luciaphile

Should anyone else recall Mrs.Counteé, I am working out that she taught biology, of which oceanography was one unit, because I flashed on writing out the Krebs cycle circle on a test in her class and dredged up a memory of her getting a vet she knew to come in and spay/neuter some cats for our edification, teasing us about our city-kid squeamishness about animals; taking us to the observation gallery at Methodist Hospital to watch Dr.DeBakey perform heart surgery, and checking out a corpse and holding a brain that same day. It's all very murky, except for field trips, which were bright spots; so it makes me sorry when kids tell me they don't take many field trips anymore.

I can't illuminate you on Westbury (for which there is a striking amount of nostalgia!) but as a graduate of its less-fondly-recalled twin cousin, what is now, jauntily, just "Lee," your query made me wonder about its current mascot and muse about Lees the school might for all I know be honoring: Bruce Lee, but I think Chuck Norris would get the nod ahead of him; or Brenda Lee, in which case the school song could be, appropriately, "I'm Sorry"; or Harper Lee, with mascot the Mockingbird - but I think she's getting static now for her candid condescending portrayal of white trash. I googled the Lee homepage and discovered that the football team (or soccer? not sure) is still the Generals, with a silhouette of a vaguely Confederate-looking soldier. Our school newspaper was the Traveler, Lee's much-revered horse, and the drill team was the Lieutenants, which showed a certain wit (Rebelettes?). I don't think the Generals were very good; we did however produce a UT quarterback, Peter Gardere. I think he was QB during the McWilliams years (oh God, that I even know this - I have been outnumbered in my house by men for a long time), which were a low period for UT; but Gardere himself is given props for having beaten OU all 4 years. I just want to say here in this public forum that we had a wonderful oceanography teacher at Robert E. Lee, Mrs.Counteé. She was ancient and not paricularly mobile but she took us to Galveston to gather crabs and anemones for our tanks, and to visit the A&M research vessel and the sea turtle breeding place. I was not able to appreciate then the degree to which she was exercising her own initiative in all that. She was kind enough to allow students who were, I don't know, a little antisocial or misfit or whatever to eat lunch in the lab; all I had to do - or, I mean, that person had to do - in return was heat up her lunch on a Bunsen burner. She told me I was her "right-hand man," which I enjoyed; and in general favored me because my older brother when he was in her class used to bring her deer meat and ducks. She said my other brother decorated his tank with beer cans and killed his creatures. I was sorry when she retired; she often mentioned that she had saved up 2 years' worth of vacation, which made her chuckle. We never discussed the name of the school. So many things in the South are named for Robert E. Lee and he was once understood to be the very pattern of an honorable soldier but I can't say what Mrs.Countee and the other black teachers felt about it. As to the causes of the Civil War, and who thought what when, I can only plead total ignorance (on this and all subjects except oceanography) on the part of my fellow students and myself. The American history course began with Columbus and ran through, I think, a chapter on the robber barons and the Gay Nineties and, uh, antitrust ... stuff. The Spanish-American War was splendid but forgotten, as also the assassination of McKinley by that Russian/Prussian/Polish/Hungarian anarchist, a curious omission given how the century played out. Anyway, as the year progressed we got farther and farther behind, which didn't particularly trouble anyone, and I can assure you, in the eighties in HISD, we never got as far as the Civil War in that textbook. We didn't even get as far as the Mexican War (which you might have thought, if you are not a product of HISD, that we would have hit in the 7th grade, in Texas history - but we were busy prepping for the end-of-year exam: printing out from memory the names of all 254 Texas counties). Speaking of that, maybe they could reinstate the "Robert E." in the name of the school if it was understood they did so not in remembrance of his being the architect of Southern military strategy, but instead in honor of his distinguished service in the Mexican War... I've got a little of the devil in me today.

The money was so unfathomable that it upset the usual Buddenbrooks-type formula of: first generation builds the fortune; second generation consolidates; third generation squanders, or goes Bohemian. Often that first generation dove right into the squandering - it was too much to hoard - and yes, it was very entertaining. My casual reading, though, is that the fortune that built the Jim West mansion was East Texas timber, the oil $$ was a later windfall from the mineral rights on that Clear Lake estate. So the world got "Silver Dollar" Jim Jr. and Humble got the big unmanageable house. I doubt that "Silver Dollar" Jim ever looked like this: And in most cases they still didn't burn through it: I have it on good report that it's old (by our standards) money, much though not all originally oil money, that still drives philanthropic giving in Texas, at least in the few areas I care about. So thanks, Big Rich.

http://www.tshaonlin.../articles/fwe33 I don't doubt anything that you say, but the Handbook of Texas bio makes no mention of law school nor of the "junior" - says he's the son of Silas West of Mississippi. I've read elsewhere that he sold patent medicines after his day's work in the sawmill was done. He sounds self-made. I may be confusing father and son and grandson.

I just cursorily read Jim West's bio, so I don't know very much about him, but it seems to confirm something that has fascinated me: how in the past someone who was probably perceived as an uneducated, "country-bumpkin"-type (I do realize that at the time, our population was rural, and the term would have applied to most of us) could use his fortune to build an outlandish huge house that was yet tasteful and beautiful and high-quality. To my eyes, at least. Something has definitely changed with regard to the nouveau-riche. It's as though they're not being well-served. Someone should Save them. The reason for my post, though, is my " 'satiable curtiosity" for all things Texas and gossip-y. The Save the Jim West Mansion website alluded to his family having vacated the mansion at his death "per the wishes in his will." Was this part of the terms, a life estate or something, of the earlier sale of the land to Humble Oil? It didn't say that, but instead made it sound like he wanted the property to sit vacant, with its contents pointlessly intact. He doesn't otherwise come off as an eccentric. I love that it housed the Lunar Science Institute. It gives the place a Bletchley Park vibe, making it even cooler. There's probably moondust mixed in with all the other dust.

72 hours in Houston: "Let's check out the Discovery Green!" Blood relations were puzzled but complied. What a very nice space. It definitely softens up the convention center and is a good spot for the "Monument au fantome" (thanks, Google). The nearby hotel guests must be pleased to have somewhere to walk. Is there a peculiar public/private funding mechanism? - because it doesn't seem to be managed by the city. The grounds were nearly immaculate. Lots of children were splashing; I didn't splash because Mother was taking me to a place called "Tiny Boxwoods" for lunch but I understand the allure of splashing, having splashed just in the past month in Rapid City, SD, Trinidad, CO, and Waco. (You'll find, on a road trip, that other people don't mind pulling over to let you splash because it gives them a chance to fiddle with their iPhones.) That said, DG seems distinctly like a tourism or chamber of commerce initiative. It's a fine use of a city block, but it would never have occurred to me to even speak of it in the same breath as Hermann or Memorial Park or, regarding Waco, Cameron Park, which is hands down the best urban park in the state.

I imagine there is a continuum of golf-course maintenance from Hermann Park to Pebble Beach. Mowing, yes, and trimming trees, but it's unlikely they keep it manicured. Haven't played the golf course since the 80's. Zoo and train when last enjoyed 2 or three years ago seemed fun. Thought the little Japanese-inspired garden was a nice addition. Really dig reflecting pools. Hope the stuffed grizzly bear is still striking awe inside the natural history museum. I also love the huge amethyst - or was it a geode? I'm forgetting - that was just inside the parking garage entrance. Would never have seen it because I'm far too cheap to pay for parking, but Lexus-driving mother loves to pay for parking. Y'all should check it out!

I'm not sure who's misunderstanding whom, but my whole point really boiled down to, if you desire more Discovery Green-type spaces, make it count and put them somewhere that would benefit from remediation, not on top of already existing open space that, in Houston terms, is already quite pretty and as the poster above pointed out, furnishes a contrast to the more "programmed" areas of the park. Indeed, to the whole area. Why waste the good work of an earlier generation? Another Tiger Woods may come along and golf will be popular again (insofar as outdoor recreation ever will be). If not, you've got ready-made walking or biking paths Also, if the whole park is given over to uses that require a great deal of upkeep/management...if it is anything like where I live, you'll regret it. The novelty wears off and things deteriorate. The parks department can only handle so much. There seems to be a law of conservation of city amenities. (See abovementioned Reflecting Pool, and everyone's surprise when they drained it to discover there was an actual reflecting pool there.) Hedge your bets and leave some of the park as trees and grass.

Splash pads v. golf: this is a false dilemma. You must see that the real problem is that Houston makes no investment in parkland. it's baffling to me that your city officeholders don't even have to pay lip service to the idea. It's a total non-issue to the the small number of people who vote and could make it a priority if they wished.

So you have an urban golf course that is under-utilized, but plays some role in improving air quality and mitigating heat island. It is not well-maintained, so probably doesn't cost that much to run. (I would say this is one reason it is not well-used, but I'm sure the truth is in our culture all outdoor pastimes are on the wane.) You could improve the fun per acre, make it more of an interactive greensward a la the unfortunately named Discovery Green which would increase impervious cover and be expensive, would in fact require a non-profit to step in to provide the amenities as I gather from Googling is the case with DG. Or you could turn some of the golf course into something a little more democratic like soccer fields. Get ready to lose the trees then, and I'm not at all convinced you'll see round-the-clock games from your train. Or no more golf, walking paths instead. Or you could privatize it - Schlitterbahn? I'm dreaming big. Maybe these are worthy ideas, but why on Earth would you ever start by altering something that is not ugly as is, and does no harm, in fact can easily be shown to be somewhat beneficial, in a city like Houston with so much blight? Wouldn't the $$ be better spent increasing your parkland per capita? it's not that hard - you pass some bonds to fund open space. Why are the people of Houston so undemanding? All the things you want to do, do them somewhere it will have the ancillary effect of making the city more liveable. I imagine most of you could throw a rock at such an area.

I'm with Fringe, but to be candid when I lived in Houston I was always looking for places to go where there weren't any people (don't forget that kids need somewhere to go when they don't feel like going to school!), so I have a completely different scale of values than the one the rest of you are employing. But when you're talking about a city of 5 million people, is it really so quixotic to assign a value to either solitude or empty space? If I were on board that train, the sight of imaginary golfers in a bit of green space would do me good. And hey, the value of one round of golf on that 90-year-old course, to one old man (let's make him ninety as well), may be greater than the value of 4 hours spent by a family of four at the Discovery Green, doing and discovering whatever it is you do there...

Quite the utilitarian, aren't you? So possibly 70,000 golfers a year. It won't help much but perhaps you should count "people-hours" (HRU: Human Recreational Unit? - as I type I realize it surely already exists) instead since each golfer will be on the course 4 hours. Whereas who could stand to be at the Discovery Green with their kids for 4 hours? (Understand that I don't have the slightest idea what the Discovery Green is, but the name makes my eyes glaze over.) (You kindly reply and explain. I write back, "Oh, sounds fun." Not really.) Now during my infrequent visits I have seen how they cleaned up the reflection pool in Hermann Park (or bailed it out - who knew it had rectilinear concrete edges?) and thought that looked very nice. But no one can stand in it and recreate. So it's not an amenity in your brute reckoning?

I glance at this website from time to time out of, well, I suppose nostalgia is the word (though it doesn't seem quite right!) for my Houston childhood. Are you suggesting that Houston needs less open space?!!!