Less screen time and more sunshine

 

Hey you! Yeah, you — the one with the cellphone, tablet, or whatever computer screen you’re looking at. Do yourself a huge favor and turn it off and go outside (after you read this, of course).

Don’t take your device with you or at least don’t look at it for a while. Just bask in the sunlight and enjoy the beautiful world around you. It’s probably the best thing you can do on a regular basis to improve your mind and body.

We hear it all the time, less screen time and more sunshine. If you’re like me, however, it can be difficult to follow that advice. We’re slaves to our screens. From gigantic television screens to average computer screens to tiny cellphone screens, most of us spend an abnormal amount of time in a digital trance, oblivious to the real world around us.

When I was a kid, parents used to caution their children about watching too much TV. If they had known what we’re up against today, they may have taken a stronger stand. As a parent, I know I’ve failed my children by allowing them far too much screen time. I know it’s my fault because I fell victim to the glowing allure of digital distraction.

There is no telling how many years of my life I’ve lost on Facebook. I can’t get that time back. I can’t spend that time playing catch with my kids, teaching them how to fish, how to ride a bike, or watching them play sports. They’re grown and gone.

It wasn’t as bad as it sounds. We did Boy Scouts and church events together. We had a good life back then. But at home, I was more likely to spend an evening in front of my computer than I was engaging my kids in some kind of activity. During their early years I was diagnosed with moderate to severe depression. I dulled my pain digitally, mostly ignoring the advice of my doctors and therapists to go outside and move.

Over the years I’ve learned that exercise is essential to physical and mental health. Even if it’s just going for a walk, your body requires some kind of daily activity. Our bodies also need regular doses of sunlight to produce the vitamin D we need to survive. I was reminded of that the other day when my doctor looked at my blood test results and prescribed me vitamin D pills. Message received — more time in the garden coming up!

I joined the Brazos Bend State Park Volunteer Organization several years ago when we were living in Rosenberg. I spent a lot of time at the park and frequently hiked the trails and did nature interpretation for visitors. You would be surprised at how many times I saw people focused on their phones, ignoring the natural beauty surrounding them. Even if they were not engaging their screens, they had earbuds in and were missing out on the melodious sounds of the birds, frogs, alligators and other animals at the park.

One of the observations my wife has made about me is that I’m generally more attentive and in a better mood after I’ve spent time physically active outdoors.

There are numerous studies out there that describe how bad screen time is for our mental health and development, especially for children. It leads to all kinds of anxiety, stress, relational problems and more. It also takes away from being physically active, which leads to obesity and numerous other health problems.

Children today have not learned to benefit from being bored. Constant entertainment kills creativity, curiosity and the ability to think and solve problems. They depend on the magic box in their hands to do that for them. That will only get worse the more advanced artificial intelligence becomes.

When I got bored as a kid, I drew pictures, built models, jumped on the trampoline, rode my bike, played games (not video games) with the other neighbor kids. We had fun and kept ourselves organically entertained and physically fit. We built lasting friendships and relationships.

We need to get back to that. So please, take this time to turn off whatever screen device you’re using and get out and enjoy life while you can. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at what a difference it makes for you, your family and your community.

The night Journey stopped Believin'

Journey lead singer Arnel Pineda and guitarist Neal Schon perform "Only the Young" to start their concert March 14 in NRG Stadium during the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. An electrical fire under the stage ended the concert a few minutes later while they were performing "Don't Stop Believin'."

We were there when Journey stopped Believin’.

Friday, March 14, the rock band was in the middle of performing its biggest hit, “Don’t Stop Believin’,” when everything came to a stop during a concert at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. It was surreal. At first the crowd picked up when the sound cut out, thinking it was part of the act.

“For a smile they can share the night. It (sound cuts out and crowd takes over) goes on and on and on and on.”

The crowd kept singing for a few more seconds, but it was no act. The band didn’t continue the performance. Eventually it dawned on the sold-out crowd in NRG Stadium that something was wrong. After the sound cut out, the stage lights went dark.

“Hey, Houston! An act of God tonight!” drummer Deen Castronovo wrote in a social media post. “Fire broke out underneath the stage—right under my drum riser! I was literally on fire for 4 ½ songs, all the power cables melted, and the show was a BUST! That doesn’t mean we won’t be back soon, because we love you all — and WE WILL RETURN!”

This journey with Journey has been a very interesting experience. I became a fan of the band in high school when their acclaimed Escape album was released. I bought all of their cassettes and played them a lot. I remember entertaining myself on a long trip I took in my red ’77 Camaro by playing their entire album collection as I cruised along Interstate 80.

I first saw Journey in concert in Denver at McNichols Sports Arena (now the location of the Denver Broncos football stadium) on Sept. 19, 1986. The Outfield opened for them. It was a great show; part of the Raised on Radio tour. The two things I remember the most about the concert are the crick in my neck that hurt like crazy and what appeared to be lead singer Steve Perry’s mascara running. At least I think he was wearing mascara because there were dark streaks running down his face from his eyes.

I didn’t get to see Journey again until March 10, 2022, when the band performed at RodeoHouston. I had an opportunity to photograph them but turned it down. That morning I had a basal cell skin cancer removed from under my right eye and I didn’t feel comfortable trying to do anything too strenuous. My friend Shane drove us to the show and we watched from the press box.

By this time Perry was long departed from the group and was replaced by Arnel Pineda. Guitarist Neal Schon is the only original member still performing with Journey, and as he pointed out, Pineda has been the lead singer much longer than Perry, even though Perry is the one people often think of when Journey comes to mind. He sang most of their biggest hits in the late ’70s through the ’80s.

Flash forward to the concert this year and this is where the tale gets interesting. My wife Sandy and I spent the day at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo working on other stories and getting ready for the rodeo and concert. I found out about an hour before the gates opened that I had been approved to photograph Journey. Photographers get the first two songs and then we’re out. Our usual mode of operation is to go to the press box where I leave Sandy while I go down to the stadium floor to photograph the rodeo.

After the last bull ride, I met the other photographers and our escort. We were led out to a waiting area. When the show started, we made a mad dash to the side of the star-shaped stage. They opened up with “Only the Young” while we scrambled to keep up with Pineda who raced around from point to point. At the same time, I wanted shots of Schon and the others as they circled around on the rotating stage. It was exhausting running in all that dirt.

The next song was a favorite, “Be Good to Yourself.” We left when it was over. Schon did a guitar solo and then they started in on “Stone in Love” while I rejoined Sandy in the press box. I had just settled down when they started “Don’t Stop Believin’.”

You know the rest of the story. And that is my journey with Journey. Maybe next time I will finally get to see them without any pain or complications. At least I hope this journey will go on and on and on and on. Until it ends, I won’t stop believin’!

Don't let tinnitus ring your bell

 

I want you to listen to me very carefully. What I have to say is incredibly important. Protect your hearing while you can!

This message is vitally important to children and young adults who don’t think twice about shoving earbuds into their ears and cranking up the music or going to a concert or sporting event where the noise volume reaches unhealthy levels.

When I was a teenager, I took up small game hunting with my single-shot shotgun. My buddies and I were out on weekends and sometimes after school hunting ducks, geese, pheasants, rabbits, doves, etc. Sometimes we’d go down by the junk pile in the creek and take target practice at the trash.

I came home after each outing with a ringing sound in my ears. It would usually clear up after a while, so I didn’t pay much attention to it. Eventually, the recovery time got longer and longer. At some time after I turned 16, the ringing continued and never stopped. To this day, 43 years later, it continues and has only gotten worse.

The condition is known at tinnitus. It’s a phantom sound that no one else can hear. I’ve been told that I damaged the hair-like follicles in my inner ear that detect soundwaves and transmit them to my brain. Apparently, the brain creates its own sound to compensate for the sound it isn’t receiving from the damaged follicles. These follicles don’t heal or grow back and the ringing never stops – ever! It’s there when I go to sleep and it’s the first thing I hear when I wake up.

In my late teens and early 20s I frequently contemplated suicide just to make the ringing stop. It drove me insane. I eventually grew accustomed to it and learned to tune it out. It became background noise and was almost like another normal bodily function. I didn’t like it, but what choice did I have?

Most of the time it was a soft sound, but it would occasionally flare up and the sound would be loud for a few hours or a day or two. I got into the habit of carrying foam earplugs with me and using them whenever I was around loud sounds. That worked pretty well.

Unfortunately, all of that changed when I moved to Brazos County in 2023. The property we bought had a few dead trees on it, so I bought a chainsaw and started cutting them down and cutting them up. I wore the foam earplugs, but that was not enough protection.

The ringing in my ears got much louder and has not relented. For nearly two years now I have been nearly deafened by the loud ringing. It got to the point where I was having difficulty hearing some sounds and understanding what people were saying. It wasn’t a question of the speaker being loud enough, but rather clear enough for me to understand.

I finally went to an audiologist last fall and had my hearing checked. I was right, I had more hearing loss in the same pattern I had before.

I ended up getting hearing aids. This has been a mixed blessing. They have helped improve my hearing. I can now hear sounds that I have not heard in decades, if ever. Unfortunately, I’m having trouble adapting to them. I frequently hear things with a kind of tinny sound to them. I also have a sneaking suspicion that the increased and focused sound projected into my ears may be worsening my tinnitus.

My point is that this is totally preventable. No one else should suffer like this. Keep the volume turned down in your earbuds. Don’t crank the stereo in your car. Use earplugs if you’re going to be around loud and/or prolonged noise, such as a concert, sporting event, guns, power tools, etc.

The audiologists I have seen strongly recommend using hearing protection for sounds above 85 decibels. For reference, normal conversation is around 60 decibels. A lawn mower is about 90, earbuds/headphones at maximum volume is about 105, concerts are about 120, and fireworks range from 140-160.

If there is any good to come from my misery, I hope that it will be a warning to others to protect your hearing. Trust me, you don’t want tinnitus constantly ringing your bell. It’s no fun.

Political leaders stifling free speech

 

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” – Evelyn Beatrice Hall, illustrating the beliefs of Voltaire

Until recently, I would never have believed that the government would make so many threats to free speech. I’m mortified at what we’re seeing right now at all levels of government.

Consider Texas A&M University regents unanimously banning Draggieland and all other drag shows on A&M campuses. Personally, the ban pleases me because I am opposed to the whole LGBTQ+ agenda. The implications of the ban, however, horrify me and they should alarm everyone who claims to support the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

The LGBTQ+ community has a fundamental, inalienable right guaranteed by the Constitution to be who they want to be and live however they choose to live. The government cannot and must not ever take that freedom away from them or anyone else.

Whenever the government — and the regents serve as the government of the Texas A&M University System — places limits on the freedoms of speech and expression, it takes away a fundamental right, no matter how repulsive it may be. In this manner they begin to control thought, ideology, and personal growth and development.

Once one part of speech is hindered, other parts will follow. Today it’s Draggieland. Will Aggies for Christ take a hit tomorrow? How long before book banning takes place on campus? Will the university system no longer allow an open discourse about culture and personal beliefs and lifestyle?

This ban is symptomatic of other dangerous precedents being set at state and federal levels. The grand architects on this assault on free speech are President Donald Trump, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, and their ilk. Both men have strong-armed executive orders to disband all diversity, equality and inclusion programs without any legislative or congressional oversight or approval.

They have essentially disenfranchised those who were previously disenfranchised and downtrodden. They have limited, or in many cases eliminated, voices of dissent. They have ramrodded personal agendas at the expense of human rights. Government exists to help the populace, not fragment and segregate it.

Trump has waged war on the Constitution and its amendments from the moment he returned to office. (By the way, did you notice he refused to place his hand on the Bible during his swearing in even though he purports himself to be a Christian?)

One of his first executive orders was an unconstitutional attempt to eliminate natural birth citizenship. This just moments after swearing to uphold the Constitution! In the first days and weeks into his second presidency he issued orders and fired nearly everyone who opposed him in any of his efforts, especially his felony trials.

He pardoned those who assaulted the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump is bent on revenge and is bullying all voices of dissent or opposition to him.

In Texas, Abbott and the top tier of government have pretty much done the same. Following his acquittal, Attorney General Ken Paxton openly engaged in political vengeance against every member of the Legislature who voted against him in his corruption trial. Abbott likewise campaigned against everyone who refused to support his school voucher program in the previous Legislature.

Abbott also threatened the job of Texas A&M University President Mark A. Welsh III via social media because a student group was planning to attend a conference that he deemed to be DEI. That’s not leadership, that’s a dictatorship.

In the Texas House this term, Republicans have prohibited Democrats from holding committee chairmanships. This stifles the voices of a significant portion of the state’s population.

All of these efforts fly in the face of Abraham Lincoln and his team of rivals. Lincoln filled his cabinet with his political opponents. It was a brilliant move that made him a much better leader and showed him to be more inclusive in one of America’s most divisive times.

These presidential and gubernatorial dictatorships of today are in stark opposition to George Washington, who was adamant that America did not need a king and sought to limit the power of the executive office.

It’s as if our “leaders” of today have decided to ignore the lessons of history and are striving to repeat them. Watching it happen is truly a drag.

How to get healthy and lose weight

 

Behold the mighty cheeseburger!

It’s probably my favorite food, as it is for millions of people. Unfortunately, it gets a bad rap for being unhealthy. Most fingers get pointed at the meat and cheese and they are blamed for clogging arteries, expanding waistlines, and a whole host of other ailments.

The good news is that part isn’t true. The real culprit is the bun!

There is an abundance of new research available that proves hamburger buns, bread, doughnuts, and nearly every single product made with wheat flour is bad for you. That includes the breading on fried foods, the croutons in your salad, and the tortillas in your favorite Mexican dishes.

Wheat is directly linked to obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease, and a host of other health concerns, possibly including Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

But how can this be? Haven’t humans been eating wheat for millennia? The answer is yes, humans have been eating wheat throughout recorded time. The difference is the white stuff being passed off as wheat flour today is not real wheat. It has been so cross bred, hybridized, genetically modified, and had other additives mixed into it that it no longer resembles the wheat we had prior to World War II.

There is a direct correlation between the modification of wheat in the 1940s and ’50s and the rise of obesity, diabetes, etc. The goal of the modifications at the time was to increase yields and to help combat world hunger. In that regard, the scientists were abundantly successful. What they didn’t consider is the effect these modifications are having on the human body.

Modern wheat is highly addictive, and it destroys needed bacteria in your gut that is crucial to digestion and overall health. The body converts modern wheat into blood sugar at levels higher than sugar itself. The same goes for just about every mass-produced grain crop in this country.

More than just wheat

The top three top ingredients in the modern American diet that are making us sick are wheat, sugar, and high fructose corn syrup. Eliminate those from your diet and you’ll find that you not only become much healthier, but you also lose weight and keep it off. As simple as that sounds to eliminate those three things, doing it is much harder.

Giving up sugar means giving up all of your sodas, sports drinks, energy drinks, flavored coffees, fruit drinks, and such and drinking more water, black coffee, red wine, and unsweet tea (hot or cold). It means giving up nearly all desserts (dark chocolate is actually good for you). It means saying no to most snacks, fast foods, packaged meals, and more.

You should also be looking at ingredient lists on the stuff you buy at the grocery store. High fructose corn syrup is toxic and should be completely removed from the human diet. If you see it on an ingredient list, put the item back on the shelf and don’t eat it. This includes some brands of ketchup and a lot of other condiments that we like to put on cheeseburgers and other foods. If there are a lot of chemicals, additives, preservatives, emulsifiers, dyes, etc. on the ingredient list, don’t buy it and definitely don’t eat it.

So, what should I eat?

What we should be eating are whole, natural, organic foods. If you want to eat wheat, look for natural, organic varieties of einkorn or emmer wheat. Yes, it is very expensive but so treating diabetes. Those varieties are the unadulterated, pure versions of wheat.

About two-thirds of our diet should be vegetables and a few fruits, especially berries. The other third should be proteins, with an emphasis on white meat, fish and seafood, eggs, and small amounts of red meat.

Dr. Mark Hyman, author of “Food: What the Heck Should I Eat,” frequently quotes Michael Pollan by saying, “If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, leave it.” That’s good advice!

How do you know this is true?

By now you might be asking yourself, “why should I listen to this guy? He’s not a doctor; he’s just another journalist trying to tell us what to do.”

This is why you should listen to me. I’m living proof that it works. In 2019 I went on a very strict keto diet and lost 60 pounds. I was smart enough to know that a keto diet is unsustainable in the long run, so I started reading books and researching diet and health.

Last year I started allowing more of the things I stopped eating back into my diet and I quickly gained 15 pounds. Lesson learned!

You don’t have to take this information from me alone. I invite you to check out my sources of information. Keep in mind that these books are by doctors from different fields of study approaching the topic from different perspectives and coming to the same conclusions.

• “Wheat Belly” and “Super Gut” by William Davis;

• “Formerly Known as Food” by Kristin Lawless (just ignore her hyper-socialist, ultra-feminist rant in the last couple chapters);

• “Brain Food” by Lisa Mosconi;

• “Unlocking the Keto Code” by Steven Gundry;

• “End of Craving” by Mark Schatzker; and

• “Food: What the Heck Should I Eat” by Mark Hyman.

Come watch me shoot some people

 

I’m going to get my gun, shoot some people, and have fun doing it.

You should come and watch!

More specifically, my gun is a replica Brown Bess muzzleloading flintlock. I shoot blanks at fellow Texas Revolution reenactors. They shoot back at me, too. Sometimes I die and sometimes I don’t. Most of the time there are big, loud cannons involved.

Anyone who knows their Texas history knows that most of the Texas Revolution took place in the spring of 1836. As a reenactor, the next two months are going to be very busy. I’m a colonel in the Texas Army, the state’s official ceremonial Army of 1836. We and other reenactment groups go to each of the major historical sites and do reenactments on the anniversary of each battle.

Normally we would be at Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site the first weekend in March to fire salutes in honor of the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence, but the site is under construction and the celebration has been scaled down to a small event at the Barrington Plantation there. It’s a good, local event and I encourage anyone interested to attend the free festival.

Before the celebration was announced, however, the Texas Army committed to a Texas Independence Day celebration at George Ranch in Richmond. It will run Feb. 28 and March 1. Most of the events we participate in at George Ranch are pretty laid back and very accessible to the public.

In the past, the festival at Washington-on-the-Brazos frequently conflicted with the battle reenactment at the Alamo. That reenactment isn’t done anymore. Instead, the Alamo holds commemorations each day of the 13-day siege, capped off with a very solemn Dawn at the Alamo ceremony at 6 a.m. March 6. That event is too small, too early, and too far away for most of us to make it, but a few do. Musket volleys are fired to honor the Alamo’s fallen and wreaths placed by various groups.

Up next after that, on March 29-30, is the biggest and best of all the reenactments we do. If you don’t mind the 3 1/2-hour drive to Goliad, the reenactments of the Battle of Coleto Creek and the Goliad Massacre are incredible. Presidio La Bahia, dubbed Fort Defiance by Col. James Fannin, is rebuilt on the spot of the original compound and it’s a great experience to go there. The church is the only part of the original structure left, and it has been used as a church all this time.

Three battles are usually reenacted throughout the day on Saturday, concluding with the capture of Fannin and his men. Saturday evening is a ticketed candlelight tour, where visitors are guided through the compound where they watch vignettes of historic events that occurred there. Sunday morning the captured Texians are marched out and executed in a nearby field.

The Runaway Scrape is memorialized and reenacted at various sites, but the one the Texas Army traditionally does is at George Ranch. This year it will be held April 11-12. The first day is for schoolchildren and the second for the general public. We usually stage an invasion by the Mexican army at the 1830s cabin twice a day.

The Runaway Scrape leads to the final, decisive battle of the revolution at San Jacinto. The reenactment will be held April 25-26 at the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic site. This used to be a massive reenactment involving more than 100 reenactors and an audience of tens of thousands. A few years ago the Texas Historical Commission took control of the event and shaved it down to a few vignettes and participation by reenactors and visitors dwindled significantly. Still, it’s usually a fun, entertaining, and educational day.

Most of our reenactment activities quiet down after that until the first weekend in October when we gather in Gonzales for the annual Come and Take It Festival. That is followed in December with a newer event in San Antonio depicting the Siege of Bexar.

So there you have it. That’s pretty much the rundown of the major reenactments of the Texas Revolution for the year. If you have any interest in Texas history, free (or mostly free) events, or just an enjoyable weekend getaway, I encourage you to put these on your calendar and come watch us shoot each other up.

And as always, remember the Alamo!

Aggieland to infiltrate HLSR

 

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo kicks off in just over two weeks.

Although NRG Park, where the show is held, is about two hours from here, there are still a lot of local connections. Brazos County may be classified as a large urban county, but it still has deep rural roots and a huge connection to agriculture. Many of those ag skills will be on display at the HLSR, which runs March 4-23.

Bryan ISD, College Station ISD, and Texas A&M University will each have a strong presence at this year’s show. FFA students from area high schools will be competing in a wide variety of livestock judging and other agricultural competitions. There will be calf scramblers at some of the nightly rodeos and probably more than a few mutton busters. There are plenty of Aggies who compete in professional rodeo. Two years ago there were eight Aggies competing at RodeoHouston and several of them are likely to be back this year.

Veterinarian Leslie Easterwood, an associate clinical professor of equine community practice at the Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences in the Large Animal Teaching Hospital, is entering her 22nd year serving as one of two official veterinarians at the HLSR, where they provide care for more than 18,000 livestock animals at the show.

The Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences will be represented this year by dozens of students doing internships at the show. The college’s internship program hosts more than 70 students annually, immersing them in roles that serve all aspects of the event. The college has been working in collaboration with the HLSR for over 40 years.

Undoubtedly there will be any number of former A&M students working as volunteers or operating vendor booths at the show. Needless to say, Aggieland has a very strong connection to the HLSR.

As connected to the three-week event as we are, most people from here go for the concerts, rodeo, carnival and the food. The concert lineup has a mix of country music artists, new “country” artists, classic rock, contemporary Christian, rap and Mexican music.

My love of country music faded in the early 2000s and I just can’t call the stuff played today real country music. My favorite rock band is Journey, and they are returning to the star stage on March 14. Other acts I desire to see again include Reba McEntire (March 4), Brad Paisley (March 10) and Brooks & Dunn (March 22). I haven’t heard of about half the artists performing this year, but that’s been happening more frequently the older I get. My wife, who is much younger than I am, is interested in seeing Lauren Daigle (March 12), Parker McCollum (March 21), and Luke Bryan (March 23), in addition to most of the ones I like.

As much of an attraction as the concerts are, I absolutely love the rodeo. I get a lot of enjoyment out of photographing rodeos, and Houston’s is by far the best in the world. A photographer friend of mine from Alabama and I used to post our favorite “snot shot” photos of the bulls on Facebook. They can really sling the slimy stuff when they get to spinning and bucking!

For several years I served as a judge for the Gold Buckle Foodie Awards. We got to judge several categories of food from vendors at the show. I think I put on 10 pounds just walking into the room! There’s some good stuff to try along with some pretty wild creations. The weirdest thing I tried was a bug pizza that had crickets, meal worms, and scorpions on it. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds.

I’ve been covering the HLSR as a reporter and photographer since 2009, only missing about three years due to COVID and job changes. I’ve reported for five newspapers in that time and am very hopeful that The Eagle will be my sixth (and last). I’ve put in my credential request, but that’s no guarantee of approval. I’ve learned that lesson with Houston’s pro sports teams.

Assuming I get to do some coverage from there I will be on the lookout for locals. If you are showing or participating in any way at the HLSR this year, please reach out and let me know when and where. I’ll do my best to connect with you. Even if we don’t connect, please feel free to send me pictures and let me know about your success stories. I can be reached at joe.southern@theeagle.com.