting proposal with two previous Wynne Home interns acting as councilmembers and one as the Cultural Arts Director. There were also two angry citizens that spoke against the utilization of funds, pointing out that we should use the money for restoration purposes after Hurricane Harvey. The Councilmembers represented Huntsville well by asking many questions (even parliamentary ones) to figure out the best way to vote in order to better represent their people. After much debate, which took some time since everyone got immersed in their roles, the council voted to table the ordinance due to a divided councilmember board.
The LEAP Ambassadors and fellow students enjoyed conducting the Mock City Council at Huntsville’s City Hall and learned a lot. They all look forward to applying their knowledge in a real Mock City Council meeting and represent Huntsville in that manner.
With an initial rocky start of forgetting to pick up Brian from Willis, and having to turn back at Conroe which caused a delay of 25 minutes to our trip, we finally headed for Big Bend. To mark the first day of our West Texas Tour, we joined Mark Burns in Houston’s Hermann Park. What brings us to Hermann Park when our destination is Big Bend Canyon, you ask? In the middle of the entrance rotunda of the park, as some may remember from our previous Hermann Park visit, stands a statue of a horse-mounted General Sam Houston (created by Enrico Carracchio) that greets all visitors into the park.
To honor the statue of this great Texas hero, Mr. Burns decided to photograph its grandeur.
Standing a few feet behind the camera-wielding Burns, we captured his photographic process through still and motion photography.
This we will do along the trip as we continue to record Mr. Burns at his craft for his documentary.
During his photo session, he explained to us how he framed the shot, pointing out different factors in the scene that could beautify his subject.
He also mentioned how he was waiting for the perfect lighting conditions in the cloudy sky.
After a few shots, we cleared the area, but not before taking some striking footage of Mark Burns. Mr. Burns soon finished his photoshoot in Hermann Park, and after showing some of his impressive photographic instruments, we climbed into our vans and headed towards San Antonio.
Along the way, however, we decided to soothe our grumbling stomachs with a short stop in Columbus, Texas. This quiet, quaint town, located about an hour west of Houston, is home to Keyser Market. Among other things, it is also home to an architecturally impressive courthouse. Even though we were unable to explore much of the town, we did enjoy a delicious sausage and chicken meal from Keyser. With our hunger satisfied, we got back on the road.
Soon, the country-land of vast pastures gave way to a network of highways; we had made it into San Antonio. On our first stop was the McNay Art Museum, located on the northeastern side of town.
Before we began our trip, we learned that the McNay had recently acquired a Robert Indiana LOVE sculpture. Excited, we entered the museum with the plan to pose by this LEAP favorite artwork. But more on that later.
As always, we went through the museum’s exhibits identifying artists that we were familiar with. In the first room of artworks we were amazed with an art piece by Alexander Calder. Snake on a Table, is a bronze, snake-like sculpture designed by Calder that balances on a table top while standing upright. The physics that makes this possible are incomprehensible to us as the snake balanced precariously on the edge of the round table. Nonetheless, the beauty in balance was just as inspiring. In the room, we also noticed pieces from other LEAP favorites such as Georgia O’Keeffe, Edward Hopper, and Diego Rivera.
We also saw work by a recent LEAP favorite, Jim Love…
…a Houston artist introduced to us by Betty Moody.
Moving on to the next room, we noticed two Pablo Picassos, Crouching Woman and Portrait of Sylvette. Acknowledging the impressive pieces, we decided to commemorate the artworks by LEAPosing for a photograph.
Every artwork had its own beauty, but the two that called our attention were a Pablo Picasso from his “blue period” and a non-minimalist Piet Mondrian. These artworks that differed immensely from their typical paintings, demonstrated the versatility of the artists. As LEAP offers eclectic opportunities to its students, we like to think that we are also versatile. Weather our varying talents include photography, you will have to judge our photos throughout the trip to answer this question.
In the meantime, we continued to explore the museum’s awe-inspiring collection. Before heading off to the sculpture garden on the grounds, we took a quick look at the south-western exhibit. We found the warm colors in the pieces to be soothing. Within the exhibit, we also marveled at a few artworks by Georgia O’Keeffe.
With the indoors artwork all viewed, we wondered onto the sculpture garden in search of LOVE, or at least Robert Indiana’s sculpture of LOVE. We explored the grounds and noticed some impressive sculptures that captivated our imagination. One sculpture by Joel Shapiro captured our attention with its gravity-defying qualities. However, we still had not found the sculpture that prompted our visit to the museum. It was with great dismay that after walking through the entire garden and coming back to where we started, we found a rectangular cover made up of panels. With trepidation, we neared the plaque at the foot of the enclosure. The plaque read “Robert Indiana, LOVE.” We learned that the museum is in the process of installing a new exhibit. To prevent certain sculptures from being damaged during the installation, some outdoor artworks had been covered, consequently denying the view of the public. With sadness, and feeling little love, we still posed in front of the covered sculpture with the determination to leave with a photo.
LEAP Ambassadors, Saddened by the McNay’s Presentation of Robert Indiana’s “LOVE”
As we were sure that no one was left behind (including Brian), we climbed into our van, eager to continue our adventure.
The Alamo, The Saga, and Mi Tierra, by Christina
After exploring some San Antonio art and scouting out potential photography areas–including the Alam0…
…we headed to dinner at the Mi Tierra Cafe y Panaderia. Since there were many Hispanic/Mexican among the group, we wanted to make it as authentic as possible. That is how we ended up in the Mexican Historic Downtown Market. As we walked into Mi Tierra, we could see colorful piñatas hanging from the ceiling and with each room that we passed the walls differed in colors. It was hard to decide on what to eat because everything sounded delicious. Brian ordered The Sonora Special, which included beef tips with ranchero salsa smothered on top. Brian is (or so he likes to think) our authentic Mexican food specialist. The others chose a wide variety of Mexican dishes including the Mole and guisado. While we waited for the food, we even had some mariachi sing the “Caminos of Guanajuato”, For dessert, we all shared some exquisite flan and it was scrumptious!
After dinner, we arrived at the San Fernando cathedral for “The Saga”, which is a light show that electrified the audience with its mesmerizing scenes. It told the story of San Antonio from the Alamo to the present day. To accompany the lights in the storytelling, there was also a collage of songs to represent the different changes of time.
The show lasted about 25 minutes. We decided to walk off our food and since Beatriz had never been to the river walk, we decided to take a stroll along the river walk. Finally, after getting lost a couple of times, we headed back home for some rest and to get ready for the early start tomorrow.
Center for Law, Engagement, and Politics 