You take 35 south towards Laredo . . .
Pictures from Day 3 and Day 4 here.
You may say, "My god, it's like your world is not actually inhabited by people. It's just pictures of stuff and things," but it's like that on purpose. I don't know how most other people feel about their privacy and it's much easier to show the places I've been than to explain myself over and over.
Y'know?
Also, I am working on a special secret project.
Also, I obtained mucho beer today at the H-E-B, including a disturbingly large can of something called "Steel Reserve". It's, um, lager-y? I only got it because it claimed to be brewed in Fort Worth.
We also picked up a sixer of Shiner Bock and one of Ziegen Bock Amber, which claims to be brewed exclusively for Texas. Yes, we are on a Texas-beer only kick while we're here (causing Mike to almost throw a tantrum at the prospect of no Guinness )
. . .
Apparently, Wikipedia indeed knows all. The name of the fellow who did not cross the line in the sand was Louis "Moses" Rose, a former French mercenary who moved to Nacogdoches after Napoleon's defeat. Accoring to said pedia:
"Louis Rose, aged and having already once in his life seen the devastation of futile warfare in practice, was the only defender to not cross Travis' line and remain in the mission."
Interesting to note. But still, why is his name verboten to speak at the Alamo itself?
posted by lemurs @ 5:55 PM
3 Comments:
Isn't the Battle of the Alamo just about the most over-rated fight in history? Hasn't history more or less shown that they weren't really fighting over anything? Have I got this wrong, or could the story of the Alamo just as easily be a "Titanic-esque" lesson in the perils of mis-placed bravado and resolve? Someone Please correct me if I'm wrong about this...
I think it's a matter of texans blowing EVERYTHING out of proportion. everything is gigger in texas or whatever. Texas is the american superego, If I use the term correctly.
personally it seems they have some sort of inferiority complex.
There are so many tales and tellers of stories surrounding the Alamo that it's hard to separate out what really went on. AFAIK, the Texians were trying to declare independence from Mexico at the time. Lt. Colonel Travis was sent to defend it, or, if it seemed like it couldn't be defended, to break it down and move the cannons to somewhere they would be more useful.
He decided it WAS in fact defendable, (and may well have been if they had more than a few score men), and just a couple weeks after he got there, General Santa Anna showed up with his army of Imperial Mexicans.
Santa Anna was there to send a message and put down the Texian rebellion, and flew a flag of no-quarter. At this point, they COULD have surrendered, but likely would have all been executed as their brethen at Goliad would be later. Instead, they shored themselves up, chose to go down fighting and gave 'em hell for what it was worth.
It wasn't a HUGE battle and the Alamo itself wasn't the point, but it was a rallying point for Houston's army at San Jacinto, where Santa Anna was whipped.
. . .
As for the whole Texas being the American superego and everything, I was actually thinking quite a bit about this yesterday:
Texas is one of those places that really REALLY has a sense of itself and what it is and what it wants other people to see it as being. It has the same kind of a sense of place as Hawaii does with it's "Aloha" keychains and beach towels all over the place. Just, in in Texas, it's Texas-shaped stuff and "Remember the Alamo" and crap like that.
Those kind of places aren't too common.
Oh sure, Seattle sells touristy crap and space needle bullshit, but you don't see "Emerald City!" emblazoned on bird feeders or Puget Sound shaped windchimes, y'know?
While it may feel big and overblown, I have come to accept that Texas is what Texas is, the same way you come to accept that your friend will ALWAYS have bad taste in shoes but you love her anyway.
I dunno. I guess I'm saying I think Personality Of This Place is kind of neat and amusing. But I would say that one Texas is enough.
Also, it would really be great if Texas's would get hip to this crazy thing I like to call "recycling".
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