Monthly Archives: May 2010

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‘Nothing Happened’ a Good Omen

Writing historical fiction about a time prior to your birth is tricky.  I spend a lot of time rummaging through newspapers from the 19-teens, trying to understand as much as possible about what life was like during this period from which no reliable witnesses remain.  A few months ago, one of the characters in my never-ending novel borrowed several biting definitions from Ambrose Bierce’s The Devil’s Dictionary (1911) to compose a letter to a friend. 

So I loved it when Jake Silverstein started talking about his quixotic quest to discover what happened to Bierce during a recent reading from his ”chronicle in fact and fiction,” Nothing Happened and Then It Did, at The Twig Book Shop.  This search for a sensational storyline, among others in his book with chapters alternating between fact and fiction, did not end as Silverstein had hoped.  During her introduction of Silverstein at The Twig, Jan Jarboe Russell described the book’s theme as “thwarted ambition,” even though its author, editor of Texas Monthly, seemingly would be unacquainted with failure.

Silverstein’s early approach to finding topics magazine editors would deem worthy of publishing was unusual:

One day I unfolded a map of Mexico and looked for a place to live…. I had the notion that it would be good, both financiallly and journalistically, to live someplace where there was nothing happening.  That way, when something did happen, there would be no one but me to write about it.

In Nothing Happened, the author wandered from one potential feature story to another, with none materializing as planned.  But his book itself stands as proof; the stories were there all along. 

There is always a story (Although readers of my blog might suggest I rethink this theory.).  The story might not meet a writer’s preconceptions, but it is there nevertheless, an omen as defined by Bierce:

OMEN, n. A sign that something will happen if nothing happens.

The story sometimes is merely dormant, waiting to be awakened by an author, who is, as Silverstein wrote in his introduction, willing to permit:

…the real to mingle with the imagined, as it does in the deserted labyrinth of the mind.

Silverstein’s first book is a good omen (as defined by Merriam-Webster not Bierce) of writings yet to come and for Texas Monthly, where he can bedevil reporters with assignments to uncover memorable stories where, at first glance, there are seemingly none.   Don’t let any of them remain untold, like Bierce’s death, “reductus in pulvis” (pulverem) (RIP as defined in The Devil’s Dictionary).

Note Added on June 1:  Interview with Jake Silverstein

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Photojournalist Hits the Hotspots

Haiti, 1994.  Bosnia, 1996.  Kosovo, 1999.  Israel, 2001.  The aftermath of Katrina, 2006.  Along the Tex-Mex border, 2008. 

While you and I might not think of any of these locales as places you would want to be during those particular years, these hotspots around the world are irresistable magnets for Vic Hinterlang.  I’m not sure what this says about his work as an attorney in the State Comptroller’s Office, but these are the spots Vic chose to spend “vacations.”

At one point, 1987 to 1989, he even talked his wife Sharla into moving to El Salvador where they could be lulled to sleep on many nights by the sound of gunfire.  Sharla taught English; Vic tramped off through the jungle in search of rebels. 

Slinging a camera over his shoulder must be like Clark Kent emerging from a telephone booth.   The laidback Austin attorney becomes a seemingly fearless photojournalist, snapping his “vacation shots” among guerillas with soldiers’ rifles aiming at them, and then crossing the lines to capture the outcome of the encounters from the army’s point of view.

Vic retired from the state and spent the past year writing a book about their experiences in El Salvador.  While waiting for him to shop his manuscript  around and wondering what troubled spot in the world his journey as a professional photojournalist will lead him next (I believe it’s a return to Haiti.), you can view his “What-I-Did-on-My-Summer-Vacation” images on his new website.

Update on August 25, 2011: Oh, and then there’s Juarez in August 2011. San Lorenzo must have been looking after him there.

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Balance the Budget by Enforcing the Code

In June, San Antonio City Council will vote on proposed amendments to the Unified Development Code (UDC).  This seems frightening, as this code governs the appearance of our cityscape.  Commercial interests have attorneys and lobbyists pouring over the language in documents such as this, objecting to things here and there and suggesting insertions beneficial to their clients.  They do not care about the little things I do (Please change Riverwalk to River Walk throughout the document.); size matters most.  Big asphalt lots without trees taking up valuable  parking spots and big, huge, giant, preferably electronic winking and blinking signs.   

I made the mistake of opening the portion of the document affecting historic districts.  Fifty square feet of signage per building in a primarily pedestrian zone, such as Alamo Plaza seems huge to me.  (I know you probably have tired of my tirades about the appearance of the plaza, but The Alamo is the most visited attraction in Texas.  If we are not taking care of this cash cow, then the rest of the city must really be going to hell.) 

What struck me most about the document is not only what is changing, but what already is on the books and clearly not enforced by the city.  It is as though San Antonio Council passes ordinances and then naively places businesses on the honor system in terms of compliance.

So I took another stroll through Alamo Plaza with the existing UDC Code in mind.  Signage regulations apply to any sign on a facade, even those on windows and doors: 

A facade shall be considered the entire area of a building elevation extending from the roof or parapet to the ground and from one corner of the building to another including the entire building walls, recessed, wall faces, parapets, fascia, windows, doors, canopy, and all other components that make one complete architectural elevation…..

Installation. Commercial signs, posters, decals or advertisements may not be tacked, nailed, pasted, painted or taped to any portion of a building, object, site or structure visible from the public right-of-way….

Signs, visual displays or graphics shall either relate to the historic district or advertise a bonafide business conducted in or on the premises….

The number of signs on each building shall be kept to a minimum to prevent unsightly clutter and confusion…..

Many of the businesses on Alamo Plaza have a multitude of infractions, but, in addition to the problems mentioned above, I am including a portion of the applicable language from the UDC under some photographs.

All of the signage regulations mentioned above remain in the proposed revisions to the UDC, but what good is it?  No one is minding the most critical storefront this city has.

Hey, Sheryl Sculley, no need to look any further than Alamo Plaza to balance the city budget.  Just send inspectors and start collecting fines on the west side of Alamo Plaza, and San Antonio should be in the black.

Note Added on June 1:   The Infrastructure and Growth City Council Committee will meet to discuss changes to the Unified Development Code (UDC) at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, June 8, in the Plaza B Room, Municipal Plaza on Main Plaza.

Note Added on June 6:  Can’t believe I missed this earlier, but the illegal portable sign on the left of the top left photo above actually is an advertisement for Fiesta Texas.

Note Added on June 30:  Sam’s the man!  Sam Perez is the city’s code enforcement officer downtown who is in charge of trying to keep the sidewalks free of sandwich boards and other clutter.  He has his hands full, but he has made several sweeps through Alamo Plaza recently.  Unfortunately, he can do nothing about the illegal signage in the windows – not his department.

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Thanks for Correcting Those False Allegations Put Forth by the Liberal Media

Once again, “The liberal media has put the Texas educational system under a great deal of scrutiny lately….”  This opinion is offered by Texas GOP Vote Blog.   

That blog is not anywhere I normally hang out.  In FACT, I truly try to keep politics out of my blog, but…

I was trying to find the text somewhere, anywhere online with the exact wording of the new social studies guidelines approved by the Texas State Education Agency.  If we are once again the laughing-stock (although it really is not funny) of the nation, I wanted the FACTS.  I could not find the approved guidelines in writing so tried listening to some of the actual debates online.  Took about two minutes, perhaps less, to decide I’d wait for the transcripts.

But then I found this GOP blogger ready to straighten out the biased news reports:

To help sort out fact from fiction, Jonathan Saenz from Texas Legislative Update has sent in a fact versus fiction summary….

One of Jonathan’s FACTS follows:

FALSE ALLEGATION: The State Board of Education has eliminated Tejanos who fought at the Alamo.

FACT: The Social Studies TEKS include Tejano leaders who fought at the Alamo.

In Grade 4 Texas history, Tejanos Juan Seguin, Placido Benavides and Francisco Ruiz are required to be studied as important participants in the Texas Revolution.

Benavides and Ruiz were not participants in the Battle of the Alamo (so are unrelated to the discussion of the allegation), but we’ll let this part slide because the sentence above only identifies the three as participants in the Texas Revolution.  Maybe Jonathan should have stopped (or never started) his argument there.

Lorenzo de Zavala and Jose Antonio Navarro, Tejano leaders who died at the Alamo, also are required figures in Grade 4.

Hold everything.  The GOP factoid provider needs a FACT checker before he kills off de Zavala and Navarro at the Alamo. 

I always place great trust in the Handbook of Texas Online, an incredible resource offered by the Texas State Historical Association.  Here is the Handbook’s view of history:

FACT:   Manuel Lorenzo Justiniano de Zavala y Sáenz, first vice president of the Republic of Texas:

Zavala returned to his home in poor health and relinquished his part in the affairs of state.  He resigned the vice presidency on October 17, 1836.  Less than a month later, soaked and half-frozen by a norther after his rowboat overturned in Buffalo Bayou, he developed pneumonia, to which he succumbed on November 15, 1836.

FACT:  José Antonio Navarro was one of three Tejanos signing the Texas Declaration of Independence, along with his uncle, José Francisco Ruiz and Lorenzo de Zavala.  “He died on January 13, 1871.”

I was taught seventh-grade Virginia history from a book emphasizing most masters were kind to their slaves, treating them like family members.  I do not think anyone in my class fell for it.   (FACT:  Relationships were so close that many slaves bore the children of their masters.)

Fortunately, children do not always believe what is taught them.  They are not stupid.  But what’s these two GOP bloggers’ excuse for their ignorance of Texas history?  Happy Jonathan did not tackle too many FACTS past what is taught at Grade 4.

Oh well.  Thanks, guys, for keeping us posted with well-informed FACTS.  Did not even need to reference any of the liberal media stories online to debunk your version of history.

Guess I’ll keep looking for FACTS elsewhere.

Texas, Our Texas! so wonderful so great!
Boldest and grandest, withstanding ev’ry test….

Except maybe fourth-grade history.

Note Added on May 25:  My apologies to Jonathan.  He merely attributed incorrect roles to real people.  In this morning’s San Antonio Express-News, columnist Cary Clack pointed out the hero praised most by one member of the State Board of Education is fictitious: 

Then there’s Don McLeroy of Bryan, the board’s wizard who — among many dubious proposals — wanted to evaluate the impact of reform leaders such as Upton Sinclair, Susan B. Anthony, Ida B. Wells and W.E.B. DuBois.  Instead of citing these men and women as people who loved their country so much they devoted their lives to changing it for the better, McLeroy was concerned that their tone wasn’t as optimistic as the Belgian immigrant Jean Pierre Godet who said, “I love America for giving so many of us the right to dream a new dream.”

….  Godet is a fictional character in the 1998 book, “The Spirit of America” by the painter Thomas Kinkade.

McLeroy is so afraid of the nation’s past he’d prefer to elevate a fictional character at the expense of genuine American reformers.  Maybe he’s right and we can eliminate from our textbooks more of those insufficiently patriotic do-gooders and replace them with true American heroes like the Legion of Superheroes, led by Superman, who made no mistakes and made everyone happy except for the bad guys.

Students can learn about justice and interracial cooperation through The Lone Ranger and Tonto and be taught examples of loyalty, friendship, hard work and ingenuity through the stories of Lassie…. 

That’s what we need, the “painter of light” to illuminate Texas history.  Maybe we can incorporate his work in the math curriculum as well.  Students can be challenged to figure out how many times Tinker Bell appears in Kinkade’s eight Disney images.

Note No. 2 Added on May 25:  From David McLemore’s blog: 

After wrestling Santa Ana to the ground, Davy Crockett parted the San Antonio River and said, “Let my people go!”

Note Added on May 30:  Jonathan, read about three Tejanos who actually were at The Alamo.

Note Added on September 19:  Great John Branch cartoon in today’s San Antonio Express-News:

February 20, 2011, Update: The conservative Fordham Institute condemns revisionist history in Texas, and someone recently sent me a link to a great 2010 cartoon from The Washington Post.

Note added on March 3, 2011: Veronica Flores-Paniagua weighs in on the current state of the State Education Board.

Note added on May 27, 2011: Senate Democrats refused to rubber-stamp the governor’s nomination to lead the SBOE….