Looking for a feel-good holiday story? Don’t click here.

Hola my Teresa, I’m thinkin’ of you now in San Antonio.
I have 27 dollars, and the good luck of your picture framed in gold.
Tonight I’ll put it all on the fighting spurs of Gallo del Cielo,
Then I’ll return to buy the land Pancho Villa stole from father long ago

Gallo del Cielo by Tom Russell

 

Men lay down their bets on their roosters on this plate produced in San Antonio by San Jose Pottery.

I’ve listened to Joe Ely weaving the sad tale toward the inevitable death of El Gallo countless times.  It’s tragic, but I dismiss it as more of a folk tale than a current event. 

After all, one of my favorite possessions is a cockfighting plate produced in San Antonio by Ethel Harris’ San Jose Pottery. 

And I find it amusing to reflect on San Antonio’s rough and tumble past as evidenced in the pages of the 1911-1912 edition of The Blue Book, a visitors’ guide to the city’s red light district.  In addition to a multitude of brothels just south and west of City Hall, there were at least two cock pits – Ogden’s and Monterrey – located on South Santa Rosa.  I even incorporated their ads in one of my Blue Book series of prints:

The Blue Book No. 2. The Blue Book's listings for cock pits on South Santa Rosa Avenue in downtown San Antonio is combined with images of roosters and a period map of the area. Edition of 25. 10 1/4 x 3 1/4 inches.

 

“Mayor Callaghan crowed at City Hall during the week, but spirited fights could be found just two blocks to the west on weekends.”

The palenque, or cock pit, in Real de Catorce

The palenque, or cock pit, in the former ghost town of Real de Catorce remains one of my favorite landmarks to explore.  But that is made easier because I was not with my husband and his younger brother when they stumbled upon men placing their bets on an actual cockfight there. 

During one of our jaunts to Mexico, I tried to convince my husband we should buy the ruins of the palenque in Mineral de Pozos, a former ghost town near San Miguel de Allende, to incorporate in a retirement home for us (one of many ill-conceived notions expressed during more than three decades of marriage from which he wisely has managed to divert my attention until common sense returned, albeit always on a fleeting basis). 

"A Competitor and His Cock," Haiti, June 2010, photograph by Vic Hinterlang

Our friend Vic pulled out his camera in Haiti this past June to document a cockfight at Delmas 31.  When he lagged on posting a follow-up, I feared he was hooked and was out training a cock of his own.  But my fears were groundless; he simply was flying back to Austin.

Cockfighting is something I prefer to pretend only occurs in the past tense, or, at least, takes place in some other country.  The world is becoming a kinder, more gentle place (dream on, Gayle).  But, in support of this argument, Spanish Catalonians recently enacted legislation drawing an end to their deeply entrenched tradition of bullfighting. 

Periodically, media intefere with my naive theories.  The other day, I made the mistake of reading Brandi Grissom’s coverage of cockfights, and their aftermath, outside of Dallas for Texas Tribune. 

One by one, Domanick Muñoz pulled bloody and battered bodies out of a pile of feathers, claws and beaks. Roosters that were still gasping for life….

The posted videos are not for the faint of heart.  Grissom makes it impossible to continue in a state of denial.  Cockfighting is not something that should be included in “It’s a Texas thing.”

Update Posted on February 8: Had to add this cautionary tale - “Man Killed by His Own Cock” (my headline)

Update Posted on March 17: Oscar Barajas, who recently wrote a post about his father’s disappointing cock, forwarded this link to “La Muerte de un Gallero.”

Update on May 22, 2011: Bobby Jones calm defense in Texas Monthly of his livelihood, breeding game birds, seems blood-chilling to me. “Harvesting” is the professionals’ word for cockfighting:

…what goes on at harvesting facilities is no different from what you see at a golf course, the rodeo circuit, or a bass tournament. It’s a gentleman’s wager, like betting on a football game.

As part of his explanation of legitimacy, he claims that gaffs for cockfighting were brought over on the Mayflower. But, his best point is:

No, what I’d like to see is a law that gives rural counties the power to decide what they want, instead of being told what to do by people in cities. Why are people in areas like Houston and Dallas, where there’s practically no morality, able to dictate what we do in rural areas, when they know nothing about it?

Poor guy:

Politics often gets in the way of my livelihood.

Can’t wait to walk that walk…

For years I have heard about the plunge pool wall and the walkway funded by an ancient bond issue that one day would provide a river-level linkage between the San Antonio River Authority on Guenther and Blue Star.  This a key component tying the downtown River Walk to Eagleland and the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River Improvements Project.

For months upon months of morning walks I watched as water was diverted and tall new walls went in, hopefully keeping the towering cypresses on the upper banks from tumbling into the river.  This was a much more complicated project than it sounded when we were in meetings saying “just do it.”

Then they started on the linkage, which again, is much more complicated and sophisticated in design than it sounded.  In the process, the river keeps on getting diverted, divided, filled in… repeat. 

The water birds’ favorite part of the construction has ended.  For a while, a bypass sent river water shooting through an enormous pipe.  The fish and crawfish that went on this theme-park-type ride for free, albeit without advance consent, were spat out on the other side – temporarily stunned.  This easy fishing spot was the most coveted on the river, evoking numerous turf wars amongst the long-legged birds, now forced back into working for their next meals.

But now, sensuous curved concrete supports are snaking their way through the heart of the river channel, not awkwardly clinging to the walls as I had envisioned.  As I monitor the construction, I find myself clueless as to how it will look. 

I have received a few hints.  Larry Clark of Bender Wells Clark Design explained there will be a cascading water feature skirting one side of the new elevated mid-channel pathways.  One of the supervisors from Zachary Construction pointed out how it will tie back into the pathways by Blue Star.  Mike Addkison of the San Antonio River Foundation managed to get the above schematic for me, but that still does little to help me. 

Seems I just have to be patient and watch it grow and emerge from the river bed. 

But can’t wait to walk that walk!

Tried to Forget the Alamo….

Have kept my lips zipped for a remarkable amount of time, but find it frustrating everyone ignores the fact there is such a thing as the Alamo Plaza Historic District.  And in this district, sandwich boards are not allowed. 

One would think the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, as custodians of the Alamo, would be zealots about complying with the signage codes designed to protect the integrity of the area.  But no.

As for the ice cream and sandwich signs on the opposite side of the plaza, code compliance already has notified this business the signs are illegal.  City staff leaves, and the signs come spilling right back out onto the building’s facade and sidewalk.  Couldn’t they just be confiscated?

‘Art Can Be Fun’ along the Mission Reach

Thursday morning was the first time my walk up the Mission Reach to what I call the “crayola footbridge” was “legal.”  The San Antonio River Authority officially has opened the segment originating by Roosevelt Park to the impatient public; although the landscaping still resembles a moonscape and will until spring.  The hillside adjacent to the crenulated footbridge currently is planted with wooden stakes – a garden of “onesies.”

Two weeks ago, I bumped into Mike Addkison who is the project director for the San Antonio River Foundation’s riverside art installations, and he shared a rendering illustrating artist Mark Schelsinger’s vision for the footbridge when finished.

Mike also provided a more sophisticated rationale for the project than my 64-colors-in-a-box-encounters-dull-castle-walls-in-a-coloring-book theory:

The vibrant colors are a reference to both the cascaron (symbol of good luck) and to the natural world.  Although seemingly abstract, Mark’s piece is inspired by the amazing variety of strategies employed by flora and fauna to survive.  Plants and animals use bold color and, in rare instances, bio-luminescence to attract, repel, communicate and differentiate themselves in our natural world. 

By using vibrant color and luminescence for this footbridge, Mark imagines what a bridge might look like if it were alive and wanted and needed to draw people across it, for its very survival.  It’s that dynamic vibrancy during the day that hints at the uniqueness of the project at night.

The potential for evening interactivity is fantastic.  Each of the 8 glowing blocks becomes a ‘canvas’ for children and adults to paint and draw on with light.  The images last for a few minutes and then you have a clean slate to work on again.  As there will be no trail lighting in-channel, we think people will be carrying flashlights when they use the trail in the evenings and each of these lights can become a potential paint-brush for temporary creativity!

Update Added on December 19:  Express-News story about the soft opening of the new stretch of the Mission Reach

Update Added on June 26, 2011: Schlesinger seems to have rejected crayola footbridge as the title in favor of “UP on the ON.” But that still sounds like “Once upon a time….,” inspiring families to invent colorful stories centering around the crayola footbridge.