Soy de Duval

Lately, to take a break from my current writing project, I have been taking a look at some of my earlier writings. Today I ran across this column that appeared in several Texas newspapers. Personally, it is an eye-opener. Hope you enjoy it, as well as my intellectual growth from that time.  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hispanic studies at A&M are long overdue February 11, 2004 Texas A&M University has announced that it will offer a Ph.D. in Hispanic studies. Several years ago I may have found that idea gratuitous but today I think I would say, "it's about time."  As an impetuous young man, I had little time for history. Why should I be concerned about what others had done years, even centuries before my time? I was interested in the here and now and perhaps more importantly in what was coming just down the road. History was for chumps and squares who had nothing better to do. As fa...

I moved my website to a new domain server and thought all the links would work. Most do but my blogs are going to this page. I'm a writer. What do I know about web development? 😧 I'll be working on updating the links but if you run into a broken link please comment on the post so I will be notified and I can update the link. Thank you.

TOPICS:  Catholic Church San Diego Catholic Church St. Francis De Paula POSTED BY:  CARDENAS.AE@GMAIL.COM   FEBRUARY 6, 2016 St. Francis de Paula School ,  Photo by Kevin Smithwick. In a Facebook post in support of National Catholic Schools Week this week I wrote that I learned to write at St. Francis de Paula Catholic School in San Diego. Indeed, many of my contemporaries and older natives of San Diego probably went to the school. But that brought up a question that I’ve had on and off for years; just who was St. Francis de Paula? Generations have been dutifully meeting their Sunday Mass obligations at that beautiful church in San Diego, but are they familiar with the parish’s patron saint? I’m not. So let’s remedy that now. St. Frans de Paula Before reviewing his early life, it is important to take a look at why he was chosen as the patron saint of the church in San Diego. The first pastor at San Diego was Claude Jaillet, a Frenchman. Although St. Francis...

  Ony recorded earthquakes in the area were nine miles east of Alice in 1997 and 2010. POSTED BY: CARDENAS.AE@GMAIL.COM AUGUST 30, 2021 On November 4, 1925, the Hebbronville News reported A. J. Ayers of Duval County had reported a “young earthquake or two running wild” at his ranch, located 12 miles north of Hebbronville. Ayers told the newspaper that on three occasions he had heard “mysterious explosions” followed by rumbling. Neither Ayers nor others who also heard the mysterious explosions were able to locate where they originated. He investigated the possibility that the noise came from oil wells in the area or ranchers removing stumps with dynamite. Neither the oil companies nor area ranchers reported using explosives. He said the “explosions seemed to be muffled as if coming from deep in the earth.” Ayers had no option but  to believe they were “seismic disturbances.” The News reported the following week that the San Antonio Express had picked up the story and added a...

  Photo by Texas Parks & Wildlife Department POSTED BY: CARDENAS.AE@GMAIL.COM AUGUST 26, 2021 It was an exciting time in Duval County during the year 1921. However, it was somewhat of a lull between the high drama that occurred during the previous decade and what was on the horizon in future years. Still, one can never say that things in Duval County were ever dull. At the end of 1920, on December 27, San Diego movers and shakers held a meeting to organize a chapter of the Boys Club. Father Cunningham took the lead in this movement and might have organized a troop at the beginning of 1921. The year got off to a quick start with Sen. Archie Parr introducing a bill in the Texas Senate to amend the territory of the Benavides Independent School District. The change was needed because some of the school district’s lands took in property in the newly created county of Jim Hogg. At the same time that this change was taking place, the Legislature also created the new Jim Hogg County I...

  POSTED BY: CARDENAS.AE@GMAIL.COM AUGUST 16, 2021 One hundred five years ago this Wednesday, on August 18, 1916, a Category Four hurricane hit the Gulf Coast near Corpus Christi and took a route up today’s State Highway 44 all the way to San Diego. It caused death and destruction as far away as La Rosita. Early reports from the Corpus Christi Caller & Daily Herald prematurely played down the storm’s impact. Corpus Christi Defies Tropical Hurricane read the lead headline on the newspaper’s front page on Sunday, August 20, 1916. No loss of life or serious injury was reported, the Caller wrote. Damage was kept to under a million dollars. “Flimsy structures” were washed away, but the business section and residential neighborhoods were mostly unscathed.  But, in an adjacent story, the facts told another tale. “Three Bodies Was Ashore,” read the headline. In a smaller story on the bottom half of the newspaper’s fold, a headline announced SAN DIEGO FEELS FULL FORCE OF WIND DAM...