Houston's Art Deco

           For our ninth trip for HOGS, we had the opportunity to view the amazing structures and building located in Houston, TX. We, or at least I, had never seen most of the places that we went to that day. I really liked the bank that we went to, because it was really fancy compared to others that I have seen before. Inside the bank, the structure was very detailed and it had a lot of description. There was also a triangle (pyramid) that was in some of the architecture in the bank, and it made me think if it had ties with the free masons, since a lot of them have positions in government, specially in the economic sectors of the country. They tend to have a lot of control over that part of government so that could be a reason why they had that symbol in the bank since the bank does deal with economy. After that we went to a very tall architectural building where we went up an elevator to the highest part where tourists can go. We were able to see all of Houston from there  and some known places such as The Aquarium and other things. It felt really nice being up there and looking everything down instead of up like most of the time. It was a really nice experience to see our great city from up high.

Ghost Tour

          For our eight trip for HOGS, we went to different places in downtown that are supposedly haunted. The first place we went to was The Jefferson Davis Hospital, which was named after the president of the Confederate States president. This hospital was built over an old cemetery that was called the City Cemetery. There was approximately around 5,000-6,000 people buried in this cemetery, which most of them died of the common yellow fever in the 1800's. The last person to be buried here was in the year 1904. Twenty years later, the Jefferson Davis Hospital was built. If anyone that goes by and looks at it, they wouldn't notice that it was a cemetery, because it looks really nice now. Many people believe it is haunted while others say it isn't, but it all depends on the person you talk to. After visiting the hospital, we went to view the "Hanging Tree" which is believed to be one of the oldest trees in Houston. It was big and robust and it gave plentiful of shade making it peaceful to sit under the tree and enjoy the view. After going there, we went to have lunch at the Spaghetti Warehouse, which is divided in two floors. It is believed that the second floor is the most haunted part of the restaurant, and that is exactly we here we went to eat lunch. Once we started eating, the environment felt more peaceful and quiet than haunted and spooky; well at least to me that's the way it felt. I talked to two of the workers that work there to ask them about any experiences they have had before, related to the restaurant being haunted, but all they said was that they had not had any experiences yet, but there was only one thing, and that was that when they walked alone in the back part of the restaurant with the lights turned off, they felt as if someone or something would be walking behind them, but that was all they had experienced. The last place we went to visit was the "Donnellan Crypt". There is a long story about this that it would be impossible to write everything. Click on the link to learn more. http://www.cristanwilliams.com/b/2011/02/26/the-donnellan-crypt-downtown-houston/

Graffiti at The Mullet

Various paintings in the wall representing something diff.

          For our seventh trip for HOGS, we took a trip to "The Mullet", a graffiti place right around Almeda Mall. It was a very interesting place with a lot of wall painted, each with different types of paintings with different significance. They were all done by professionals, for the paintings were very well done and detailed. They were really nice paintings to look at and meditate about them along with what the significance of some of them could mean. The son of the owner of this place was born with the developmental disorder of Autism, which appears in the first three years of life and affects the brain's normal development of social and communication skills. The Father rents the place for concerts and other things to raise money, and donates what he raises to Autism Research Groups to help those people with autism. Most people would take the money and use it in personal things for themselves, but the owner of this place has a different heart with a different intention. Some of the Graffiti seemed to have like a dark meaning while others seemed to represent happiness and humor. It was a nice experince going and observing some amazing paintings.

Folk Art

For our sixth trip in our HOGS class, we went and viewed what is called, "Folk Art". We first went to the Orange Show, where we learned about a guy named, "Jeff McKissack". He is the founder of the amazing, "Orange Show". He built the The Orange Show in honor of his favorite fruit, which is clearly oranges. He also believed that the longevity of humans depended on hard work and good nutrition. Here we saw many diverse things that caught everyone's eye. It seemed that some parts were used as a part where a performance took place and the audience in front. Most of the things that were built here were orange; the color of his favorite fruit. After that, we went to Art Car Museum. It was very interesting to see pictures in newspapers put against the wall that contained pictures of small kids as if they were suffering. Some of them looked very sad, most of them did, and it made you kind of be sorry for those kids, It was a really amazing place to go and see. The Cars in the museum were very "decorative" for they had many metal things attached on them; from badges to pennys. It might have so many metal things attached that the cars could maybe be pulled by a big strong magnet.