A picture is worth a thousand thoughts of the past..

 

I want to thank the local history librarian, Ms. Norma Gonzalez, for visiting with my history classes this past Friday.  She showed a few photos from the CC Public Library Digital photograph collection. 

I found this photo on random search for Corpus Christi history photos.  It is a Caller-Times Throwback photo of a tractor working a sorghum field in 1984.  Ms. Gonzalez offered an interesting suggestion as another activity in our pursuit of local history.  If any student is reading my blog...Wait!  Its Saturday evening.  What am I thinking.  Only exhausted history teachers in their 40s who have no social life are blogging about local history on a Saturday night. I need a break.

Home is where history is (I don't think this is grammatically correct).

"I was born in a small town..." John Mellencamp

I have this goal of making history in the classroom relevant and "local"  Well there are other goals but for this post I'll keep it short.  I was born in Robstown, Texas.   I grow up on the outskirts of Robstown, on Petronila Rd. The road's name results from the road leading directly to the small (I mean very small) farming town of Petronila.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Petronila+Rd/@27.7805298,-97.6520862,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x86687cf432b6e905:0x639fab5ccf3587d2

I didn't like growing up far away from my friends but living out on the outskirts had its benefits.



Looking up at the night sky on clear days was awesome! I got lost in God's wonder.  My parents bought the home from my mom's oldest brother.  Before we moved, my family and I lived at my grandmother's (dad's mom) house on Nebraska.

 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Nebraska+St/@27.786117,-97.6745762,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x86687c6b0dee1df9:0x85a7ade4a868750b

The street and its neighboring streets were named after the states of origin of Robstown's first settlers.  They arrived here on trains looking to buy good farmland being sold by local developer George H. Paul. 

Well that's a short but not short history of the streets I grew up living in Robstown.  

I love History!

I love history!  It is my passion.  I can talk for hours about history and those "unfortunate" students who asked a simple question know that I can give a "looooong" response.  I started this blog to share with my students, and others,  my history worldview. 

Everything to me relates to history:  news, movies, music, etc.  I can remember what I was doing when a 80s song comes on the radio.  I'll probably question the accuracy of a movie based on a historical event.  Don't get me started on Will Smith's Wild Wild West.  I just watched it for Salma Hayek. 

The goal of this blog is to reflect about history, contemporary events, and the on-goings of a very busy history teacher.  I hope to show readers how history can be relevant to everyone's lives and not just something to learn because you have to take the class.  This is my first blog, so I'm also going to learn and grow from this blogging experience. I look forward to this experience. So I hope anyone who reads this enjoys.