Being from a small town, there’s not a whole lot to be admired. There are houses, a few bars, an HEB, a Super Wal-Mart, some drive-thrus, and a movie theatre. Pleasanton, Texas is where I reside and where I grew up. I’ve lived in the same house my whole life. My parents bought our house right before I was born. Like everywhere, there’s a north, east, south, and west side to our town whose population was last recorded at 8,226 people, but has grown to over 9,000. I live on the northwest side of Pleasanton on 1012 Maia Dr. Our high school is literally 30 seconds from my backyard.
Being from a small town it’s quite easy and quick to get to almost anywhere in town. From one side of town to the other it takes a maximum of 10 minutes including time spent at lights and stop signs. Some major highways that run through Pleasanton include highway 97 which goes into Floresville, highway 281 which leads into San Antonio, highway 37N and 37S which lead to San Antonio and to Corpus Christi. Although a small town we are still considered a 4A school. All of the town’s schools are located in the same vicinity being at most 2 miles apart from one another.
Like most towns we have a police department made up of about 20 officials. Fortunately, I am privileged to share my neighborhood with at least 5 of them, one living on every street in my immediate neighborhood; my father being one of them. The socio-economic status seems to be between working middle class and middle class in my neighborhood depending on how long the residences have resided there. There is also a great deal of elderly people living on my street. Growing up I was surrounded by elderly couple on three sides. There are also a great deal of families in the neighborhood, young families with young children, and families with children of my age. While growing up in a predominantly Caucasian neighborhood, as I got older more of the new families moving in were of Hispanic descent. There are now a diverse variety of ethnicities such as Caucasians, Hispanics, African Americans, and those of Asian descent. The bigger the town gets, the more diverse it seems to get. Across the road from the high school is a cemetery that has been here for at least 21 years; as long as I’ve lived in town.
Although it seems that Pleasanton has many things that a city has, Pleasanton only has a community college, which is slowly becoming hard to keep staffed. Attending Palo Alto College isn’t the closest place to attend college, but it’s only about a 45 minute drive from my house. Palo Alto gives many in the south San Antonio area and all the small surrounding towns a close place to attend for an education. My best friend and I carpool and take turns driving each week to save gas, money, and the environment.
In Pleasanton in the early 90’s there was a major problem with gangs, but by the mid 90’s to late 90’s those gangs had either segregated, moved, or just died out. After I graduated from high school gangs were starting to become popular again and formed just as fast as they departed. New gangs have formed with new leaders, and new enemies. These gangs aren’t as big a threat as the ones prior to them were. These new gangs are simply juveniles who are trying to be adults with an attitude. None of these kids seem to cause any real trouble or danger to themselves or others.
As earlier stated, there isn’t much to do in a small town, but there is a movie theater, friends’ houses, little café’s, and restaurants and bars where my friends and I usually hang out at. Most of my time is spent in San Antonio at school or just enjoying the many things to do in the great city. After living in a city after moving away from home for a couple of years, I’ve learned that you can have the city life and the town life, you just have to know how to separate the two and not expect the same from both. San Antonio is very fast-paced and Pleasanton is not. Everything is pretty low-key in Pleasanton, and I like it this way because if I want all the hustle and bustle of the city life I know San Antonio is just a hop, skip, and jump away.
Word Count 756
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
And the Oscar Goes to......The Alamo!
After viewing an older film of “The Alamo” with John Wayne and a more recent version of “The Alamo” with Billy Bob Thornton, I noticed some major differences in the movies and also some colliding information with the correct history that factually occurred. Although no movie portrays 100% fact, I felt that John Wayne’s version was more of an opinionated depict of what happened at the Alamo, and Billy Bob’s was more of a historical movie, although not quite a documentary.
John Wayne may well have meant to give an audience a love story included with historical information about the Alamo, but for someone who has a bit of knowledge of what took place at the battle I felt partly offended by how the heroes were portrayed, or not even mentioned at all. In the motion picture Tejanos were never mentioned as a part of the battle, they were only referred to as poor, underclass and underappreciated civilians. Of course all the major names that everyone who’s heard of the Alamo knows were mentioned like Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, Stephen Austin, Sam Houston, Santa Anna; but names like Navarro and Sequin were only mentioned to give a name to the wrongfully portrayed Tejanos in the film. Another wrong doing on John Wayne’s part was that the Alamo was never secluded in factual history. The bar scene was good for entertainment in the movie, but never has history shown that Crockett, along with his men, rode to San Antonio to a bar to have a few drinks. By watching this movie, I have come to realize that John Wayne was more focused on making an entertaining film than really showing a historical film.
In Billy Bob Thornton’s version of “The Alamo” there was much more historical facts shown although not always politically correct, this was the closest to what really happened at the Alamo. Even though this edition was seen through a diary which could possibly have been where some information was found, but very doubtful, the characters were depicted very close to what history tells us. Before watching these films, Ms. Ornelas explained that many historians were on site for this film to help directors and producers get a better accurate sense of what happened at the battle of the Alamo. Although Thornton was also interested in making a movie that would entertain many, I believe that his sole purpose was to educate and get the facts out there for people to see. Tejanos were represented much better in this film than in John Wayne’s version. Although Wayne’s was more entertaining and humorous at times, Thornton’s edition was more eye-catching because it was the more accurate version.
As many people believe that Anglos were the solitary heroes, and population at the battle of the Alamo, Tejanos and Mexicans were as big a part as the Anglos. Most historians that spread their knowledge to others give a very biased opinion of what happened and who the heroes were. We all agree that Santa Anna was a dictator who seemed inhumane at times, but Navarro and Seguin, along with many others, were brave, passionate men who deserve to acknowledged for the heroic events they took part in. Movies will always portray an entertaining scene or two, so books will always be our best resource, aside from people, for an education on the Alamo. The entertainment companies may announce that the Oscar goes to John Wayne or Billy Bob Thornton for their roles in “The Alamo”, but the real Oscar goes to ALL the heroes of the REAL Alamo.
Word Count-596
John Wayne may well have meant to give an audience a love story included with historical information about the Alamo, but for someone who has a bit of knowledge of what took place at the battle I felt partly offended by how the heroes were portrayed, or not even mentioned at all. In the motion picture Tejanos were never mentioned as a part of the battle, they were only referred to as poor, underclass and underappreciated civilians. Of course all the major names that everyone who’s heard of the Alamo knows were mentioned like Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, Stephen Austin, Sam Houston, Santa Anna; but names like Navarro and Sequin were only mentioned to give a name to the wrongfully portrayed Tejanos in the film. Another wrong doing on John Wayne’s part was that the Alamo was never secluded in factual history. The bar scene was good for entertainment in the movie, but never has history shown that Crockett, along with his men, rode to San Antonio to a bar to have a few drinks. By watching this movie, I have come to realize that John Wayne was more focused on making an entertaining film than really showing a historical film.
In Billy Bob Thornton’s version of “The Alamo” there was much more historical facts shown although not always politically correct, this was the closest to what really happened at the Alamo. Even though this edition was seen through a diary which could possibly have been where some information was found, but very doubtful, the characters were depicted very close to what history tells us. Before watching these films, Ms. Ornelas explained that many historians were on site for this film to help directors and producers get a better accurate sense of what happened at the battle of the Alamo. Although Thornton was also interested in making a movie that would entertain many, I believe that his sole purpose was to educate and get the facts out there for people to see. Tejanos were represented much better in this film than in John Wayne’s version. Although Wayne’s was more entertaining and humorous at times, Thornton’s edition was more eye-catching because it was the more accurate version.
As many people believe that Anglos were the solitary heroes, and population at the battle of the Alamo, Tejanos and Mexicans were as big a part as the Anglos. Most historians that spread their knowledge to others give a very biased opinion of what happened and who the heroes were. We all agree that Santa Anna was a dictator who seemed inhumane at times, but Navarro and Seguin, along with many others, were brave, passionate men who deserve to acknowledged for the heroic events they took part in. Movies will always portray an entertaining scene or two, so books will always be our best resource, aside from people, for an education on the Alamo. The entertainment companies may announce that the Oscar goes to John Wayne or Billy Bob Thornton for their roles in “The Alamo”, but the real Oscar goes to ALL the heroes of the REAL Alamo.
Word Count-596
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