MotherPie

State Capitols: Austin and Santa Fe...

When visiting Austin in early February, I was reminded of the western way of setting up cities on a grid system (compared to Altanta, where it was all built on pig paths and horsetrails, or Santa Fe that came together at the junction of old trade routes hundreds of years ago). This 1873 map, at left, was developed just months after Austin was designated as the state capitol.   This is looking from the southeast to the northwest.  It is still easy to navigate. 

The Texas State Capitol building is impressive. Maybe it was the bustle of the opening of the session, or knowing a few of the people working, or the intensity of the business in a times such as these.  This week I was in the New Mexico State Capitol building (which is called The Roundhouse -- like the round way of leadership in this state of Kivas, I wonder?) to support a new piece of legislation. In both places I saw cowboy boots with suit pants.  Texas, unlike New Mexico, continues to meet every other year because, our law student tour guide said, these guys have other jobs and legislative service doesn't pay that much. It made me think about some of the things I'm reading about the corrupt nature of politics in New Mexico. There isn't that much business here. I'll post photos from both state houses on my Flickr site (link is on the blog sidebar).

This year Santa Fe is celebrating its 400th anniversary and it remains the oldest capitol city in the United States.  My friend Mary, sitting at breakfast in Austin's Driskill Hotel bakery cafe, established in 1886, thought that you'd never have the experience in eating in such an old place in Oklahoma. 

Texas Oil...

I picked up the last copy in the TCU bookstore of The Big Rich, the book that everyone in Texas is reading. One woman in her late 70s in the oil business was staying up in the wee hours to finish it. The story of the big oil fortunes and the people who built, maintained and increased or lost them over time is so interesting that my husband wanted me to read it out loud on the drive back to Santa Fe which I did, for six hours (or so it seemed). I finished it last night and he stole it this morning to read the parts he missed.

There is so much about Texas that is bigger than life, mythical and for my husband, it is a history of his state where he is a sixth-generation Texan.  My family has roots in the oil business -- my father was born into the Texas oil business -- and for anyone interested in investments, it is a tale of riches. The tales of the west were entertaining to those in the East, but the oil fortunes signaled a shift that the East was not all-powerful. A couple of weeks ago I attended the Fort Worth Symphony in Bass Hall, a facility built with monies that were built from original oil fortunes of the Big Rich. 

We were in Oklahoma in the 80s when everyone seemed to be a petroleum geologist or landman and everything in that state hinges on the oil economy.  My husband in business school studied the silver investment fiasco of the Dallas Hunt brothers as it unfolded, a story also included in the book.  When I was in Austin last week touring the capitol as the legislature was in session and being with friends and family,  I was reminded of the importance of oil to education with the Santa Rita pump jack sitting on the U.T. campus. 

When we lived in Houston the money was flowing from commerce and shipping and the flashy rich in Atlanta included the new hip-hop money.  Then, in Manhattan it was hedge funds and private equity in a city that was basically built on commerce and where Wall Street ruled - at least when I was there. Money and how it is made is interesting fodder. 

Anyway, I'm a little hoarse today in a little city that sits at the End of the Santa Fe Trail, a place that once was a center of trade.   Big Riches. 

Bush is Back...

Story One: Bush is Back, Texas: So Dallas: enterprising and welcoming...

A TCU student studying economics thought of a good way to raise tuition money: print up welcome home signs and sell them for $20 each.  A great way to welcome the new Bush neighbors moving in this month to his home neighborhood in Dallas and give $2.00 per sign to the neighborhood school (via DallasDirt)