Texas 4000- Riding to fight cancer

Here at UT Austin, a select group of determined students are members of a great organization called Texas 4000.

Texas 4000 is an organization of young people who raise money and then ride their bicycles about 4,000 miles over the summer from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska. According to their website, the riders are mostly UT students, and "they train, fundraise, educate, and bring hope to those with cancer."

I had the privilege of meeting with some of the riders for the 2010 summer team, and interviewed them for a podcast project that I worked on. Below is the link to the podcasts, and I think that they can explain the program in their own words better than I ever could.

PODCAST: Fighting Cancer by the Mile

If you want to help the cause and contribute to the Texas 4000 team, visit this link or just look for the riders around Austin- they're a high energy, very visible group.

Happy Thanksgiving... and Go Horns!

This Thanksgiving I have so much to be thankful for. My family is healthy, safe, and happy; I have the privilege to attend a great university and learn from amazing teachers; I'm surrounded by great friends in Austin who are always there for me; and it looks like my Texas Longhorns are headed to the Big 12 (and maybe even National) Championship.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays- I have a huge extended family in Austin and my parents and siblings always come to town to eat with about 40 of my cousins, aunts and uncles at my Aunt Katie's house in Buda. We always make too much food, too much noise, and everyone likes to talk trash to each other in and out of the kitchen.

After we've eaten to our heart's content, football is the name of the game. First we watch the Cowboys, and then attend or tune into the always exciting Texas vs. Texas A&M rivalry game. This year the game is in college station at Kyle Field, so unfortunately I won't be able to go, but that means that we can lounge around and watch the game with extra servings of pumpkin pie. Texas is still undefeated, and I'm not too worried about their game today. Although A&M always brings immense energy to the rivalry game, their 6-5 record doesn't scare me much.

Texas' win against Kansas guaranteed us a spot in the Big 12 Championship, but if we do great against the Aggies today, we're one step closer to the National Championship in Pasadena, California. Hopefully we'll make it all the way, but even if we don't, there's plenty to be thankful for.

Handmade Goodies for your Favorite Longhorn

With the holidays just around the corner (and the ever lurking Black Friday) many people are already thinking about what gifts to get for everyone on their shopping list. If that special someone happens to be a Texas Longhorn fan, this post is for you.

If you're looking for something original and fun, check out Etsy.com, a unique shopping website that is a cross between eBay and a traditional craft fair. With its motto of "Buy, Sell, and Live Handmade" the Etsy website is dedicated to connecting artists, designers and crafters who make original creations with the people who want to buy them.

Along with handmade products, people on Etsy sell vintage items, homemade sweets, and craft supplies. Etsy offers multiple options for paying for items, including credit card, money order, and PayPal (which is a service of eBay).

I've chosen a few of my favorite Longhorn items (hint hint) for the holiday season that I think a variety of Texas fans would enjoy. Here are a few of the best:

Texas Longhorn Cufflinks



These longhorn cufflinks would be a great gift for a dad, brother, uncle or boyfriend who wants to show off his 'horns with style. From CufflinkConnection's Shop, these are just one of many unique pieces available.

Tutu

Any little princess would love this UT tutu and bow set from PolkaDotPrincess. I have a few cousins that would adore this sweet set.
photo: http://ny-image1.etsy.com//il_430xN.100143733.jpg


Apron

Do you have an aspiring chef on your gift list? This reversible longhorn apron from RockyTopBakery would be a perfect present. Even if all they do is burn hot dogs at the tailgate, they will feel like a culinary star wearing this.
photo:

Headband

This sparkly longhorn headband is my absolute favorite. I think I might have to rush order one from EllieKatt myself, so that I can wear it to the national championship game! :)

Embroidered Pillow

I think that this pillow is quirky and fun, and would be a great gift for a mom, grandma, or sister, or even look great in a dorm room. It's from AuntBs' shop, where there are several other designs available as well.

Typewriter Necklace

Another unique piece that I really like is this typewriter necklace from JenniferPerezDesigns. It would be great game day jewelry for any longhorn fan who wants to wear something a little different.

Christmas Ornaments

These ornaments from StickyTatts would be a great gift for just about anyone on your list, including a boss or neighbor. Or if you participate in an ornament exchange, these would be the first to go!


Well those are just a few of the many splendid things on Etsy.com. Take a look for yourself, and I'm sure you can find something out of the ordinary (and usually pretty affordable) for just about anyone. (As a side note- I believe that they do sell some Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and other school's items on the site, but if you have any Aggies or Red Raiders on your gift list, they probably just deserve coal.)

Salsa Dancing in Austin

As a follow up to my previous blog, I thought I'd write about another style of dance that is also very prevalent in Austin- Salsa. Although I prefer two stepping (because it's much easier, in my opinion) my older sister Karen is quite the Salsa enthusiast. She loves to go out and dance in Austin, and whenever she gets the chance to drag me along, I end up having an awesome time.

We first took Merengue lessons on a trip to the Dominican Republic when I was a senior in high school, and when we got back Karen continued learning other Latin American dance styles including Bachata, Cumbia, and of course Salsa. (I still love Merengue because the music is amazing and it reminds me of the time we spent in the Caribbean.) She and her friends have taught me most of what I know about Salsa, but I'd like to take lessons to get better and be more confident when we go downtown.

I recently interviewed some members of Longhorn Salsa, an organization that provides free dance lessons to UT students. The video below shows students at a salsa lesson in the Texas Union building.



Some great places to go salsa dancing here in Austin are Copa, Cuba Libre, and Maria Maria.

Texas Two Step

When I tried to explain "two stepping" to someone in California this summer, I think my description was less than perfect. They responded with, "oh, that's like a line dance right? You do it in barns?" Not quite. So let's see if I can explain it better here.

The two step that couples dance at bars and weddings these days is more like the 1950's foxtrot than a line dance. It's simple enough to pick up, as long as you remember "quick, quick, slow" and then listen for that rhythm in the music. It is most commonly danced to country music, and once you learn the basic steps there are more advanced spins and partnering tricks that you can do, like my favorite, the pretzel.

I'm not by any means a great two stepper, but it's fun to do when you're out with friends, and not as intimate as other styles of dance. I first learned how to two step from my dad, who taught me at a wedding. He and my mom took a ballroom dancing class (per my mom's request) when they were in college together at the University of North Texas, and now they can show off their moves whenever country songs come on.

To learn how to two step here in Austin, you can take lessons at various places, including Austin Uptown Dance, Go Dance, or free intro classes with UT's Longhorn Country Dance Club.

Some great places to practice your two stepping or show off your skills are the Broken Spoke, a dance hall on South Lamar; Dallas Nightclub, one of my personal favorites in North Austin; Nutty Brown Cafe, which often features live country artists in their outside venue; Hill's Cafe, which also features live country music and free concerts during the summer; and Midnight Rodeo, a club that plays a combination of hip hop and country music and hosts "college night" every Thursday.

So dust off your boots and grab a beer- the two step is one of Texas' finest traditions and can be enjoyed at any skill level.

Do 512: Austin made easy

Non-Profit News for Texans

The Texas Tribune, a new non-profit nonpartisan online news site, launched yesterday and there is already big buzz among bloggers and tweeters from across the nation. The site's mission is to "promote civic engagement and discourse on public policy, politics, government, and other matters of statewide concern" through their original content that they plan to share freely with other news organizations, and eventually through events open to the public.

The site is unique not only because it is among the "new wave" of non-profit news experiments, but also because of their extensive searchable databases including a directory of Texas elected officials. In an interview with the Poynter Institute, Texas Tribune reporter Matt Stiles said that these 11 databases are just the beginning, and eventually the databases will interact with eachother so that readers can see how the information is related.

This is a relatively new concept in news, where reporters give readers all of the raw data used for stories and let them use it as they wish instead of simply interpreting the information. It only works in certain stories or with certain audiences, as some data is better explained through a narrative or graphic rather than overwhelming the audience with meaningless unexplained figures.

The stories on the Texas Tribune website are organized by topic: ranging from immigration, education, and health care to the major campaigns and candidates in the big 2010 Texas elections.

As a non-profit news organization, the Texas Tribune relys completely on donations. According to their about us section, they have already raised $3.6 million and do not plan on selling advertising on their site. In the opinion of Rosental Alves, the Director of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas and (more personally) the professor of my Multimedia Journalism course at UT, the refusal of advertising is a mistake. In their initial launch, they will be able to pay for business costs and the salaries of their reporters but "a few years down the road sustainability will become an issue without Google Ads" according to Alves.

I agree with him, and discussed with my father, a former newspaper journalist, the issue of sustainibility and donations. He raised another interesting point- how can they keep political lobbyists and big PACs from becoming their main donors and thus influincing their "nonpartisan" news? My inclination is that since they are a non-profit and all of their financial records are public, taking money from such organizations would tarnish their reputation and diminish their credibility, but it will be interesting to see who their major donors are in the coming years.

Over all, I am optemistic and excited about the launch of this new news organization. As a journalism student, I often find myself combating those who say "newspapers are dead" and this is one of the main examples that I give for the future of news. Now that's not to say that I think this is the only solution, and I think that this particular site definitely still needs some work; it's currently running extremely slow because of all of the heavy traffic, and the simple solution is to buy more bandwidth. But I think that for a first launch, the Texas Tribune did a great job, and I look forward to what they, and other similar news sites, will produce in the future.

(The following video was produced by the Texas Tribune and gives more information from the co-founders.)

Friday Night Lights

I have to admit, I've never seen the movie or the television show called Friday Night Lights, which is based on a high school football team in Odessa, Texas. I do, however, have personal experience with high school football in Texas, and can tell you that most towns think their team deserves a movie made about them.

My hometown of Lewisville, Texas had a great football program for many years, and the Lewisville Fighting Farmers (yes, our mascot was a farmer named "Big John") won the 5-A football state championships in 1993 and 1996. Many of the traditions at Lewisville High School are over 100 years old, and the whole town comes together on Friday nights to watch their boys play.

When I was in high school I was an officer on the Farmerette Drill Team, our school's pom/dance team that performed at halftime. Our band, cheerleaders and drill team were just as much a part of the experience as the football itself, and I think some of the band parents were more hardcore about football than the players' parents.

Schools in Texas pay millions of dollars for their state of the art stadiums, and the football boosters often raise more money than any other organization at the school. With the crowd roaring and the hometown heroes playing their hearts out, there's really no better place to be than a high school football game on a Friday night.

My Texas Legacies

One of the reasons I have such pride and admiration for the state of Texas is because of the quality of people that I know to live here. My family has lived in Texas for many generations, and one thing I can say for sure about native Texans is that they are some of the hardest workers you will ever meet.

My fraternal grandmother grew up Basdrop, Texas, and her Irish-Catholic family owned many acres of land and raised cattle for many years. My great-grandfather, Earl Callahan, opened a general store in 1978 next to his Feed & Milling Company so that ranchers wouldn't have to go all the way into town to get supplies. Callahan's General Store, located at 501 Bastrop Highway, is still in business today, and sells much more than just cattle feed. Just about every pair of cowboy boots I've ever owned came from Callahan's, and they sell everything from live baby ducks and chicks (my favorite when I was little) to Christmas decorations and Stetson cowboy hats. Callahan's has been a sponsor of the Austin Rodeo for many years (in fact, my great uncle built the performance stage that they use, and my dad's cousin used to compete as a cowboy) and my grandmom and her siblings still own the business today.

On my mom's side, there's a slightly different legacy- ever heard of Dan's and Fran's Hamburgers? Well I know Dan as "Popo" (my late grandfather and my namesake) and Fran as "Momo" (my crazy grandmother). My grandparents worked in the restaurant business for several years before deciding that they could do it better; and in 1973 they opened the first Dan's Hamburgers on South Congress.

My family worked hard to provide the best quality food for an affordable price, and thanks to their hard work, we have regular customers who have eaten at our restaurants for over 35 years. There are now 4 Dan's Hamburgers and 2 Fran's Hamburgers locations in the greater Austin area, and my aunts, uncles and cousins still run the restaurants with the same meticulous eye for quality control that my grandfather started out with. The stores have become an Austin icon, and I promise you won't find a better jalapeno cheese burger in the whole world. (Promise.)

Growing up with such determined family members has given me so much respect for the entrepreneurs of Texas, and a special affinity for Austin and its local businesses. From sweating away in a restaurant kitchen for double shifts to working on the ranch until the sun came down, I come from some hard working Texans, and I know there are many others out there too.

The State Fair of Texas

This past weekend I took a trip up to Dallas with some friends to enjoy the festivities of the Red River Rivalry (the annual UT v. OU football game held at the Cotton Bowl) and the Texas State Fair. The weather was great, the longhorns won (barely), and the food at the fair was as perfectly greasy and unhealthy as always.

My crew at the UT v. OU football game.

The Red River Rivalry has been going on since 1900, and is held in "neutral ground" at the Cotton Bowl football stadium in Dallas. It's always a big event for co-eds from the University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma; students take buses from their college town, overrun the hotels of downtown Dallas, and the winning fans take over a bars near SMU for celebratory drinks after the game This year the game was a little scary- the last quarter was too close for comfort, but the Longhorns pulled through, winning 16-13.

View of the Cotton Bowl from the top of the "Texas Star" ferris wheel.

If you've never been to the State Fair of Texas, believe me, it is a site to behold. When I was growing up we would get free fair tickets and a day off in early October just to visit the fair, if that gives you any idea of how huge it is for North Texas. Big Tex, a 52 foot cowboy donning size 70 boots and a 74-gallon hat, is the emcee of the event, and welcomes visitors in a booming voice to enjoy the festivities.

There are plenty of exhibits and shops to enjoy at the fair, including livestock shows and competitions, free concerts, antique car shows, a huge petting zoo, carnival games in Midway, over 300 shops and vendor booths, ethnic and cultural dance groups, and the largest ferris wheel in North America called the Texas Star. But perhaps the one thing more iconic than Big Tex is the food- they have fried everything. Fried butter, fried coke, fried snickers, fried pizza, chicken fried bacon, fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and of course, the famous Fletcher's corny dogs.

Fletcher's Corny Dogs are the original corn dog, invented by brothers Carl and Niel Fletcher of Mesquite, Texas in 1942. They have been sold at the fair ever since, and always have the longest line of all the food stands. When I was in high school, my dance team did fundraisers at the corny dog stands, and though the hard work and hot peanut oil made me swear off the crunchy treat for a while, I still love them.

The Legend of the Bluebonnet

I don't know if other states have this type of store, but in just about every mall in Texas, you can find a gift store dedicated to all the Texas paraphernalia you could possibly want. (And things that a lot of people probably don't want- think airport gift shop times 100.) These stores can be hilariously tacky, and are usually over the top with their products, but the other day I found myself browsing through The Texas Store (original name, no?) in Austin's Barton Creek Mall.

While perusing the aisles for an appropriate gag-gift for a friend's upcoming birthday, I saw a book from my childhood that I had all but forgotten. The book is titled "The Legend of the Bluebonnet" by Tomie de Paola, and my sister and I had it read to us numerous times in school and at home. The story is about a young Native American girl who has to sacrifice her most prized possession, a doll with beautiful blue feathers on her head, to the gods during a great drought. She is very sad, but lovingly throws her doll into the fire, then spreads the ashes in the wind. When she wakes up the next day, there are beautiful blue wildflowers across the hills as a promise for rain and good times to come.

I'm not sure if the legend is true or not, but I do know that the bluebonnet is a highly recognizable symbol for the state of Texas. It has been the state flower since 1901, and many families (including mine when I was younger) take their children and dogs out to fields of bluebonnets in the spring and summer to take family photos in the beautiful wildflowers. There is even an entire festival devoted to the state flower in Chappell Hill, Texas every spring.

Don't Mess With Texas

This bold statement can be found all over the Lone Star state- on t-shirts, shot glasses, and on the bumpers of our Ford trucks. While many believe that this threatening sentiment is intended to let the rest of the states know how hardcore we are (and perhaps to some it is) the saying actually started in 1986 as a public service and advertising campaign. About trash.

This anti-littering campaign is sponsored by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), and works to educate Texans about the high cost of litter and promote litter prevention. The campaigns advertisements (like the one featured below) have starred famous Texans, have won numerous awards, and are based on research on littering trends in Texas.

What the heck is Tex-Mex?

Coming from a half-Hispanic background, I grew up eating delicious Mexican food made by my mom and grandmother. I never thought twice about the dishes they prepared until I started dating my boyfriend, who is from New Mexico. When I met him here at UT Austin, I realized that we had very different ideas about what "Mexican food" meant.

The only place I've been in Mexico is Cancun, and the food I ate there hardly counts at "authentic" Mexican dishes. I think that Texas has great Mexican food, but after eating the same dishes in different states and areas of Texas, I realized that what I always thought was just Mexican food is indeed, Tex-Mex.

So what is Tex-Mex, and who came up with it? The term "Tex-Mex" first appeared in the 1940s, and according to historians, it commonly described anything that was influenced by or derived from both Texas and Mexico. (Seems obvious enough, right?)

Some Americanized dishes that are often found in Tex-Mex eateries include Texas-style chile con carne, fajitas, a heavy use of melted cheese, and different flavors and spices in traditional dishes like rice and beans. The burrito is also sometimes attributed to Tex-Mex cooking, but others claim that it originated in Tuscon or Los Angeles.


This New York Times article does a good job of explaining some of the roots of Tex-Mex cuisine, though I don't know if I agree with their favorite restaurants in the state. I would say that Texas Monthly has a more comprehensive list of places to eat.

Here in Austin, there are many restaurants that serve Tex-Mex food, but I have to admit my two favorite places to get a delicious carne guisada or enchilada plate (besides my grandma's kitchen) are Joe T. Garcias in Fort Worth and Mi Tierra in San Antonio.

...And you have big hair

This summer I lived and worked in Los Angeles with co-eds from all over the country. We spent the first few days getting to know each other and talking about what life was like in our respective states and colleges (what football season is like in Michigan, how summers are in Minnesota, the best thing about growing up in Ohio). I think that most of us were pleasantly surprised to find out that no matter where we came from or where we went to school, we all had similar stories about the party that went all wrong, the mysterious roommate, or the guy/girl we wish we could forget.

During this story-telling/getting-to-know-you phase, a co-worker from Minnesota told me, "You know, you're exactly what I think of when I think of a Texas girl." We were a few beers in, so I didn't know whether to be flattered or insulted. I asked, on the defensive, "And what is that supposed to mean?" "I mean... You're part Mexican, have that Southern hospitality...and you have big hair."

Well...

All of those things are true... and they are quite Texan... and I am proud to be a Texan... so I decided to take it as a compliment. (Even if you didn't mean it that way, Claire.)

All in all, I had the time of my life in California this summer. The weather was amazing, the beaches were beautiful, and the people reminded me of the easy-going atmosphere of Austin. I had to dispel quite a few rumors about gun totin' tots and George Bush fan clubs while I was there, yet somehow at the end of the summer, I found my heart aching for the Lone Star State. Sure, Cali's great, but I'll go right out and say it: I love Texas. And that's where my idea for this blog came from: we're good people here- how about I show you a Texas perspective?

Can I explain all the crazy things that Texans do? Hardly. But I can at least attempt to show you that we're not quite as backwards as some believe. We are a people deeply rooted in tradition because many of us have families that have lived and worked on this land for generations. Texans know how to work hard and play hard, and still do it with a smile. We love good food, good friends, and boy do we love football.

So if you've always had a pressing question about Texas (why do y'all talk that way?) or want to put in your two cents about this lovely state or yours, feel free to leave a friendly comment. I'll be sure to return the favor.