On Saturday, February 17, I flew from Tampa, FL to Austin, TX, returning to the Lone Star State. Our longtime ISI Campus Representative Clark Patterson hosted an ISI Saturday afternoon BBQ at his apartment across from the UT-Austin campus.
I arrived around 11am and the BBQ was not until 5pm, so I had made plans to meet up with Adam Buhrman and his wife Rosa. Adam is the brother of my good friends Rick and Steve Buhrman (an incredible trio). Adam is also a member of a great emerging band, Goldcure. We had a great lunch conversation that mostly involved talking about the culture at large. I’ve seen Goldcure perform twice, both down in Florida. They are really good. They’ve only recently moved to Austin for more exposure, and from the sounds of it, people are beginning to notice.
In the afternoon, we held the ISI BBQ. We started at 5pm and lasted until midnight. Throughout the course of the evening, about 40 people attended, where they were treated to great Texas BBQ with plenty of sides. Among our many guests were Chris Simcox of the Minuteman project and Jeff Frazee of the Leadership Institute. The best part about this bbq event, is that ISI brought together various groups “on the Right” at UT-Austin and there was even discussion between some of the members of these groups about collaborating on building an ISI reading group on the nation’s largest campus. ISI seems to be the “fusionist” organization at UT-Austin – bringing together the YCT chapter, the Libertarian Longhorns, the CN paper (Contumacy), Catholic Longhorns for Life, College Republicans, and members of various service groups.
On Sunday, Jeff Frazee and I attended mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral in downtown Austin and then enjoyed a great lunch at an Irish pub. The weather was fantastic, and we sat by the open window, which overlooked Sixth Street. After that, we departed, but I couldn’t avoid the temptation to go peer inside the Texas State Capitol, so I did. I really liked seeing the mural on the floor inside the dome: in the center was a large circle representing the “Republic of Texas.” Then there were 5 smaller circles surrounding that one that read: Kingdom of Spain, Republic of France, Republic of Mexico, Confederate States of America, and United States of America. These were all the nations that Texas had been a part of (and during one period, they were their own “Republic of Texas”)
After that adventure, I drove up to Waco and met up with my ol’ ISI colleague, Brian Embry, who put me up at his place for the night. We met for dinner with the ISI Group at Baylor University, which maintains its status as a “secret society” at Baylor and anonymously publishes the Iconoclast, a journal which provokes conservative thought and discussion on campus. I met with this group last year and so I knew most of them already and knew what I was getting into. One member of the group read two poems which he composed, while another member read his thoughtful editorial on the problems of race, sin, and human nature.
My first weekend of my 9-day trip to Texas was complete… more to come!