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FEBRUARY
Explore what's inside this issue!
10 From the Publisher 12 Calendar
26 OUTDOORS
36 Spiritual BE KIND
Hills like gray rhinos
28 LIFE
PEOPLE. They’re everywhere.
14 TROUBADOUR
Publisher Benjamin D. Schooley ben@hillcountryexplore.com Operations Manager Michelle Hans michelle@smvtexas.vom
40 COMMUNITY TAO
Creative Director Benjamin N. Weber ben.weber@smvtexas.com
After new orleans & the stars
20 History
Assistant Creative Director Kayla Davisson kayla@smvtexas.com
History of boerne THE FINAL CHAPTER
ADVERTISING SALES 210-507-5250 sales@hillcountryexplore.com
44 Look’n for love 46 OLD TIMER 32 Charity
old timer top ten list
Called to be scattered
24 ART OF
EXPLORE magazine is published by Schooley Media Ventures in Boerne, TX. EXPLORE Magazine and Schooley Media Ventures are not responsible for any inaccuracies, erroneous information, or typographical errors contained in this publication submitted by advertisers. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the opinions of EXPLORE and/or Schooley Media Ventures. Copyright 2015 Schooley Media Ventures, 930 E. Blanco, Ste. 200, Boerne, TX 78006
Contributing Writers
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Marjorie Hagy History
Rene Villanueva Music
Kendall D. Aaron Spiritual
Old Timer Just Old Timer
Paul Wilson Life & Living
MARJORIE is a bibliophile, a history nut and an insomniac, among several other conditions, both diagnosed and otherwise. When she's not working tirelessly to avoid getting a real job, she nurses an obsession with her grandson and is involved in passing legislation restricting the wearing of socks with sandals. She is an aspiring pet hoarder who enjoys vicious games of Scrabble, reading Agatha Christie, and sitting around doing nothing while claiming to be thinking deeply. Marjorie has five grown children, a poodle to whom she is inordinately devoted in spite of his breath, and holds an Explore record for never having submitted an article on time. She's been writing for us for five years now.
Rene Villanueva is the lead singer/bass player for the band Hacienda. Having toured worldwide, hacienda has also been featured on several late night shows, including Late Show with David Letterman. Rene and his wife Rachel live in Boerne, TX and just welcomed thier first child.
I’m just a normal guy. I’m not a theology student, I don’t preach in church, and I’ve never written a book. I’m just a normal guy that thinks, and feels, and is on a never-ending journey attempting to be the best person I can be. I fail frequently at this quest, yet each day, the quest continues. I’ve lived in Boerne since the late ‘80s, I’ve got a most beautiful wife, three wonderful children, and just really, really love God. Thanks for going on my spiritual journey with me.
The Old Timer tells us he's been a resident of Boerne since about 1965. He enjoys telling people what he doesn't like. When not bust'n punks he can be found feeding the ducks just off Main St. or wandering aimlessly in the newly expanded HEB. Despite his rough and sometimes brash persona, Old Timer is really a wise and thoughtful individual. If you can sort through the BS.
An insatiable curiosity for life and an incurable fascination with human behavior has forged in Paul Wilson a keen interest in helping people think about wise living. As a Life Coach, Paul offers professional mentoring to clients seeking greater personal fulfillment in their life. He currently serves as the Lead Pastor of Cibolo Creek Community Church in Fair Oaks Ranch, a faith community he began in 1996 to serve people who didn’t really like church. As artistowner of The Paul Wilson Studio, he also creates bronze sculptures for private and corporate collections. Paul and his wife, Charlotte, who make their home in Fair Oaks Ranch, are the proud parents of two teenage sons. If you’re interested in receiving daily thought-provoking insights about life and living, follow Paul on Twitter at @paulwilsonTX or Facebook at facebook.com/ paulwilsonTX.
EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.
PUBLISHER DEAREST EXPLORE READER, James Robertson is a factory worker in Detroit. Each day he wakes up and begins a 21mile journey to his job that pays $10.55/hour. He has no car, so James walks that distance each day. At the end of his 8 hour shift, he reverses course, and completes his 42 mile roundtrip journey on foot every weekday. He walks as he has no car that he can afford, so this has been James’ routine for the past decade. A local news program heard of James’ story, and aired it one night on the news. A story to end the broadcast with so that we could all revel at James’ work ethic. A 19 year old college student named Evan Leedy was watching the news that night and found the story to be quite touching. The next day he logged onto GoFundMe.com and established an account for people to donate to James, and set the goal at $5000 to help him get a cheap car and maybe make a few insurance payments for him. Within a month there were over $350,000 in donations made on James’ behalf. Evan delivered the car to his new friend James, and Evan recounted, “Before James drove off in his new car to go home, he gave me a big hug and said ‘It’s not even about the money and the car, it’s about random strangers like you wanting to help a guy like me just doing what I was blessed to do.’” I’ve written about my friend Pedro that I worked with in Florida. I’ve written about my old college roommate, the guy that mowed my yard, a dog I once found, and Greg Noble, whom I picked on in grade school and who eventually kicked my ass over it. I’ve chronicled my brother’s death from cancer, the breakdown of my marriages, and even Houston traffic. I’ve rattled on about words of wisdom from my parents, the stupid ducks by the river, and my children. I’ve touched on every subject imaginable and have found great “meaning” behind some of life’s most mundane (and not so mundane) experiences. Almost universally, these experiences are tied back to random moments of time where my life bumped into someone else’s. These little moments where fate brought us together, even if for a moment, and I was left writing about it years later. I was changed, most of the time for the better, and my life’s trajectory was altered. No, I’ve never been touched by a news broadcast and been inspired to raise $350,000 for a stranger although I wish that I have. When I heard of this story and Evan and James, I suppose I found some really great inspiration not only in these two characters, but in a lot of other characters. Let me explain. All around us, life is occurring. Sometimes it’s beautiful, and sometimes it is very, very ugly. Sometimes it’s just flat out mundane. But rest assured, as this little blue marble spins in space, we are all bumping into each other at various times and having a variety of influences on one another. I think that every story that our lives create can be found to be inspiring. Much like James and Evan. I think that we often minimize the beauty of our stories in our lives. We shrug our shoulders at some of the obstacles we have overcome and mumble “I just did what I had to do.” Or we humbly disappear into the shadows when someone wants to celebrate the impact we might have had on someone. We put our hands out and say “No thanks is necessary” and shyly let the subject quiet down.
I have a friend that is a single parent of three young kids here in town, and is doing everything that she can to get by. She works with a local ministry because her heart is passionate about it, and makes very little income. She pawns her household items so that she can take her kids to the movies sometimes, and does everything she has to do in order to keep them happy and content. And you know what? Her kids are lights in a dark world. They want for nothing (though they have little), and they are learning what hard work and dedication look like via their mother. She is up late at night worrying, but her independence will always keep her moving forward. It’s almost like a Hollywood script, but it’s happening at the corner of Plant and Rosewood right here in town. My friend Johnny quit his career in the restaurant industry because “God told me to.” He moved to the crummiest part of San Antonio, started a church, and stands around on street corners in the dead of night and prays with people. He takes people sleeping on benches into his home and feeds them. How many lives has he changed? How many people are out there right now telling the story of this tattooed guy named Pastor Johnny who helped them get out of the gutter and ultimately on to living a great life? How many generations will be impacted because of one guy handing out food at 2am to broken people? And how many of you have ever heard of him? The story of James and Evan is a great one that received a fair amount of publicity. The news covered it, Facebook posted all about it, and millions of people smiled due to Evan’s kindness. I smiled, too. However, I think that stories like James and Evan are literally everywhere….if you look for them. Heck, you are probably the key character in a story that someone is telling about your impact on their lives at some point. You may not even know about that impact, but I have to believe that all of us have the ability to impact each other in very profound ways. What seemed mundane to you, altered another’s life. And frankly, I find that to be very beautiful. Look around you. Breathe in the experiences of this life, and dig until you can find the beauty in the stories you are witnessing. The stories you need to know about don’t always air on the evening news, but rather, they play out every day and in every way that you seek to find them. Welcome to February. May you take this month to really focus on the beautiful things that your life contains. EXPLORE your heart and witness the amazing stories unfolding around you. They are there for the taking, and maybe you’ll even be inspired to write your own new….amazing….chapter. Smiling,
ben@hillcountryexplore.com
If I sat down to type up the life story of the late Sam Champion, and how he overcame alcoholic parents and many life struggles only to become the Boerne High School principal that impacted so many lives that his funeral had to be held at the UTSA gymnasium in order to accommodate the numbers of people that came to pay their respects, you would say that he was a pretty extraordinary man. He, on the other hand, always laughed, gave you a hug and just told you to “Behave!” if you embarrassed him by telling him what he meant to you.
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EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.
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February 2016
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FEBRUARY
Get out and enjoy the great Texas Hill Country! The most comprehensive events calendar. Send submissions to info@hillcountryexplore.com
BANDERA February 2 Cowboy Capital Opry Features Grand Old Opry-style entertainment hosted by Gerry and Harriet Payne. Begins at 7 p.m. at the Silver Sage Community Center February 7 Frontier Times Museum Cowboy Camp Enjoy traditional cowboy music, or bring your own guitar and join in the song circle.
BOERNE February 6 A Night at the Oscars” This premier touring ensemble of America’s finest musicians presents a lively and entertaining performance of famous TV and movie themes. Boerne Champion Auditorium February 13 Boerne Chocolate Walk Take a walk through Boerne’s Downtown district to collect treats in stores, galleries and restaurants. Tickets required. February 25 “TAO: Seventeen Samurai” This exciting new show brings you athletic bodies and contemporary costumes combined with explosive Taiko drumming and innovative choreography. Boerne Champion Auditorium. February 27-28 Boerne Antiques Show This event features more than 60 booths offering authentic American antiques. Find furniture, baskets, stoneware, glass, jewelry, textiles, early paper, toys, silver, pewter, quilts and more. Kendall County Fairgrounds
CANYON LAKE February 9 Winter Texan Reception This event offers visitors to the area a warm Texas greeting including restaurant samples, vendor booths, games and prizes.
CASTROVILLE February 6 Moye Di Gras Enjoy a dinner, dancing, prizes and a live auction to benefit the Moye Retreat Center established by the Sisters of Divine Providence. Braden-Keller Center
FREDERICKSBURG February 5 First Friday Art Walk Tour fine art galleries offering special exhibits, demonstrations, refreshments and extended viewing hours. February 5-21 “Wine Lovers Trail” Get tickets online to receive full complimentary tastings and discounts on this self-guided tour.
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February 19-21 Fredericksburg Trade Days Shop with more than 350 vendors in seven barns, acres of antiques, biergarten, live music and more. Across from Wildseed Farms February 19-March 6 “Into the Woods” Presented by Fredericksburg Theater Company. Steve W. Shepherd Theater February 21 The Four Proches This quartet of siblings--Beecher, Ezra, Liza and Asa-entertain audiences with bluegrass and folk harmonies. Fredericksburg United Methodist Church
GRUENE February 14 Gospel Brunch with a Texas Twist Serves awe-inspiring gospel music coupled with a mouthwatering buffet from 10:30 a.m.-noon. Advance tickets recommended. Gruene Hall. February 18 Come and Taste It A featured winemaker showcases three of their newest released, top-selling or hard-to-find wines, alongside a craft brew hand-picked by The Grapevine staff. Also enjoy live music and giveaways. Grapevine Texas Wine Bar February 20-21 Old Gruene Market Days Nearly 100 vendors offer uniquely crafted items and packaged Texas foods. Gruene Historic District.
JUNCTION February 19-21 Disc Golf PDGA Tournament Approximately 100 teams compete in this tournament on a beautiful course along the Llano River.
KERRVILLE February 9 Mardi Gras on Main Enjoy live entertainment, food and drinks. Downtown February 13 Daddy Daughter Sweetheart Dance Dietert Center February 13 Nelson Illusions America’s largest touring illusion group presents their new show, the “Smoke and Mystery Tour.” Cailloux Theater February 14 Chocolate Fantasy Tickets required. Hours are 1-3 p.m. Kerr Arts and Cultural Center February 25 Symphony of the Hills Concert Cailloux Theater
LUCKENBACH February 12-13 Luckenbach Hug-In and Valentine Ball Get back to the basics of love during this annual camping event with plenty of boot scootin’. Luckenbach Texas Dance Hall
MARBLE FALLS February 12-13 “Quilts: Made in America” Marble Falls Quilt Club presents a show featuring quilt displays, a silent auction, vendors and more. Hours are 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Marble Falls Lakeside Pavilion
NEW BRAUNFELS February 1-May 1 “Lindheimer’s Texas” The “Father of Texas Botany,” Ferdinand Lindheimer of New Braunfels, collected close to 100,000 specimens of Texas plants and sent them out to fellow botanists to show off the unique plants and flowers of Texas. They are today in collections as far afield as Paris and St. Petersburg, Russia. This exhibit has collected some of his original works for display. The Sophienburg Museum and Archives February 9 Fat Tuesday with Alex Meixner Experience Alex Meixner and his band in a whole new setting that showcases their capabilities from a variety of jazz, zydeco, rock, country, polka and other musical styles. Brauntex Theater February 13 Hill Country Doll Show and Sale Find collectible dolls from antique to modern, plus bears, miniatures and repairs. New Braunfels Civic Center
UVALDE February 12 Four Square Friday Enjoy late night shopping, food, live music and art at this monthly event named for the town’s original design with four town squares.
WIMBERLEY February 21 Starlight Symphony Orchestra Concert First Baptist Church WIMBERLEY, Texas February1-February 21 “Narnia: The Musical” EmilyAnn Theatre and Gardens WIMBERLEY, Texas February 27-March 20 “Aladdin” Children’s series performances are at 10 a.m. Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. EmilyAnn Theatre and Gardens WIMBERLEY, Texas February 12-March 6 “Lend Me a Tenor” Presented by the Wimberley Players. Wimberley Playhouse WIMBERLEY, Texas
EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.
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TROUBADOUR
OUR EYES... ON OUR WAY TO ATLANTA By Rene Villanueva
“Where were you?” Those words were in the room, but I don’t know who said them. Might have been me and I just don’t remember.
I can think of a thousand things I wanted to say. But there in the living room was the same as the hospital. When she woke up for a moment between naps, and she looked at me. Normally she smiled when she woke up to one of us sitting by her. But this was more tired. This time she saw me. Her eyes. I remember the color.
But I knew as she turned to me. I knew her eyes ‘cause they were like mine.
Our color.
Everyone always said I had her eyes.
Excitement and fear.
They watched me as I came through the door. They watched me as I felt this grip tighten in my chest.
And again no words.
Excitement and Fear. I can’t tell the difference when they’re on me. “When...” I began but the words were held tight by that grip, “When did you get here?” “I don’t want to talk like that Rene.” she called me over to the couch. “I’m just stopping for a second.”
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She always had words. She was stronger than me. Stronger than anyone I’ve ever known. So even if she only had a second, she only asked about me. Asked about my life, my work, my family. “Here,” I said like magic, holding a photo in my hand to give her, “You would’ve loved it. I wish you could’ve seen it.” “I know,” she said it gently as she looked over the picture.
EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.
I wonder that all the time. If she saw it; if she knew how it would be after she left. All the things she would miss and all the things that would happen. She was so strong. I feel like she could’ve figured it out. That she dreamed it. She dreamed my wedding. She dreamed my son. Maybe more. She dreamed the music. She dreamed my old age. She dreamed my brothers, my father, and generations unborn. Holidays make me think like this. It keeps me up so many nights. But this night I was sleeping through it.
I stumble out of the little stall as the bus pulls out. A few of the guys are sitting in the front lounge. Staring out windows. Quietly cell phoning. I get a water bottle finding my seat. Watching the trees pass as we headed into Atlanta.
She took the photo, and I felt so light.
“How much further?” I asked Lindsay.
And thinking of my mother’s voice…I could still feel that grip. Fear. Excitement. Tiredness.
She was cuddled into a corner, reading. Right before the ground shook. Everything in the room was vibrating. Falling away. The dream disappearing. Our eyes. Looking at me, in that tiny bus bathroom. I felt so tired, and I looked worse… like I wasn’t taking care of these eyes. Wash Face. Brush Teeth. Contacts burning. Ibuprofen.
February 2016
“30 minutes. I think.” I put on my headphones. Look at the tree. The green. The hazel tint of Fall. Our color. And the day ahead… Fear. Excitement. Tiredness.
www.hillcountryexplore.com
15
SWAN SONG
A SONG BEFORE DYING
It is difficult to have an original thought, idea, or theory. Conventional wisdom says that very few people ever think about anything deeper than what they are going to wear or that which their job requires. In spite of that I have found that almost every time I think I have an original answer to one of life’s question, someone has been there before me. And this is only counting those things that have been written. Most people never have the opportunity to put their reflections into print. When I was a boy living in the country, in the summertime, I sometimes slept on a bed outside the house. Looking up, I could see only the fluid blackness of the night sky, pierced by millions of tiny lights. The Milky Way arched over me in a silvery luminescence. All this was a source of awe to an ignorant country boy, and yet I somehow felt at one with its essence. Lying quietly, my ear pressing against the thin mattress upon which I lay, I fancied I could hear music. It was faint but I believed it was coming from outside me and not just the sound of blood rushing through my head. Not like putting your ear to a seashell and hearing the roar of the sea, but rather the sound of the universe being picked up by the springs of my bed like a radio antenna. There was no melody such as I was accustomed to hearing at church or from the dry cell radio we owned, but it was as if the universe was harmonizing in a quiet ethereal peace. Last week I spoke of this to our son and he said Pythagoras was away ahead of me. I asked him if he had an equation. H said that I should look it up. Here is what I found. After more than two thousand years his exact beliefs and equations are not completely clear, but it is apparent he believed all the universe resonated to some musical definition. I quote this from a treatise not attributable. “The Pythagoreans believed that everything that existed had a voice and that all creation was eternally singing praises to their Creator. Man fails to hear these divine melodies because his soul is enmeshed in the delusion of material existence. When he liberates himself from the bondage of the lower world with its sense limitation the music of the spheres will again be audible as it was in the golden age. Harmony recognizes harmony and when the soul regains its true estate it will not only hear the celestial choir but join with it in an everlasting anthem of praise to the eternal Good controlling an infinite number of parts and conditions of being.” It seems he equated harmony in musical terms with good and disharmony with evil, perhaps a universe infinitely beautiful built on a basis of infinitely beautiful music. It is interesting to note that many people who have had near death
16
By Ed Davis
experiences comment on the beauty of the music they heard. And it is common knowledge that the popular music of these days brings up more of a feeling of half naked warriors dancing to the beat of a tom-tom around a pot of boiling missionaries than it does of sweet uplifting emotions associated with the old hymns. This very fact is bringing the disharmony of which Pythagoras spoke into our churches and, I believe, hastening the deterioration of our Christian heritage. But, moving on to a corollary of the idea of cosmic music heard only in the heavenly precincts is the fact that in many instances a person, animal, or vegetable will do its best work just before dying: an apple tree producing a bumper crop just before it withers and dies, a horse running its fastest race, or a singer surpassing all previous performances. Everyone is familiar with the expression, “Swan Song.” It derives from a legend about a swan, which was genetically mute all its life, and yet sang a beautiful melody just before dying. It is, presumably only a legend but has struck a responsive chord in humanity, presupposing that the proximity in time to the ethereal beauty of the afterlife. Orlando Gibbon’s madrigal begins: The silver swan, who living had no note When death approached, unlocked her silent throat. And Tennyson wrote as if he had personal knowledge: The wild swan’s death hymn took the soul Of that waste place with joy Hidden in sorrow at first to the ear The warble was low, and full and clear, But anon her awful jubilant voice, With a music strange and manifold Flow’d forth on a carol free and bold: As when a mighty people rejoice With sshawms, and with cymbals, and harps of gold. Twice it is recorded in the gospels that after the twelve finished the “last supper” they sang a hymn and went out and the Christ then performed the greatest act in the history of the world as he died for it. The Bible says that He was mute (like the swan) before his accusers, but went on to sing a deathless song that has resonated down through the centuries.
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EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.
HISTORY
HISTORY OF BOERNE
By Marjorie Hagy
Wilkommen! After almost a year of unwinding, our tale is nearly through. Here is the last installment of the Complete & Total, Exhaustive History of Boerne! If you missed it you can find it all through the magic of the internet at www.hillcountryexplore.com under the archives tab, beginning in March of 2015
As the Dirty Thirties dragged on in gritty bleakness all over the United States, as all the once fertile grassland in the prairie states in the middle of the country turned to dust and literally blew away, as the people up and left and drifted away like the soil to land wherever they might find something worth living for or some way to keep on living, so things trudged along in Boerne, too. The boom times of the resort era were over, the famous and fashionable guests long gone from the Texas Alps and the fancy hotels shuttered, King Cotton had been dethroned by the boll weevil and people were leaving town like running from a sinking ship. The population of Boerne fell from around two thousand souls in 1928 to only 1,117 in 1931; by the time the forties rolled around at last it had only gotten back up to 1,271, and none of those folks were exactly walking in high cotton, as the saying goes. Everybody was hurting, more houses and farms were being lost to foreclosure every new week, people whose families had been farming their own land since Boerne had been a town were now reduced to sharecropping on places that no longer belonged to them, and every day more people caught the train to anywhere else in the world. In Europe, too, the thunder of approaching war was rolling, and that peal of the coming storm grew louder with each newsreel and newspaper report. Throughout the thirties the Nazi party gained power in Germany, Adolf Hitler had been elected chancellor, then president and had begun calling himself Fuhrer, and soon had taken upon himself the full powers of a dictator. The first concentration camps had been established in order to imprison those who opposed his policies, and eventually the anti-Jewish Nuremberg laws were enacted- and still leaders in the free world continued to appease the madman, trying to believe that if they looked the other way, he might disappear. He didn’t. Oh, and meanwhile Japan was intent on taking over all of Asia, was at full-scale war with China, and had its eye on the Dutch East Indies, Indo-China, Malaya, and the Philippines. Troop build-ups were noted and Japan was openly talking about inevitable war with the West, when Australia, the United States, Britain, and the Dutch government in exile, banded together to stop selling oil, iron ore, and steel to Japan- the raw materials of war. Faced with either economic collapse or pulling out of the conquered regions (and losing face with her enemies), the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters began planning for a war with the western powers in the Spring of 1941.
The next day, December 8, 1941, Congress formally declared war against Japan and officially brought the US into World War II. Germany, following the terms of the Axis treaty into which it had entered with Japan, declared war on the US three days later, on December 11. And just like that, America was at war. How many of us can know how that felt, waking up to the news that quiet Sunday morning, in a farmhouse outside of Boerne or an apartment in New York City, that the United States had been so brutally attacked out of- literally- the clear, blue sky? I know what it was like to wake up to the same kind of horror on a Tuesday morning, to switch on the TV just in time to see the second plane slam into the tower and to watch in shock and dread with tears streaming down my face. In 1941 America, in Boerne, Texas, they had already seen the results of the war that had raged in Europe for two years and more, and they knew about the Blitzkrieg, about the horrific bombings of British cities, about the night bombers that had destroyed homes as the people slept, about the dead civilians and the children evacuated to the countryside, about the buildings reduced to smoke-steaming rubble and the Londoners sleeping in the subway to hide from the bombing. And now it had come to us, here, to our own soil in America, and would our homes be next, our children the next to die? The immediate result of the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor was that hundreds of thousands of young American men and women rushed to enlist in the service- and not just young Americans, either. A whole lot of veterans of the first world war, that “war to end all wars”, volunteered to go kick Jerry’s ass again, despite their age and the fact that their own kids were now old enough to serve. This wasn’t only a matter of anger at the Japanese, or revenge, but many felt it was a matter of simple survival. The day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the newspapers were full of dire predictions as to just what our enemies might be capable- Japan, it was rumored, might have submarines ready to attack the West Coast while Germany could already have long-range bombers capable of striking the Eastern Seaboard. The fear, oft expressed, that if we didn’t win this war we’d all be speaking German, was a very forceful motivator, even for people raised by Germanspeaking parents in a German town, and all across the country- and in Boerne, toorecruiting offices were jam-packed, some of them staying open twenty-four hours, seven days a week to accept enlistees.
And by December 7, 1941, they were ready to spring. On that Sunday morning, “a date which will live in infamy”, Japanese planes attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory, killing more than 2,300 Americans. The USS Arizona was completely destroyed and the USS Oklahoma was capsized. A total of twelve ships sank or were beached in the attack and nine additional vessels were damaged. More than one hundred and sixty aircraft were destroyed and more than one hundred and fifty others were damaged.
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Some 350,000 women joined the armed services in World War II as well, in addition to those who stepped up to serve doing factory work and other home front jobs. In May 1942, Congress instituted the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps which later became the Women’s Army Corps and had full military status. The WACS worked in more than two hundred non-combatant jobs in the states and in every theater of the war. The WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) held the same status as naval
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reservists and provided support to the Navy, and the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs), became the first women to fly American military aircraft. There was a problem, though, with many of these eager enlistees, a legacy of the brutal decade through which they had just lived. William Manchester, in his chronicle ‘Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War’, believed that in order ‘[T]o fight World War II you had to have been tempered and strengthened in the 1930s Depression by a struggle for survival,’ and perhaps that struggle to keep body and soul together, those lean, tough times had shaped the intrepid souls who fought and won that grinding, back-breaking war, but it hadn’t left them in any sort of peak physical condition. It was estimated that out of the first million draftees, a whopping forty percent were rejected for service on medical grounds directly related to malnutrition. In fact, studies at the time found that more than one third of all Americans were malnourished, after that long, grim season of deprivation. In a country where there had been no so-called ‘social safety net’, where in the event of a father’s death or abandonment the oldest children left school to provide for the family, where working people did not earn pensions and the elderly had no system to turn to for any of their end-of-life needs- in that time, before Roosevelt introduced sweeping changes to the way a government looks after its people- poor people simply starved to death. Through no fault of their own: mechanized farming equipment could do the job faster and cheaper than a family of tenant farmers, so the tenant farmers were dismissed and suddenly homeless and penniless- a man who loses his job in San Antonio has no idea how the stock market even works, much less what that has to do with the factory shutting down. Unfettered, unregulated greed and a worship of money are not values upon which a free society can stand, and blaming to poor for their condition is a sin. Remember that.
In Boerne, Allen and Aaron Roeder, twin sons of Mr and Mrs Louis Roeder formerly of Fredericksburg, were described as ‘graduates of Boerne High School and were football stars at that school.’ Their high school lives and loves were breathlessly chronicled in the Boerne Star along with the other fifteen or twenty members of the BHS Class of ‘44, but what was really important to the boys was getting into the war before it ended, and with that in mind they enlisted together right after graduation. They were still eighteen years old, both Seamen Second Class and both serving aboard the USS Bismarck Bay, when that carrier was sunk in the invasion of Iwo Jima in the Pacific Theater in February of 1945so very close to the end of that awful war.
February 2016
Calvin Behr from Sisterdale, Texas, was killed in action with the United States Army near Oeting in France, on his nineteenth birthday in 1945. He is buried in the Sisterdale cemetery among his people and his tombstone bears his picture- a boyish, smiling young man whose real life was lived so far from the place where he died fighting. Sgt Hilmar Zoeller also signed up to risk his life, and was killed in the South Pacific with the Fighting 716th Tank Battalion. His tombstone also shows his picture- a handsome man in uniform. Sam Cole of Boerne was also killed in action in the South Pacific, serving with the US Navy; Otto Eichholz of Comfort died serving in the US Army as did Johnny Menchaca, Louis Strube, and Pasqual Guerrero, who lies at rest in the ‘Latin Section’ of the Boerne Cemetery. Many other Boerne men and women answered the call and served at home and overseas but these nine never came home to the Hill Country. Over sixty million people were killed in World War II, or about 3% of the 1940 world population. Think of that- just think of that for a moment. What sixty million people would look like. It was a horrific, bloody, brutal war, a war of genocide and racism and hatred, and it changed the world- it changed people everywhere. Sixty million deaths means that everyone on the planet was affected, in some way, by all those people who were just no longer there. Some towns- many, in fact- had an entire generation of young people taken from them, just erased. Populations of some small islands and isolated communities were just wiped out- life in these out-of-the-way places became untenable for the older people without their youth, and these places emptied out, became ghost towns, their houses left to time and the elements and the ages. Cities and countries all over Europe were decimated and left in ruins; Dresden in Germany saw twenty-five thousand citizens die in one massive bombing incident in 1945; between twenty-five and forty thousand people died in Stalingrad in Russia. In Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where they dropped the first atom bombs in history, an estimated 100,000 people were killed instantly, while another
120,000 suffered burns and died in the one year period following the bombing. I’m not re-fighting the war- I’m not trying to pass judgement about a thing about which I know so little, on people who were trying to make the best decisions they could based on what was available to them at the time. It’s hard to fathom this in my mind, at this remove: That the outcome of that bloody, global conflagration was not ever a foregone conclusion til it was over, and the things that were done were things that they believed had to be
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done, to save the world. Think of that: there was a time when the fate of the world hung in the balance. When people didn’t know yet that the good guys would win, and the end of the world was at stake. As the population was down all over the world, so it was in Boerne, too. So many of its young people had left town during those years to work in the war effort all over the country and the world, and as the song goes, how ya gonna keep ‘em down on the farm after they’ve seen Paree? The United States, after World War II, had emerged as the greatest country in the world, the heroes, the good guys, but it had changed dramatically in the time it took to win the war. In Historic Images, historian Garland Perry noted of Boerne after WWII, that ‘[o]nly ranching- including cattle, sheep and goats- remained as a truly viable economic base for the entire county. There were a few dairy farms, and some hog and chicken operations, but in no appreciable quantities.’ See, industrialized farming had come along and put the old family farm out of business, and people who used to farm the land now moved off to the city now that the family business was obsolete. And with the inrush of new people to urban areas, suburbs started popping up with cheap tract housing perfect for those young men and women coming home from the war to start families and careers. Also, women had stepped up to fill in for the men who went off to war, working in all kinds of areas where they’d never been welcome before, and a whole lot of them weren’t eager to give up the new freedom they’d found. People could afford two cars now, and a tv set, and all kinds of things their parents hadn’t had, and everyone and their sister was having babies and making Jello and meatloaf in the ‘burbs and taking family vacations, and the world was just flat-out changing. Amidst all this change, and the population decline in Boerne and everything, one event of importance was approaching and this little one-horse berg decided to do it up big. In 1949 the town of Boerne decided to celebrate its birthday with a great-big Centennial celebration. After all, it’s not every year a town turns 97! Wait...what? Yeah- remember, it was Tusculum that was settled in 1849. Boerne was founded in 1852. But- well, what the hell, Tusculum wasn’t around anymore and besides, the two little towns had been close neighbors anyway, and- well, we co-opted their birthday. A couple of other facts got scrunched up together and confused about the two towns at about that same time too- like the fact that it was Tusculum, definitely not Boerne, that was founded by Free-Thinkers and atheists. But some things make better stories than others, and people putting together the programs blurred the lines a little. Anyway, CT ‘Tom’ Roberts of Roberts Drug Store fame, was the chairman of the Centennial Planning Committee, and Fritz and Emilie Toepperwein did pretty much everything else. They wrote the centennial pageant that was one of the highlights of the celebration AND they went on a historywriting binge, an urge for which I am eternally grateful. So many things that would otherwise have been lost to history were preserved because of the efforts of the Toepperweins- they saved all kinds of Boerne history from oblivion and even wrote a pamphlet about the charcoal burners, without which their story would’ve been forgotten. Anyway, there was a parade and a Centennial beauty contest, and a young miss Bonnie Lee Kemp was named Queen of Boerne. I have quoted Bonnie Lee’s mother a thousand times in writing this column over the years. Everything is connected in the circle of life.
incarnation as the Fredericksburg Road and on to Highway 87, Boerne had always had a highway for a main street, and surely losing this advantage meant the end. Alas, of course it meant just the opposite- not the end, but the discovery of our well-kept secret gem in the hill country. But maybe that was the end- the end of an era, anyway. I remember when they built UTSA on the highway outside of San Antonio and my dad gloomily predicted that San Antonio would be all the way out to meet Boerne in no time. I couldn’t imagine such a thing- all that farmland in between here and there, that giant horse standing on top of the entry gate, you know the one? It’s still there. The farmhouses, frame and rock, that lined the highway, the huge quarry- how could those things ever give way to San Antonio stuff? And now I try to imagine how it was, back when it seemed like there would be miles and miles of country for simply ever. What it was like when you would come back into town from the big city, between those two hills and down into the Cibolo Valley, and Buck’s Courts was the first sign of civilization. And further back- what it must have been like when Adeline Staffel saw all that Spanish moss on the oak trees and it reminded her of the frost hanging in the forests of her beloved Germany. When those first eight men camped on the banks of the crystal-clear Cibolo Creek and looked around them and saw Tusculum, their shining socialist city of equality and learning, rising out of the forest. How it must have been for Secunda Reude Schertz when she was washing her family’s clothes in the Cibolo- near where the Main Street Bridge crosses it today- to look up and meet the eyes of an Indian standing nearby in the undergrowth, or the feelings of the Union sympathizers who fled their homes by night to hide in the mountains from the patrollers? Some people can sit in an office in this town and see visions of a bigger, more profitable tax base, but I can still stand in the middle of the Plaza, here in my town, and breathe deeply of the air damp with cattle smells from the animals waiting to join the drive north. I can put my hand on the thick limestone wall of the very first church built in town and think of Father Fleury kneeling inside, thanking God for sparing him from the arrow found stuck in his pillow, or walk into Bergmann’s and feel the presence, just out of sight, of the tall, gangly fifteen year-old boy about to go down to the cellar and help offload that sugar. So very much has changed that sometimes I don’t even recognize anything about this town I grew up in, but then out of the corner of my eye I catch a glimpse of all those who came before me, who lived and died and raised a town here out of the wilderness, and I realize yet again that yes, this is my town, my hometown, and that this is my history.
Instead of emptying out and blowing away like so many other little towns across the country in the years following the war, Boerne held steady and even added one of those little post-war neighborhoods of its own in Chaparral Creek- only it didn’t start life by that name. In the beginning, in the early 1960s, it was billed as Paradise Heights, a little residential neighborhood with four streets called Dawn, Twilight, Sunglow and Stardust, of which Dawn Street is the only one that survives. You may wonder why that subdivision is so popular with trick-or-treaters, and the answer is that for a while in there, it was one of our only neighborhoods like that, where you could easily and quickly walk door to door. The high school wasn’t out there yet- BHS didn’t open up in it’s Adler Road location, on old Herff ranch property, until 1974. Up to that point high school was still held in the old 1920s era junior high building on Johns Road. You went to first grade through eighth in the oldest part of the old Fabra building, and then crossed the street for high school- and all that only a few hundred yards from where the old remains of Tusculum still stand. Well, and the rest is history. In the fifties and sixties IH10 was built right outside of town and most of Boerne’s businessmen panicked, as it was the belief in those days that a little town must have a highway shooting right through it in order to survive. From it’s earliest beginnings as an outpost and stage stop on the old Pinta Trail military road, through its
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Kendall Woods Dental February 2016 www.hillcountryexplore.com
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ART OF
ART
THE ART OF
Gabriel Delgado, Gallery Director at Boerne’s own JR Mooney Fine Art Galleries, knows a thing or two about art. Having spent his entire career in various forms of the arts, he has his finger on the pulse of the arts community, both locally and nationally, and is focused on advancing the industry and increasing the appreciation of fine art in people everywhere. While his gallery might be right on Main Street in Boerne, his vision for the arts is much, much larger. Growing up in Elyria, Ohio as the son of extremely creative and artistic parents, Gabriel always knew that he would pursue the arts in some capacity in life. “I always knew that I wanted to be an artist and working with the arts. I was offered a full ride to The Columbus Art Institute, but turned it down because we had no money for housing. My family is a 3rd generation blue collar family, and so there was never a lot of money.” However, undeterred, Gabriel attended Kent State and ultimately graduated. After a brief stint in New York City, Gabriel returned home. His next great opportunity came via a phone call from a friend in college. “My friend that lived in Houston called while I was working at the factory, and said that he was writing for a museum. He said he could probably get me a job with the museum, so I met the Director at an art opening in Youngstown. I met him at the bar at the hotel, and I showed him my work because hey, I wasn’t really looking for a job anyway! He said that if I came down to Texas, he said he could probably get me a job. I packed 2 boxes of clothes, some art stuff, mailed ‘em to Houston and flew in. There were 7 artists living in a 2 bedroom apartment and you just slept where you fell. I showed up to work with him that day, and they hired me as a Studio Assistant. I performed all sorts of odd jobs around the museum and ultimately worked my way up to more administrative roles.” Deeply connected with Houston’s art scene, Gabriel continued his career until a change in scenery became warranted. “I spent 5 years at the Ineri Foundation and they run the Art Car Museum and I got to the point where I thought that there was no real future in that, so I felt it was time to move on. My girlfriend (now wife) said ‘Hey, let’s just take off for California’, so we did. We purged, packed what we could, and drove straight through, and spent the next 5 years in Oakland. I tried to make it as an artist again, and meanwhile I was working retail. Ultimately we knew that the housing bubble was coming, and we knew it was time to make a decision – she had family in Texas and so we bought a house in San Antonio and were back in Texas.” With his feet back on Texas soil, Gabriel again sought to reconnect to the art community and find his niche. He didn’t have to look long. “I plugged back in to the museum world and worked for an arts non-profit and I was looking for another job. I eventually saw that JR Mooney had a Gallery Assistant position open. I interviewed, and they were impressed with my museum and non-profit experience, so I functioned as a marketing manager basically and focused on their online presence a lot. I got them into the 21st century…they then closed their North Star mall and Austin galleries, so they have an Alamo Heights and Boerne location now. There had been two previous Gallery Directors at the Boerne location, and so I filled the vacuum of leadership at this location. I took that job with the pretense that we would be changing the art community in Boerne, and we were going to grow the Texas Impressionism branding of the gallery.” With his hands firmly on the steering wheel of one of the area’s premier art galleries, Gabriel has his work cut out for himself. “Before I knew of JR Mooney Galleries, I understood there to be 9 different galleries in Boerne. Zaner, Hausmann, Hester, Garden Gate, Kegley, and a few others….so doing research I came to understand that there’s been huge cycles of activity. In any art community you have the ups and downs, so Boerne is no different. Now with the closure of COSAS, it’s now just Carriage House, JR Mooney Galleries, and Texas Treasures Fine Art. It’s a very small community now. When you analyze it, you have to determine if the community has the power to draw a crowd to sustain art walks and commerce interest, artist careers….so I’ve seen a decline and you have to change the model of how the gallery exists. With Amazon to Ebay to Etsy – they all sell art now. So what we’re doing in 2016 is taking a look at alternative ways to engage our clients. 80% of your business comes from 20% of your clients. Art is not an impulse buy. Even though we’re on Main Street, few people walk in off the street and buy art. The decision takes a lot of time. We actually allow our clients to take our art home and keep it for a few days to make sure it’s a great match – does it fit your home, your lighting, your décor, etc….We’ll hang it and deliver it and it’s creating new relationships with new clients that’s been exciting.” Gabriel is also continuing to push his art knowledge to even higher levels. “Last month I finished my Fine Art Appraisal course, and will be pursuing my certification. From there we’ll be able to offer Fine Art Appraisals and there’s currently not a fine art appraiser in Boerne. My whole goal is kind of be the art scholar for this area. With my 5 years of writing art criticisms, essays, and catalogs, I want to be the trusted source for this who want to buy, sell, or appraise art.” As for Boerne’s art community, Gabriel remains positive. “I think you have to stay positive about the art community locally. Art has always been such a huge part of my life, so it’s something that inspires me everyday. I love to talk about it, write about it, and see it. I also want Boerne to simply flourish with art, and I’m confident that will happen.”
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February 2016
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OUTDOORS
HILLS LIKE GRAY RHINOS I circled around the edge of Echo Lake, walked through the canyon and began the slow laborious climb up the granite rock. Spiny lizards watched and then darted toward the cracks and crevices where their ancestors fled as the Comanche warriors made the same climb I was now making- placing native hands on natural handholds, looking back and down with eyes that see truly. When I reached the top and looked out across the miles of Texas Hill Country, I saw what they saw. I saw, hills like grey rhinos, distinctly Texan, distantly African; they are wild hills that rear up from the limestone, granite, and clay and run over the Llano, Brazos, Guadalupe, and Blanco- holding silver green shadows complete with beating hearts beneath narrow waters. I sat there atop the windswept mount and wondered, what will happen to this place when they come to kill the magic? Just an hour prior I drove across the grey-green hills and over dry limestone beds and under the tumbleweed skies. Each time I do this I notice another change in the landscape… something growing, yet deadly, like a tumor left unseen, neglected, denial that maybe it’s really nothing, and if we pretend that it is then it will go away. Like ticks upon its ancient back the rooftops protrude, white and scaly, begging for a pair of tweezers or the glowing end of a cigarette butt to back them out of the healthy, hapless body. I’m no hypocrite, I am fully aware that I too live within one of those scaly ticks that cling to her back. I too drive my metal exoskeleton across the pavement scars, crisscrossed along her skin, like bloody black streaks, infected wagon trails; they seemed innocent enough at first, just two small ruts in the soil until they got septic and had to be covered in asphalt. Still, I wonder, how do we save what we love if we love it too much?
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By Steve Ramirez
Mornings in these Texas Hills are magical, no matter the weather of the day. They rise up with the sun and bring birds to life. They send the mist that hangs just over the crystalline waters and below that ancient cypress trees up into the sky to form distinctly western clouds. Deer feed silently along the edges of forests and remnant prairies. The wet golden grass begins to dry and leaves begin to stir with the first breeze of the day. No human artist can capture the wild beauty of this land. It is there-intact…just as it should be- cathedrals of limestone and granite. Evenings in these Texas Hills are timeless, no matter the exposer of the spirit. As the sun recedes toward the distant desert mountains, the light slants and softens, like memories, everything seems kinder when seen in retrospect. The birds reconnect in one last desperate waning moment of the day. In the evenings even the many old barns that dot the pasturelands seem somehow softer…as if waiting for something beautiful to happen: as it always does. Sometimes, these hills seem as if they truly are great grey, brown, dusty, sleeping beasts that lay one by one upon their deeply creased sides. They breathe in and out when the summer sun bakes them and lay frozen and still in winter’s grip. Sometimes, I climb upon their backs and look into the valleys and canyons that are formed between the sleeping
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giants. As I look across the expanse of rolling, plateaued landscape, it is as if each vista is framed, a snapshot in time: silent and still. I know better. I know that within each still life, there are many private stories of beating hearts and solitary lives: a deer drinking from a limestone pool, a wren singing from the canyon wall, the red-tailed hawk that soars above the river. I am a very fortunate man. I have travelled across the world and looked across many beautiful, amazing lands. My mortal legs have carried me across the Italian countryside, along the Scottish Highlands, over the great drifting coastal dunes of the Namibian Desert, through the tall grass of the Kenyan Plains, and the rain forests of the Ivory Coast. Each place I have traveled has revealed its own magic. Still, the one thing that they all had in common was that they are vast: The Texas Hill Country is not. If Texas is seen as a collection of great expansive grasslands with edges of eastern forest and western desert, the Hill Country is a tiny island within its heart. It lives suspended in time and place, waiting, wondering if it will live free or be lost to an age where everything that means nothing is just a mouse click away. Long ago and far away I once found my wife and me riding in a rustic vehicle across the tall grasslands of the Meru Tribal Region of Kenya. The sun was rising- golden over the acacia trees that shielded giraffe and elephant alike from the midday heat yet to come. As we rounded a bend in the road our Kikuyu driver said, “Soon we should come to a place where the rhinos live.” I leaned forward in my excitement holding visions of charging prehistoric creatures in my childlike head. In short order we came to the place John had told us about. There lying in the grass were seven sleeping white rhinos.
February 2016
Next to them stood an armed Kenyan guard- each rhino had its own guard every hour of every day: it was the only way to keep them alive. This was a time, just like today when Kenya allowed no legal hunting. This in turn allowed poachers free reign to kill and corrupt, exchanging tusk and horn for money and power. The rhinos were tame, placid, encapsulated, diminished. John asked me if I wished to take my photo with the rhinos but instead I insisted that we leave and drive as quickly as possible to some wild free corner where the lions might still eat me and the elephants may consider stomping me into human hummus. A rhino is not a rhino if it is diminished in its wild spirit. These Texas Hills still have the chance to be what they have always been: rugged, alive, giving, free. They give us a place to revive our souls…to replenish and renew our understanding of what it is to be alive. As I sit writing in my home in Boerne, I can hear the droning of distant traffic and the whine of a neighbor’s saw cutting the heart of a tree to build a fence. I cannot hear the morning birdsong and the deer can no longer feed behind my home which is now surrounded by other homes filed with people who like me thought the Scenic Loop was…scenic. As I drive toward Helotes along my home road I smile sadly at the deer, turkey, and other wildlife that very soon will be gone. All along this old wagon trail are the harbingers of what is yet to come: for sale signs. That’s how it always starts…small. At first it is two small ruts in the soil until they get septic and have to be covered in asphalt. I wonder… how do we save what we love if we love it too much?
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GET OUT AND VOTE! The Primary Election will take place on Tuesday, March 1, 2016. Early Voting takes place from February 16 – February 26 at the Kendall County Courthouse Annex 221 Fawn Valley Drive, Boerne, Texas Thank you for your Support!
Contact Christina Bergmann at her web site, www.votebergmann.com or find her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BergmannforCommissioner. You can also stop by to talk with her at Bergmann Lumber on Main Street or call (830) 249-2712.
Pd Pol Adv Robert Cisneros, Treasurer 236 South Main, Boerne, TX
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LIFE
People. They’re Everywhere People. They’re everywhere. Rare is the day and scarce is the place where our life doesn’t intersect with other people. Whether physically or digitally, people are a ubiquitous part of the landscape to our life. At home or work, on the street, through social media, television or the radio, we can’t escape the presence of other people. With the advent of digital technology it is nearly impossible to go an entire day without crossing paths with other people. Cell-phones, television, and social media permit people into the most private spaces of our life even though they may be thousands of miles away. From our spouse quietly asleep next to us in bed to a complete stranger ranting about politics on a YouTube video from the other side of the globe, our lives are inextricably entangled with people. With people, comes interaction. And interaction is the stuff of relationships. Whether intimate or awkward, we relate - in one way or another - to every person we encounter in the course of our day. All told, we interact with dozens of people throughout a day; hundreds - maybe thousands - in a month. Some people in our life are close friends; others, complete strangers. When it comes to family, we interact with intimate expressions of familiarity. These are often lifelong relationships. Other people we pass on the street with only a nod of acknowledgement, never to see them ever again. Those momentary encounters are the briefest relationships of them all.
By Paul Wilson
Even complete strangers we pass on the street with only a sideways glance ignite some form of social interaction. Down in our subconscious, we make nanosecond calculations as to whom to ignore and whom to acknowledge as part of our relational priorities at that moment. Take for instance when you run into the grocery store to pick up something quickly on your way home from work. You see someone you know but act as if you didn’t while ducking down another aisle to avoid a conversation because you’re in a hurry. That right there is a form of relating without even saying a word or acknowledging their presence. You “interacted” by purposefully choosing to ignore them. We do this sort of thing with strangers all the time. Some people you ignore; others you engage. Both are expressions of relating to those around you. Relationships are the source of life’s greatest joys and the deepest disappointments. Some relationships give us life, while others rob us of every ounce of energy we possess. In other words, enormous quantities of energy from our life are spent on our relational interactions. The responses we divvy out to other people exacts more time and energy from our life in the course of a day, a week, a month, and year than any other activity of life. More than our work, more than our finances, more than meeting our physical needs, relational interaction demands the most from us. And you know as well as I do, it’s hard to be happy when our relational world is in disarray. Therefore, it is imperative we learn how to effectively manage our relationships if we hope to protect ourselves from any negativity that disturbs our sense of happiness.
There’s no escaping it. Relationships are an integral part of our existence.
LIFE AT THE LAKE
Think of your life as an enormous lake. (Can you see it? An entire lake named after you!)
SIX CIRCLES
Imagine every person who is a part of your life – from spouse to stranger - fits into one of these six relational circles. The Family Circle - People you are related to you by birth, marriage, or adoption. The Friend Circle - People connected to you through warm and familiar friendship. The Peer Circle - People associated with you through some shared affinity such as your job, civic involvements, mutual experiences or common interests. The Neighbor Circle – People who intersect your life by virtue of the proximity you live to each other. The Acquaintance Circle - People you are familiar with through previous introductions and occasional interactions. The Stranger Circle - While you may not know the various strangers you encounter throughout a day, they are nonetheless, a relationship that invites your acknowledgement and interaction (i.e. asking for directions, paying a cashier, discussing customer service issues).
IT’S ALL ABOUT INTERACTION
At one time or another - in some way or another - each of the people in these six circles evokes a response from you. Whether it is a physical, emotional, verbal, or non-verbal response, it is, nonetheless, interaction. Interaction is the essence of relating.
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One day the waters on the lake are calm and peaceful. Another day, they’re choppy. And yet on another, the lake is rough with whitecaps - full of the turbulence created by stormy conditions. More times than not, the surface of that lake – your life - is determined by what is going on in your relationships. Relationships influence life at the lake. CALM WATERS Some of your relationships are enjoyable, energizing, and encouraging. These relationships make no waves, leaving you with a life that is peaceful and calm. Typically, we love being in the company of these people as they enrich our life with love, laughter, adventure, and discovery. As I like to say of these kinds of people, they’re “easy to be around.” Who are the calm-water people in your life? CHOPPY WATERS Other relationships seem to stir up the waters of your life. These people always bring with them some kind of drama whenever they come around. The choppy waters of stress and frustration tend to follow them as they come in and out of your life. These are the people who always seem to whine, complain, judge, criticize, argue, and antagonize just about everything going on around them. It seems as if they’re never happy or content and they like to drag everybody down there with them. Can you name a few choppy-water people in your life? TURBULENT WATERS Then there are those relationships that are best described as stormy. Without fail, they’re always creating turbulence in your lake.
EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.
Turbulent people complicate our lives with their thoughtless words, foolish choices, irresponsible behavior, immature responses, abusive manner, and dysfunctional lifestyles. The prevailing experience of your relationship with these people is one of conflict and chaos. Oh sure, there are the occasional days now and then when they surprise you, but years of discourteous and disruptive behavior have left you suspicious. You are not quick to “forgive and forget” because you know it’s just a matter of time before they descend upon your lake and stir the waters into a tumultuous mess with their ferocious winds. You know exactly who I am talking about, don’t you? It’s a relative, a work associate, or a neighbor who lives down the street. It doesn’t matter how bright the sun is shining, these people always bring the dark clouds of rain with them.
TAKING ON THE STORM
Typically, calm-water relationships are rarely a threat to the quality of our happiness. It’s the choppy and turbulent ones that disturb the waters of our life. If we hope to avoid the stress and frustration that rob us of joy, it is imperative we guard ourselves against the threat posed by choppy and turbulent-water relationships. A certain amount of turbulence in relationships is inevitable. Some of life’s best friendships are forged in the crucible of conflict. But there is a difference between the occasional misunderstanding and disappointment that inevitably occurs between human beings verses what seems like the constant upheaval some people create wherever the go. They’re always stirring the waters. Conflict is frequent rather than rare in these relationships. These are the people we must deal with in wise and careful ways. In our pursuit of happiness, we must diligently attend to those relationships that threaten our emotional peace. To ignore the dynamics of relationships that keep frustrating and complicating our life only leaves us imprisoned in disappointment. That’s no way to live. Let me offer four effective ways to guard against unnecessary upheaval in your relational world. 1. PRACTICE HONESTY Telling people the truth about how their inconsiderate behavior makes you feel is completely appropriate in a relationship. Granted, how you tell them this is important to the response you may receive, but nonetheless, permissible. These kinds of conversations are often referred to as “candid.” I like the word “candid.” It means “truthfully straightforward” or “forthright.” Being candid is the confident permission to speak the truth about what you think or feel. It is an expression of personal empowerment. A candid person is not intimidated to say what they honestly think regardless of another person’s disagreement or disapproval. With that said, keep in mind there is nothing about the word “candid” that inherently means rude, inconsiderate, aggressive, or mean. You don’t have to be a jerk when being candid. In fact, candid conversations are best when delivered in a humble, careful, and sensitive manner. Most people will respect both the courage and the sincerity of a candid conversation when it is delivered in a considerate fashion. 2. OFFER ACCOUNTABILITY Consistent accountability is part of helping others honor the appropriate boundaries for how to treat you. The inconsiderate behavioral patterns of some people are so ingrained in them they are unaware they are behaving badly. You may have to bring it to their attention again and again until they recognize what they are doing. The more consistent you are at declaring that you will not allow yourself to be treated a certain way, the sooner people will be more careful around you. There is a stretch of road in the city where I live that is frequently patrolled by the local police. Lots of people have found out the hard way that law enforcement means serious business about driving the speed limit on that road. They’re very consistent in insisting the law be obeyed. People who frequently drive that road have learned to respect its speed limit and not to test the police’s resolve to uphold it. Likewise, you may need to teach some people in your life the “rules of the road” when it comes to being in your company. If there is something they do that upsets or offends you, they may need to be reminded that you will not tolerate that kind of behavior. Even if they disagree with you about what they are doing, keeping them accountable will teach them not to behave like that when they are with you.
February 2016
3. EXTEND GRACE Grace is often defined as “undeserved kindness.” We could all use some grace from time to time. All of us have bad days, irrational moments, and emotional meltdowns from time to time. The offer of grace from an understanding spouse or friend is a wonderful gift when we make a lousy choice in how we act around others. Grace, as a virtue, is not only a wonderful gift to receive but it is also a great catalyst for change. People on the receiving end of grace are often motivated to behave better the next time. Make sure you are affording a fair share of grace to those challenging relationships that consistently stir up the waters of your life. Keep extending grace until they cross the line of presuming upon your kindness. If they continue to behave poorly in their relationship with you, you may need to take steps to protect yourself by establishing clearer boundaries for what you will permit. 4. MAKE SPACE Extremely difficult relationships require that you create plenty of space in order to protect yourself from the damage they leave in their wake. Some people are like skunks. They spray anybody who gets too close to them. Sadly, this is often a reflection of painful experiences from their past. While that is unfortunate, it doesn’t mean you need to keep bearing the brunt of their abuse. Space simply means you are careful about three concerns:
How much time you spend with certain people. In what situations you will entertain their company. To what extent you will tolerate their selfish behavior.
If your conversations with an acquaintance always seem to turn to their relentless whining, complaining, or criticism, determine to talk to them only until they start becoming negative. Once they go there, politely excuse yourself from the conversation to do something else or to talk to another person. You’re not being rude. You’re being wise. Frequent or continued exposure to their negativity only threatens your own attitude. Don’t let them bring you down by giving them that kind of influence in your life. If you have someone in your peer circle who consistently berates you with angry and aggressive words while trying to “discuss” an issue, simply warn them you will not tolerate that kind of spirit in the effort to work out your differences. If they persist, end the conversation – walk away, hang up the phone, refuse to respond – as a way of declaring your boundaries for such situations. Belligerent behavior between adults is an immature approach to problem solving that never brings about a resolution in an equitable fashion. You don’t have to submit yourself to such treatment. That’s not weak. That is strong. It is a declaration that you are strong enough to defend yourself from another person’s abuse regardless of what shape it takes. Naturally, you won’t be able to control every interaction you have. There will always be variables that are impossible to manipulate to your favor. Certain “turbulent” family members, work associates, neighbors, and strangers you encounter at places you frequent are going to be part of your daily life. What you can control is your attitude about them and your response to them. You can always be in control of yourself and the choices you make about reacting to difficult people who are part of your life.
HERE’S TO SMOOTH SAILING People.
They’re everywhere. Rare is the day and scarce is the place where our life doesn’t intersect with other people. If we hope to nurture and protect the happiness we long for, we must handle our relationships wisely. In the same way parents of toddlers “baby-proof” their house by eliminating potential hazards, we can take steps to reduce the risk posed by selfish relationships. Permitting people to stir up the waters of our life by not dealing with their inconsiderate behavior only places our emotional tranquility in danger. In the end, we only have ourselves to blame if we allow it to persist. Let’s not live like that way one day longer. Let’s do what we can to enjoy calm and peaceful waters at the lake.
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CHARITY
Called to be scattered HILL COUNTRY BIBLE CONFERENCE
By Misty McElhannon
Carla Northington, a big city girl, moved out to the Hill Country to start a family. She never could have imagined all that God would show her and use her for in Boerne, Texas. She shared that her hearts ultimate desire is for people to know God and love the Church. She was devoted to her weekly Bible Study with Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) where she met her best friend, Kay Johnson. These friends were looking for opportunities to study deep Biblical teachings, presented by theologians. They came across a Bible Conference in Pennsylvania, put on by The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals (ACE), and decided to attend. They were both incredibly blessed by the experience, which consisted of meaningful teaching, beautiful worship, and a book store with vast selections from respected theologians. These friends knew instantly that they would do whatever it took to bring a conference of this caliber to Boerne. It had been a long time mutual dream of these women to share the true gospel with their community by working together to call people back from the world and into the church. Within weeks of their trip to Pennsylvania they were at the table with the Executive Director of ACE, Bob Brady, actively planning what would be the very first Hill Country Conference – The Greatness and Grandeur of God in 2012. With the collaboration of a gifted Steering Team and a lot of volunteers, alongside the local church, the conference has been a great success in Boerne. God continued to seek Carla and unfold her heart for the true gospel. She opened her home to a weekly Bible study where 70-80 women would show up each week to study God’s Word. For seven years there were wooden folding chairs scattered across her gorgeous home in Cordillera. These chairs served as a tangible reminder that her calling was to love Him above all else. Her home and her heart belonged to the Lord. Her dear friend, Jane Roach, whom she met through BSF, led that study in her home after her retirement with BSF. Jane continues to do so now that it has moved to a more permanent home at Trinity Presbyterian Church. Jane has now been one of the lead speakers at the Texas Hill Country Bible Conference for the past two years. These incredible women have surrendered it all, and without taking one bit of credit. They have been catalysts in our community for giving, serving, and opportunity for biblical teaching. Carla knows that those who attend will learn to strengthen the church and get a better view of what God is calling them to. This year the conference is titled “Called to be Scattered” and is open to everyone. Speakers Richard Phillips and Richard Platt, and workshop speakers Wesley Baker and Jane Roach will highlight various aspects of missions, reflecting on God’s call and our duty, the example of Christ as missionary, and God’s all-encompassing plan for His people to be scattered. The conference also includes a Sacred Concert which is a means of encouraging those in attendance through music. The music sung and played in Sacred Concerts is an offering of praise to God; fitting because praise is always the Bible’s response to God’s attributes and His acts. This year’s Texas Hill Country Bible Conference – Called to be Scattered – will take place on March 4-5, 2016 at St. John Lutheran Church. For more information or registration please visit www.alliancenet.org.
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EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.
February 2016
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Welcome to Boerne
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Bluebonnet Realty
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FOR SALE - $170,000 - Historic Rock Home on 6.487 acres. Many outbuildings and barns.
FOR LEASE - $2000 - 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths in The Trails of Herff Ranch, approx. 2892 s.f. of liv area
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830-331-7355
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February 2016
We are thrilled to announce our association with Dr. Kurt Mackie, DDS. Dr. Mackie brings 32 years experience and is also a Master in the Academy of General Dentistry and a Pankey Institute Graduate. With a combined 64 years experience, we know that you will be treated with the best in knowledge and experience.
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SPIRITUAL
BE KIND By Kendall D. Aaron
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle....Plato When I was a kid, I would ride around with my mom in the front seat. This was before the days of child restraint systems, airbags, and seat belt laws. Heck, much of my time riding shotgun with mom was spent standing on the passenger seat. Sometimes I think it’s a miracle that I could have ever survived childhood. Anyway, I must have been 8 or 9, and we were driving on Blanco Road in San Antonio. I don’t know why I can actually remember what road we were on, but I can. We pulled up to the stop light with several other cars. I was staring off at something, and I suppose Mom was, too. Quietly she says, “Kendall, look around you at all the cars. Isn’t it amazing to know that every one of those people in those cars is dealing with a major problem in their lives right now? Every one of them.” I probably followed that up with “When are you taking me to Chuck E. Cheese?” but I guess it stuck in my mind as something quite profound, because here I sit 28 years later, and I can still remember it vividly. And isn’t that statement profoundly true? No matter where you are, or what you do, every single person in your circle of friends is working through some issues. A death, an addiction, a relationship problem, a marriage, money issues….the list goes on and on. Each day, we wake and begin the journey of our day. We each pick up our freight of problems at the front door, and we carry them all throughout the day. I suppose the issue of “problems” isn’t unique (obviously), but how we handle them sure is. Some turn to escapism. Give a person a problem or issue, and they’ll simply find a way to escape the emotions and turmoil. Sure, the issue is still waiting for them when they return, but it’s one way to cope. Some get angry. Take out the frustration and fear on everyone around you. This might make them feel momentarily better, but in reality, it’s just forcing new problems to arise. There are countless ways that people deal with their own problems, and some are good and some are bad. I think that oftentimes one of the overriding emotions of problems, is that yours are unique and the worst problem in the whole world. It sounds silly when you read it, but think back to the last time you were going through a particularly rough patch…you’d be lying if you didn’t admit that you felt like you were trapped with a problem that was so big, so overwhelming, you could barely concentrate. And now you look back on it and think “Yeah, that was tough. But it made me a stronger, wiser person, too.”
scare is surely going to lead to your untimely death. And then it turns out to be treatable, and life goes on. You have a knock-down fight with your husband, and you are certain that you’ll be in divorce court soon. And then he brings you flowers. You lose your father, and you don’t think you’ll ever recover. But then, slowly, you do. The bible tells us in Hebrews 13:5-6 “For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say: “The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” I like this verse, but it’s also a tough one to follow. What can man do to me? LOTS. He can take from me, hurt me, and even kill me. He can break my heart, drag me through the mud, and leave me a victim. What’s really profound about the verse, and about the entire discussion in general is, How are you responding to the trials and tribulations of your life? When faced with problems, what is your response? Do you seek refuge by hiding, or by becoming angry, or by ignoring it? Or, when problems jump up in the journey of life, do you decide that God is big enough to handle those for you, and give them to Him? Guess what the right answer is. The emotions that God built into us sometimes seem contradictory to His teachings. Don’t worry, give problems to Me, he says. But at the same time, he created us with a wonderful ability to spin every problem into the end of the world. I suppose the real lesson is that He’s trying to teach us that no matter what WE do, the problems are our own to carry. However, if we recognize that we are children of Jesus, and that He has the capacity to carry all of our problems, then we could lighten our load and go about overcoming what is in our way. When you are sitting at the next stoplight, take a look around. Every single person that you can see is dealing with something in their lives that they would qualify as a “pretty big deal.” They lie awake and worry about it. They stress about it. They wish it would go away. Strive to be the person that can smile at the same stoplight and think “Yeah, I’ve got problems. We all do. But I’m choosing to let God work those out for me. He’s got my back.” Because isn’t it all in God’s hands anyway?
But that doesn’t help you in the present. Every obstacle and problem we encounter is instantly BIG. A job loss will surely bankrupt you. But then…you find work. A health
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EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.
• Ken Nietenhoefer •
Premier Custom Home Builder in the Texas Hill Country For over 40 years, KCN has been building beautiful custom homes of all sizes in Boerne, Comfort, Bandera, Castroville and throughout the Texas Hill Country. Our reputation for honesty and integrity, combined with our commitment to deliver excellent quality, expert craftsmanship, and customer service, has afforded us the opportunity to build many long lasting relationships with our clients. In fact, we have constructed two or more jobs for 31 different customers.
830-816-5202 920 East Blanco Road Boerne, TX 78006 www.kcnbuilders.com
CLASSES • WORKSHOPS • EVENTS “building your practice from the ground up” OFFERING A WIDE VARIETY OF YOGA STYLES
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Weddings • Corporate Events • Social gatherings BBQ • APPETIZERS • PASTAS • SALADS • CUSTOMIZED MENUS Tastings by appointment (Dan) Catering Team: 210.867.5236 Email: eat@fritzesbbq.com
February 2016
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community
By Sue Talford
In 2004, DRUM TAO attended the world’s largest festival of the arts – the Edinburgh Festival Fringe – and was the No. 1 box-office smash hit of the festival. The rage started! Their performances since have included the Vancouver Olympics in 2010, they have been named the recipients of “The 6th Japan Tourism Agency Commissioner’s Award”, and appointed to be “International Tourism Goodwill Ambassadors” from their country. In the midst of their appearances in 22 countries around they world, they also found time to be featured in Under Armour clothing commercials. Now, direct from TAO’s successful, sold-out world premiere run at this season’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe, this brand new production of “Seventeen Samurai” is touring North American with a stop in Boerne…on Thursday, February 25. This will be the return TAO to the hill country, highlighting their athletic bodies with their extraordinary precision, energy and stamina, presenting their art form with unmatched passion and zealousness! The classical tradition of Japanese Drum Art promises an exhilarating evening of explosive Taiko drumming and innovative choreography. This exciting new show, Seventeen Samurai, has critics raving about TAO’s extraordinary precision, energy, and stamina. With hundreds of sold-out shows, and more than 6.5 million spectators, TAO has proven that modern entertainment based on the timeless, traditional art of Japanese drumming, continues to entertain international audiences again and again. The performers who take the stage for TAO are both highly trained athletes and highly expressive artists. Melodies of various genres and traditional instruments result in an enchanting scene that only TAO can present, using world-class techniques and specialized knowledge. Since 2012, global fashion designer Junko Koshino has collaborated with TAO to unite fashion and entertainment, making for a totally sublime performance experience. TAO will maintain the extraordinary level of performance when their third North American Tour begins in Canada and includes 38 shows in a 60-day period. Demanding? Yes! Exhausting? Yes! Exhilarating? Yes! Media around the world has acclaimed this show. The Chicago Tribune reviewed TAO as “supernaturally fit and superbly trained…stunning… fully deserving of the standing ovation that the company receives!” while the Central News Agency commented, “You’ll regret it for life if you miss this!” Boerne Performing Arts continues to bring the world of performing arts to their community, where the small town atmosphere provides delightful dining ahead of each show, virtually no traffic to the venue, no parking fees to pay, and a pleasant return back to reality after the evening show. Tickets ($30-$40-$60, $20 for students) are available online at www.BoernePerformingArts. com, or if you would prefer personal attention, give them a call at 830.331.9079. Showtime for each performance is at 7:30 p.m. at Boerne Champion Auditorium.
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EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.
February 2016
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Preschool beginning Feb. 1 Middle School Dance For 6th graders thru 8th graders Friday February 19th | 7:00 p.m. -9:00 p.m. Spring Sports Registration will be open!
1361 S. Main Street, Boerne TX 78006 | 830-815-1040
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EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.
SELF HELP
LOOK’N FOR LOVE
February is the month greeting card companies have decided everyone should be happily in a relationship. If you’re among the masses of folks who find themselves alone on “the day of love” here are some things you might want to consider if you ever plan on finding a “significant other” and not being eaten by your cats.
You have cats. Plural.
Don’t have a driver’s license. Applies to anyone over the age of 18.
Own tie dye clothes. Bonus points for anything other than a shirt. Edit roll playing and video game wikipedia pages. Your mom still does your laundry. Regularly attend comic book conventions… in costume. You begin stories with, “I’m not a stalker, but…” Keep a dream journal Are the president of a fan club.
Know anything about Pokemon other than they’re annoying as hell. Have an “I’m with stupid” or “It won’t suck itself” t-shirt. Or both.
Refer to your collection of mint condition dolls/action figure as “the kids.”
You have a curfew. And you’re 33 years old.
You have a collection of mint condition dolls/action figures.
Have a “Twilight” character blanket
Pictures on your underwear. Of your cats.
Believe pizza is a food group
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EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.
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other pretty things
210.507.5250 • 930 E. Blanco, Boerne 78006 we’re so good, you thought this was an article. didn’t you?
OLD TIMER
I give you people lots of advice. No, scratch that…I don’t suppose I give advice so much as I just like to rattle on about how I think that things should be. From politics to traffic to the stupid ducks at the river, I use this little column each month to mainly make fun of our shared frustrations. Because of this, most of you assume I am a genuinely angry old man, sitting on my porch throwing apple cores at the kids on their bicycles.
LIVE HEALTHY, BUT NOT TOO HEALTHY for goodness sake, have a Jack on the rocks before bed if you want. Have the extra scoop of ice cream. Drink gobs of wine with your spouse on the porch. There’s lot of ways to be healthy, but denying yourself the indulgences that make life worth living should not be part of your insane “workout regimen”.
However, that’s not really who I am.
DRINK WATER DIRECTLY FROM THE FAUCET Everybody is scared of everything nowadays. I mean, people have been brainwashed into believing that faucet water is somehow BAD for them. Get over it. Be dangerous. Live a little. This goes for you soccer moms that protect your kids from EVERYTHING to you dads that are just as overprotective. Life is a dangerous sport and none of us will get out alive. Teach your kids about what will really hurt them…don’t teach them that they are too good for tapwater.
In fact, I decided to take a deep breath this month and simply dispense a little wisdom from someone that has been around a while. None of this will be ground-breaking to you, however, let me tell you that the view from the top of the mountain is different when you get here. As you climb, you can only see what is in front of you, but when you reach the top, you can see everywhere and it gives you a bit more perspective about what matters…and what doesn’t. SCHEDULES ARE FROM THE DEVIL Bedtime. Lunchtime. Alarm clocks. We all have these things, and before you know it, you have a full-blown “schedule”. Shake things up sometimes…stay up crazy late. Wake up really early and watch a sunrise. Ditch work some days and take a kid fishing. Don’t get into a rut. It’ll eat your soul. PAIN IS MYSTERIOUS – HAVING FUN IS A REAL CURE We all have hurts. Physical ones, emotional ones, and a whole variety of pains and maladies. Don’t let them stop you even if they physically limit you. Laugh, drink, and breathe. Have a genuinely good time, and sure enough, those pains and hurts will be minimized. Think about it. WHEN YOU LAUGH AT YOURSELF, YOU PREVENT OTHERS FROM LAUGHING AT YOU You are not nearly as cool as you think you are. You’re going to mess up, foul up, and screw up. When you do, own it. Laugh at it if you can and learn. Be better next time. Life is too short to take yourself too seriously. Trust me. SLOW TIME BY FOCUSING In the rat-race of life, so many details get by us. We hustle so fast that life tends to zoom past us. Take time every single day to stop and simply look at the clouds. Pick up a flower and smell it. Watch birds fly. God gave us these things for the sole purpose to experience, and you should do it more. You’ll begin to SEE more of what’s around you, and time slows for those that appreciate it.
HAVE A PET You’re going to be lonely someday. Even with a house full of family, you’ll experience it. Have a pet around that will always want to be with you. You’ll learn a lot about yourself and about life when you talk with your pet. TRAVEL EVERYWHERE YOU CAN While you can (young), travel. I don’t care how you pull it off, but do it. You’re going to cry about money, but that’s a lame excuse. Trust me, you’ll remember that trip to Alaska way more than you’ll remember how much it cost. Figure it out and do it. FORGIVE SOMEONE There’s a lot of people that are going to piss you off. Let it go. Don’t waste the energy on it. Forgive them, even if you can’t tell them to their face and move on. I imagine that you have managed to piss off others as well, so give them the forgiveness that you would appreciate for yourself. There’s more. There’s LOTS more. But the above list is a pretty good start. I think that oftentimes life is as hard as we make it out to be, and I’m here to say that as I review my own life, I made mine a lot harder than it needed to be. Learn from me. That’s one thing Old Timer’s universally want: to think that they left a mark on this world. Maybe mine will be that one of you out there reads this rambling from an old man and takes it to heart. If that happens, I’m a pretty content old codger. Ya’ll be good.
FOR GOD’S SAKE, PICK THE RIGHT SPOUSE So much of your happiness will begin and end with this decision. Hell, this is the person you’re at least planning to spend the rest of your life with, so why settle? Get it right the first time. Slow down, really KNOW them, and don’t ignore the red flags. Those red flags will become flags of war if you’re not careful.
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EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.