by Phil Houseal | Oct 14, 2020 | All Articles, Education, History, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy
Oct 14, 2020–As a marketing gimmick, I once tried to come up with a clever mascot for a university’s fictional athletic program. I couldn’t do it. I brainstormed the most insignificant or annoying animals and plants that would make a tongue-in-cheek T-shirt that...
by Phil Houseal | Sep 2, 2020 | All Articles, Events, History, Music, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy, Venue
9/2/2020–You can’t keep a good dancer down. Recently I heard there was a gang of dancing rebels operating a “dance easy” in Fredericksburg. Apparently this loosely connected group of five or six couples gather on a weekly basis to… wait for it… dance in...
by Phil Houseal | Aug 5, 2020 | All Articles, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy
Aug 5, 2020–“Bro. Why is there a pencil on your tree.” Because. Because I recently built a pencil. An 8-foot yellow pencil. It’s hanging on a tree above my mailbox. Why did I feel the need to do that? Isolation does weird things to you. When work is caught up, and...
by Phil Houseal | Jul 8, 2020 | All Articles, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy
July 8, 2020–We have a quarter-mile drive I’ve tried to repair for 25 years. When dry, it’s dusty and bumpy; when wet, it’s a muddy obstacle course. I’m convinced it has ruined the suspension on all my vehicles. Over the years we’ve patched it, bringing in loads of...
by Phil Houseal | Jul 1, 2020 | All Articles, Education, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy
July 1, 2020–Last week I ventured out. Out of the house, out of town, out of my comfort zone. I took a class. I’ve always been fascinated by the art of script writing. Which is unusual, because writing of any kind was not a plausible path out of the corn patch, and I...
by Phil Houseal | Jun 17, 2020 | All Articles, Education, History, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy
June 17, 2020–When I first moved to the Hill Country, I was not prepared for how seriously Texans take their history. Growing up in one of the 49 non-Texan states, I arrived unaware of the colorful story of how this 6-flagged region became the Lone Star State....
