One of my favorite answers to the question “How are you doing?” is one I heard years ago … but it bears repeating.
“If I were any better, I’d be twins.”
There you have it. Life is good.
One of the highlights of my recent life has been the opportunity to continue writing and reporting on the community where I live. My full-time job in print journalism ended four years ago, but I’ve stayed busy.
One of the gigs has been with KFDA-TV NewsChannel 10. The folks at the Amarillo CBS affiliate gave me the title of “special projects reporter” when I started writing a feature for NewsChannel10.com. We called it “Whatever HappenedĀ To … ?” It told stories about the status of big stories and big promises.
My bosses at News Channel 10 decided that feature had played itself out. So, together we came up with another idea.
“Roadside Attractions” is its name.
You’ve seen those historical markers scattered throughout the Texas Panhandle, yes? They tell motorists about events that happened at those sites. If not precisely at those locations, then they point you to where the event took place.
We’re going to tell the stories of historical markers. The idea is to give us all a glimpse back at our past. They’ll tell us how thisĀ region has arrived at this point. We’ll post the stories on NewsChannel10.com each Wednesday as the station airs the segment telling viewers about the markers profiled that week.
The Texas Historical Commission says the state has about 15,000 such markers. The Panhandle alone has hundreds of them posted along our farm-to-market roads, our state highways and our two interstate thoroughfares.
I’m going to search them out.
I’ll have some help in telling those stories. My friends at the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum in Canyon have been helpful in the extreme so far. They have pointed me toward local historians and have given me plenty of background on the markers.
You won’tĀ mistake these pieces as being a version of “On the Road” series that the late CBS correspondent Charles Kuralt made famous many years ago. I’m not nearly that good a story teller.
I’ll do my best, though, to bring you slices of local history as told through these markers. They’re everywhere, man. I’ll find as many of them as I can.
Michael Grauer, associate director for curatorial affairs at PPHM, calls himself a “stopper and reader” of these markers. Perhaps we can entice more of our viewers to become stoppers and readers, too.
I want to thank my friends at NewsChannel 10 for allowing me to keep doing what I love to do. It’s been a blast so far.
Let’s enjoy the ride together.