Tag: San Antonio

Sam Houston High School’s Entire Class of 2020 sat through the National Anthem at their Graduation in Protest.

June 16, 2020 12 Comments

Then the Valedictorian called out the school’s administration.

(This story has been updated with comments from SAISD Board President Patti Radle.)

The sun was just starting to peek out from around early morning clouds at 8:30 am on June 16, threatening to bake the 187 graduates from Sam Houston High School and their families. But things on the field, where the graduates sat in chairs spaced six feet apart, were already heating up.

As the national anthem played, not one graduate rose from their chair. They sat in protest of a country that they feel is apathetic to the needs and oppression of the black community. Their community. Their families. Their classmates.

“This whole racial (disparity) affects everyone,” said graduate Devin Brock-Johnson, “It plagues every single system of life.”

They decided that to sit through the national anthem would show that they wanted to see change.

Not everyone had to participate, graduate Jasiri Parks said, but from where he sat, he thinks that everyone did. An observer confirmed that the entire class remained seated. (I arrived shortly after the anthem.)

The graduating class at Sam Houston High School is 55 percent Latino, 40 percent black, 2 percent white, 2 percent Asian, and one percent two or more races.

“It just says something when every race sits down for it,” senior Jonathan Lee said, “When every race sits down together we know we’re in this together.”

SAISD Board President Patti Radle, and trustees Art Valdez, Ed Garza and Alicia Perry took a knee during the anthem in solidarity with recent protests against police brutality and systemic racism. Radle and others have been doing so since the district’s first graduation ceremony of 2020, Jefferson High School, last week.

“I just felt like being in a leadership position and representing the school district it was important for me to make a statement of solidarity with people who call for equality,” said Radle, who suggested the action, but did not mandate it from board members, “I didn’t want to impose on anyone, or grandstand on anyone.” Garza and Valdez, a U.S. Air Force Veteran, were the first to join Radle in kneeling during the anthem at the Jefferson graduation.

Radle is no stranger to peaceful action during patriotic ceremonials. As a Christian pacifist, she has long observed silence during the Pledge of Allegiance.

“I believe that God is love, and in that Being there are no borders,” Radle explained, “The only patriotism is to the call to love.”

Radle said she had not been alerted to the students’ plans at Sam Houston, though district officials say that several students at other graduations have also knelt during the anthem.

The students’ action had been planned a month before, Lee said, as they were checking in with each other during coronavirus. Most weren’t worried about getting in trouble with the school, he said, because that would have been small in comparison to what the students were protesting. “We were already in trouble the second corona(virus) came,” Lee said.

Graduates also sat through the school’s anthem, though many did raise their hands with the Sam Houston school hand sign, an index finger pointing into the air.

The reasoning for that action was articulated clearly by class valedictorian Payton Gogo, who used his time at the podium (min 39-42 in linked video) to call attention to what he described as educational negligence at his school.

The speech started softly, as Gogo praised the school’s response to the pandemic, in providing laptops and hotspots. He then pivoted to a strong call-out, saying that it was unfortunate that “it took a pandemic” to elicit such efforts.

Screenshot of Payton Gogo giving his valedictorian address while school principal Mateen Diop sits behind him.

“It should be the school’s mission to enlighten students and prepare them for life beyond high school. But this ideal can be difficult to reach for many schools, and Sam Houston is no exception,” Gogo said, “Unfortunately it seems the education and guidance are not so important as long as the student passes. There is a great separation between the administration and student body.”

(l-r) Jonathan Lee, Dezric Morgan, and Devin Brock-Johnson

While some teachers had done their best to help students achieve their goals, Gogo acknowledged, “they are fighting an uphill battle against the administration’s inability to solve the issues that plague Sam Houston.”

Administration, he went on, has “disconnected from students” which has led to fights, drug issues, and various misbehaviors being largely unaddressed.

Around 9 percent of the student body was suspended or expelled from Sam Houston in the first three months of the 2019-20 school year, the 6th highest discipline rate in the district.

“The school’s inaction is negligent at the least and students have been damaged by it,” Gogo said. He went on to encourage his classmates to strive for success, despite how well or poorly they feel they were served in high school.

Parks, a member of the school’s award winning decathlon team, said he agrees with Gogo’s statements.

“It was really needed for them to hear that,” Parks said.

Dezric Morgan, reflecting on the peaceful actions and sentiments shared by Gogo was hopeful that none would fall on deaf ears. Whether change came from the administration or another group of students is emboldened to speak up in unity, he said, “I hope everyone takes inspiration from this.”

Rumblings continue in the battle over SAISD-charter partnership

February 19, 2018 No Comments

San Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support Personnel President Shelly Potter addresses members of the San Antonio Alliance of Teachers Support and Personnel, Stewart Elementary parents and staff at a rally outside Burnet Elementary before the school board votes on whether to move forward with a partnership between Stewart Elementary School and Democracy Prep Public Schools, Monday, Jan. 22, 2018.
Photo by Alma Hernandez for Folo Media

“Whose schools?”

“Our schools!”

“Whose schools?”

“Our schools!”

That was the call and response chant on the steps of the SAISD administrative building ahead of the January 22 board meeting, in which the board voted to move forward in a charter agreement with Democracy Prep, a nonprofit organization that runs charter schools in Louisiana and the Northeast.

Following the Jan 22 meeting SAISD authorized Democracy Prep– which had not previously been approved to operate in Texas– to effect a school turnaround at Stewart Elementary, a traditional neighborhood school currently in its fifth year of failure to meet state standards. Authorized through SAISD, Democracy Prep can open more schools in Texas.

The 2017 law that incentivizes SAISD to contract with Democracy Prep, Senate Bill 1882, requires the school to serve every single child living in the Stewart attendance zone, if they chose to go there. What this means for special education and English language learners had not been fully worked out at the time of the January 22 meeting, but Martinez assured the board that it would be fully explored as the district hammered out a performance agreement and subsequent contract.

The Texas Education Agency had not finalized rules for SB 1882 in time for the February 20th board meeting. The district will check the terms of any partnership by those forthcoming rules before bringing the performance agreement to a vote. Final rules will be published by Feb 26, with guidance following on March 12, per the TEA website.
In the meantime, tension continues to build between the district and the union.
The San Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support Personnel, the union representing faculty and non-administrative staff in the district, rallied ahead of the Jan 22 meeting to protest what they describe as the abdication of responsibility.
Later that night (once the decision was official) the Alliance Facebook page posted a summary of the meeting that ended with, “The district administration, in effect, admitted they do not know how to do their core mission of educating our district’s students and because of that they are bringing in a company from New York City to do the job that they are evidently not capable of doing.”

One of the Alliance’s concerns is what will happen to students who would not typically thrive on a Democracy Prep campus. Because of its history as an independent “no excuses” charter district, Democracy Prep schools have not operated under the same legal requirements to accommodate students considered part of “special populations.”

Democracy Prep was not on the agenda at the Feb 12 board meeting either, however Alliance president Shelley Potter presented an extensive list of performance recommendations to the board during the citizens to be heard portion of the meeting. Under the title, “What Our Community Demands from Any Proposed Charter School Operator in SAISD” the two page document lists six categories of detailed assurances the Alliance would like from the district, including transparent planning, high quality curriculum (including bilingual or dual language instruction), classroom management policy, and family supports. Two sections pertain to teacher and employee concerns.

Martinez has made his position known as well. In a January 24 interview with nonprofit news site The 74 Martinez noted that while the district has many choice schools, Democracy Prep is the first time he’s gotten backlash. He attributes this to the teacher contract issue.

“For every other option, the employees have reported to us, so we’ve been able to open new models with little resistance,” Martinez told The 74, “Is it coming from parents? The short answer is “no.” I had a parent meeting last week to explain this, and it’s not coming from them. I’m proud of the trust we have built with parents. Parents want these choices. The backlash is coming from our unions and alliances in San Antonio. It’s about having charter schools that don’t have union contracts versus schools with union contracts or union right.”

SAISD Superintendent Pedro Martinez at a school board meeting Monday, Jan. 22, 2018, where a vote was taken to move forward with a partnership with Democracy Prep Public School to takeover Stewart Elementary starting in the fall. Photo by Alma Hernandez for Folo Media.

He went on to say that the district will choose partners who treat teachers well. While the details are not yet finalized, faculty contracts were non-negotiable for Democracy Prep, Martinez said, the charter school will be the employer, not SAISD. Teachers currently have protective contracts at SAISD, Democracy Prep practices at-will hiring. This came as an abrupt surprise for the faculty of Stewart.

During the Jan 22 board meeting, members of the Alliance spoke passionately to the board. Alejandra Lopez, a teacher at Stewart, accused the district of robbing the parents and faculty of their “right to self-determination.” Given the chance, she said, the parents would have participated in a redesign and used their voice.

As a matter of policy, the board does not respond to comments during the citizens to be heard. However, before the board voted to move forward with the arrangement, Martinez spoke to the issue of parental choice.

The parents of Stewart students have been advocating for their students for years, he said. The evidence is in the rapidly declining enrollment at Stewart as students have flocked to Brooks Academy and other nearby charter schools.

“Those parents do have a voice,” Martinez said, “They walk.”

Enrollment at Stewart has been falling for years. During the 2016-2017 school year, Stewart served 542 students. Enrollment had fallen from 560 the year before and 565 the year before that. Many of those students went to charter schools like nearby Brooks Academy.

I watched the attrition first hand when I was reporting for the Rivard Report.

In the spring of 2016, photographer Scott Ball and I followed three students at Stewart as a way to highlight the need and possibility for change under Martinez, who was then in his first year as superintendent. One of the first students we interviewed was a fourth-grader identified as a good student who needed strong supports to stay on track. His guardian told us that she had put him on the waiting list at Brooks Academy after talking to other parents who had done the same. While their chief concern was middle school, they wanted to start applying early so as not to miss their chance.

When we came back for a second interview, we were informed that the fourth-grader had left Stewart to attend Brooks Academy.

Data supports these parents’ decision. Brooks Academy may or may not be the best long-term decision, that data simply won’t exist until the school has been around longer. However, the data does support the decision to leave Stewart.

Mike Villarreal, a University of Texas at Austin researcher and former State representative, also spoke at the Jan 22 board meeting. Through a collaboration with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, Texas Workforce Commission, and several local school districts, Villarreal has been able to trace graduates of various San Antonio area elementary schools into adulthood.

Long term student outcomes for Stewart were not good, Villarreal said. Even before Stewart had fallen out of compliance with state standards, it was graduating students into a future of low performance.

Stewart graduates who were in the workforce in 2016 made an average of $18,000 per year, Villarreal’s data showed. State average is $34,000. Only about five percent earned post-secondary certificates and degrees within six years of their projected high school graduation, compared to 20 percent statewide.

“I’m here to celebrate what you are already doing which is keeping your eye on student outcomes,” Villarreal said to the board.

San Antonio to Charters and ISDs: Let's get together

February 15, 2018 No Comments

The common misconception that the city plays an active role in public education may stem from the fact that both are essentially financed through property tax.

San Antonio residents have watched their property taxes increase significantly since 2014, as average property value assessments climbed by seven percent in 2014, 11 percent in 2015, seven percent in 2016, and another almost nine percent in 2017.

As they climbed, many property owners consoled themselves with the thought of more revenues flowing into their neighborhood school. Imagine their disillusionment to find that not a single additional dollar went to their local school district.

Meanwhile, their neighbors are calling city council to ask what the city can do to lower taxes.

Such is the general squeeze that Tuesday brought Bexar County superintendents, including charter representatives, to the literal table with the City of San Antonio’s Inter-governmental Relations Committee.

“The city needed to get it’s skin in the game to support our schools,” Councilman Rey Saldaña (D4) said, kicking off the meeting, “We have not, in a way that has been constructive, been brought into the conversation.”

The City, through its Inter-governmental Relations Committee chaired by Saldaña and comprised of Mayor Ron Nirenberg, Councilwoman Rebecca Viagran (D3), Councilman Manny Peláez (D8), and Councilman Clayton Perry (D10), has committed to doing its homework to understand school finance so that it can effectively advocate for school funding in Austin, especially during the 2019 Legislative Session.

The room was full of community stakeholders as well, philanthropists and advocates who will undoubtedly play a role in the effort.

While she did not have an official seat among the committee and superintendents, the mayor’s chief of policy, Marisa Bono, was also in attendance. Formerly with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), Bono has argued before the Texas Supreme Court on behalf of local districts suing the state over its school finance system. In her the City has a powerful in-house resource, State Rep. Diego Bernal said, and thus, “there is no city better positioned to take this on than San Antonio.”

Bernal, vice chair of the House Public Education committee and a member of the Texas Commission on School Finance joined the summit as well. Bernal has often pointed out that the most effective way to lower local property taxes is to increase the State’s share of education funding.

Every district gets a set amount of money, determined by several formulas, explained David Thompson, a school finance expert brought in to educate the committee. At the end of the day, Thompson explained, there’s a set amount each district can receive. He compared this dollar value to a bottle. The property taxes go in first, and the State kicks in to fill whatever volume of the bottle is left to fill. If the bottle runs over after property taxes, such as in Alamo Heights ISD, the State keeps the excess and contributes nothing.

Those dollars do not necessarily go to other school district as the policy known as “Robin Hood” would imply, Brown pointed out. Excess property taxes from property wealthy districts go to the State’s general revenue fund. Some are designated for State aid to property poor districts.

By the current calculations of the Center for Public Policy Priorities, the state pays for 38 percent percent of all public school funding. The majority, 62 percent, comes from local sources, not including the Robin Hood dollars.

So, to Bernal’s argument, if the state committed to, say, 50% of every “bottle” the average property tax burden would decrease.

School finance reform will face an additional hurdle in the 2019 Legislative session: Gov. Greg Abbott has proposed what is effectively a cap on cities’ and counties’ ability to tax property owners. The same idea was floated during the 2017 Legislative Session. Mayors, county judges of both parties, and superintendents spoke out against what was then Senate Bill 2, the Property Tax Reform and Relief Act. Any property tax cap would do one of two things to education funding, Thompson explained: Either the State would have to chip in more, or education spending would decrease.

Even then, while there can be a cap on the base tax rate, Northside ISD Superintendent Brian Woods said, districts are still responsible to pay for their bond initiatives, even if they have less money on hand. This would cause their “interest and sinking” rate, (which is essentially payment on bonds) to skyrocket, furthering the “conspiracy” to place the blame for property taxes at the feet of local entities, Woods said. Northside ISD will place a $848.91 million bond initiative on the May 5 ballot.

By convening the superintendents, the City hopes to join forces, in a manner of speaking. The prevailing strategy in the Legislature is to place blame on local governments—city, county, and school districts—for the burdensome property taxes. Their approach, Saldaña said, will likely be to divide and conquer, pitting each local government against the other for political survival.

“If this is a hill we want to climb, we go together,” Saldaña said.

SAISD has room for 15,000 more students…where will they live?

February 13, 2018 No Comments

One of the quirks of Texas government is the disconnect between school districts and the cities they serve. While districts answer directly to the state, bypassing city government, decisions made a city hall directly affect the health of schools.

Take, for example, housing.

A resolution unanimously adopted by the San Antonio ISD board (with President Patti Radle and trustee Debra Guerrero absent) at its Feb 12 meeting highlights the inextricable link between quality housing and quality schools. As the city fires up its task force to pursue a “Comprehensive Housing Policy Framework”, SAISD has stake in the conversation, trustee Ed Garza told me. Currently three SAISD trustees have City Hall on their resume. Garza served on city council from 1997 to 2001, and for two terms as mayor beginning in 2001. Radle served on city council from 2003 to 2007, and Guerrero from 1997 to 2001.

“You can’t really talk about infill, affordable housing and mixed income communities in the oldest part of San Antonio without talking about neighborhood schools,” Garza said.

The resolution acknowledges the role of housing in the district’s declining student population. Since its peak in 1968, the district has lost around 26,000 students, and can currently absorb at least 15,000 more into its existing facilities, the resolution states.

The northward sprawl of the city over past decades has left substantial gaps in quality family housing near the city’s core, which is served by SAISD, the county’s third largest school district with around 50,000 students. Other districts south of downtown have felt a similar attrition of middle class families looking for new or stable housing in the $100,000-$200,000.

The average home value in SAISD is around $70,023, according to the district. The state average. In those parts of the district serving the East and West sides of San Antonio— including two of the nation’s poorest zip codes, 78207 and 78208—the situation is far more bleak.

In 78207 more than half of the population, are renters and the average home value in 2016 was $62,000. In 78208, the 2016 average home value was a bit higher, $76,000. However, the percentage of renters was higher as well, and the median income was roughly the same. The later zip code runs into recently gentrified Lower Broadway where property values are climbing.

Concentrated poverty, Garza explained, makes it almost impossible for either schools or housing to improve without one another. Schools can become the catalyst, but if there’s not transformation of the neighborhood, Garza said, “It doesn’t allow the neighborhood to elevate or start to break the cycle of poverty.”

Without the building stock to house them, Garza explained, families migrate northward where a virtuous cycle continues to feed middle class housing and schools.

The schools are not without culpability in the decline, acknowledged Garza. In some of the neighborhoods already experiencing “regeneration” (Garza does not like the term “gentrification”), such as Dignowity Hill and Monticello Park, “We have not seen that translate into neighborhood school attendance.”

That’s changing in some neighborhoods where district efforts and housing stock have worked in concert. Lamar Elementary, located in Mahncke Park, is starting to attract its own middle class neighbors back to the school, which had seen enrollment decline for years.

The district has also launched ten “diversity by design” schools, which are not bound to an attendance zone. These schools use attractive curriculums and instruction models to appeal to families from across and outside the district. By attracting those parents, as well as families in the immediate neighborhood, SAISD chief innovation officer Mohammed Choudhury has been able to diversify the socioeconomic mix of students on these campuses.

However, open enrollment alone cannot solve the entire problem of segregation and economic isolation, Choudhury has said, housing will be critical.

The Twig Book Challenge

March 9, 2015 2 Comments

This year our local bookshop is conducting a reading challenge. Now that Moira goes to bed at 7:30pm, I thought, well, why not! Reading is quiet, portable, and doesn’t require me to get into a “mode” the way that writing does. As January revealed, I like a structured challenge, and I have been enjoying the Twig’s reading challenge since January 2. I’ll be reporting on my progress periodically.

AND I want your recommendations for the categories I still haven’t completed! …

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Wanderlists: Best Hotels- Stayed in

December 13, 2014 1 Comment

My mother raised us to believe that it was not a vacation unless we were staying in a hotel. Simultaneously, however, she earned her title as Mom-Cheapola-Cheapola. I have staying in some serious dives. Serious. What would you expect to find in a Motel 6 on the outskirts of Vegas? Use your imagination.

Or there was the motel in Grove City, Pennsylvania when the snowy gusts rolled in under the 3 inch gap between the door and the floor while I held the phone cord into the wall so we could call home (these were the days of roaming charges).

We stayed in some great places too, don’t get me wrong. Mostly while snow skiing. Mom had the good sense to book comfortable places when the whole family was worn out and wind-burnt. And once we did stay at the nicest hotel in Marfa, just for fun. If I had known I would one day make regular pilgrimages to Marfa, staying in a refurbished Airstream, I think I would have laughed.

…

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Urban Baby: What we see on our walks

May 12, 2014 No Comments

People told me that when I had a baby I would throw in the towel on the inner city, and head for the shady streets of suburbia. Good school districts. Safe strolling. Quiet nights.

I’m not going to lie, when my neighbor’s five pitbulls bark ALL NIGHT LONG, I do think about how nice it would be to have an HOA to tattle to, instead of just SAPD, which always feels extreme.

And yes, I have to stroll underneath 281 to get to our favorite walking path…but that walking path is the Museum Reach of the San Antonio River, and I can get there in 5 minutes on foot. We take this walk almost every day.

Plus, for my first Mother’s Day, Lewis bought me a membership to the San Antonio Museum of Art, where Moira and I can stroll and take in all the air-conditioning and art we want.

Along the way we have epic adventures passing animals, vagrants, fancy parties, kickball games, and running into friends.

Right now Moira sleeps through most of the walk, but when she looks around, she sees…

A bridge overlooking downtown, smattered with cyclists, yogi’s, and, soon, brewery-goers.

…

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Beer Journal: Local watering holes

July 21, 2013 No Comments

Some people have wine journals. Liz James told me about beer journals. Mine will double as a travel journal. More than wine, when I travel, I find beer. Not haute beer. Everyman beer. Beer I can order in any restaurant. And these stories are not the stories of the most amazing places I’ve seen. They are about the times when I had a beer, and the people I was with.

These are our local watering holes.

The Friendly Spot - King William — The Friendly Spot – King William

Here is Lewis at the The Friendly Spot, which has apparently been around longer than I thought. It can be hard to find a seat, but when you do, it’s about as simple a place as ever did grace the hip side of town. And it is oh so hip.That’s why my bike helmet it here. Because we’re trying to be hip like the Southtowners.

We often meet our Southtown friends there.

I was particularly thrilled to see it mentioned in the biography of Ann Richards.

The Granary - Pearl — The Granary – Pearl

The brewmaster at The Granary went to high school with my sister, and the beer is worth a mention. The Root Beer is worth some sort of award.This flight of beers was shared with a group of Australian travel professionals visiting for a conference. More proof that Australians know how to have a good time.

The Granary is not a bar. It’s a restaurant, serving an elevated twist on Texas smoked meets and their accouterments. I, for one, am not a die-hard purist about Texas beer and bbq. People rail about the inherent evils of “high end” bbq and beer flights, but this is good food and good beer. What could be more purist than that?

The Esquire Tavern - Downtown/Riverwalk — The Esquire Tavern – Downtown/Riverwalk

There’s not any beer in the is picture, but Esquire Tavern is simultaneously 1) home to the longest bar in Texas, and 2) the only place downtowners go on the Riverwalk. History and relevance. Some other organizations I know of should take note. The food is all heavy duty, and the drinks are delicious. I’ve had more than one beer here.

On the night this picture was taken, I was with Liz James. We had just left a jazz concert and the Spurs were in the final round of the NBA championship. Liz is committing the crime of getting us to be very attached to her before she leaves us (probably for Boulder, like everyone else). But we’ll forgive her and have a few more beers before she’s gone.

The Luxury - River North — The Luxury – River North

We can reach The Luxury on our bikes, without peddling. We can leave our home, lift our feet, and roll the 7 blocks to this table right here.

You know the beer in the picture is not actually mine because it’s opaque.

All seating is outside, and I love it. Large plastic animal toys substitute for numbers. In this picture, we are with our friends, the Sedgwicks who pointed out that Lewis’s pants match the saurolophus and the table. It’s cool to have people around who notice that sort of thing.

Blue Box - The Pearl — Blue Box – The Pearl

Blue Box has become a pretty common happy hour spot for me. It’s incredibly hard to find the first time, as there’s no sign out front, and it’s under the Pearl parking garage. But that doesn’t seem to stop it from filling up. People have a thing for places where you have to know. They serve fun cocktails and beer. These pictured were both recommendations of their incredibly knowledgeable head bar tender (who may be the owner, I’m not sure.)

I am here drinking with Haley, my primary happy hour companion for the last three-or-so years. Haley is that person who understands that some days happy hour needs to start at 2pm on a Tuesday, as well as the many reasons that someone might drink most of the bottle of wine in the course of a weeknight. Because, in the words of Haley, “I’m a grown-ass woman.”

Dallas or (Mega)bust! A play in 3 acts

July 16, 2013 4 Comments

Prologue: I consider myself a pretty intrepid traveler. I have yet to meet a mode of transportation I can’t endure.

Further, I’ve gotten pretty city-savvy. I enjoy making the most of the latest fad in transportation.

Mostly though, I’m a sucker for a good deal. I’m the girl who plans my vacations around flash sales.

So naturally, hearing that Megabus was coming to town was the kind of good news that could only be topped if RyanAir or EasyJet decided to hop the pond and start offering 15-cent flights to Los Angeles. I took the Megabus to Austin back in December for a lunch date, and it was perfect. On time, low-key, seat to myself, read the whole way. So I didn’t even hesitate to book a trip to Houston for Monday-Tuesday, and a trip to Dallas for Friday-Sunday last week.

Sitting in the parking lot of Katy Mills for an hour with no sign of the 7pm Megabus, I should have seen the writing on the wall. As I griped about the lack of communication, my gracious ride (who was waiting with me so that I could stay in an airconditioned car, instead of sitting on the pavement) said,

“Yeah, I’d pay at least $4 per trip if they would be on time.”

Right. You get what you pay for.

Tickets were already booked for Dallas though. So Haley (who, in all fairness, would never have hazarded such an obviously fallible plan had I not been so exuberant about Megabus) and I boarded in San Antonio at 4:30 pm, and headed for Dallas. You can read Haley’s account of the trip here.

Act One: Austin. Where after seeing a pretty convincing Chris Farley double…

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we backed up right into the spot where he had been sitting, and felt an ominous bump. Followed by an announcement that we would be staying in Austin for an hour to address a “safety concern.” They also told us to be back on the bus in one hour because they were leaving “regardless of whether or not we were on the bus.”

Though needlessly stern, that’s about as helpful as the Megabus people would be throughout the hours that followed. Also, we saw Chris Farley again, so I don’t know what the bump was, but it was not him.

We were in Austin, on Guadalupe street, though. I’ve been stranded worse places (Ljubljana, for instance). So we made the most of it and had Pho for dinner.

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Better than organic funyuns and dried cherries, which was what I had packed. We also had two bottles of wine and no corkscrew. Little did we know by the end of the evening we’d be willing to claw through and drink whatever cork bits fell into the wine.

The bus left at precisely 7:20. I don’t know how I feel about that kind of punctuality. What kind of safety issue is resolved in exactly one hour as scheduled? How well can you really fix something in an hour? I mean, I was ready to get to Dallas, but I also believe in the importance of actually fixing things.

Because if you don’t, you end up exactly where we were 1.5 hours later.

Act Two: After crawling along in the predictable North Austin/Temple/Belton traffic jam, we realized that while the rest of traffic was speeding up, we were still going about 5-10 miles per hour. Cars whizzing by, efficiently making their way north. No announcement, no explanation.

One concerned passenger jumped up and rushed down the stairs to check on the driver.

“Well, he’s still alive.”

Suddenly, we sped up. A collective sigh of relief. But wait…we were just going down hill. Once the road leveled out, we slowed to a stop.

Still no word from the driver. It should be noted that Haley and I were giggling like idiots the whole time, because we were neither hungry nor alone, and so this was all very entertaining. (The people in the Group Messages are Haley, me, and Amanda Brack, whom I still have listed under her maiden last name…we’ve been friends for a while!)

Policeman #1 boarded the bus, asking us to please get off the highway. That’s when we got the first and only piece of true information we would get. We peered down the stairwell, listening to the driver explain that our transmission was out. (the video Haley mentions is of this conversation)

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Policeman #1 explained that there was another southbound Megabus a few miles ahead…also stranded. Then he left.

Policeman #2 appeared about five minutes later, and the scene repeated itself. This is also about the point when our chronical of the trip on social media started generating some worried phone calls and messages from friends.

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“We’re going to die on this bus,” one particularly hopeless passenger said, as the clock neared 9:45.

“We’ve got wine!” Haley and I announced.

“It’s my 21st birthday at midnight!” another passenger exclaimed.

We felt like we’d saved the day. Even though we were still sitting on a bus on the side I-35, and no one from Megabus had spoken up to inform us of our fate.

Finally, another bus, Coach USA, pulled up, and we walked along the grass median to board the smaller vehicle.

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Haley and I could not find seats together, which is when this conversation happened:

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Act Three: The remaining 1.5 hours were uneventful. Over the course of the journey I listened to a confident young man tell his cute seatmate the following (which I relayed by text to Haley and Amanda).

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He then went on to explain that he was classically trained, but just had a knack for rhythm. And he’s an amateur mechanic. “I don’t know, I’m just good at that kind of thing. I’m good with my hands.”

The cute girl relayed her woes of car trouble, and the confident fellow offered to take a look at her car for free when they were back in Austin.

I wanted to take the girl by the shoulders, shake her, and say, “If there is one thing you have learned from this trip: when it comes to transportation, you get what you pay for.”

Epilogue: Our return trip was 2 hours late presumably due to traffic…which is always present…but not accounted for in the eta. If you plan to take the Megabus between San Antonio and Austin, just be advised, it’s a seven hour trip. You could literally fly to Peru.

Fiesta Time!

April 18, 2013 No Comments

Fiesta is here! Never mind that downtown is about to become an absurd gridlock of bleachers, confetti, and carnival food. I love this time of year!

I love color. I love revelry. I love living downtown.

Viva Fiesta!