by Phil Houseal | May 11, 2022 | All Articles, History, Philosophy
May 11, 2022–I don’t understand those who enjoy driving. While the romantic version is that of an intrepid traveler rolling over miles of ever-changing terrain, the reality is that you are sitting inside a 4-foot by 5-foot room, pressing your right foot on a pedal. If...
by Phil Houseal | May 4, 2022 | All Articles, Food, History, Philosophy
May 4, 2022–When I was a paperboy, every Christmas customers would give me a treat as I collected for their weekly delivery. This surprised me at first, because at age 11 I was unfamiliar with the concept of tipping for service. I couldn’t believe my good fortune. I...
by Phil Houseal | Apr 20, 2022 | All Articles, History, Philosophy
April 20, 2022–What was your first job, and what did learn from it? Growing up on a farm before OSHA, my first jobs would violate every federal labor law today. They usually involved unsupervised gangs of 14-year-old boys working 12-hour days operating dangerous...
by Phil Houseal | Mar 2, 2022 | All Articles, History, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy
Mar 2, 2022–If you could speak to any person alive today, who would it be and why would you choose that person? This question was posed to me at our weekly Table of Knowledge, and I couldn’t answer it. No one else could either. I posted the question on social media,...
by Phil Houseal | Jan 12, 2022 | History, Philosophy
Jan 12, 2022–While coming up with a topic for this week’s column, I became discouraged. Here’s why: No one bothers to read anymore. We are all tik-tokked and insta-ed to within an inch of our attention span. A few weeks ago I wrote what I thought was a brilliant...
by Phil Houseal | Dec 22, 2021 | All Articles, History, Philosophy
Dec 22, 2021–A group of us fuddie-duddies (people born in one of the previous centuries) were discussing the appeal and purpose of tattoos and piercings. Why, we asked rhetorically, do humanoids feel the need to ink their limbs and force metal objects through septa,...
