TUMBLR
A scrapbook of stuff I'm reading / looking at / listening to / thinking about...
Posts tagged "texas"
Texan preventative health care.
Larry McMurtry, Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen
I wrote a little about this book a week or so ago, but here’s the setup: McMurtry reads Walter Benjamin’s essay, “The Storyteller” (from Illuminations) in the Archer City Dairy Queen and starts thinking and writing about storytelling, his upbringing, and his love of books and reading.
McMurtry was raised on a ranch, but once he discovered reading, he realized, “I was a reader, not a cowboy.” He said he “read my way out of that culture.”
Literature, as I saw it then, was a vast open range, my equivalent of the cowboy’s dream. I felt free as any nomad to roam where I pleased, amid the wild growth of books. Eventually I formed my own book herds and brought them into more or less orderly systems of pasturage. I even branded them with a bookplate that had once been the family brand: a stirrup drawn simply and elegantly by my father.
Here’s a bit about finding folks who can point you towards good books:
I figured out that the way to find out what to read was to locate a great reader and follow in his or her tracks. There are, though, surprisingly few great readers—they are as rare now as giant pandas. Once one is located, even his obiter dicta are not to be disregarded.
And finally, I loved this bit about the Texas sky:
In the West lifting up one’s eyes to the heavens can be a wise thing, for much of the land is ugly. The beauty of the sky is redemptive; its beauty prompts us to forgive the land its cruelty, its brutal power.
It’s a pleasant, short read.
Filed under: Larry McMurtry, my reading year 2012
In 1952 George Grosz, the expatriate German dadaist and satirist, was invited to Dallas by Leon Harris, Jr., the young vice president of the Harris and Company department store. Harris had commissioned Grosz to create a series of paintings illustrating the landscape, economy, and society of Dallas for the store’s 65th anniversary celebrations. Grosz’s series, called Impressions of Dallas, was exhibited at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts in Fair Park in October 1952 and then in New York in 1954, but have since remained almost forgotten.
This was a fantastic show. If you have an iPad, I highly recommend downloading the wonderful e-catalog — it’s the first electronic publication that the museum has produced, and it includes all the individual pieces, plus tons of extra photos, background information, and Dallas history. Oh, and it’s free. How I wish every museum was so generous!
The Greatest BBQ Story Ever Told
John Mueller was the heir apparent to a legendary barbecue dynasty. Aaron Franklin was an unknown kid with a smoke-filled dream. This is the story of two pitmasters, their devoted fans, and some of the best brisket you’ll ever eat.
A story that lives up to its title. And now I want a Tipsy Texan so bad…
Finally got some time to use my Lumix GF3 w/ 20mm pancake lens in the wild: these shots were taken inside/outside of the Alamo Springs Cafe in Fredericksburg, Texas. (Their cheeseburger is a beast.)
Thanks again to my friend and one of my favorite photographers, Chris Glass, who suggested the camera and takes stunning photos with his GF1.
Rabbit’s closing its doors by Jay B Sauceda
For roughly 40 years, Rabbit Duran has served the coldest beer in town out of the ground floor of his bar on East 6th and Chicon. Soon though, Rabbit will be closing up shop and moving on to the retired life. “Me and my regulars all got too old. They don’t drink as much. We still have some people coming by, but its time for me to retire.”
So long, Rabbit. You served some cheap, cold-ass Lone Stars.
