by Phil Houseal | Jul 17, 2024 | All Articles, Philosophy
July 17, 2024 “Perfection is achieved not when there’s nothing more to add, but when there’s nothing left to take away.” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Why do we always focus on adding, instead of subtracting? In all my years of managing programs and...
by Phil Houseal | Jul 10, 2024 | All Articles, History, Philosophy
July 10, 2024–This week I was amazed to learn not everyone grew up with a treehouse in their back yard. A cartoonist online recently wondered why, when every cartoon has pictures of elaborate backyard treehouses, he knew no one in real life who had one. I replied, not...
by Phil Houseal | Jul 3, 2024 | All Articles, Education, Philosophy
July 3, 2024–Making decisions might go smoother if we shaved them using Occam’s Razor. Occam’s Razor is a philosophical rule, which I’ve always understood as the simplest solution is usually the correct one. More accurately stated, Occam’s Razor is “a principle of...
by Phil Houseal | Jun 26, 2024 | All Articles, Education, History, Philosophy
June 26, 2024–Harpo Marx, the wigged, honking jester of the zany Marx Brothers, was serious about two things in life: playing his harp, and being a parent. He was so serious about parenting, that he wrote out 10 rules, which, as you can see, were not “serious”...
by Phil Houseal | Jun 19, 2024 | All Articles, History, Music, People of the Hill Country, Venue
June 12, 2024–While listening to a recent NPR podcast of Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, the answer choices for “What was one of the lesser musical acts that performed in the middle of the night on the Jerry Lewis Telethon” were: A) the Hell’s Angels singers B) Ray Sanders,...
by Phil Houseal | Jun 12, 2024 | All Articles, Education, Events, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy
June 12, 2024– “Everybody can run. Everybody has fun.” That is Grant Palmer’s simple mantra for his Hill Country-based Summer Track program. I saw it myself and it’s true. I sat in Tivy Antler football stadium on a hot summer evening with my two grands, along with...
by Phil Houseal | Jun 5, 2024 | All Articles, Education, History, Philosophy
June 5, 2024–“Yuck. He is majoring in business and going into sales.” Growing up in the hip1960s, there was no harsher judgement of a peer than was uttered in that statement. I remember hearing it from someone I admired, and it changed my future. No going into sales...
by Phil Houseal | May 29, 2024 | All Articles, Education, Philosophy
5/29/2024–David Crosby said, “I’m making music, because music makes things better and it makes people happier. That’s good enough for me.” That may be good enough for one of the early Byrds, but it’s not good enough for the rest of us trying to make a living singing,...
by Phil Houseal | May 22, 2024 | All Articles, Philosophy
5/22/2024–Can you act your way to happiness? Or to any mood? Is all the world a stage, as Bill Shakespeare posited, and we are just playing make believe? I am beginning to believe this to be true, and have some unscientific basis for it. Let’s start with actors. How...
by Phil Houseal | May 16, 2024 | All Articles, Education, History
May 15, 2024–As a Cicerone of Grandpeople, I have renewed my acquaintance with those waxy rainbows from childhood, Crayola-brand Crayons. No American kid will ever forget the excitement of opening a new 16-pack of crayons–the pointed tips, the pristine wrappers, that...
