Enter the Raven
By urbanhoustonian at March 16, 2008 | 1:00 PM | Print
So I find myself on the cusp of a great literary adventure. I had the unfortunate experience to discover the joys of reading for knowledge well after my high school and college years. I have since stoked this newly found desire for smart reading as much as I can. I started many years ago with the holy trinity of ancient epic poetry in the Iliad, Odyssey and Aeneid. I must say that I prefer Homer to Virgil, but that may have something to do with the fact that Virgil’s subject became infinitely more interesting once Romulus and Remus came onto the scene.
So, the Iliad and Odyssey are obvious high school fare. We all have our list of required reading material that plagued us through our adolescence. To this day, I cannot look at a copy of Great Expectations without cringing. I may be alone in this belief, but that is one of the worst books ever to be called a classic. However, I still have much love for the Canterbury Tales. I still have yet to take that little journey again.
At this point, I am sure you are wondering where exactly I am going with this post. Well, it wasn’t until college that I acquired some more local fare during my semester studying the great history of the state of Texas. I was able to collect some pretty interesting books during my time in that class. It was only recently that I finally say myself down to start tackling some of them. From the Great Plains to the Indians, I have a large range of subjects to learn more about. But it was one book, above all, that I made my #1 priority: Raven: A Biography of Sam Houston by Marquis James. I read what little I needed to for a passing grade in college, and have had a strong need to sit down with it for these seven long years after my graduation. If you must know the truth, I had given it to my father to read a number of years ago, and had lost track of it. It wasn’t until recently that I was able to extricate it from his bedside table where it had laid forgotten for any number of years.
As you can imagine, I hold an almost mythical opinion of Sam Houston. He is, after all, the namesake of the city of my birth, and a major historical figure to Texas; two things that I consider cornerstones of who I am. My brother and I have a custom that came about while I was in college. It did not begin on what you would call a happy occasion. You see, my father had just gone through quintuple bypass surgery. The seemingly successful surgery had a small complication involving some considerable internal bleeding. I had stayed in Fort Worth, but was called to Houston because it became clear that my father would not make it. My brother, who lived in Irving, TX, and I piled into a car, and made our way south. When we reached Huntsville, we passed that stoic white statue of Big Sam, and one of us (I’m not sure who) said, “Big Ups to Sam!” This was followed by a sort of Sammy Sosa-esque hand signal. Sort of a closed peace sign tap/bump on the chest. NOTE: I checked on YouTube for an example, but had no luck. In any case, this quickly became a necessary requirement of our trips back and forth between Houston and Dallas. Oh, and I should also tell you that my dad survived the complications, and still leads a very active life deep in the heart of Sugar Land, TX.
So yes, I love me some Sam Houston, and am greatly looking forward to learning more about him as I read The Raven. In the meantime, I will give you a quick and dirty overview. I will share insights as they come to me during my reading. For one, Raven is Sam Houston’s given Indian name. It is no small task of being given a name by the Indians. During his time in Tennessee, he built strong bonds with the local Indian tribes. I submitted Raven Park as my suggestion for what would become Discovery Green. The name itself was a testament to Sam’s ability to bring together different cultural groups. I reasoned that since this was the underlying purpose of the new Downtown park as a reflection of what Houston has become today, it would make a perfect choice as a name for what is to become an integral part of Houston’s image and culture. Sure, it needs a little explaining, but so does the actual name. I mean, I get Discovery Green, but it doesn’t really make sense without requiring a good explanation.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the name. It’s just that I think mine was better. Well, maybe Raven Green would have been a nicer suggestion . . .
I am going to close this week’s Thoughts with a quote from the foreword by Henry Steele Commager, but if you would like to join me in this adventure, I welcome the company. While I am very passionate about the subject matter, I am afraid there will be times when I find myself a wee bit stretched to make it through the slower parts. Who knows? Maybe this will be a truly fascinating read. Did I mention that it won the Pulitzer?
“This is the stuff of which legend is made, this story of the making of Texas, and Houston is one with those semilegendary characters–with Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett, with Marion the Swamp Fox and Ethan Allen…. In a sense he is too good to be true, this man who wrought such mighty deeds within the lifetime of our fathers and grandfathers; in a sense if he had not existed we should have had to create him.”
Big ups to Sam, y’all! Big ups!
