Angelo State University
William Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra is characterized by the conflicts of masculine versus feminine, honor versus passion, and Rome versus Egypt. These conflicts are typically discussed in terms of the characters of Cleopatra and Caesar, with Antony vacillating between the two. However, this discussion excludes a subtler character—the Roman goddess Fortuna—whose presence, though elusive, permeates the play...
Aubrey Watkins
Northeast Texas Community College
The rise of the Cowboy Church in modern decades has been a notable “Texas-centered” phenomenon in the contemporary history of the United States. It is an unprecedented surprise in many ways. First, cowboys were not traditionally known in American culture as religious. In his celebrated “Ten-Gallon Hero” essay in 1954, David Davis noted about the Cowboy: “He is a “figure of friendly justice, full of self-reliance, a very tower of strength. What need does he have for a god?”...
When we envision Texas, images of cattle herds grazing peaceably come fairly quickly into view. But why have Texans preferred to eat rather than milk these often attractive and obliging animals? The overeating of beef has been a source of Type Two Diabetes, coronary heart disease, colorectal cancer and strokes. But dairy is an amazing food and a superior source of energy. It increases the longevity of our life...
Nedia Perez
Northeast Texas Community College
Larry McMurtry’s attempt to depict a classic, 1870s cowboy Texas, in the film, Lonesome Dove, also ironically re-creates a non-hygienic status not too far from the mark of what early Texas was like. In the opening scene, rancher Gus McCrae watches his front porch pigs tear up a rattle snake. Rotting flesh is like an Epicurean Feast for bacteria who secure their claim by secreting toxic chemicals all over it. As Gus laughs, one can imagine the porch being smeared with poisonous clostridium...