El Jefe Presents "The Brains of the Confederacy"

Judah P. Benjamin

Some of you long-time Gentle Readers of QG will recall that in those rare times when El Jefe is not dazzling his clients in his alter ego as "Dr. Debt", he is an avid amateur historian with a particular interest in the Civil War. He writes regular book reviews for the Civil War Times and has a couple of published articles to his credit.

So from time to time he is tapped as a speaker by local groups interested in the history of the Civil War. Last night he spoke to one of them on the subject of Judah P. Benjamin, the brilliant Jewish lawyer from Louisiana known as "The Brains of the Confederacy." I went along because I always enjoy his lectures and love hearing all the praise he gets for them.

Here's the story about how El Jefe became interested in Benjamin in the first place. 

As a student at Yale, El Jefe worked in the rare books library for an elderly professor. Upon his graduation, the professor, who was Jewish, gave him as a memento of their time together a two dollar Confederate bill which had the picture of Judah P. Benjamin on it. He told him that this was the only piece of American currency that featured a picture of a Jew and he thought El Jefe would be interested because he was from the South and Benjamin had studied at Yale prior to the Civil War.

My job at the lecture was to pass that two dollar bill around the audience.

Benjamin, a little-known but fascinating historical character, is particularly interesting to attorneys because he was one of the leading lawyers of his day. Before the war he was a senator from Louisiana, twice turned down appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court,  and served in Jefferson Davis' cabinet as Attorney General, Secretary of War and Secretary of State.  

When accused by another Senator of being "a Hebrew with Egyptian principles" because he owned slaves, Benjamin replied: "It is true that I am a Jew and when my ancestors were receiving the Ten Commandments from the immediate Deity, amidst the thundering and lightnings on Mt. Sinai, the ancestors of my opponent were herding swine in the forests of Great Britain." 

Although he did own slaves, Benjamin was not a die-hard defender of the institution of slavery. He tried, in vain, to persuade the confederacy to recruit slaves into the army by promising them freedom in return for their service.

With the fall of the confederacy, he fled to London (he was able to claim British citizenship because he was born in the West Indes) and achieved great success as a barrister and Queen's Counsel. Benjamin was a man who enjoyed an optimistic outlook on life that enabled him to overcome obstacles and tragedies that crushed others.

Before last night's talk, El Jefe shared his presentation with several of his Jewish law partners who were fascinated with it. He was asked by several folks afterwards for copies for other friends. It may also make its way into a Jewish-interest publication.

If you are interested in reading more about Judah P. Benjamin than you can find in Wikipedia, I recommend this book which was used by El Jefe as his primary resource and which I also read and enjoyed.

I HATE Spring Break

Really I do. 

Here's why. March is always a very busy time at El Jefe's law practice. Every year before spring break he sends out a memo to the attorneys in his section begging them not to take vacation time during spring break week unless they have children in school. Every year he is overworked and frustrated because someone he needs on a deal went out of town during spring break without letting him know in advance and now he can't find them. And of course that person doesn't have children in school.

When our girls were in school we went out of town on spring break exactly once. Why? Because El Jefe was too conscientious to leave his section short-handed.

As one of his partners remarked to me recently, " We were born at the wrong time. When we were young lawyers, the partners left the office at 3 pm for the golf course after telling us what needed to be done the rest of the day. Now that we are senior lawyers, the young lawyers leave the office at 3 pm for the golf course after telling us what needs to be done the rest of the day!"  

As God is my witness, we are leaving town during spring break 2012!!

More Blackberry Blues

The Wall Street Journal, whose readers have GOT to be the most technology addicted in the world, ran an article this morning for every spouse, child or friend who has been dissed by a Blackberry: Your Blackberry Or Your Wife.

El Jefe has heard me sing the Blackberry Blues on many occasions, accompanied by the backup duo of Portia and Babs. We even have a picture of our late nephew Patrick commandeering El Jefe's Blackberry just before Portia's wedding ceremony!

This past Christmas Eve El Jefe deliberately left the BB at home while we went to church. Along comes a driving thunderstorm during the service so he ran out to fetch the car with one of the church's umbrellas only to realize he couldn't call us to let us know where to come to meet him for pickup. No good deed goes unpunished.

 

A technology fast sounds very appealing. But my chances of getting you-know-who to participate are slim. and. none.

 

It's Monday!

It's Monday and I'm checking back into the blog. My schedule got scrambled at the end of the week, but now I'm catching up!

• El Jefe and I donned our Faux Aggie disguises this weekend, going up to Dallas to see A&M vs. Arkansas in the new Cowboy stadium with St. Betty and The Old Marine. We had a fabulous time although (poor Aggies!) our team lost. 

• And speaking of Faux...we stayed at the Gaylord Resort near the DFW Airport. It has a large domed roof and features a Faux San Antonio Riverwalk in a huge courtyard. Made me want to return to the real thing.

• Just before leaving I decided I needed some new blouses for fall and made a quick trip to a couple of nearby stores to look for the same. Ugh--the season's theme seems to be either Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves or Camo or Animal Print. A little of any of these looks goes a long way, IMHO.

• And I'm working on a companion blog for QG--just for book reviews. I'm hoping to debut it this week so watch for the announcement! My plan is to continue posting all reviews here as well, but I would like to have all the reviews in one place. Plus there will be giveaways on the book review blog! So stay tuned....

The Big Game As Told By QG

Okay, so our team didn't win. I'm not going to give you an analysis of the game. I know you're relieved. Instead, here are some of my observations about our day at the Texas State Fair and the UT-OU football game.

The weather couldn't have been better! Well maybe 5 degrees cooler would have been nice. But there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The huge crowd (about 100,000) was evenly divided into burnt orange and red tribes who were excited and happy before the game.

Here's a photo of El Jefe eating the traditional corn dog at the Texas State Fair in front of the iconic robot BIG TEX who has welcomed folks to the fair since the mind of mind knoweth not to the contrary.

By the way, we learned the hard way that you can only purchase food and drink with coupons. The lines for coupons took about 45 minutes to negotiate. Then you had a similar wait to get any food! So we missed out on trying some of the weird fried foods there--like fried oreos, fried twinkies and fried snickers bars--because you are apparently required by law to eat a corndog.

OK, gals, here's my fashion report. Eensy weensy shorts and skirts paired with cowboy boots are apparently the stylin' attire for the Longhorn and Sooner coeds and young grads. I never saw such huge silver jewlery in my life as was on display by gals of all ages and from both tribes. QG felt very under-dressed in her khaki capris and orange and white striped shirt.

The game itself is an amazing spectacle. Half the Cotton Bowl is decked with burnt orange-wearing fans and half in Sooner red. Both sides cheered their teams on at the top of their voices. We had fabulous seats just 14 rows back of the Sooner bench (on the UT side of the bowl) near the end zone and BEVO.

I did notice that when the BEVO mascot tried to approach the little boy sitting a few rows down and offered to pose for a photo for his parents the child wailed in fright. Guess Bevo looked too much like a Giant Calvinist Puppet of Doom. I told you kids don't like huge puppets!

After the game some friends joined us at a very chi-chi restaurant in downtown Dallas. You know you are out of your league when the Caesar Salad comes with the romaine leaves reaching to the sky as they are encircled with a parmesan crisp in the shape of a napkin ring. The food was very good, but deconstructionist in that the patron had to disassemble the presentation to eat it!

El Jefe pronounced the day a huge success, despite the loss, and declared we'd be back next year.

Further the affiant sayeth not.....

El Jefe Checking One Off Bucket List

Tomorrow El Jefe is checking a big one off his bucket list: we are going to the big UT vs OU game in Dallas!

Natives of the Texas Panhandle (a/k/a Baja Oklahoma) like El Jefe take this inter-state rivalry very seriously. "This is when football becomes war," he  declares every year as he settles in front of the TV to watch the Big Game. (Note QG rolling her eyes in response). That's not a phrase he originated, but one he adopted from the book Texas vs. Oklahoma: When Football Becomes War--one of his favorites.

So tomorrow his dream becomes reality and it looks like the weather at the old Cotton Bowl is going to cooperate, too. Look for us in the stands with the Longhorn fans: I'll be the one with the orange hat and sunglasses. Everyone in my family is a UT alum--except El Jefe.

Go Longhorns!!!

The Antelope Are Still Playing

This is a photo of the old trestle suspension bridge at Canadian, Texas. It is the longest bridge of its kind still standing west of the Mississippi.

El Jefe and I spent the Sunday after his high school reunion with his cousins exploring Canadian, which also has a beautiful little art museum with a good collection and a traveling exhibit of Mary Cassat pastels. (More about The Citadelle tomorrow.)

The QG Award for Most Honest Civic Motto goes to Canadian for its motto: Where the wheat grows, the oil flows and the wind blows!

You know you are back in West Texas when you turn on the radio in your rent car as you leave the Amarillo airport and immediately are treated to the farm commodities report. There's muchmore interest in pig, wheat and gas futures up here than in the stock market, I guess.

We really did see antelopes running by the side of the highway as we drove north. No tumbleweeds this time though! I think the ground wasn't yet dry enough for them.

And here are two words that I never thought I would see put together:
COWBOY GELATO. Really.

Finally, the best quip of the reunion came from one of El Jefe's friends who is a professor at Abilene Christian University:

Old age is responsible for most of what
Christianity gets the credit for.

Discuss among yourselves.

Crabs in Springtime

In spring El Jefe's thoughts lightly turn to thoughts of...(sorry Tennyson!)...soft shelled crabs.

This year his favorite version was found at a local Italian restaurant.

My friend Recovering Baptist recently Facebooked (that's a verb now isn't it?) about cooking some at home, so I'm inspired to scour the local Whole Foods and HEB fish markets looking for some myself.

The trick is NOT to treat them like hard shelled crabs and boil or steam them. You must fry or saute them so they are crispy on the outside and juicy and delicious on the inside. You could eat it Cajun style inside a bun or sandwich but I say why muck up the flavor with bread?

There are lots of favorite spring seasonal foods: what's yours?

Lincoln in Springfield

Here are some photos from our weekend trip to Springfield with El Jefe's Civil War Aficianados group.

The wax figures of the Lincoln family greet you at the museum adjacent to the Lincoln Presidential Library. The exhibits there are very well done. I was very impressed with the replica of the White House (its 3/4 scale) and the video presentations that have been created for the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth.

We found this bronze statue of Abraham and Mary Lincoln just outside the building where Lincoln had his law offices with his partner, Herndon. The statues are life-size, so the group had El Jefe stand next to it to show that he is a bit taller than Lincoln was.






This is the home the Lincolns lived in while in Springfield. They rented it out while in Washington, DC because they planned to return there after he left office. Most of the furniture in it is their original furniture and the colors of the house are carefully matched to the original. It is a comfortable 4 bedroom home that would have been very luxurious for the day--despite the lack of running water or indoor plumbing. There was a "necessary" out in the back yard.

We also visited New Salem, about 20 miles from Springfield, where the young Abe Lincoln lived for a few years and kept an unsuccessful store. The site is a reproduction based on documents from the original settlers there. El Jefe observed that people living there in the 1830's led lives that resembled their ancestors of the 1530's more than their descendants of today.

Across the street from our hotel was the First Presbyterian Church of Springfield where the Lincolns worshipped. Mary Lincoln was a member but Abe never formally joined. There is a pew in the sanctuary marked as the "Lincoln" pew. We had hoped to attend Sunday service there but had to leave early to drive back to the airport in St. Louis. This is still an active congregation today.

Lincoln and all of his family (except his oldest son Robert who is buried at Arlington Cemetery at the behest of his wife) are buried in this impressive tomb in the Springfield cemetery. The structure evolved over several decades. The interior is covered with marble and decorated with bronze statues. Because there was a ghoulish attempt to kidnap Lincoln's body some years after his death, his grave is many feet below the surface in a steel container.

We were all very moved by our visit. We learned a lot of details about Lincoln's life and times that I have never heard anywhere else. For example, Stephen Douglas who lost the Presidency to Lincoln had a man from Georgia as his running mate. Douglas died 6 weeks after Lincoln was inaugurated, so if he had won his vice president would have been very different from Lincoln in his policy and point of view. Although if Douglas had been elected, the civil war may have been delayed it is doubtful it would have been avoided. What would have happened if his running mate had then been president? Would he have adopted Douglas' views on popular soveriegnty and let the South secede? We'll never know, but it gave us a lot to think about.

Gone Fishing....

El Jefe and I are taking next week off for a much-needed break from work, church, moving, and wedding planning.

I was thrilled to find that I could put a hold on the mail and stop delivery of the paper ONLINE. I do so love that.

Tomorrow we're going to participate in the Presbytery of New Covenant's Day of Service by helping with MDPC's work day at a middle school that serves a disadvantaged area. I hope to get some good pictures to post, but other than that, QG will be on vacation for a week.

See you later!

Bending a Habit

El Jefe and I found ourselves bending the habit of going to church over the last couple of months. My bout with bronchitis, his excessive work schedule, and planning to pack up and move overwhelmed us and we didn't make the time to go.

It's all to easy to bend--and then break--the habit of church-going. Even for folks like us who have attended consistently for most of our lives. The temptation to stay home, read the paper, and not make the effort is all too alluring. How much more difficult must it be for someone who never had the habit of regular church attendance to establish it?

This Sunday I went back (El Jefe stayed home and worked) and it did me a world of good to re-join the choir, sing in worship and re-connect with my church. Next Sunday El Jefe will come, too, and we'll work on straightening out that bent habit.

Good News, Bad News

El Jefe and his law firm are suddenly wildly busy as the nation's debt markets are springing back to life. They are just overwhelmed with debt deals and other market offerings for their corporate clients. This signals (hopefully!) the beginning of recovery for our economy just as the slowing of the debt markets last summer signaled the coming bust.

GOOD NEWS FOR EVERYONE!

The bad news is that El Jefe is wildly busy, overworked and stressed just as he needs to take off tomorrow and Friday for personal business--i.e. our move.

I'll try to keep my focus on the good news while he blackberries and phones during all the confusion....

Beatrice Blogs: My New Car Trick

Woof!

Beatrice here.

I've got a new trick! Last night when El Jefe took me for a ride in the car to our new house I figured out how to make the car window go up and down! I did it several times just to show him it wasn't a mistake!

Yours for technologically-savvy pups,

Beatrice

Draft Report

El Jefe has been following the NFL draft faithfully the past two days and reports that Our Favorite Longhorn, Chris Ogbonnaya, was drafted in the seventh round by the St. Louis Rams!

Congratulations to Chris--I know he must be thrilled. Guess we'll be following the Rams this fall. Hope they'll be better than the Texans.

For Want of $120

Last night El Jefe was going through some cabinets sorting through old family memorabilia deciding what to keep and what to toss as we prepare to move. He found an old scrapbook of his mother's that had mementos she saved from her senior year in high school.

He decided to take some of the mementos out of the scrapbook to save because the pages were falling apart. There he found a couple of letters from colleges to his mother. One of them, Drake University in Iowa, offered her a half tuition scholarship in the amount of $120.

"Wow," he exclaimed. "Imagine that. Only $120 stood between Mom and a college education. She never said anything about that." He speculated that her favorite teacher, who recognized her superior academic ability and encouraged her to go to college, had arranged the offer.

It seems such a small amount to us today. But it was the depths of the depression and the family was just getting by. More importantly, none of them had a high school education or could understand why you would want any education after that--especially for a woman. She was able to persuade her father to let her take a business course after high school to learn some accounting and secretarial skills.

So it was not to be for my mother-in-law, but she passed on her love of learning to her children and grandchildren. She passed away before any of her grandchildren finished their educations, but she is surely proud that 3 granddaughters finished college, one has a master's degree and another a law degree. And that her grandson is a physician.

El Jefe established a scholarship at his college in honor of his parents this year so that the want of $120 (or a whole lot more in today's money) would not stand between an able student and a good education. That would make her proudest of all.

Missing Easter

I totally missed Easter yesterday. I've been fighting allergies and a chronic cough for the last three weeks and woke up yesterday with a fever and feeling really, really lousy. El Jefe went off to church and brunch with family and friends while Beatrice and Olivia kept me company on the bed. (Olivia was having an extended sleep-over with Bea.)

Although I'm feeling better this morning, I'm calling Dr. Mickey because this has gone on too long.

Funny story from El Jefe: During worship a big thunderstorm came through the area, and just as the pastor mentioned the word "thunder" in his sermon a big clap of the same echoed throughout the sanctuary to the gasps of the congregation. The pastor quipped, "we've got a guy in the back with a big sheet of metal providing our sound effects" !

Hope you all had a blessed Easter.

Listing This Old House

I remember seeing our house for the first time in the late '80's. El Jefe and I had decided that we would investigate what was then the far-flung 'burb of Sugar Land in search of a new home. The one we had was very well located in near-town Houston, but at over 70 years of age was turning into a veritable Money Pit. Plus we faced years of participation in the Private School Shuffle, which appeared to us to be a wildly over-rated and stressful exercise.

We didn't buy this house right away. We looked at several other homes in the neighborhood, but ultimately I wasn't ready to make that leap of faith 20 miles away from everything that was familiar to me. So we stayed where we were.

And yet. I kept thinking about that house. Maybe it was because it reminded me of the home I grew up in, but whatever the reason I ultimately agreed about a year later to make a bid on the home. We did and sold the house we had immediately. So it was pre-destined. Wasn't it?

Yesterday I sat on our patio overlooking the pool watching Beatrice chase birds and realized how much I would miss our backyard. How many pool parties for the church youth group, friends of our girls, neighbors and family members did we have here? Too many to count.

It's a very happy house. There are lots of big windows that bring sunlight into the house in every room. We had a few tough times here in the last 20+ years, but mostly we had very good times--holidays with extended family and friends; special celebrations of graduations, engagements, weddings and birthdays will always be special memories tied up with this place.

Last night we signed the listing contract with our realtor. It's time to move on and let another family grow and be happy in this old house.

We are excited about the new home we are building for our "empty nester" years. El Jefe remarked that both of us lived longer in our present home than anywhere else in our lives so of course we will miss it.

Selling a home is always a stressful decision, but in this current economic downturn there are many more unknowns than usual. We'll just have to see what happens and hope that the right buyers will come along in a reasonable amount of time.

Wish us luck!

Fixing To Sell

Since El Jefe and I committed to build a new home last fall --just before the great economic crash-- I've been watching a lot of HGTV to get tips about readying the house for sale.

I'd never seen HGTV before, but Portia, my SIL and nieces introduced me to it. It's a FantasyLand where there is always a happy ending after the homeowner heeds the advice of the "stager".

The last month or so, we have stepped up our efforts to spruce up the place by--

• repairing and painting "dings" in sheetrock and trim
• getting the roof repaired from IKE damage (just replacing a couple of tiles)
• setting up portable gates to keep Beatrice and Olivia out of the formal dining and living rooms where they like to go and leave little surprises
• removing clutter, one room at a time (with many thanks to Portia who spent one weekend cleaning out her sister's bedroom and the guest room)
  
• making weekly trips to drop off donations at the East Fort Bend Human Needs Ministry
• weeding the flower beds
• donating the piano to a Galveston church that lost theirs in IKE

Yesterday our realtor called saying she would be coming over with a photographer next week and wanted us to have a heads up. So now we need to finish up by--

• Taking the old stationary bike out of the bedroom and donating it
• moving my desk
• Donating El Jefe's easy chair in our bedroom because it takes up a lot of space and Beatrice chewed it up
• Taking the leaf out of the kitchen table so it doesn't take up too much space
• Replacing the tired potted plants on the patio with perky ones
  

Here's what I'm not doing, despite the advice of HGTV--

• replacing all the '80's bright brass sink fixtures and cabinet hardware
• refinishing the wood floors (which would be the entire downstairs)
• replacing kitchen appliances with stainless steel ones
• removing wallpaper in dining room and Portia's bedroom

My theory, supported by our realtor, is that if we price the house appropriately, the buyer will be able to do those things according to their taste.

The process of showing the house begins around March 1. The house next door to us have been for sale for the last 18 months, but is quite overpriced. There was a foreclosure down the street that just sold this month. There's another house that is comparable to ours a couple of blocks away that has been for sale for more than a year--also overpriced, IMHO. We're hoping we'll be very competitive. But in this market, who knows?

My SIL offered her home as a refuge when I have to leave and take Beatrice with me for a showing. El Jefe is pretty calm about the process, despite our atrocious market timing. I'm trying to take my cue from him and "be anxious for nothing."

Christmas at the Bay

Can you see the little Christmas tree on the dock? We've been down at the bay since the day after Christmas with all the family in tow and away from the internet. (Update: there were 25 for dinner on Christmas Day Chez QG!)

We just got back and had a great time. I hope you and yours had a good celebration, too.

In an uncharacteristic burst of domesticity, El Jefe just made a trip to Home Depot (yes, of course I had to go along) and bought a new steam vacuum cleaner hoping it will clean the dang beige carpet downstairs of the "mystery Bea" stains.

I know. I'm shocked too. Will wonders never cease?

More later.

Excited and Nervous

This afternoon I shot this photo of our new house. Ground was broken on the project this week.

El Jefe and I have never had good timing when it comes to real estate. This year we've been kicking around the idea of downsizing and visited a new development near our present home that offered pretty patio homes. We found a plan we loved and committed to make the move.

All that was before the stock market tanked, of course. We're fortunate that home values here have not declined drastically. But if we had known what was coming, what would we have done? I don't know. We really are excited about having something just for the two of us.

We'll put our house on the market early in the spring and hope for the best! I'm excited about the new house because it will be mostly one story and we'll each have our own study. And an outdoor kitchen!