Thursday, December 11, 2008

Many thanks to Jim Tolbert

Occasionally, cyberspace hooks up with the "real world" (as if cyberspace is not real) to connect people living in one neighborhood with someone living in another from across town or across the world. Recently, through the "miracle" of the Internets and some extra added spice of old-fashioned face-to-face networking, such a connection recently happened to me.

A few weeks ago, Michael and I went to a party at the home of Lee and Bobby Byrd for the artist, Luis Villegas. Afterward, I posted the pictures I took to Flickr and wrote a blog entry. The next interesting thing that happened was that Bobby introduced me to Jim Tolbert. Jim writes a blog that covers events and people living in the Newman Park neighborhood. Jim's blog provides a lot of information--and, not just about his neighborhood. It also contains links to agencies and city departments that are useful for all El Pasoans. By reading Jim's blog, you are able to understand that the issues important to Newman Park residents are about the same as with all of us living here: more art, better schools, government, and representation. Jim gives credit where credit is due, and that is a good thing these days.

Recently, Jim posted pictures of Luis' party and gives insight into how others are striving to make El Paso a better place to live. For me, one of the ways to do this is to write a blog that focuses on your area of town, that covers the positive aspects of your neighborhood, your family, your schools, teachers, and businesses that positively impact your life. If you run into a problem with the city and found a way to solve it, or a particular person helped you, write about it. That is the beauty of the Internet: Communication and community at the personal level. When Jim and I write our entries, it is not just for us. We want to help get the word out that El Paso, with its wild beauty, has a fascinating history, and has wonderful people who live in it today. They work hard, and try to make this town a better place to live, which is not any different from what others try to do when they write blog entries from the perspective of where they live.

Thank you Jim. And, many thanks to Bobby and Lee, and especially Luis, who all work to make El Paso a more beautiful city, one blog, one book, one porch, one Garr fish at a time.

Monday, December 08, 2008

Neon study hall at Kinley's House Coffee & Teas


Neon studyhall
Originally uploaded by chacal la chaise.
Although I took this image a couple of weeks ago, I thought I would post it to signal the start of finals week at UTEP. Kinley's Coffee Shop, a favorite with the medical, business, and student communities, and of course, coffee and tea drinkers, and hungry people everywhere, provides free Wi-Fi for its customers, along with a wide screen TV that seems to shows either Mexican and other Latin American team soccer matches, or CNN. Thank goodness not the usual alternative, which I must endure at my pharmacy or doctor’s office.

The evening I took this picture was a particularly slow quiet evening; the afternoon rush having long since departed, and I was catching up on my reading grids for Composition Studies and about ready to leave for my 6:00 P.M. Visual Rhetoric class.

Sometimes it takes writing a blog entry to discover that one of your favorite local businesses has a...(cue Wall-E's little voice)

TA DA!...A web site. Kinley's House Coffee & Teas

As far as their coffees, sandwiches, and frozen yogurt, Kinley's is the best. Usually, I must get an extra shot of espresso for Starbuck lattes, but at Kinley's they are just fine. My favorite "George's Turkey" sandwich is absolutely fresh and tasty, and their yogurt is actually tart and not overly sweet. It tastes like yogurt because it is!

While parking is tricky (the Newman Center next door will tow--how Chris....oh, well never mind,) you can always use the drive-through, which when I last looked, that merited at 20% discount. Then you can away your lunch and have a picnic at Kern Place's Madeline Park.

Sometimes you need to get away from it all.

And sometimes, it's time to return and be part of the larger world.  Between the first of 2023 and February 14, I painted many watercolo...