Leaked Roe opinion is both unnerving, pleasing

Was it a premonition or déjà vu?

I had just finished reading “The Tenth Justice” by my friend Brad Meltzer. His first novel, a legal thriller published on 1997, is about a Supreme Court clerk who gets tricked into leaking an opinion and then blackmailed for more. Just days after I finished reading it, a draft of a Supreme Court opinion was leaked in real life. Talk about life imitating art!

I find it unconscionable that a draft of a Supreme Court opinion would get leaked. The highest court’s work is meant to be done in secret. It’s a part of government where the sun doesn’t shine. A violation of this secrecy poses a huge threat to the integrity of the nation’s highest court.

All that being said, I find solace in the direction of the leaked opinion. Written by Justice Samuel Alito, the opinion, in what is known as the Dobbs case, addresses the infamous Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion in the United States. Many on the pro-abortion (pro-choice) side fear the ruling will overturn Roe and make abortion illegal across the land. That’s simply not the case. What it would do is shift the legality of abortion back to individual states where it belongs.

Personally, I’m all for ending abortion. I’m for anything that can be done to weaken or eliminate pro-abortion laws. I believe abortion to be the murder of the most innocent and defenseless of lives, all at the conspiratorial hands of doctors sworn to protect life and the child’s very own mother – the two people who should be most vested in protecting that life.

I understand and completely reject the perspective that making abortion illegal is government interference in a woman’s private life and her body. Conversely, it is the extension of all the rights and privileges guaranteed to the mother to the baby inside her. Undue government interference is what you get when the government forces a woman to get an abortion, like you see in communist and socialist countries.

We have laws to protect individuals from harm by others. That’s why it is illegal to steal from someone, harm them in any way, or take the life of another person. In this case, the other person happens to be an unborn human being who has done no wrong.

When I was young and trying to figure out my political leanings, there was always one constant that guided me – the belief that abortion is murder and ought to be illegal. It is central not only to my belief system, but also to my politics and the reason I became a conservative.

To better understand the fallacies that led to the original 1973 Roe decision, I highly recommend viewing the “Roe v. Wade” movie that came out last year. I did a phone interview with Nick Loeb who stars in and directed the movie. He very clearly paints a picture of the lies and deceit that went into the case from the pro-choice side. Loeb took great personal risk to make the film, and while it is very biased, it also presents verifiable and unrefuted facts behind the abortion machine that forged the Roe case.

Despite my opinion and bias regarding abortion, I do find it unnerving that this or any ruling by the nation’s high court could not only be leaked, but published. While that may be a major coup by a news organization – in this case Politico – I also see it as aiding and abetting a crime. To me, it’s a major breach of journalistic ethics to publish something that was illegally and immorally obtained.

This isn’t like the Washington Post uncovering Watergate, where crimes had been committed. The leaked opinion is ill-gotten gains and the crime is committed by both leaker and publisher.

What we do not know is what is happening now behind the cloak of secrecy in the Supreme Court. Opinions change and votes change as drafts are revised. One of the reasons this is done in secret is to keep outside sources from influencing the work of the justices. Brad Meltzer knew this when he wrote “The Tenth Justice,” which is what helped make it such an incredible thriller.

After having watched “Roe v. Wade” and reading “The Tenth Justice,” seeing these events unravel in real life really is like having a premonition or a deep sense of déjà vu. It will be interesting to see where things go from here.

(Joe Southern is the managing editor of the Wharton Journal-Spectator and East Bernard Express. He can be reached at news@journal-spectator.com.)

That’s my Texas story and I’m sticking to it

Just how Texan are you?

I wasn’t born in Texas, but I was dragged here kicking and screaming all the way. That was 2005. Today I feel like I’m about as Texan as they come, save for those of multigenerational Texas lineage. This comes to the chagrin of my Colorado family and friends. They still haven’t given up hope that I will someday return to the Centennial State. For now, I’m content to stay in a Lone Star state of mind.

If you would have told me in 2004 that I would leave Colorado for Texas and eventually come to love it I’d have looked at you like you had sprouted a unicorn horn on your forehead. Before the California invasion, the one thing Coloradans disliked the most were Texans. Nobody – and I mean nobody – likes having someone come in and brag about how much bigger and better everything is in Texas. That shtick may fly here but it stinks like a stockyard in the other 49 states.

If Texas is so great, why don’t you stay there? We used to have posters and T-shirts that said, “If God wanted Texans to ski he would have made bull**** white.” It was often suggested that the United States should divide Alaska half just to make Texas the third-largest state in the union.

You get the picture.

So, if I had such an anti-Texas bias, why did I move here? The short answer is I married a Texas gal. She lured me! (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.)

We moved to Amarillo where we did three years hard time. As badly as I wanted out of there, it also kinda grew on me. We befriended some of the most amazing people there. I still get sentimental (semi-mental?) at times when I think of that oasis in the Panhandle.

In late December of 2008 we made the move to Rosenberg. That got us closer to Sandy’s family. Moving here and working for several newspapers in the area has rewarded me with some of the most incredible opportunities and experiences. But what really turned me Texan were the volunteer positions I’ve taken, such as volunteer work with our church and the Boy Scouts.

Almost 10 years ago I joined the Brazos Bend State Park Volunteer Organization with my youngest son, Colton. He quit five years ago, but I’m still out there every chance I get. It was there that I learned a lot about alligators, snakes, turtles, armadillos, and tons of other fascinating wildlife. I continue to learn new things all the time from the incredible and knowledgeable team out there.

The other thing that piqued my interest was the Texas Army. When we first moved down here we started going to different re-enactments. It was on a trip to Goliad that Sandy discovered her fourth-great uncle, Zachariah Short, was one of those killed in the Goliad Massacre. She and my three sons share that lineage. On top of that, I’ve always been fascinated by the 1800s time period and the era of the Republic of Texas fits perfectly.

Before moving here I knew nothing about the Alamo or that Texas was even once its own nation. Now I teach people stuff like that. I go from site to site wearing funny clothes and shooting my friends with a flintlock musket. All of the re-enactors in various groups around the state are friendly, knowledgeable, and love sharing Texas history.

Even my job has helped enable my re-enactment habit. When I worked in Sealy I did stories about archeological digs at San Felipe. Now I occasionally volunteer there in the new Villa de Austin, a replica of the town as it was prior to being razed in the Runaway Scrape in 1836.

In addition to history and nature, I’ve been afforded many awesome experiences as a journalist. I’ve flown in vintage aircraft, met numerous celebrities and astronauts – including some who walked on the moon – and I’ve been skydiving. I have the enormous pleasure of photographing professional sports, including the Houston Texans, Houston Astros, and Sugar Land Space Cowboys. I’ve done some “week of” coverage of the Super Bowl (not the actual game) and I got to photograph the 2019 World Series.

OK, now I’m starting to brag, but my point is, all of these things happened to me because I became a Texan. I never had these opportunities in Colorado or the other states that I’ve lived in. It seems like each year something new and exciting comes up and I can’t wait to be a part of it. Each event and each discovery makes me that much more a Buc-ee’s lovin’, Whataburger eatin’, HEB shoppin’ Texan.

Colton, who just finished his first year of college, is a proud Aggie (is there another kind?). We’ve spent the last year getting indoctrinated in Aggie history and traditions, which has just further fueled my interest in Texas.

So, I may have come here reluctantly but you will have to drag me once more kicking and screaming to get me out of here. God has blessed me with Texas and may God forever bless Texas.

(Joe Southern is the managing editor of the Wharton Journal-Spectator and East Bernard Express. He can be reached at news@journal-spectator.com.)

You should stop eating these foods immediately

Nobody likes being told what to do.

Worse, nobody likes being told what they should do. That puts the responsibility on your shoulders.

I want to take a chance here and tell you something you should do. Actually, it’s something you should stop doing. If you are at all concerned about your health, losing weight, avoiding diabetes and other diseases, and eating well, there are some things you should stop eating immediately. I mean drop them like they were a deadly poison, because they are.

No human being (or animal for that matter) should ever consume another bite of anything made with enriched white flour, high fructose corn syrup, processed sugar, or artificial sweeteners. Soft drinks (including sports drinks and energy drinks) should be dumped down the drain.

These things are killing us. It’s a slow, debilitating death. The obesity problem in America is the byproduct of poor government regulation and a greedy food industry. The foods I mentioned – flour, sugar, corn syrup, and artificial sweeteners – are the primary culprits in a long list of “foods” that are really bad for us.

How do I know this? I read a lot. I’ve read numerous books about healthy eating and all of them without fail point to these things as the source of the problem. Each book I’ve read takes a different approach but reaches the same conclusions. I’ve also interviewed dieticians and other health experts over the years and they, too, say the same thing.

Among the books I’ve read are “The End of Craving” by Mark Schatzker, “Food: What the Heck Should I Eat” by Mark Hyman, and “Real Food, Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You’re Eating and What You Can Do About It” by Larry Olmsted.

It’s not just the books. I’ve participated in studies and programs in the past that indirectly pointed in the same direction. Trust me, I know what I’m talking about. In late 2020 I went on the keto diet. I lost 60 pounds. I don’t think it’s so much from being low-carb as much as it is having cut flour, sugar, processed foods, and other unhealthy stuff from my diet. Last December I took a break from the diet and immediately gained 14 pounds back. I’ve slowly been losing it again.

These processed foods are messing with your body’s chemistry and sending signals to your brain telling it you need to eat more, when you really don’t. For years I’ve always felt hungry, even when I was stuffed. Now I know why. The chemically altered and preserved things we eat are designed to make us crave more.

The artificial sweeteners tell your brain that a certain amount of calories are coming, but then don’t deliver. When your brain doesn’t detect the calories, it sends the message to consume more. Big Food banks on this.

High fructose corn syrup triggers a craving for sweetness, but in reality is doing severe damage to your liver. White flour is so heavily processed that the nutrition is removed, so the government told producers to enrich it with the missing nutrients and other additives. Those chemical nutrients are out of balance with that was there naturally and creates an overdose in the body that gets stored as fat.

My explanations here are oversimplified and you can get better information from the books. The bottom line is you should eat only things that are natural and organic. Avoid all foods that have an ingredient list containing the aforementioned foods and a lot of chemistry that you can’t pronounce or even understand. In “Food: What the Heck Should I Eat,” Dr. Hyman concludes that “If God made it, eat it. If man made it, leave it.”

Last year when I was working in Fredericksburg, I did a story with a nutritionist and asked what is the single worst food you can eat. She didn’t hesitate: Donut. It has white flour, sugar, is deep fried (which is bad for you), and then smothered in more sugar.

So, if you shouldn’t eat this stuff – which makes up the lion’s share of the American diet – what should you eat? The answer is to eat naturally. Organic fruits, vegetables, meats, whole grains, nuts, etc. should be the staple of your diet. Want a hamburger? Ditch the bun. I like mine on a salad. Avoid the French fries.

When it comes to drinks, I limit myself to water, black coffee, and unsweet teas. Trust me, you get used to it. Don’t sweeten your coffee or tea or add cream and other stuff. They may be small amounts of flavorings, but they make a big difference.

My middle son has Celiac disease, which is an intolerance to wheat gluten and other things. Not surprisingly, growing up without wheat made him skinnier and healthier than the rest of the family.

I could go on – after all, books have been written about this – but I want to keep it simple. Now that you know, the onus is on you. Like I said, no one wants to be told what they should do. You know what you should (and shouldn’t) do, the question is, will you? I did and I feel a lot better for it.

Joe Southern is the managing editor of the Wharton Journal-Spectator and the East Bernard Express. He can be reached at news@journal-spectator.com.

Space Cowboys launch with enthusiastic thud

Infielder JJ Matijevic has been one of the bright spots for the
Sugar Land Space Cowboys this season. This week he became
the first Space Cowboy called up to the Houston Astros
when Jose Altuve went out with an injury.

After a lot of hype and promotion, the Houston Astros rebranded their AAA affiliate from the Sugar Land Skeeters to the Sugar Land Space Cowboys this season.

When opening day arrived to launch the new brand it crashed. The season started on the road against the Sacramento River Cats (San Francisco Giants) and they lost their inaugural game 7-6. Then they lost the next one 4-3. And the third one 6-0. You get the picture. They finally won the fifth and sixth games and came home for their season opener at Constellation Field with a 2-4 record.

The Space Cowboys opened the home stand against rival Round Rock Express (Texas Rangers) and lost another 7-6 decision before a crowd that filled just over half the stands.

This is not the start the Space Cowboys wanted. Last year as the Skeeters in their first season as the Astros Triple-A affiliate, they won the Eastern Division title with a 71-49 record. As the Skeeters, the franchise has been a powerhouse.

The Skeeters began in 2012 as an independent ball team in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. They remained in the league through the 2019 season. In those eight years, they made the playoffs five times and won two league championships. In the COVID year of 2020 they hosted the four-team pop-up Constellation Energy League and won that as well.

In 10 years as the Skeeters they were 713-584 (including playoffs). Winning was both a tradition and an expectation. When the Astros purchased the team last year, it created quite a buzz. The winning continued both in Sugar Land and Houston. That’s what has made this slow start as the Space Cowboys so painful. Like most diehard Skeeters fans, I was resistant to the rebranding. I still slip every now and then and call them the Skeeters, but the new name and look have grown on me and I like it.

As of this writing, the Space Cowboys are 4-10 and in last place in the Pacific Coast League. So far I’ve been to three home games. The inaugural home opener for the Space Cowboys was disappointing in attendance and result. Granted, it was a Tuesday night, and for a weekday crowd it was pretty big. The games on Friday and Saturday had much larger and more enthusiastic crowds.

I have to give the Astros a lot of credit for their investment in the ballpark. Over the last two seasons they have made significant upgrades and Constellation Field looks better now than it did on opening day in 2012 (I know, I was there).

The ballpark has an exciting new look and feel, but as good as that is, I miss the Skeeters days. From my own observations and in conversations with longtime Skeeters fans, we agree that the “family” feel of the Skeeters is gone. The new netting around the infield (required by Major League Baseball) is a barrier separating fans and players. The fun interactions aren’t there anymore. The Skeeters did a lot to interact with fans. The Space Cowboys don’t. They have a more uppity air of professionalism.

It’s also a lot more expensive to go to games now than when they were the Skeeters. Ticket prices and parking passes have roughly doubled in price. The food is more expensive and the quality has gone down. Still, it’s closer and more affordable than attending an Astros game.

All that being said, I’m still holding out hope that this franchise will turn things around. It would be great if they could find a way to lift the net before and after games so fans, especially the kids, can get autographs and talk with the players. It would be nice if they did autograph sessions on the concourse each Sunday like the Skeeters did. It would be nice if they had Skeeters throwback days. It would be great if they won ball games like the Skeeters did.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the Space Cowboys and I’m sure I’ll adjust to all the new stuff and the new ways of doing things. It’s gotta be growing pains. We’ll grow through this. The Space Cowboys are the future of the franchise. The Skeeters are now a memory, albeit a very pleasant one.

Joe Southern is the managing editor of the Wharton Journal-Spectator and the East Bernard Express. He can be reached at news@journal-spactator.com.

If you like the holiday, be sure to read the book

I’m re-reading my favorite book. In it, the main character is betrayed by one of his closest friends, arrested on false charges, and brutally tortured and killed.

It’s OK, because three days later he comes back to life – true story!

This weekend we celebrate that glorious event. Easter, or Resurrection Sunday, is this Sunday. This year it has snuck up on me. I’ve been incredibly busy lately and just haven’t had much time to think about it. Now, I’m thinking about it.

Easter is probably the most sacred celebration in Christianity. Unfortunately, it, like Christmas, is getting swallowed up by the secular holiday that has absorbed it. It’s disheartening that egg-laying bunnies have replaced the cross-bearing Christ. That lament, however, is as old as Easter itself. No one seems to know for sure how the sacred and secular have blended over the centuries, but they have.

(For the record, Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox. That’s why it’s not on the same day each year.)

As a kid, I always looked forward to egg hunts and quantitative consumption of confections, especially jelly beans. I grew up in the church, so the story of Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection were old and boring. I felt the same way at Christmas. I wanted my presents under the Christmas tree. I didn’t care much for the tale of the virgin birth.

As I became an adult, I grew to appreciate the religious significance of the holidays and now prefer them over the secular stuff. That being said, I was a mall Santa for two years when my children were little and I reprised the role in a church play several years ago. My wife, Sandy, has been the Easter Bunny at church for many years. She’s also been a dancing fruitcake, but that’s a story for another time.

Playing Santa is quite an experience. The most common question I get from people is if a kid has ever peed on me. That’s usually a reference to a scene in the 1980s movie “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.” No, it has never happened to me. The worst thing that happened to me as the Jolly Old Elf was when a mom took her crying infant from my arms and walked away with my beard in hand, stretching the elastic bands as far as they would go. After readjusting my whiskers, I looked down the long line of kiddos and all I could see were wide eyes and dropped jaws.

Getting back to the holidays, there was a time when I was fanatical about discarding the pagan pageantry from the sacred celebrations. I even suggested that Christians consider adopting a date for Resurrection Sunday and letting Easter fall where it may. I was most passionate about this in 2004 when “The Passion of the Christ” came out. Although I still think that’s a good idea, I don’t see it getting any traction.

I’ve only seen the movie directed by Mel Gibson once in its entirety, and that was at a press screening before its wide release. I bought the DVD when it came out, but have only watched snippets of it. The scene where Jesus is being whipped is just too brutal to stomach. The dialogue is in Aramaic, Latin, and Hebrew, so to understand what’s being said you have to read subtitles. That requires too much focus and attention for me. Still, each Easter I tell myself I’m going to sit down and watch it. I’ll let you know if that happens.

(For the record, the book is better than the movie.)

I don’t recall the exact year, but sometime in the 1990s a non-Christian acquaintance grew tired of my holier-than-thou attitude and asked if I had actually read the Bible from cover to cover. Embarrassed to say no, I opened up my copy the next day and started reading from Genesis 1:1 and going straight through. I average about a chapter a day and it normally takes about two years or so for me to read the whole thing. In more recent years I’ve taken to listening to it with the Bible app on my cell phone.

I’ve lost count the number of times I’ve read (or listened) to the Bible, but it’s got to be around 10 times already. I have no plans to stop. It’s a very important part of my day and my life. The number of times I read it isn’t important. It’s what I get out of it that is.

I guess writing this column is my way of making amends for nearly forgetting Easter and bringing my attention back to the most important things in life. My column is called Faith, Family & Fun, and the faith part comes first for a reason. There is nothing more sacred or important to me than the grace of God and the gift of eternal life in Heaven through the blood sacrificed by Jesus Christ.

Because of that I will continue to re-read my favorite book. If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend it. It’s been on the best-seller list for centuries.

Joe Southern is the managing editor of the Wharton Journal-Spectator and the East Bernard Express. He can be reached at news@journal-spectator.com.

What’s the story behind conflicting headlines?

One week we have a headline saying that Wharton Independent School District is declining in assessment reports and the next week we have one saying they are improving.

So which is it?

It all depends on how you look at it. The stories were based on two reports from the same data. When I went to the March 21 meeting of the Wharton ISD Board of Trustees, a very brief report was given about the assessments. It was one of three reports that I requested the district to send to me after the meeting. The other two were approved in the consent agenda, which seemed odd to me. I’ve been covering school boards for many years and these reports generally garner board discussion.

To me, it felt like some things were being hidden from the public. The board members have their board book with all the information, but the general public doesn’t get that information unless it’s discussed in the meeting or, as in my case, specifically requested. In my experience, most governmental entities (city, county, school, state, etc.) tend to communicate with their own lingo and insider knowledge. They seem to forget that the John Q. Public doesn’t have the details and background information that they have.

Getting back to my point, I requested the assessment report and wrote my first story based on the information I received. That information included a side-by-side comparison of how the school district did on the STAAR test from 2019 to 2021. It excluded 2020 due to the test not being administered because of the pandemic. Given that information, what I wrote was true. Straight up, the district did do worse.

As Superintendent Michael O’Guin later informed me, that was not an “apples-to-apples comparison.” I was invited to meet with him and other administrators at his office where I was given a more detailed copy of the report and the district’s spin on the data. Based on the way the Texas Education Agency looks at the numbers, the district is actually making small improvement in most testing categories.

O’Guin went on to explain the challenges the district faces, the many changes he has implemented in the last two years, and his five-year plan (three years remain) for bringing the district back where it needs to be academically.

He also noted that many students took a COVID waiver from the test in 2021, so the numbers of students taking the exam in the two years were not the same. That, and like every other district in the state, test scores generally declined because so much instruction was lost due to the pandemic. The fact that Wharton showed improvement was remarkable.

As an example of interpretation, eighth grade math in 2019 scored 88, the same as the state average. In 2021, the district score was 69 (a decline from 2019) but the state average fell to 62, giving the district a seven point improvement over the state.

In hindsight, I can see that I should have probably sought an interpretation of the first report before writing about it, but I’m also glad I didn’t. I’ve been through enough of these things over the years to trust my instincts. I still believe my first interpretation was accurate, even if the district and the TEA don’t look at it that way. I think my follow-up story is also accurate because that is how TEA rates the district, and that is what’s important, not my perspective.

The other two reports I requested had to do with the teacher salary schedule for next year and incentives for certain teachers. In all my years of covering school boards I have never seen these items placed in a consent agenda (which is for quick passage of items considered routine, such as approval of minutes and paying bills.) Although I doubt this was the intent of the district, I fear too many governmental agencies are hiding things that are potentially controversial in consent agendas so they get passed without much fuss.

I’m not an investigative journalist and I don’t have time to spend digging into things. I’m glad I took the time in this instance, because a lot of good news for the district was getting glossed over.

I know I’m still a newcomer in town, but from my time spent covering Wharton ISD and time spent visiting with O’Guin and others in the district, I believe things are turning around. Progress is two steps forward and one step back, but it is progress. When O’Guin was hired two years ago, he inherited a district that was a mess. Cleaning it up and righting this ship is a slow, cumbersome process, but his plan appears to be working.

Every school district in the state was dealt setbacks due to the pandemic. Test scores suffered, there are teacher shortages, and discipline in general is lagging because kids and their parents are still uneasy with the effects of masking and social distancing. Reports are coming out about how mental health suffered more than we realized in the last couple years.

When you realize this is happening everywhere and not just in Wharton, things don’t seem so bad. In fact, despite the distractions, things seem to be going pretty well here. We just need to give it time and trust the process.

Joe Southern is the managing editor of the Wharton Journal-Spectator and the East Bernard Express. He can be reached at news@journal-spectator.com.

Uncle Sam needs you to join the Army (or the enemy)

Uncle Sam needs you!

Not that Uncle Sam, I’m talking about Sam Houston, the former president of the Republic of Texas and governor of the state of Texas. You know, the hero of San Jacinto.

Last weekend I was in Goliad participating in the annual re-enactments of the Battle of Coleto Creek and the Goliad Massacre. This is traditionally one of the biggest and best of the Texas Revolution re-enactments because it is centrally located enough to draw many re-enactors from San Antonio to Houston. The rebuilt Presidio La Bahia lends itself to an air of authenticity and there is plenty of room for us to do our thing.

While there, I was involved in many discussions about the dwindling numbers in the re-enactment ranks and the need to recruit new volunteers. It has been two years since we last had a full-blown event and in that time many soldiers and soldados have marched on to their final furlough. The roll call of those we lost was long and painful. COVID, cancer and age made some significant reductions in our ranks.

Many of those remaining are getting long in the tooth. I’m in my mid-50s and am considered one of the younger guys. We do have a few in their 20s and 30s, but not many. We need more – a lot more.

There are many re-enactment organizations (I’m in the Texas Army) and we come together to portray life in the 1835-36 era of Texas. As you probably know, Texas won its independence from Mexico in 1836.

The bicentennial celebration of that event is coming up in 14 years. I know that seems like a long time from now – and it is – but consider this – there is going to be a lot of hype and celebration surrounding the 200th anniversary. Re-enactments are going to be a really big deal. We’re going to need a lot of people to participate. But to be prepared to do so takes time and money. It’s kind of a long-term investment.

If you have any inkling of participating in those events, now is the time to get involved. This is the time to start building your outfits and kit. This is the time to start gleaning the institutional knowledge of those who will be too old or gone in 14 years. In 14 years you, or maybe your children, will likely be a leader or able to portray major characters from the time period, such as Sam Houston, David Crockett, William Travis, Jim Bowie, James Fannin, President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, Gen. Martin Perfecto de Cos, Gen. Jose de Urrea, Juan Seguin, and many others.

It’s not just young men that we need. The call is out for ladies, too. Although they were not combatants, they played a crucial role in camps. Cooking is the big thing. If you like camping and cooking over an open fire (or would like to learn), this is a great opportunity. Many of the women will also demonstrate sewing, spinning yarn, playing instruments, and many other fun and necessary skills. They are also key actors in the Runaway Scrape.

For the guys, if you like to shoot guns, you ought to give muzzleloaders a try. I have a Brown Bess flintlock musket and it’s a blast! All we do is “burn powder,” meaning we fire blanks, no bullets. We also need people in the artillery to help with the cannons. It takes a crew of four to fire a cannon and that’s what gets the attention of most people.

If you’re a horse person, we really need you. Along with cannon fire, cavalry battles are incredibly popular. In addition to having a horse and being able to ride, it takes a long time to train your animal to be comfortable around crowds, gunfire, and cannon blasts. And just like the re-enactment roster, the equine ranks also took a hit during the COVID hiatus. We need to replenish mounts as much as men.

We also need volunteers of all races, especially Hispanic. Tejanos fought on both sides of the war. You can play on both sides depending on your interest. Many whites play on the Mexican side as well. Several re-enactors have Mexican and Texian outfits. We jokingly call them cross-dressers. I’ve done both sides and have enjoyed all of it.

There is tremendous camaraderie amongst the volunteers, and the real fun happens after hours when the public has gone home.

If you want to get a feel for what the re-enactments are all about, you have three opportunities coming up. The first is April 9 when the Runaway Scrape is re-enacted in Richmond at George Ranch Historical Park. I can’t make it this year, but this is one of the smallest events and it’s a great opportunity for visitors to see the action up close. The next will be April 23 at the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site. That re-enactment is repeated on April 30 in Anahuac.

Come for the fun. Come to learn. Come to join, if you like. After all, Uncle Sam needs you!

Joe Southern is managing editor of the Wharton Journal-Spectator and the East Bernard Express. He can be reached at news@journal-spectator.com.

Enjoying the juxtaposition of contradictions

Do you ever feel that life is full of contradictions?

Should I pay attention to details or not sweat the small stuff? Do I put myself or others first? Should I take time for reflection or never look back? Do I live a life with no regrets or learn to live with regrets? Have you ever noticed that birds of a feather flock together, yet opposites attract?

Of course oxymorons routinely populate our daily lives. Have you ever been awfully good at something? Maybe you’ve been alone together with someone? Have you ever had a bittersweet experience? If you listen, you can hear a deafening silence or perhaps a dull roar. I once took out some jumbo shrimp to thaw only to discover it was freezer burned.

You can find contradictory advice on just about anything in life. You’ve undoubtedly heard that practice makes perfect. Yet Albert Einstein famously said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome each time.

The thing is, the best advice is whatever is applicable to the moment. In general, it’s best to put others before yourself. But if you’re sick or hurting, you need to take care of yourself first.

And I have to admit that the analogy with Einstein is a bad one. Practice may be repetitive, but the nuances of each repetition are slightly different and aid in perfection of a skill and developing muscle memory. Still, if you’re throwing a ball at the same target 100 times a day, it may seem like insanity or at least boredom. It all depends on your mental attitude.

One piece of advice I have yet to see contradicted is that attitude is everything. As the late, great Zig Ziglar said, “Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.” We can’t control what happens to us, but we can control how we respond to it.

This weekend I will be in Goliad with my comrades from the Texas Army re-enacting the Battle of Coleto Creek and the Goliad Massacre. This is a very busy time of year for us as we travel to different locations re-enacting the various battles and events of the 1835-36 Texas Revolution on their respective anniversaries and locations.

We do this for many reasons, but primarily to help keep history alive for future generations. This is a big look back, not ahead, yet we do it with the future in mind. We need future generations to remember the Alamo, remember where they came from and how we got to where we are today.

I do believe you need to plan for the future, live in the moment, and respect the past. We need reflection and an accurate understanding of history in order to learn from our mistakes, build on our successes, and be able to move forward. Otherwise, Einstein’s axiom about insanity will be painfully true and we will be doomed to repeat history.

For me, history is fascinating. I love seeing how we have evolved and adapted to meet the various needs and challenges across time. It blows my mind that it only took only 66 years from the first powered flight to having a man walk on the moon. I’d say that the ability for humans to fly is the greatest things since sliced bread, but humans were flying for 25 years before we started slicing bread.

In my lifetime I’ve gone from a party line to cell phone. I’ve seen television screens explode in size and flatten out. Food can be cooked in minutes. Heck, I can talk to someone on the other side of the world with words traveling faster than the speed of sound! I’ve seen computers go from room-sized monstrosities to devices smaller than a deck of cards that I carry in my pocket.

Speaking of smart phones, have you ever noticed how they have dumbed us down? Instant access to information and entertainment has made people more reliant on technology and less adept at using their brains. And people do some really dumb things with smart phones, like texting and driving.

Living with so many rapid technological changes I guess it is inevitable that contradictions will continue to arise. As I head home at the end of the day I can drive on the parkway and park in my driveway. Shoot, it’s no wonder we’re so confused with so much contradiction in our lives. But it’s a good life and I don’t regret it.

(Joe Southern is the managing editor of the Wharton Journal-Spectator and East Bernard Express. He can be reached at news@journal-spectator.com.)

A little off the top, a history of hats

The cowboy hat collection of Joe Southern, 
including the brown leather, black felt, 
custom Lone Ranger, and new white felt hat.

OK, I’ll admit it, I’m all hat and no cattle.

There were cattle in my childhood (OK, just a couple of milk cows), but that was before the hats. We had a hobby farm for several years on our acre lot in Niwot, Colorado. I guess in some small way that was part of the allure of being a cowboy. Mostly I have to give credit to The Lone Ranger.

As long as I can remember, the masked man was one of my favorite heroes. I always wanted to have a cowboy hat like his. I think that’s part of the reason why I wanted to be a forest ranger when I grew up; they got to wear cool cowboy-ish hats. Back in the ’70s, the only cowboy hats I had were the straw ones that doubled as Easter baskets from Kmart. They fell apart about as fast as the candy got consumed.

Then that fateful moment happened, probably around 1975-76, when I found a leather hat at a garage sale for 50 cents. It was brown leather with a stitched-on crown and a flat, wide brim. I believe it was someone’s old Tandy Leather kit, but I didn’t care. I put a big ol’ feather hatband on it and wore it like I was Burt Reynolds in “Smokey and the Bandit.” Feather hatbands came and went, but the lid stayed with me. My mom called it my “Joe hat.”

By the time I got to high school in 1981, I was too cool for the hat, but not really. For four summers in the 1980s I worked at the Ben Delatour Scout Ranch. Three of those summers I was the mountain man, teaching wilderness survival and Indian lore to Boy Scouts. The hat was part of my daily attire. And then I grew up, got married and lost track of the hat for several years.

Flash forward to 1994 and I’m a new father living in North Carolina heavily under the influence of Garth Brooks. After covering one of his concerts, I went out and got me a black felt cowboy hat. It was sweet and I was so proud. That hat has been with me ever since. It’s become a trademark of sorts.

Although it wasn’t white like the Lone Ranger’s, it did have the teardrop crown like his. That was important to me. After years of being rode hard and put up wet, it has lost its shape and color. The last two hat shops I took it to said the felt was too worn to be shaped again. The hat is more of a brownish-black color now and the hatband it came with is long gone.

I almost always wear the hat on weekends, especially when I’m volunteering at Brazos Bend State Park or on the sidelines photographing football and baseball games. There are a lot of people who recognize me as the cowboy photographer at Houston Texans, Houston Astros, and Sugar Land Skeeters (now Space Cowboys) games.

In the early 2000s, I owned the Lone Ranger Fan Club and published a quarterly newsletter. Howard Peretti, one of my faithful companions, felt I should have a quality Lone Ranger costume and he paid for me to get properly outfitted. That outfit included a very expensive custom made hat. Finally, after all these years, I had a real Lone Ranger cowboy hat. Except ordering it online was a mistake.

Not knowing what sizes and dimensions to order, I wound up with a monstrosity with a crown too tall and a brim too wide. It works with my costume, but not as daily headwear. It now stays boxed up on a closet shelf.

In 2014 I began following Texas Revolution re-enactors from event to event, taking pictures and conducting interviews for a book I am still working on. In 2018 I joined their ranks. In piecing together my outfit, I rediscovered my old leather hat. Although it’s not exactly period correct, it’s the closest thing I have and I’ve been wearing it to each re-enactment since.

On March 2, my wife Sandy and I went to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Naturally, I wore my black felt cowboy hat there. I left carrying it in a plastic bag. I found a booth selling hats and finally got a white one that I had shaped with a teardrop crown. After all these many years, I now have a Lone Ranger style hat that I can wear on a regular basis. It fits better and looks cooler than any cowboy hat I’ve had before.

I doubt I’ll ever get rid of my old back hat, but I have a feeling I’m in for a long relationship with this new one. I’m very happy with my hat collection and wouldn’t trade any of them for all the cattle in the world. I’m content to be all hat and no cattle.

(Joe Southern is the managing editor of the Wharton Journal-Spectator and East Bernard Express. He can be reached at news@journal-spectator.com.) 

What’s not to like about having real friends

Many years ago, long before Facebook or MySpace (remember that?) came along, someone posed the question, “would you rather have a small pool of friends with deep relationships or a wide pool of friends with shallow relationships.”

I wanted the former but got the latter. According to Facebook, I have over 1,100 friends on the social media site. I’ve often assumed that my field of friendships were a mile wide and an inch deep. Facebook pretty much verified that. Heck, I bet there’s at least 200 people I’m friends with that I haven’t actually met in person and many more that I met once at an event and have never connected with again.

I’ve also discovered that my online friendships tend to be in clusters. At first it was geographical with friends from my home state of Colorado and my Texas friends. I now have collections of friends from various places I’ve worked, churches I’ve belonged to, and groups I’m involved in.

I have friends from elementary and high school. I have my historical re-enactment friends, comic-con friends, Lone Ranger Fan Club friends, photography friends, Brazos Bend State Park friends, Sugar Land Skeeters (now Space Cowboys) friends, Houston Texans friends, Boy Scout friends, and friends from the numerous Facebook groups I belong to.

Maybe that’s why I’m so drawn to Facebook. That’s where my friends are. Oh, I do see several of them in person when I’m at whatever group or activity we connected through, but the vast majority of people I connect with on a regular basis are on Facebook.

And that’s a problem.

The dictionary defines “friend” as, “A person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically exclusive of sexual or family relations.”

It’s hard to bond with someone when your connection is largely digital. Growing up I always had someone I considered a best friend (or in today’s vernacular, a BFF – best friend forever). While I’m still friends with many of them, we’re not BFFs. Time and distance have taken their toll. They’ve moved on with their lives and I’ve moved on with mine.

My closest and most intimate relationship is with my wife, as it should be. But outside of family, I no longer have anyone I would consider to be a best friend, and I haven’t for years. I’m not lonely, so please don’t pity me or reach out to me. That’s not why I’m writing this. I just wanted to point out this phenomenon that I’ve discovered about friendships in an era of social media.

I recently did an informal poll on Facebook asking people to respond based on the level of friendship we share. The results were fairly predictable.

I asked “If we are best friends/bffs, click the heart button. If we’re really good friends, click the like button. If we’re casual friends, click the care button. If we’re just friendly/acquaintances, click the laugh button. If we’re not really friends (then why are you here?), click the angry button.”

I got 12 laughs, seven likes, seven cares, four hearts, and two wows. I had relatives who wanted to know what to click for family. Most of the respondents answered as I anticipated, but there were a few surprises. I didn’t expect any hearts, but I got four, all from women (one from my mother) and all from people I met years ago back in Colorado.

While their responses were heartwarming and I treasure those relationships, I have so little contact with any of them outside of Facebook that I wouldn’t have considered them to be best friends, at least not in the way one traditionally thinks of a best friend. I had in mind the ride-or-die partner you pal around with, who takes your calls at 3 a.m., and keeps your secrets and shares your hurts and humor.

I also asked people how they defined friendship and the number of people they considered to be best friends or in an inner circle of friends. There were many responses about friendship being a shared bond, commonality, and a deep relationship. I think the average number of best/close friends was around four to six.

While I have several good friends, I no longer have what I would consider to be a best friend. Pete Larson, the person I was best friends with back in high school, is a ghost online. I can’t find him and I haven’t spoken with him in more than 15 years, which is a lot longer than we knew each other.

In my research, I’ve learned that it is very healthy for everyone to have someone of the same gender outside of family that they have a deep, committed relationship with, preferably three or four. Lacking that, I think that’s part of the reason why Facebook is such a time-suck for me. I’ve replaced real connectedness with digital ones. I doubt I’m alone in that regard.

Again, this is an observation and not a plea for pity or consolation. Real relationships must be built, not contrived. I don’t mind adding more friends, in fact, the more the merrier. I like being liked, and who doesn’t? But playing in the shallow end of the pool leaves much to be desired.

(Joe Southern is the managing editor of the Wharton Journal-Spectator and East Bernard Express. He can be reached at news@journal-spectator.com.)

Activist isn’t solving problems

When I first applied for this position at the Wharton Journal-Spectator and East Bernard Express, I was informed that the Wharton Independent School District has a lot of problems.

In the short time I’ve been here one of the consistent comments I’ve heard is that the district is a hot mess. I don’t know a school district that doesn’t have its share of problems but one of the biggest ones WISD appears to suffer from is its reputation and a lack of confidence from the community.

From players assaulting a coach to teachers being arrested on drug charges to low test scores and the looming possibility of a state takeover, those that are trying to make a positive difference are getting overlooked. There is a lot of good going on in the district and there are a lot of dedicated people investing much of themselves into the children of this community.

Solving problems takes hard work, commitment, and dedication. It means shutting out the noise and focusing on the solutions. Sometimes that takes time and results are not immediately apparent.

Unfortunately, there is a new noisemaker in town who seem more interested in stirring things up rather than solving problems. Houston activist Gerry Monroe came before the WISD Board of Trustees at their last meeting, acting angry and tough, and made veiled threats to overthrow the administration of Dr. Michael O’Guin, threats he has expounded upon in social media rants.

While I can appreciate someone trying to make things better in the school district, Monroe is the wrong person and he is using the wrong methods.

First of all, he is an outsider with no vested interest in the community other than trying to add another feather in his cap of school superintendents he claims to have help oust from their jobs. He claims his actions have cost school districts about $75 million.

I searched him online, by the way, and saw no evidence to back his claims other than winning $300,000 for attorney fees from Houston ISD. And if what he said is true, it means $75 million of taxpayer money left school coffers for the sake of his meddling. It also implies that he goes around running roughshod over school districts without trying to work with them to solve problems. I’d like to know if any of these school districts he has supposedly helped are better off today.

Secondly, solving problems requires addressing the issues in a civil manner. If discipline in the schools is one of the problems, then Monroe is setting an incredibly poor example. You can’t bully your way to civility.

Thirdly, not only is he an outsider, but he lacks credentials to do anything authoritative. He’s not an attorney, he doesn’t have a college degree, and as near as I can tell he doesn’t have any licensure or experience in fields of education or law. In my book, those things define credibility.

Finally, I find his methods deplorable. It’s a lot of theatrics and fiery rhetoric. It doesn’t get to the heart of the issue and he doesn’t seem to be genuinely concerned about making things better in the Wharton ISD. If he were, he would be acting in a spirit of cooperation, using kindness, and working with groups and committees to address and solve the various problems. His approach is to make a lot of noise and try to wreck the careers of dedicated, caring professionals.

So, that begs the question of why did I give him front page publicity if this is the way I feel about it. Trust me, I debated long and hard whether or not he deserved any ink. Ultimately, I did so because it was news. His gangbuster approach at the meeting is what most people there would be talking about and I wanted to make sure the facts were presented accurately before the rumor mill ran amok. I do intend to write more about what else happened in the meeting, I just need more time.

Like I said earlier, there are a lot of good things going on in Wharton ISD. From what I can see, the district is working methodically to make positive changes. It can be difficult to tout those successes when you have naysayers loudly pointing out problems and not offering solutions.

I should note that part of the solution belongs with every parent with a child in the school district. If discipline is a problem, the answer rests in the home, not the schools. Children need to be taught by their parents how to be kind and respectful. If that’s not happening at home you can’t expect it to happen at school or anywhere else.

(Joe Southern is the managing editor of the Wharton Journal-Spectator and East Bernard Express. He can be reached at news@journal-spectator.com.)

Healing in a time of a health pandemic

(NOTE: This is a column I wrote in 2020 while working for The Sealy News. I share it today because it is still relevant and I feel it could help someone here suffering from depression.)

Let me share a secret about me that many of you may not know or have only suspected.

I have been suffering from moderate to severe depression since 2006. There have been times when it was so bad it took all of my focused effort just to get out of bed and go through the basic motions of the day. I have seen numerous psychologists, psychiatrists and even a neurologist. I’ve been on many of the major antidepressant medications with little or no effect.

Most of those drugs have left me feeling emotionally flat. I feel neutral most of the time and can easily dip deep into negative feelings such as sadness or anger. On rare occasions I can feel brief spikes of positive energy, but they’re short-lived. Most of the time I’m physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted.

No more!

Something extraordinary happened to me in April and May of 2020 while I was on furlough from my job during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown. I got better. I dare say I’ve been healed. Only time will tell for sure, but at the time of this writing I feel great. I owe it in large part to a relatively new treatment called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).

TMS utilizes focused magnetic pulses to awaken parts of the brain that become inactive in depression. Not only is there a chemical imbalance in the brain when depression strikes, but there is a part of the brain that physically slows down or shuts down. The magnetic pulses stimulate this part of the brain and in some cases it develops new neuropathways that allow the emotional center of the brain to operate the way it is supposed to.

At first I thought this was some kind of new age hocus-pocus, but it has had U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval since 2008 and a lot of positive testimonials.

Prearranged before I had any clue that I was about to be sidelined from my job, I was scheduled to begin TMS treatment on April 6. The treatment required 36 sessions lasting about 20 minutes each. I went each weekday for six weeks and then tapered off the last three weeks. I was really stressed at how I was going to fit this into my busy schedule when God cleared my calendar with a furlough.

I did my treatment at Greenbrook TMS in Richmond under the care of Dr. Aqeel Hashmi. Actually, I had very little interaction with him. Each day I was treated by technician Coty Bishop, who was very jovial and friendly. I really appreciate his professionalism and encouragement.

TMS was only a part of what I did for my health in those two months off, but it was also the only thing with measurable results. I was tested weekly about my mood and the charts show very significant improvement. The difficult part for me is figuring out how much of my recovery is from TMS and how much is from everything else I’ve been doing.

My journey began back the day before Thanksgiving (2019) when I started the keto diet. Not only have I lost more than 50 pounds so far, but I’ve been eating healthier than I have at any time in my life. On top of the improved diet, I’ve also been walking one to two miles a day. I helped my son Colton with his hiking merit badge for Scouts and we did three 10-mile hikes and a 15-mile and a 20-mile hike.

I’ve also taken advantage of the time to get adequate sleep at night. It’s incredible what an extra hour or two a night will do for you.

When you factor all these things together, it’s no wonder that I’m feeling so much better and am much more energized. I highly doubt all of this would have happened if it were not for the pandemic putting my job on hold. This recovery is something I’ve hoped for and prayed over for a long time. I honestly believe the timing is an act of God. I believe my good mood and improved health are the product of all these things working in concert with each other. Each part is important and plays a vital role.

I offer this testimony in hopes that it will encourage someone else who is dealing with depression and struggling to get by. There is hope! I can’t reclaim the 13 years depression took from me, but I can plan on a future with peace, joy, and happiness back in my life and you can too!

 

2022 follow-up

It has been nearly two years since my treatment and I’m happy to say that I’m still healthy. Like any normal person, I have my down moments, but they are short-lived. I still struggle to feel positive feelings, but they happen much more frequently than they did while I was depressed.

In all fairness, I should note that the treatment only has about a 75% success rate. It doesn’t work for everyone and not all depressions are the same. Greenbrook TMS offers a free consultation. You can learn more about it at https://www.greenbrooktms.com/texas-centers/fort-bend.

(Joe Southern is the managing editor of the Wharton Journal-Spectator and East Bernard Express. He can be reached at news@journal-spectator.com.)