El Taco Tejano

El Taco Tejano, 202 West Kingsbury, has the BEST Breakfast Tacos! And, this place - just like so many places in Seguin - is where one can meet up with friends and acquaintances - any morning of the week. The tacos are so good. The cooks and servers (who do double duty - take orders and serve!) are efficient and friendly. This is a great place!

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A group of Chicano poets in San Diego have been meeting since 1994 and reading their free-form odes in taco shops from here to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, New York and back.

Why read poetry in taco shops, you ask? Simple, says Adolfo Guzmán López, one of the Taco Shop Poets founding members.

"Taco shops are the most democratic of institutions, where your standing in life -- whether you're rich or poor, black or white or brown- doesn't matter," Guzmán says. "Taqueros (taco makers) treat everyone the same and serve everyone the same."

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http://www.juddhandler.com/articles/tacoshoppoets.php

Martin Luther King Day - 2009

Gillian Clarke, the National Poet of Wales, told a group of schoolchildren:

"We're all black now. And it's taught us all - from schoolchildren in Birmingham to poets in Wales - that if you're black, you can do it; if you're a woman, you can do it; if you're young, you can do it. And if you're Welsh, we can do it."

http://www.gillianclarke.co.uk/home.htm

http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoet.do?poetId=1507

If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

A week or so before Christmas, while driving in the early morning fog in Seguin, I was reminded of a 1981 blizzard in Denver - and thanked my lucky stars that we weren't shoveling snow!

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The Sun and Fog contested
by Emily Dickinson

The Sun and Fog contested
The Government of Day --
The Sun took down his Yellow Whip
And drove the Fog away --

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Snow Day
by Billy Collins

Today we woke up to a revolution of snow,
its white flag waving over everything,
the landscape vanished,
not a single mouse to punctuate the blankness,
and beyond these windows

the government buildings smothered,
schools and libraries buried, the post office lost
under the noiseless drift,
the paths of trains softly blocked,
the world fallen under this falling.

In a while I will put on some boots
and step out like someone walking in water,
and the dog will porpoise through the drifts,
and I will shake a laden branch,
sending a cold shower down on us both.

But for now I am a willing prisoner in this house,
a sympathizer with the anarchic cause of snow.
I will make a pot of tea
and listen to the plastic radio on the counter,

as glad as anyone to hear the news

that the Kiddie Corner School is closed,
the Ding-Dong School, closed,
the All Aboard Children's School, closed,
the Hi-Ho Nursery School, closed,
along with -- some will be delighted to hear --

the Toadstool School, the Little School,
Little Sparrows Nursery School,
Little Stars Pre-School, Peas-and-Carrots Day School,
the Tom Thumb Child Center, all closed,
and -- clap your hands -- the Peanuts Play School.

So this is where the children hide all day,
These are the nests where they letter and draw,
where they put on their bright miniature jackets,
all darting and climbing and sliding,
all but the few girls whispering by the fence.

And now I am listening hard
in the grandiose silence of the snow,
trying to hear what those three girls are plotting,
what riot is afoot,
which small queen is about to be brought down.

"Smokey Joe" Williams

Shortly after moving to Seguin, there was an article in the Seguin Gazette-Enterprise about a "Smokey Joe" Williams Scholarship Fundraiser. I mentioned to my husband: "This might be interesting." I had never heard of "Smokey Joe" and knew very little about the Negro Baseball League.
Well, we didn't attend that year, nor the next few years. Think that the first one we went to was in 2004 and believe me: it IS interesting.
There are baseball players who come from all over the country to pay tribute to the memory of "Smokey Joe" Williams and who care about the education of the youth. The baseball stories these players tell are fascinating. I believe that former City Manager Jack Hamlett and former Seguin Library Director Mark Gretchen were instrumental in the beginnings of this event. And how thankful Seguinites are! There is an upcoming talk in February at the library that will given by Mark Gretchen pertaining to his research on "Smokey Joe" and the Williams family of Seguin.

Mark (a thorough and exacting researcher) has done extensive research and I'm looking forward to hearing his talk.

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http://www.nlbpa.com/williams__joe_-_smokey.html
http://www.blackbaseball.com/players/smokeyjoewilliams.htm
http://www.coe.ksu.edu/nlbemuseum/history/players/williamsj.html

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The following is an excerpt from the Kansas City American, August 7, 1930

Homesteads Take Three from Kay See

"Smokey Joe" Williams Is Too Much for Local Aggregation

Cudahy Rex Defeats K.C. Allies 20-3

The Pittsburgh Grays, with their pitching "ace," Smokey Joe Williams, mowing down Monarch batters about as fast as they appeared at the plate, won their second straight night game from the 1929 Negro National League champions last night at Muehlebach Field, 1-0, in a great pitchers' duel.

"Smokey Joe" had everything except a blacksmith's file. Chet Brewer, the Monarch mound entry was about as effective but a fluke 2-base hit by White, Pittsburgh center fielder, with the walking Charleston on second, sent the Monarchs down to defeat in the twelfth.

The opposing pitchers were cheating without question of a doubt. An emery ball in daylight is very deceptive but at night it is about as easy to see as an insect in the sky.

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Spiritual Voices

The Martin Luther King Junior Birthday Celebration featured the Spiritual Voices and they were wonderful. This ensemble of seven includes four university professors of music, a private teacher, store manager, and a church musician 'with a love and passion for the revival of the Negro Spiritual.'

They are soprano Barbara Hill Moore; soprano Audra Scott; mezzo soprano Audra Scott; mezzo soprano Michelle Evans; tenor Richard Heard; bass baritone, Leon Turner; bass, Louis Nabors; and pianist Brian Bently.

Their beautiful voices blended perfectly.

Linda Neal and Sheila Johnson gave a quilt presentation that certainly held everyone's interest. These ladies did the necessary research to inform us of the oral stories about the Underground Railroad Quilt codes. They mentioned that there is no definite proof of the quilt codes and of course no written records, however the oral stories persist.

The Spiritual Voices used the words of Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman to tell the story of slavery in song. The finale was a medley of songs from Porgy and Bess.

At the close of the evening, MLK Committee chairman Earl Moseley quoted Martin Luther King, Jr.'s memorable words:

"I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."

Soul Food!

This weekend Seguin celebrates Martin Luther King with several events.

This morning there was A Taste of Soul at the Events Center. There will be a dinner show at the Center this evening.

In celebration of the 10th anniversary of its program honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Texas Lutheran University is presenting Spiritual Voices, a musical ensemble that appeared at the first TLU celebration. This will be held at Jackson Auditorium at TLU on Sunday.

Events wrap up Monday with the annual MLK Day March in downtown Seguin. The symbolic march will begin at 1 p.m. Monday in Seguin's Central Park and end at TLU's Jackson Auditorium where an MLK Program, featuring guest speaker Barbara Ewing, will begin.