Segway Tour – Center for Law, Engagement, and Politics

Favorites from NOLA

After each trip, the LEAP Ambassadors break down their favorites from the experience. And so they did on the NOLA trip, with the following results.

Favorite Restaurants:
1) Napoleon House: This is primarily a sandwich shop, and the students were very much impressed with the muffaletas.

SHSU, LEAP Center, LEAP Ambassadors, NOLA, New Orleans Louisiana, Napoleon House

2) Oceana: This is the most “Chilis” like of our New Orleans dining places, so it’s little wonder it was most liked by Makayla and Maggie. In fairness, it does have a solid and diverse menu, giving people a choice of diverse New Orleans food.

SHSU, LEAP Center, LEAP Ambassadors, NOLA, New Orleans Louisiana, Oceana Grill

3) Elizabeth’s: Tied for second was Elizabeth’s, a truly original New Orleans joint, with praline bacon a highlight.

SHSU, LEAP Center, LEAP Ambassadors, NOLA, New Orleans, Elizabeth's

Favorite Food:
1. The Muffaleta: The New Orleans’ invention, the Muffaleta, wins the day!

Favorite Museums:

Ogden Museum of Southern Art: This museum was favored by Ryan and Ilexus.

SHSU, LEAP Center, LEAP Ambassadors, NOLA, New Orleans Louisiana, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, James Surls

World War II Museum: This was actually tied for first place, with Makayla and Maggie naming it as their favorite. Interestingly, Makayla and Maggie most enjoyed the interactive exhibits. Ryan, on the other hand, thought it was better the last time he visited, when they had more artifacts and commentary, and fewer interactive aspects.

SHSU, LEAP Center, LEAP Ambassadors, NOLA, New Orleans Louisiana, WWII Museum

Favorite Art Pieces:

There wasn’t a lot of consensus on the art, but some standouts included:

Benny Andrews: A black artist whose style was vaguely reminiscent of the Regionalists, with a strong emphasis on the African-American experience.

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2. Courtney Egan: Virtual Idyllis

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3. James Surls: And, of course, we always enjoy seeing James Surls’ work!

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Favorite Activity:

There was a tie in the favorite activity department, with two students liking the Segway Tour…

SHSU, LEAP Center, LEAP Ambassadors, NOLA, New Orleans Louisiana, Segway Tour

…and two students most enjoying their scavenger hunt.

SHSU, LEAP Center, LEAP Ambassadors, NOLA, New Orleans

There was also general agreement that this was one of the most fun LEAP trips, with many interesting sites…

SHSU, LEAP Center, LEAP Ambassadors, Jackson Square, NOLA, St Louis Cathedral

…and sightings…

SHSU, LEAP Center, LEAP Ambassadors, NOLA, New Orleans Louisiana, Red Dress Race

Fort Worth, TCMA, Food, and JFK

June 29, 2019

Esmeralda Mata & Miranda Estrada

TCMA Session: Inaugural University Competition – Managing Today for Tomorrow (a.k.a. “College Bowl”)

Conference “Day 2” started with the Inaugural University Competition. The “College Bowl” Tournament was comprised of teams from universities with Masters of Public Administration (“MPA”) and Masters in Public Policy (“MPP”) programs, including: The University of Texas at San Antonio, St Mary’s University, The University of North Texas, The University of Texas, Texas State University, Texas A&M University, and The University of Texas at Dallas. These MPA/MPP students started work towards becoming the First College Bowl Tournament Champion months ago by engaging in various activities: (1) a community-service project, (2) a research component; and then (3) by earning points on Conference “Day One” by networking and connecting with professionals before and after the sessions.

The final portion of the competition, the “College Bowl,” started with a spirit contest for each university.

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Following that, each university team selected five students to compete in a series of game-show styled events. The first event, “Jeopardy”…

SHSU, LEAP Center, LEAP Ambassadors, Texas City Managers Association, TCMA, College Bowl

…included questions about categories such as: City Manager, Economic Development, Human Resources, Planning, and Budget & Taxes.

SHSU, LEAP Center, LEAP Ambassadors, Texas City Managers Association, TCMA, College Bowl

Then, the teams with the two highest points (UNT and UTSA) played “Family Feud” to determine the winner.

SHSU, LEAP Center, LEAP Ambassadors, Texas City Managers Association, TCMA, College Bowl

To gather responses for Family Feud, TCMA surveyed 100 City Managers with questions ranging from “What should you not touch in an office?” to “What game should never be played at the office?”

SHSU, LEAP Center, LEAP Ambassadors, Texas City Managers Association, TCMA, College Bowl

In the end, UNT won the tournament and became the first ever TCMA College Bowl Champions.

SHSU, LEAP Center, LEAP Ambassadors, Texas City Managers Association, TCMA, College Bowl

It was inspiring to watch the process unfold – so inspiring that we are started making plans for next year – for Sam Houston to put together a highly competitive team.

TCMA Session: Ethics

From watching the fun of the College Bowl unfold, we moved back to the TCMA’s regular programming. The Ethics session was presented by Julie Couch (City Manager, Fairview); Paul Hoffman (City Manager, City of Bellaire), and Nicholas Finan, TCMA Ethics Chair and Executive Director of Management Services, City of Texas City.

Mr. Finan had an engaging assignment with the audience through a questionnaire. Most questions were directed for members of the TCMA, but I enjoyed learning much about the ethics of city management in particular. While a member of TCMA, you cannot endorse anyone for public office, run for public office, or, of course, take substantive gifts of free services.

We also learned ways to create an ethical culture within an organization through implementing and incorporating values, ethics training, and written policies and procedures, working directly with vendors and organizations, having an employee commitment statement, and conducting roundtables. Employees’ actions impact and reflect the organization and both employees and the organization benefit from learning to be ethical, or people of strong character.

Fort Worth Segway Tour (Nation Tours)

In the early evening we had the opportunity to tour Fort Worth – on a Segway. As we approached the building where we would start our Segway tour, I was nervous. (Well, we both were!) Sure enough, Esmie struggled a bit with turns and balance during the trial run….

SHSU, LEAP Center, LEAP Ambassadors, Fort Worth, Segway Nation Fort Worth, Esmeralda Mata

…but she soon got the hang of it and began enjoying it!

SHSU, LEAP Center, LEAP Ambassadors, Fort Worth, Segway Nation Fort Worth, Esmeralda Mata

For Miranda, fear a bit more palpable…

SHSU, LEAP Center, LEAP Ambassadors, Fort Worth, Segway Nation Fort Worth, MIranda Estrada

..but she too got comfortable and enjoyed the tour.

“Team Mom” Stephanie joined us…

SHSU, LEAP Center, LEAP Ambassadors, Fort Worth, Segway Nation Fort Worth

…as did Huntsville City Manager Aron Kulhavy…

SHSU, LEAP Center, LEAP Ambassadors, Fort Worth, Segway Nation Fort Worth, Aron Kulhavy

Although it was distracting to listen while trying to get comfortable at first, by the end of the tour, we both felt like champions for not falling off or getting injured (well, “no bloody kneecaps!”). And Tour Guide Jimmy was good – patient and helpful in getting us up to speed on the Segway, and then with stops on the tour.

The tour began with Fort Worth’s Tarrant County Courthouse.

SHSU, LEAP Center, LEAP Ambassadors, Fort Worth, Segway Nation Fort Worth, Aron Kulhavy, Miranda Estrada, Esmeralda Mata

There we learned the origin of Fort Worth and more about the early days of the city. Through the beginning of the tour we were able to see historic buildings like the city’s first fire station (currently a yoga studio, and so small, Jimmy explained, because the 1900s horse-drawn fire trucks were much smaller than our current motorized ladder trucks)…

SHSU, LEAP Center, LEAP Ambassadors, Fort Worth, Segway Nation Fort Worth

…the building where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were photographed, Bass Performance Hall…

SHSU, LEAP Center, LEAP Ambassadors, Fort Worth, Segway Nation Fort Worth, Bass Performance Hall

…and others. Esmie was most intrigued by the antique AMC theater—AMC theaters are much modernized today, but more atttractive. Jimmy informed us that it was the 9th AMC theater to be built.

The Flatiron Building stood out the most, though, because of its unique “flatiron” structure. The inspired design for the building was Manhattan’s Flatiron building, in which William Jenkins Worth—after whom Fort Worth was named—was buried in the basement. The Fort Worth Flatiron Building was one of the first steel-framed buildings and one of the tallest commercial buildings in north Texas is the early 1900s, even though three stories were cut from the building due to budgetary constraints.

The Flatiron Building, along with other areas dotted around downtown, has the presence of a panther. Jimmy explained that Fort Worth is known as “Panther City” after the indigenous animal was spotted sleeping in the streets of downtown, back in the day.

SHSU, LEAP Center, LEAP Ambassadors, Fort Worth, Panther

The panther is a symbol of hope and strength that remains today as part of Fort Worth’s history.

Finally, we had a chance to visit the JFK Statue that is, incidentally, just across from our hotel. As it turns out, JFK stayed at our hotel in November 1963, the night before he was assassinated in Dallas. The hotel (Hilton Fort Worth) not only has numerous JFK-related memorabilia inside, but also the memorial outside.

SHSU, LEAP Center, LEAP Ambassadors, Fort Worth, JFK Statue, Segway Nation

For students majoring in Political Science (as well as MCOM and CRIJ–we are double majors), it was a fitting and interesting end to the tour.

Bird Café

For dinner we visited Bird Cafe in Fort Worth’s downtown Sundance Square. Our appetizers included Smoked Pimento Cheese, House Made Hummus, and Roasted Bone Marrow.

SHSU, LEAP Center, LEAP Ambassadors, Fort Worth, Bird Cafe

We shared entrees Shrimp & Homestead Grits and Duck and Dumplings. The diablo shrimp and jalapeno gravy packed a pleasant, spicy taste. The duck was very tender, and the dumplings had a savory delicious flavor to them. We finished off dinner with blueberry bread pudding and peach cobbler.

SHSU, LEAP Center, LEAP Ambassadors, Fort Worth, Bird Cafe

After dinner we walked around Sundance Square and downtown Fort Worth. Our favorite part was re-seeing some of our favorite stops on the Segway tour like the Bass Performance Hall and the historic AMC theatre illuminated in the evening.

Coby and Kevin’s Excellent Hill-Country Adventure

Saturday, we began our day with a drive from the state capital to Johnson City, Texas to visit the boyhood home of former President Lyndon B. Johnson. The home sits in a National Park in Johnson’s name and encompasses a good portion of the area. The home was modest looking but was a nice home for the early twentieth century. Created in the style of a “dog-trot” home, the house was well furnished and equipped with the newest technology and modern conveniences of the time: telephone, running water, and expensive furniture uncommon in households of the 1920s-30s.

Our group was fascinated with one of Mrs. Johnson’s key teaching tools, a Charles Allen Gilbert work titled, “All is Vanity.” This piece is an illusion she used to teach her pupils to look beyond the surface and see what’s really there, a lesson not lost on LBJ the politician.

"All is Vanity," by Charles Allan Gilbert — “All is Vanity,” by Charles Allan Gilbert

Once our tour of the home was over, we loaded up and went to find the “Texas White House,” the Johnson family-owned ranch used by President Johnson during his tenure in the White House. Johnson spent 25% percent of his presidency at the ranch working with staff and officials on policy issues. Of note, the parking lot had been converted from a runway President Johnson used for his Lockheed VC-140 jet, jokingly called “Air Force One Half” due to its smaller size.

The house itself progressed over time. The original one-room home was made of native limestone, but was steadily expanded throughout the Johnsons’ ownership. They had an array of art and artifacts including a letter from Texas President Sam Houston to one of the Johnson’s ancestors. Intriguingly, it was written from Huntsville, Texas. Unfortunately, photos were not allowed in the home, so we could not document the letter.

Other interesting features of the home included evidence of President Johnson’s obsession with information. In both the living room and the bedroom, Johnson had three televisions set up, one for each network. He even ensured that his seat in the dining room had a direct line to the televisions in the living room. Lady Bird Johnson was said to only have control of one TV, in her sitting room, to watch her favorite western show, “Gunsmoke.” On the other hand, she got the best bedroom, so perhaps it was a draw. It was neat to see how the Johnsons lived while in Texas and to see the surroundings in which much domestic and foreign policy was discussed.

Once we finished our tour of the home, we ate lunch at East Main Grill in Johnson City, choosing from a selection of sandwiches. We used this time to discuss what he had learned that morning and what we were going to do for the rest of the day, as well as a short rest before hitting the road again!

At the entrance to the Benini Studio and Sculpture Ranch we were greeted at the gate by the awe-inspiring “Marathon,” a massive Texas longhorn designed with three types of steel.

Marathon, by B.H. Turner (Photo by Kenneth Voight) — Marathon, by B.H. Turner (Photo, K. Voight)

This sculpture was a true indication of what to expect. The six-mile trek to Benini’s actual studio was in itself an adventure, winding through Texas hill country, passing various sculptures. One included parts of a Walgreens’ sign entitled “He Kept Telling His God ‘Give Me A Sign’.” At the studio we were greeted by Lorraine Benini, the artist’s wife and business partner, who was a gracious hostess.

After a quick overview of the workings of the 140-acre property, she let us explore the art gallery at our leisure.

A recurring theme in Benini’s work, predominantly his sculptures, was exploiting available materials and transforming it to art, an object to prompt conversation and unveil the object’s true meaning.

Benini was kind enough to give us insight in to his work process and also offer a few wise words. He explained that his art was “controlled chaos,” but he truly prided himself with his “masterful and unique” ability to mix colors unlike any other artist.

One of the lessons that really hit home was his suggestion that life, like artistic inspiration, will force you to adapt, and accepting that fact will serve you well—whether as an artist in the Hill Country or as a legislator in the Texas Capitol.

A quick fifty-five mile drive later we found ourselves zipping up and down the streets of Austin on a “Haunted” Segway tour.

When we weren’t racing up and down the sidewalks, we were being terrified, or at least mildly agitated, by the different ghost stories spawned by tragic events in Austin’s history. One story told by our tour guide highlighted the tale of a suicide in the Driskill Hotel, a tragedy that has prompted tales of hauntings and ghostly sightings.

We brought the day to an end with an amazing dinner at Kerbey Lane Cafe, where we met with SHSU alum Blake Roach, who is employed in the office of Attorney General Greg Abbott. Blake gave us a more informal perspective of the career path many of us are pursuing. He explained how both the Junior Fellows, predecessor to the LEAP Center, and his attitude allowed him to make necessary connections to get ahead in his career. Blake’s words brought home the theme of the trip: to get ahead, you have to work hard, make connections, and develop professional skills.

LEAP Center Students Explore LBJ Homes, Art, Austin

Ashley Richardson and Constance Gabel–Our second full day in Austin tackled three large subjects: LBJ, Arts, and Austin which are somewhat connected. Joining us for this trifecta was Will Phillips, an SHSU alum from Austin, who had been to some of these stops previously.

Our first stop included the LBJ boyhood home and the LBJ Ranch, giving us insight into the more private life of the former President. At the boyhood home, a modest-sized structure (but large for the time), we heard how LBJ would sneak out his window, crawl under the house, and sit beneath the room that his father and other local politicos would gather in to discuss politics. LBJ’s political ways—and his subterfuge—began at an early age.

Coby and Jessica on the Porch of LBJ's Boyhood Home — Coby & Jessica on the LBJ’s Porch

The LBJ Ranch, or the “Texas White House,” was a snapshot of a different era. The home, clearly ruled by Lady Bird, was just as she left it, from the yellow Formica counter tops to LBJ’s three televisions (one for each network), to Lady Bird’s closet, which was filled with pantsuits of green and other unlikely colors. We toured the home, amazed by the preservation.

We also saw the Johnson family grave site which includes the graves of LBJ and Lady Bird and the “Air Force One Half,” the smaller version of Air Force One, which LBJ used to travel between the ranch and the DC White House.

One of the things we learned at the LBJ venues was his support for the arts, particularly inhis creation of the National Endowment for the Arts. In that spirit, we piled into the van and navigated the Hill Country to the Benini Sculpture Ranch. Unbeknownst to us, Professor Yawn set up a chance to meet the artist, who gave us access to his inner sanctum—a private tour of his studio—as well as an earful of his beliefs on politics, religion, and sex, all offered without much prompting.

The conversation, as well as the man’s art, was thought provoking and eye opening.

We each had favorite pieces from the tour. For Constance, it was Andante….

For Ashley, there were two: the Heartcatcher and the Stars Giver.

Heartcatcher

Stars Catcher

And lots of other works:

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On a larger scale, both LBJ and the arts are part of the Austin scene. The LBJ Presidential Library is located in Austin and the arts are everywhere, in the form of architecture, public art, music, and private galleries. We had the chance to explore some of those on a night-time Segway Tour that lasted some 2.5 hours.

Ashley and Jacqueline and Capitol Building — Ashley & Jacqueline at Capitol

We capped off the night at Kerby Lane Café, where we met with Blake Roach, an SHSU alum who now works for Attorney General Greg Abbott. The food was good, the conversation was nice, and we were able to warm up before resting up for tomorrow, our last day in Austin.

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