The LEAP Ambassadors enjoyed a six-day tour of the East Coast as part of their “Democracy Tour.” During this tour, the students had a chance to visit more than half a dozen art museums, James Beard award winning restaurants, and many historic sites. What follows is their favorites from their experiences.
Favorite Restaurants:
Lehja’s in Richmond received the most votes, with all of the food receiving high marks from the diners. The James Beard nominations appear justified!
Casa Mexico in Philadelphia was a hit among the students, with the barbacoa being particularly popular. This was an altogether pleasant dining experience in an interesting and busy neighborhood in Philadelphia. Chef Christina Martinez was named “Best Chef” in the mid-Atlantic region in 2022 by the James Beard Foundation.
Metzger’s Bar and Butchery was perhaps the most interesting and innovative of the restaurants we visited. While the pork schnitzel was the favorite entree, the “squash sundae,” was the favorite dessert and the biggest surprise.
Ambassadors also found favorites in Katz’s Deli in New York, a restaurant world-famous for its pastrami.
And, of course, we also enjoyed Jim’s South St., which specializes in Philly Cheesesteaks.
FavoriteArt Museum: Olivia and Chrissy visited four art museums in New York, and they split on their favorite, with Chrissy favoring The Whitney…
…while Olivia resisted picking a favorite and, instead, picked a top two: The Met and MOMA. She did, however, have a favorite: The Lovers.
Although smaller and less heralded than its New York and Philadelphia counterparts, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts was one of the clear favorites among the group.
The favorites of the group reflected the diversity of the art in the Museum’s collection.
Of course, the most famous paintings among the NY, Philadelphia, and VA museums were also popular among the Ambassadors.
Finally, the group also greatly enjoyed seeing Philadelphia City Hall, the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and the Virginia Capitol Building. For Cinthia, Olivia, and Michelle, it marked the third–the complete collection–of extant Jefferson designs in the world.
While the Ambassadors are always happy to get back to Huntsville and SHSU (or, this semester, Austin and SHSU), they left the east coast with a lot of memories, new-found knowledge, and much nostalgia.
After every trip, LEAP Ambassadors independently arrive at their favorite stops along the way, and then compare notes. This not only provides some reflection, but also gives others who might be traveling in this direction some tips for stops they might make in this area (New England).
Our first category is Art Museums. The students visited seven art Museums: MOMA (NYC), Whitney (NYC), the Met (NYC), Mass MOCA (North Adams, MA), Norman Rockwell Museum (Stockbridge, MA), Wadsworth Museum (Hartford, CT), Rhode Island School of Design (Providence, RI), Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, MA).
The favorites were….
3. Norman Rockwell (Stockbridge, MA): This was a fun Museum, and it came at just the right time. After five or six Museums focusing on Modern Art, the Rockwell Museum offered a traditional and nostalgic at American Art. In addition to seeing his famous pieces that you expected to see, there are pieces that you forgot you knew, and pieces that were a bit unusual for him. Our favorite was probably “The New Kids…”
One of the nice things about the Museum is the informative docents, who provided excellent commentary on the life of Rockwell and the story behind his paintings. Also of interest is that many of Rockwell’s models stop by the Museum to discuss posing for his iconic artworks.
2. Mass MOCA (North Adams, MA): Undoubtedly, the reason this was a favorite was the nine James Turrell pieces at the Museum. They were amazing. We’ve been to Turrell’s Skyspaces, as well as some of his light-related art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, but these were more interactive and diverse. Unfortunately, photos were mostly prohibited, but all of his pieces were interesting, and “Perfectly Clear” was amazing and, not surprisingly, was the group’s consensus for favorite art piece.
Museum of Modern Art (NYC): This Museum had the typical representation of art by major artists, including Pollock, Degas, Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet, and the like. But what separated this for us was the major pieces that the Museum displays by these artists. A lot of us don’t know much about art, so when we see a piece we know, we get that it must be a really famous piece!
And no one can argue against “Starry Night” or “Persistence of Memory…”
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Our second category is Historical Sites. We saw a lot of history: The United Nations, Lizzie Borden’s Home, two Presidential Libraries (JFK and FDR), a Presidential home place (TR), the 9-11 Museum, Boston’s Freedom Walk, the Brooklyn Bridge, Mark Twain’s House, Walden Pond, the New York Public Library, and Plymouth Rock. We didn’t have a lot of consensus on this, but by our voting rules, the top three were:
Honorable Mention: The Brooklyn Bridge. This wasn’t explicitly voted in the top three, but we got together before the trip and watched a Ken Burns’ documentary on the Bridge, which was very interesting.
3. Freedom Walk in Boston: This took a while to get through (getting around Boston wasn’t that easy for us), but we enjoyed seeing the historical sites, such as Samuel Adams’ grave and Paul Revere’s House. Afterward, we stopped at Cheers, which is near–but obviously not on–the Freedom Trail.
2. The United Nations. This was our first stop, and we got a good mix of Human Rights, politics, and even art.
Our favorite historical site was the 9-11 Museum. While too young to remember 9-11, we certainly knew of it, but this Museum brings it to a very personal and emotional level.
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Our third category was state capitol buildings, of which we saw four: Albany, NY; Hartford, CT; Providence, RI; and Boston, MA.
Coming in at second was Providence, RI, largely because of our tour guide, Liam. He is a History major at a nearby University, and he brought energy, enthusiasm, and knowledge to the tour.
Throw in a beautiful building, and you’ve got a wonderful time.
Our top Capitol was the NY Capitol Building in Albany. We also had a good tour guide here, and the building was super impressive. And numerous of the governors had become president or a presidential candidate, which added to the historic ambiance.
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Our next category was “favorite restaurant.” Our goal was mostly to eat in affordable places and to eat quickly, so that we could see more sites. But we can recommend the following:
Eisenburg’s Deli: Old-school Jewish deli in New York City.
Providence Oyster Bar: Good seafood in Providence, Rhode Island.
Maurice’s Pearl Street Deli: Another strong deli, this time in Albany, NY.
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Finally, we had two favorite miscellaneous activities. We enjoyed tubing near Concord, MA….
And, of course, we loved the musical “Chicago” on Broadway.
We definitely believe we got the most out of our trip, seeing thousands of pieces of art; architectural wonders; dozens of historical sites relating to politics, civil rights, and literature; as well as having the opportunity to meet interesting people and, we hope, represent SHSU well in the process.
Brian Aldaco is a freshman at SHSU who spent the last month in upstate New York working on a congressional campaign. For a student who hadn’t spent much time outside of his home state, it was a great window into the world of politics and the opportunities of travel.
This blog entry is his second addressing the campaign work he did in June 2016.
As the culmination of the New York District 19 Republican Primary drew near, campaign volunteers were tasked to muster up every single ounce of energy to go through our block walking assignments and ensure a Heaney victory. As before, this included going to the various towns and villages of the district; from the Hudson Valley and through Catskill Mountains we marched from house to house in hopes of being heard.
Additionally, as a means to operate more effectively, we were relocated to a country home in the candidate’s home town of Millbrook. With creaking wooden floors, book shelves filled with literature, and antique house decorations, we could get a feel for the home’s historic spirit. This also allowed us to experience the region’s house culture, which is replete with historic homes. In fact, it’s not uncommon to see the year the home was built on or near the doors of the homes, with many of the years dating back to the 19th century.
Two days before the election we came together to phone bank. This tedious process included being placed on a call queue, waiting for a voter to answer, and hope that the prospective voter doesn’t hang up or yell at you. Although these were common responses, we continued to call, ever eager to reach out to voters. On Monday, alone, we were able to reach 1,600 voters.
As dawn broke on June 28, we awoke with a sense of excitement. Finally, the day we had all been working for had come. Finally, our month-long work was about to pay off, to hopefully gain a victory. With these high hopes, we drove 45 minutes to campaign headquarters, in Hyde Park.
Inside the office, decorated with pictures of Winston Churchill and FDR, we were tasked with completing phone banks. Thus began one of the most extensive endeavors in which I had ever participated. By this time, the voters had begun to tire of the frequent calls from candidates’ staffs, and they let us know it–loudly and frequently. The day progressed, and an assignment of 500 calls morphed into an assignment of 600 calls, then 1,000. Collectively, we became a calling machine, reaching more than 20,000 voters in a two-day period.
At 7:30, with a sore, throbbing ear and exhausted vocal cords, I regrouped with the volunteers, Joe Williams, and Campaign Manager David O’Connell for one last briefing. It had all come to a close; there was no more we could do but wait for the polling results and head on over to Mr. Heaney’s viewing party.
As we crossed the threshold of the bar and grill we stepped into an assembly of celebrating campaign sympathizers and friends. No matter what the polling results would yield, we had all worked just as hard, the campaign had become our purpose, every single door we had knocked and number we had dialed, we did so as to ensure Mr. Heaney’s victory. For a month we had become the campaign and on that night it would end.
As the Congressional District 19’s results were posted it was evident that our candidate was not receiving the support it needed to win the primary. After the majority of precincts reported the results, it was clear that Mr. Heaney would not make it to the general election.
Nonetheless, we all held our head high with pride. For the volunteers, it was the first time we had worked in such an extensive campaign. Even though I was not able to see my candidate win the primary, I was just as grateful for being part of his efforts. We all learned an extensive amount of the political world that we could not learned anywhere else. For that reason alone I am grateful to Grassroots Consultant Joe Williams, Campaign Manager David O’Connell, and Mr. Andrew Heaney.
Center for Law, Engagement, and Politics 