Austin High 27-Westlake 24 and the Republicans look stupider and stupider

Okay, I know what you are thinking, is she really going to try and combine Texas High School Football, Presidential Politics and the creative grammar of Lewis Carrol, author of Alice in Wonderland into one blog entry? Well, for those like me, Democrats living in Texas during the Bush Administration, I can tell you that waking up and feeling as though we've gone Through the Looking Glass, is a normal state of affairs, and, that being said, this blog is completely reasonable.

First, let us explore Westlake. Westlake High School is the only high school serving Eanes Independent School District, a district created to serve a collection of extremely wealthy neighborhoods, which, like the high school itself, have Austin addresses. Part of Ausitn, not part of Austin Independent School District. If you check out the school's website, you will see the breakdown of the student body, of which only 5.7 % is Hispanic (We are in Austin, people--there are a lot of Hispanics in this city) and a mere 0.8% is black (This is not a typo). The area is also heavily Republican. Heavily Republican--this in the only county in Texas that Bush did NOT carry in 2004.
Westlake's wealth and resources are reflected in their college-style and sized stadium, and in its local, and often state, dominance in many sports and academic competitions. Especially, Westlake does not lose district football games. Last year, Austin High, for the first time in history, won.

Austin High School, where, as a disclaimer, I teach, is the oldest publicly-funded, continually operating high school west of the Mississippi. It is an urban high school that serves both the richest and the poorest neighborhoods in the Austin Independent School District. The Bush daughters studied at Austin High School, while their dad was governor. In this same school, study many of the kids whose parents clean and repair the government buildings of the state's capital. We are racially diverse. We are not perfect, and we recognize that the economic divide of our student population, sometimes makes social mixing difficult, but we are banding together to create unity with a community seminar program that brings diverse groups together to work towards common goals. My Ballet Folklorico group will perform at the Pep Rally on October 12th and next week's homecoming rally will include the Step Team's annual performance.

During the past week at Austin High, students from every class and color, were gearing up for the Westlake game. "Beat Westlake" t-shirts sold like hotcakes. The tickets for the visitors' side of Westlake stadium sold out. Kids bought camouflage shirts and painted their faces for battle. We would prove that last year was no fluke. We would prove that Austin High should be respected--that Austin should be respected--that everyone should be respected. We arrived at Westlake to find all the parking lots for "reserved parking only"--reserved for Westlake. We parked as far as a half a mile from the stadium and walked over to fill the stands. We were loud. We were really loud. Westlake would not hear their plays that night. The band would play the Austin fight song again and again. We would scream. We would clap. We would stamp our feet. We would do everything to support our kids on the field--who looked like us: white, brown, black, rich, poor. We yelled through all the announcements over the public address system about the all the college games that would be played on Saturday by the former Westlake players. We would stomp our feet as the public address system announced, "Hear this, Austin, Westlake first down!" I am serious.

Final score: Austin High School Maroons: 27, Westlake High School Chaparells: 24. Hear this Westlake, thank you for uniting our school. Thank you for the opportunity to fight to show the World that we are one. United we Stand--'Loyal Forever'--Austin High.

Meanwhile, this week, at Morgan State University, a historically black school in Baltimore, some of the Republican candidates met for a debate broadcast on PBS. Some of the Republican candidates--the front-runners, Romney, Giuliani, Thompson and McCain stayed away--scheduling issues. No one bought it as a legitimate excuse--not even that dim-witted Bush guy. On Meet the Press this morning Pat Buchanan pointed out that African-Americans make up 13% of the US population and 10% of the nation's voting population--and only 10% of those votes go to Republicans. Not worth showing up, he said. But what about the PBS audience? What about reaching out to the whole of the American population? What about expanding the base? What about introducing yourself to the entire population that you hope to eventually govern? Stupider and stupider. Have you learned nothing from Katrina? Do you have a soul? Look at Westlake. Look at Austin High.

Or don't. Let us take this election. And like I say thank you to Westlake for helping to united my school and all the wonderful, talented, very different people in it, I will say, thank you, Republican front-runners for helping to unite my party and all the wonderful, talented, very different people in it.