GET READY FOR SAN ANTONIO
Our own Caucus President, Robert Hu, is a member of the Local Arrangements Committee for the Annual Meeting in San Antonio. As part of the Committee’s charge to generate enthusiasm for San Antonio, they’ve submitted two short articles to give us all a taste of what San Antonio is like. In addition, a few links are listed about San Antonio for those of you who’d like to get more of a feel before the official AALL materials arrive!
Hope to see you there!
MY TEN FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT SAN ANTONIO
By Mary Forman, Semi-Native
My great-great-great uncle, Thomas Jefferson Chambers, came to Texas in the 1820s. Chambers County in east Texas is named after him. I, however, am a relative newcomer. Although I’ve only lived in Texas for 10 years, I have compiled quite a list of things I love about Texas. Here are 10 of them focused almost exclusively on San Antonio – 10 reasons for you to come to AALL in July – and to come back and visit again. As Texas singer/songwriter Gary P. Nunn (famous for the Austin City Limits theme song – London Homesick Blues aka Home with the Armadillo) would say, “You ask me what I like about Texas…. Well, I could tell you, but we’d be here all night long.” So I’ve limited it to 10….
10. Patio dining – Eating outside – good Mexican food – a cold beverage – well, it’s a favorite pastime of many. When it’s hot, you sit under an umbrella. When it’s cold they fire up the heaters. We eat outside all year long.
9. Boat cruise on the San Antonio River. Yep, even the locals ride it! It’s great fun and you always learn something new.
8. Gruene, Texas, and the Guadalupe River. Great shopping (and I don’t even like shopping!), lunch at the Gristmill Restaurant, and a stop at Gruene Hall (Texas’ oldest dance hall) to listen to whoever’s playing, or tubing down the Guadalupe River, taking out at Gruene and then doing the above. Old or young, it’s a fun way to spend the day!
7. Walking through the King William District and having breakfast (preferably on the patio) at the Guenther House.
6. Music, music, music. Country, symphony, you name it, we’ve got it – and I love it all.
5. Steak Night in Waring, Texas. Wednesday night is steak night at the country store in Waring, Texas. Come back sometime and experience it!
4. The Majestic Theatre. Arguably the most beautiful theatre in Texas (maybe the world?).
3. Visiting any Texas State Park. Three of my nearby favorites include Garner, Lost Maples, and Enchanted Rock.
2. Wildflowers. They start in March with bluebonnets, but they continue on throughout the spring, summer, and fall. Lady Bird Johnson was on to something….
1. The people. They come in all shapes, sizes, colors, cultures, and personal beliefs, but despite their differences, there is something that draws them together – something my buddy, Gary P. Nunn, calls “the spirit of the people who share this land.”
WELCOME TO TEXAS
By
Monica M. Ortale, M.L.I.M., J.D.
Faculty Services & Reference Librarian
The Fred Parks Law Library
South Texas College of Law
"Things are Bigger in Texas!" Just take a look at the giant sized boots outside North Star Mall. A tribute to just two of my not so secret vices, shopping and shoes! San Antonio has fabulous shopping, and La Villita is next to the Hilton, a complex of 27 restored buildings on the site of a Coahuiltecan Indian Village. Each building showcases various artists. There's painting, jewelry, pottery and beautiful weavings, all unique to the region.
Just a short trolley ride down Commerce St. is El Mercado, a veritable warehouse of pottery, and then there's the farmer's market. If you don't get enough to eat browsing the stalls, then head to the restaurants. La Margarita is my favorite, and I can picture it now as the colorful waiter carries the sizzling fajitas platter, the steam streaming behind and, oh, the aroma!
But, for those with a car, head north on I-35 for about 30 minutes and be prepared to visit the mecca of all shopping. The factory outlet stores of San Marcos, hundreds of them, too many to mention, but definitely worth the trip when you consider the savings.
Ah, but I digress. For those who love shopping for footwear, there are marvelous bootmakers. Try Lucchese, hand made bootmakers since 1883, or Crazy Horse custom boots, both in San Antonio.
For me, shoes are everything, and the factory outlet shoe stores are an option. But, if you want something closer to the convention center, then Dillards & the shops in RiverCenter have a wonderful assortment. When all are tried on and bought, there's nothing like relaxing at a table on the Riverwalk level, watching the tourists and the riverboats, sipping a Starbucks coffee, knowing that the bags surrounding you are full of shoes just waiting for the right occasion, like, the General Business meeting.
Links of Interest for San Antonio
The Official Visitors' and Convention Bureau Website
The Official Travel Guide to San Antonio
The Lonely Planet's Online Guide to San Antonio
The San Antonio Riverwalk Website
The Alamo
SeaWorld, San Antonio
Six Flags, Fiesta, Texas (15 minutes from San Antonio)
MEMBERSHIP NEWS
Jean Chong is now Library Manager at Borden Ladner Gervais in Vancouver,B.C. She was previously working as Librarian for the Legal Services Society, B.C.'s provincial legal aid organization.
Pin-Sheng Hsiao switched jobs in November and is now Technical Services Librarian at McCarter & English, LLP, in Newark, NJ.
Congratulations to both of you on your new positions!
Have a new job? Been promoted? Have a new article published online or in print? Give a presentation to colleagues or another legal organization? Please let us know so we can share the news with all our members, and submit the news to the Editor!
Words from the Editor
Greetings, and a very, very belated Happy New Year! By the time you read this, it will be the first few days of March (my calendar for February disappearing faster than I would have liked!) and Spring will hopefully be around the corner, bringing relief from what seems like constant cold in the NorthEast to drier weather out West.
The past few months have given the United States a bit of an unexpected Winter overall, but even with all of the ups and downs, there are those that would consider our problems minor compared to other parts of the globe.
The Indian Ocean tsunami that rocked the Pacific area on December 26th, 2004 was overwhelming – in terms of lives lost, villages swept away, and the realization that with all of our supposedly “modern day” trappings, it could all disappear when met a force of nature as displayed that day.
I imagine many of you were like me – glued to the news, not quite believing what you were seeing, and wondering if any friends and/or loved ones were caught in the wake. It was a bit overwhelming for the first few days, seeing help slow to mobilize as the enormity of the event seemed to stun most of the world. However, governments and people quickly pulled together to aid the humanitarian relief needed in the area. While the relief efforts continue, the work has just begun. In addition, to homes, hospitals, stores, and schools that must be constructed again from the ground up, libraries must be rebuilt as well.
For those of you who may have been wondering what AALL’s response to the tsunami disaster has been, Susan E. Fox, AALL Executive Director, posted a notice in her January 20th, 2005 issue of “From the Desk of Susan E. Fox” (Read the article here) discussing possible relief efforts AALL could take part in, in joint participation with the American Library Association (ALA). The ALA has put up a webpage discussing its own continuing communications with the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), which has also posted a webpage in response to the disaster. Both sites have links to sources that may be of interest to Caucus members on the scope and magnitude of the tsunami and its effect on libraries.
To contact the editor, please send email to Raquel Gabriel
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