Who's going to save the GOP?

my money's on illinois rep. aaron schock!!!!!

the youngest member of the u.s. house of representatives has caused quite a stir and it's easy to see why. besides the fact that he graduated from college in two years, was elected to his local school board at the age of 19, and managed to win a seat in congress (as a republican) in the year 2008...well, let's just state the obvious - the man is easy on the eyes.

so what exactly do you do again?

that is the question that i have been asked countless times since i moved to san antonio. i know it sounds crazy, but i didn't really go looking for my current job, rather it found me. in a strange twist of events and some very divine intervention, i accepted a job in january with a non-profit organization called joven - y si conozcas tu español, significa la palabra "youth" in english. it also stands for a complicated acronym: youth outreach vocational educational network. check out our website www.jovensa.org because it explains things much better than i can.

essentially, our organization is charged with meeting the emotional, physical, and mental needs of the VERY at-risk children (K-12) that live in the southern san antonio region. yes, that definition was extremely broad, but basically we make sure that students who are being raised in an unstable environment develop character, resilience, competency, ambition, and coping mechanisms. the organization offers several different programs ranging in everything from health education, substance abuse prevention, leaderships skills, case management, higher education development, and the list goes on and on and on...

in addition to providing vital services to people that desperately need them, we also have to work very hard to get out into the sa community to form partnerships, networks, and relationships. anyone who has ever worked for an NPO (non-prof organization in social world jargon) knows that relationship management is EVERYTHING. if you can't work with people, you have no resources, no funding, and zero credibility. our organization operates through grants (federal and state) and contributions from foundations and corporations so it is so important to maintain the ability to reach out to these people and keep them interested in what you're doing.

specifically, i work on a grant from the texas department of health that gives me the opportunity to run youth leadership clubs at 12 different sites in three different school districts. i work with about 145 (the number is growing everyday) kids ages 11-15 and help them develop "leadership skills", but more than anything i just try to invest everything i have into them. though my official title is "children's service specialist," i really wear the hats of a counselor/educator/mentor/case worker/friend/ and sometimes surrogate parent. i have learned that in 100% of all cases, once again, it all boils down to building relationships. nine times out of ten, these kids aren't receiving any kind of guidance, discipline, or attention at home and so somehow, someway i try to give that to them.

i would say that the hardest part of my job is removing myself personally from the situation. to do this job, you have to put your whole heart into it because to be good at it, that's what's required of you. you have to care and you have to advocate for every single individual child so that you can help his or her welfare. but there's a doubled-edged sword there because at the end of the day when you have a child literally hanging onto your legs begging to come home with you so that they don't have to face the situation going on at their own home, you can't rescue them. that part of the job hasn't been easy on me and it's something i really struggle with, but i do the best i can.

anyway...all that serious stuff aside; after all the grant writing and paper work is over, i get to have so much fun! and yes, i get to be a kid again!



this picture was taken today...gosh, we all had so much fun. we set up a moon bounce, ordered pizzas, and i even made brownies for some of our kids from harlandale middle school. we had to reward these kids for doing such a good job and getting good grades back on their report cards...



this was a total success...they loved it!



and miss shannan even got inside and jumped around in the deathly hot, sweaty moon bounce...



i also get to take the kids on really cool field trips...on this particular day, we took them to the hospital for a teen health camp. they learned how to sew stitches and even put real casts on each other! boy those were fun to get off...(not)



i also took them to the houston street fair in front of the alamo which just so happened coincided with the texas independence day festival.



afterwards, they talked me into taking them to peter piper's pizza. note to self: on a saturday, there are generally 200 people having their birthday parties there simultaneously...but i did beat 15 of them in an intense DDR competition, they doubted the gringa's skills.



it's also very important to me that the kids have a service component to what they learn, so i try to provide them with as many service opportunities as possible. they tend to like the ones that accompany holidays, so here we are making valentine's cards for a local nursing home....they made over 200 of them!



cutie!



i found this message inside one of their cards and i thought it said everything just perfectly. this is why i get up every morning and do what i do. i love those kids to death and i love my job!

thought provoking article of the day

so i don't have time to do a full commentary on the A.I.G. debacle, but I did find this article on the NYT blog today and I thought it was really interesting and from a new perspective...

Dear A.I.G., I Quit!

texas music scene

so this is a topic that's very near and dear to me, so i could go on forever; but for this post, i simply want to hilight an artist that's doing some really cool things right now.

his name? JAMES MCMURTRY. and don't forget it either.



i've been a fan of james for a long time, but only recently have i become more familiar with his work. i'll never forget the first time i heard, "chocktaw bingo," and i said to myself, "who the heck wrote this song?" it was so different and it spoke about so many issues that America was confronting even before they came to fruition. apparently, others seem to agree with me because there was this amazing article today found on msn's homepage.

i'm glad this guy's getting the respect and credit that he deserves.

for so long now he has had to contend with being the spawn of larry mcmurtry (which don't get me wrong, i'm pretty fanatical about larry mcmurtry...) afterall, this is the same man who wrote one of my all-time favorite pieces of literature (lonesome dove) and someone i consider to be the william faulkner of texas. funny story...a few years back i was in archer city, texas and decided to drop into one of larry's bookstores that he owns in town. never expecting to meet him, i walked in and there he was...sitting at a table, hunched over a book and smoking a cigar. since i'm strange and idolize writers much more than any celebrity, i just about lost it...

now i, too, have gotten off on a tangent and forgotten my original intentions for this post...it's about james, not larry! so go check out his music and see what you think!



thought this was a nice picture. it's james standing in front of his own portrait that's a part of this awesome mural that my insanely talented friend aaron sacco painted on the wall of south austin music.

something that deeply concerns me.

as you are probably well aware of, especially if you've kept up with my life at all over the last year, i spent a considerable amount of time in mexico in the year 2008. because i lived there, learned about the culture there, and developed life-long relationships there; i have a very vested interest in what happens in mexico and i always will.

i didn't share a lot of my experiences with you, because frankly, some of them were too unbelievable and legitimately frightening. but let's put it this way, i learned pretty early on that there was a very serious problem in the country and it was only going to escalate.

of course what i'm referring to is the current drug war that has become rampant and terrorizing. it's no secret that narcotics have always been synonymous with mexico, but i'm afraid that the situation happening right now has reached fever pitch.

for those of you who have no idea what's going on, mexico's president felipe calderon took a very ambitious approach to ending the drug problem in his country. he decided to declare a full-out mandate to stop drug activity. obviously there are many issues that arise from this imperative, namely the fact that all of the cartels have decided to battle back against the government and military - and each other. this gets downright confusing considering that the government is so infiltrated that many individuals belong to both the police force and the cartel.



in the year 2008 alone, 7,000 drug-related murders have occurred. i assure you that these killings are not something to be taken lightly. they are malicious, calculated, cold, and horrific. living in a border state, i often heard stories about decapitated bodies being left on the side of the road, with their heads being left in an ice chest on the front steps of the police station. in fact, the most recent police chief in juarez had to step down a few weeks ago because for every day that he did not resign, a police officer was brutally murdered.

so now you might be thinking to yourself, i live in the united states, how does this affect me?

well i most definitely believe it affects the united states, but i adamantly believe that if you live in california, arizona, new mexico, or texas - IT REALLY AFFECTS YOU. First of all, take a look at the map below:



this shows the drug cartel's sphere of influence. this map clearly demonstrates the strong presence of narcos in all of the border towns. of course you might have heard of the sinaloa cartel before; it's legendary, comprable to the don coreleone family. why do they operate on the border? it's simple, real simple. we (the united states of america) are the ones buying, demanding, and enabling the product. we're the consumers of the drug and we're supplying the guns .



after reading this article this morning, i'm especially disturbed that they're using our kids as hitmen to carry out their plans.

as agreed upon in the merida initiative it is time for the united states not to turn a blind eye to something that has now been called "a greater foreign policy threat than afghanistan." our governor, rick perry, hasn't always done the right thing in my opinion, but i will say that he's very smart for realizing that this is going to be a very serious issue for the state of texas. he has already asked the federal government to intercede by sending troops and creating a fema-like response plan.

my aim in writing this isn't to pass some kind of policy or try to correct the problem myself, but i do want to bring attention to the issue and i also want to urge those traveling to mexico in the near future to be VERY CAREFUL. there was a pretty stringent travel alert issued a few weeks ago by the u.s. department of state and it would be wise to pay attention to it.

of course, my greatest concern is for all of the people that i love and care about who reside in mexico. i pray for their safety, security, and peace - and that someday, this issue can be resolved.

i'm in love.

and i'm not talking about a tall, dark, and handsome man. i am, in fact, referring to a piece of real estate that has stolen my heart.

it all began this past weekend when i decided to make a spontaneous little road trip out to our lake house on saturday morning. for those of you who don't know, i will soon be taking over for bob phillips, texas country reporter. (okay, not really, but i definitely give him a run for his money.) anyway, back to the story, i stopped for the day in johnson city, texas to do a little sightseeing and i had a most magnificent time. this picturesque little hill country town 60 miles north of san antonio is the hometown of president lyndon b. johnson and it has so much charm that it will knock your socks off! visit this and see for yourselves: johnson city

first, i stopped at the feedmill cafe and had a wonderful lunch that consisted of fried green tomatoes and sweet tea. i highly recommend this cute little spot. excellent homegrown service and so much character!



after lunch, i wandered just a few yards away to the town square where i visited the court house and all the quaint little shops. i found these beautiful gates at the entrance to the local bed & breakfast and thought they were really something...



next to the blanco county court house...



i came across the johnson city real estate office so i thought it wouldn't hurt to gaze at the window and look at all of the listings. it all started when a listing for "the pedernales plantation" caught my eye; but little did i know when i looked at this little flyer that i would find something so perfect.



i was going to be in town for awhile so i thought "what the heck? why not call the realtor and go check this place out?" so i called and i'm so happy that i did.



can you freakin' believe this???? it's texas' own version of tara!



the realtor told me that it was a georgian colonial and yes it needs some work, but this is really my dream project. in this picture it really reminds me of noah & allie calhoun's place in the notebook...complete with the blue shutters!



i have so many ideas for this place - one being replacing that light fixture.



did i mention that all of the floors are hardwood or brick and there are two coal burning stoves? ahhh ideal.



the courtyard off to the side of the house.



fabulous view from the front porch.



and the best part...6 acres right on the banks of the pedernales river!

you would be proud of my negotiation skills, i've already gotten the price knocked down considerably. now all i need is a job in johnson city and a sizable amount of money to appear in thin air! oh well...a girl can dream.

vince vaughn is officially off the market...

and this makes me a little sad. no, he was never the irresistibly, devastatingly handsome heartbreaker...but for me, there was always something about him...oh well, life must go on.

congratulations to you and the future mrs. - vince!

i hate myself for doing this...

but i'm doing it anyway.

if you didn't catch wind of the "25 things virus" over facebook, then you must have been living under a rock over the last month. i, for one, will admit that i repeatedly scoffed at this kitschy little chain letter and proudly declared myself above it all, but i have fallen too. i'm going to blame the fact that my afternoon is free do mindless things on the rigorous TAKS testing that all of my kids are going through today (i pray that all of them ace it!)

so drum roll please...below are 25 things about shannan d'aun sowder that you might not know.

1. I have the most beautiful, most accomplished, most intelligent, most reliable girlfriends you could possibly imagine. I don’t know how I got so incredibly lucky in this department, but I know I’m fortunate.

2. My four years at Baylor University were the best four years of my life. I could’ve been happy as a clam living in our little mansion with aforementioned friends for the rest of my life. Okay…maybe not the REST of my life…but I think we had a few good years left in us.

3. I absolutely love entertaining/throwing parties/playing hostess. I’m very famous for my Cinco de Mayo bash. And yes, I will be holding the 5th annual fiesta in San Antonio…you’re all invited. Come on, I know you want some of my world-famous queso and sangria!

4. Very few people know that I was a member of the math & science team in high school. We called ourselves the Mathletes and yes, we went to state all four years.

5. My family is vitally important to me. They drive me crazy at times – and if you’ve ever had the lovely pleasure of meeting my mother, than you really know what I’m talking about – but I wouldn’t trade ‘em for anything!

6. I’m a live music junkie and it’s kind of like a drug…but NO, I AM NOT A GROUPIE!!!

7. I believe in writing thank you notes for everything under the sun…even if you loan me a paperclip. I think people are really underappreciated these days.

8. I don’t acutely realize I’m doing it, but it has come to my attention that my dialect is chock-full of isms and sayings…i.e. “it is hotter than the hinges of hell on this July day,” “Dad, did you see that new house the Thompsons are building? They must be in high cotton,” “Sister, you better find yourself something to do…don’t you know that idle hands are the devil’s work?”

9. I never ever thought I’d enter the field of education, but it is something I enjoy tremendously. That being said, I miss my students from Mexico every single day.

10. Thankfully, now I get the opportunity to work with 125 raggedy, unlovable, troublemakers who I claim as my own.

11. I read. All. The. Time. When most kids were going out to parties in high school, I was sitting at Barnes & Noble.

12. Going to the lake is my therapy. No communication devices + fishing + all the Bluebonnet pie you can eat = pure bliss.

13. It’s true…I love Elvis Presley. But not 1977-Vegas-alarmingly overweight Elvis; I’m partial to the 1968 Comeback Special-black leather bomber jacket Elvis. I once spent a consecutive 12 hours at Graceland!

14. The first date I ever went on was the worst date of my life! We went to go see the critically acclaimed film “Dude Where’s My Car?” and he forgot his wallet so I had to pay for everything. I was so freaked out about being alone with him that I called my best friend to come meet us at dinner. Hey, I was 14…I was just a child.

15. Someday, I will publish a book even if it kills me.

16. I’m probably one of the most superstitious people you’ll ever meet. No stepping on sidewalk cracks, opening umbrellas inside, or walking underneath ladders for me.

17. Guilty pleasures include, but are not limited to, Britney Jean Spears, infomercial products, getting so highly involved in The Bachelor that I scream at the TV, and shooting guns.

18. My entire childhood I looked EXACTLY like Olive from “Little Miss Sunshine.” It’s not something I’m ashamed of; I was able to understand the concept of resiliency at a very early age.

19. I was a dancer (ballet, tap, jazz) for 14 years. I don’t really talk about it much, but it was pretty much my life for a long time. Didn’t quite make it professional, but it comes in handy for Dance Dance Revolution and impromptu dance parties.

20. I’m obsessed with architecture and can’t wait to build my dream house. I’ve been designing it in my head for so long now. I’d like to do everything on my own, without contracting the work out if possible.

21. My favorite quality about myself is also equally my least favorite quality about myself. I’m a fiercely loyal person who adamantly believes that every individual is inherently good, thus I don’t ever give up on anyone. It makes life painstakingly difficult sometimes, but it’s something I can’t change.

22. I really wish I could sing.

23. I came dangerously close to dying at birth, I’ve been in a bar room shoot-out, I escaped a deadly tornado, I got mugged in a foreign country at knifepoint, and I’ve been run over by a huge motorcycle among other things…this leads me to believe that there must be a fundamental reason for being alive.

24. I’m madly in love with the color red. There’s something about it that is intoxicating, vibrant, and powerful. It’s definitely my signature color.

25. Something I have learned: I have a lot more to learn.

I'M BACK!!!!!!!

so some of you might have noticed that i've been absent for quite awhile now. who am i kidding? i don't really think anybody noticed, but i'll just pretend like you did. the truth is, i haven't written in this forum in 104 days. 104 days! a lot can happen in 104 days. and it has, i assure you.

the primary reason i neglected "southern comfort" was that my beloved mac was brutally, violently smashed to smithereens down in mexico and without my trusty computer, i just didn't feel like blogging. yes, i've been able to get on other computers and i have one at work, but it just hasn't been the same. getting on someone else's computer for personal use is the equivalent of moving out of your house to live in a motel...something about it just doesn't feel right.

well i am ecstatic to tell you that i finally coughed up the cash to refurbish my mac and when daniel from the apple genius bar called this morning for me to come pick it up, I squealed with delight! It cost a very pretty penny, but I wholeheartedly think it was worth it.

right now, I am overcome with a multitude of things that I would like to ponder, vent, and further explore with you, but instead of making this into the longest comeback post known to man, I'm going to try to fragment the last few months of happenings into small bits. enjoy!