And then there was Lockhart

The Barbecue Capital of Texas.
Question: How much barbecue does it take to feed fourteen Honorables and one Roamin' Roary at Smitty's Barbecue in Lockhart?
Answer: Twelve sausages, two pounds of ribs, and three and a half pounds of sliced brisket.
And some had ice cream afterwards.

Who ate all that?
Who looked at picture of themselves looking at pictures of themselves? Who is doing it now? If it's you, be sure to take a picture.
  Honorable hoodlums, blocking the sidewalks at Love's, harassing passersby with references to classical philosophers: roll call!

Honorable favorites: sea turtles (Sidney), the beach (Leah), presenting and representing (Dylan), night beach walk (Ashton), "Denny's!"/Standing up to the Waves/Scraping knees?(Nathan), meeting and interacting with other Great Plains Honors students (Dillon), building Tupac the Sand Turtle (Kaitlyn), Parrot Eyes (Madison), swimming in the ocean and collecting sea shells (Elsa), the Honors Beach Dance Party (Linzi).

Honorably favorite eats:
The Iron Cactus on the Riverwalk in San Antonio: smoked chicken enchiladas (Dylan and Sidney), chile relleno (Dillon), fajitas (Ashton),
Smitty's in Lockhart: Brisket (Leah and Elsa)
Parrot Eyes on South Padre Island: oyster tacos (Madison and Nathan), shrimp fajitas (Kaitlyn)
Cap'n Roy's on South Padre: stuffed crab (Linzi)

Honorable firsts: feeding sea turtles (Sidney, Leah, Linzi, Elsa), parasailing (Elsa and Linzi), the Alamo (Sidney, Leah, Elsa, Linzi) and the Riverwalk (Dillon), the Ocean (Kaitlyn), making a presentation at an academic conference (Sidney, Leah, Madison, Dylan), visiting an island (Sidney, Leah, Kaitlyn, Elsa), Babe's Cafe (Leah), a night walk on the beach (Dillon and Dylan), inadvertently stepping on a jellyfish and popping it (Dillon), swimming in the ocean (Ashton), moderating an academic conference panel (Nathan), Parrot Eyes (Madison), swimming in a glow-in-the-dark pool (Elsa), a live Mariachi band (Linzi).

Honorable prediction:
Great Plains Honors Conference in Northwest Arkansas in April 2015.
Cornbread Angelo's in Purcell--the Heart of Oklahoma!--in April 2025.
Someone will fall in love with Eufala soon and sing about it.

Last Honorable Beach Walk

ECU Honors Presents . . .

ECU sent more Honors students to this year's Great Plains Honors Conference in South Padre than any other university in Oklahoma.

Ashton Mayle (above left) was the last of our group to speak. Her presentation, titled "Revenge: Fun for the Whole Family," compared Medea and Mean Girls (Regina George = Medea?). Leah Blackburn (above right) started us off with "The Mentality of Morality," which focused on Nick Dear's stage adaptation of Frankenstein. We saw the recorded-live production of it starring Benedict Cumberbatch last fall

Sidney Lewis spoke after Leah. Her presentation, "Missing Moral Compass: The Dangers of Unethical Studies," compared Macbeth, Henry: Portrait of a Killer, and Silence of the Lambs.

Kaitlyn Stevens discussed "The Wicked Witch in Macbeth" on the Quarter Deck--at the back of a bar!

Dylan West made some last minutes technical adjustments to his presentation titled "Avengers Assemble! The Moral Theory of Earth's Mightiest Heroes" (if you're wondering: Thor is a Utilitarian, Captain America is a model of Aristotelian virtue, and Iron Man defends Kant's view that we should not treat people as means to an end.

Taking a break between presentations.

Dillon Rea's title was "Justified Infanticide? Consequentialist and Categorical Moral Perspectives on Medea's Murders." He did not condone murder.

Madison Camp. Her title? "If You're Utilitarian and You Know It, Clap Your Hans." That's "Hans" as in the bad guy in "Frozen." We clapped.

Elsa Moseley. Her title was "Collegiate Education: Right or a Privilege?" (Her short answer: A Right.)

Not pictured above: Linzi Thompson, who, in addition to presenting her poster on Friday night, made a second oral presentation on Saturday titled "Occurrence of typical antibiotics in Huai River and Hongze Lake, Eastern China;" and Nathan Poole, who chaired an 8 a.m. panel discussion.

Bottom line? A job well-done!

Hola South Padre

Great Plains Honors Conference opening plenary at the Isla Grand Beach. We're six hundred miles from Ada and nine miles from Mexico.

Palmview High School Mariachi: "Los Lobos."
They played for Obama's inauguration; now they're playing for us.

Someone got pooped on.

Linzi is one of six selected to present in the Poster Awards session for students with sixty or more credit hours. Woo hoo!

In the Southern Part of Texas

They have eaten lots of Tex-Mex. Honorably.

Babes in Burleson

Roamin' Roary and the 2015 Honorable Great Plains Conferees stop in Burleson at Babe's Cafe. A lot of chicken fried steak was eaten here.
From left to right: Kaitlyn Stevens, Madison Camp, Ashton Mayle, Dillon Rea, a totem pole comprised of Sidney Lewis, the top of Nathan Poole's head, and Roamin' Roary, then Dylan west, Linzi Thompson, Leah Blackburn, and Elsa Moseley.

Pre-Enrollment Advising Party

A Scary Potter Musical

Congratulations to the Honorable Zach Garcia and the cast of "A Scary Potter Musical!" which had its world premier on Thursday, March 26th at ECU. After producing, directing, and starring in "A Very Potter Musical" a year ago, Zach did himself one better this year by producing, directing, starring in, and writing  an original musical this year--book, music, and lyrics.  Completion of this project partially fulfills the requirements of Zach's Honors Thesis. Take a bow, sir!

Museuming

At the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art in Norman and the Mabee Gerrer Museum of Art in Shawnee.
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