Category: San Antonio Parks

Is Anybody Watching Alamo Plaza?

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In this morning’s San Antonio Express-News, Scott Huddleston opens a story with:  “Alamo preservationists are gearing up to fight plans for a streetcar line on land that they say should be closed to traffic out of reverence for the 1836 battlefield.”

But where are the “preservationists” now?  When will they make the Daughters of the Republic of Texas pop-down the pop-up*?

Have these “preservationists” who remember the Alamo as “twice-hallowed ground” walked on Alamo Plaza during spring break?  If this land is hallowed, the halo has just about slipped completely off.  

Unfortunately, I am awaiting the mailman’s delivery of a new battery for my camera, but the everyday sidewalk intrusion in front of Pat O’s has been multiplied ten-fold, or more.  There are hawkers galore, and the front of Fuddrucker’s resembles an out-of-control flea market.   

Does anyone even remember Alamo Plaza is an historic district?

And, holy coonskin caps, just as I was closing this post, a fellow blogger broke the news to me that Fess Parker – the first crush of many a boomer girl – has passed away.

In the Express, Huddleston quotes Bob Benavides, chairman of the San Antonio Living History Association and a Son of the Republic of Texas, as worrying the proposed streetcar line will “take away the magic.”  I fear the “magic” might already be in the same state as Fess Parker.

Note added on March 23:  Perhaps the DRT is in need of instructions on how to take down a pop-up?   I particularly like the wording of Step No. 5: 

Once stood on its side whilst still holding the ‘fabric taco’ together with one hand, use your other hand to grab the poles at the top furthest away from you.  Pull these poles down towards the ground and towards you at the same time.  The tent should fold in on itself and resemble a multilayered disc.

This website warns that, on brand new pop-ups, “the poles are very resistant to folding and will try to re-erect themselves so please be careful.”  As the one at the Alamo might never have been folded, maybe that is the problem.  Try as they might, it keeps re-erecting itself.  Maybe they could purchase a heavy duty roller bag for $76.98.

Note Added on April 27:  Hallelujah!  Maybe they read the instructions.  Bless the DRT.

Squirrelletta? Vote for a New Name

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While a rose might smell as sweet with another name, Squirrelletta is not something we should saddle upon the new mascot of the San Antonio Parks Foundation‘s Friends of the Parks.  Anne Alexander has enthusiastically volunteered to don the squirrel costume at park events – including Fest of Tails at McAllister Park on Saturday, March 27, when everybody’s dogs will be trying to chase her up a tree – but please, please help us find a new name for her. 

One vote per computer in this unsanctioned, nonbinding election.  If voting for “other,” please submit the name by comment as well.  After a sufficient, arbitrary amount of time, results will be forwarded to Marcie Ince, president of Friends of the Parks.

Marcie Ince, president of Friends of the Parks, introduces Squirrelletta outside of City Hall on March 18. Photo courtesy of Stuart Johnson of the San Antonio Conservation Society.
Squirrelletta, aka Anne Alexander, shows off her fluffy tail. Photo courtesy of Stuart Johnson of the San Antonio Conservation Society.

Note added on March 23:  Oh, no!  GoDaddy polls seems to be squirreling away creative moniker suggestions submitted by some of those voting “other.”  Among those whose nuggets are hidden from our view are AnnPW’s vote for Peanut.  If you have ideas for Marcie and her board to consider, please vote for other and submit the name on the blog comment form instead of the poll’s.  Thanks.

March 24:  We interrupt this blog now with BREAKING NEWS.  The poll has been removed; voting has been suspended in this nailbiter of an election.  With only a fraction of San Antonio’s eligible voters participating, here are the results:

  • Dilla, Flora and Saltita:  3%
  • Skippie:  5%
  • Chica:  11%
  • Nutty:  13%
  • Lilita:  16%
  • Other:  24% (including a write-in for Peanut)
  • Toni:  24%

The good news is Friends of the Parks has pledged Squirrelletta will receive a new name.  As 24 percent of those participating selected “Other,” what that name should be is unknown.  So Friends of the Parks is turning to wiser counsel for suggestions:  kids.  Watch for more widely broadcast news about a Name the Squirrel contest soon. 

And, if you see Anne at the Fest of Tails, say “Hola, Otra.”

March 28 Update:  No need to worry brain cells about what name to enter in the contest.  The tale emerging from the Fest of Tails is that popular opinion dictated that “Other” votes logically must have been for “Parky.”  Otra had too many upcoming engagement to go around nameless; there was always the danger that Squirrelletta might have stuck the way Junior does to many who long for a grown-up name of their own.  So Parky it is.

October 19 Update:   The besmirching of poor Parky’s reputation….

Ode to the Comma

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I am used to editing other people’s work, which means I determine the punctuation rules applied.  Through the years, I decided consistency in application trumps any changes in grammar rules with which I disagree – primarily in regard to the comma. 

My two years in high school under the strict tutelage of Mrs. Masterson ingrained her comma rules in my writing, and no arbitrary changes in fashion can alter them.  I tend to prefer my commas in tidy pairs, married for life, no matter that The New Yorker now leaves one hanging alone like a recent divorcee.

But what happens when I am not the editor?  As I prepare to turn the manuscript for The Last Farm Standing on Buttermilk Hill over to Lynnell Burkett for editing, I realize my comma standards could be endangered species.   She taught journalism for years; she edited the editorial page at the San Antonio Light and Express-News.  I will have no leg on which to stand when Lynnell brandishes the most recent version of the Associated Press Stylebook.  Lynnell probably has never even heard of Mrs. Masterson of Norfolk Academy.

I decided, prior to suffering the loss of any of my commas or the insertion of unwanted ones, to pen an ode to the comma.  Checking online to make sure no one else had devoted effort to praise this punctuation point, I naturally found someone had.   

“The Grammar Girl,” whose link appears broken (found it), conducted a poetry contest in honor of National Punctuation Day (Yes, you were not alone in missing the celebration of this and the related baking contest on September 24).  Fortunately, Textbroker Blog preserved the winning entries in Grammar Girl’s contest, including the following:

Ode to the Comma

The female body part of punctuation,
So tiny, yet able to arouse such aggravation.
The comma slips in under the quotation,
Tells you when to pause for reflection,
Then plunge ahead to the period’s conclusion.
Neglect it at your peril: accusations,
law suits, wars. Nations
fall. Pretend it doesn’t exist at all? Risk condemnation.
Treat it right for absolution.
That’s right, put it there: Yes, oh, yes . . . satisfaction.

– Stacey Harwood
Stacey Harwood is a policy analyst with the New York State Department of Public Service. She is a freelance writer and managing editor of The Best American Poetry blog.

Lynnell, I am warning you now.  I might not be able to muster a strong case against the AP Stylebook, but, touch my commas, and the ghost of Mrs. Masterson could render your nights sleepless.

Update on Wednesday, February 29, 2012: On, no. This post provides indisputable evidence. I am a pilkunnussija.

In Nine Foreign Words English Definitely Needs, Cole Gamble and Cathal Logue define this useful Finnish word as:

A person who believes it is their destiny to stamp out all spelling and punctuation mistakes at the cost of popularity, self-esteem and mental well-being.

I feel no need to supplement this definition with their literal translation of the compound word, but I wish they had included a pronunciation guide.

In the same column, the authors also reference the existence of the Apostrophe Protection Society.

Note Added on August 28, 2012: Stumbled across this profile of Patty Masterson….

Note Added on October 23, 2012: Tom Gething interviews the endangered semicolon….