Happy Texas Independence Day, Y'all!

Today is a fine day to pull those souvenir coonskin caps from the Alamo out of the closet and wear them proudly down the street. Yes, today is Texas Independence Day, a day we raise the ol' Lone Star flag high. Although I remember little of my childhood, I do remember my first visit to the Alamo when I was about seven years old. I remember finding myself completely mesmerized, like I was living in a dream. While our family was at the old mission, my dad bought me a coonskin cap from the gift shop, and I proudly wore that cap to places such as Pancho's Mexican Buffet and K-Mart back in the 1970s.

This year, I must admit, I will not be celebrating Texas Independence Day by doing victory laps around K-Mart or eating my fill of flautas with a coonskin cap on my knee, but will be celebrating the day by reading my short story, "The Nine Lives of Ivy Lee Jones," in Fort Worth as part of the Funky Town Writers series, which is put on by Funky Town and the TCU English Department. Come on down if you can. And don't forget your coonskin cap.

Here is a picture Martina took at Simon Flory's record release show at Fort Worth Live on Thursday. While I was reading, Chris Schlotzhauer played pedal steel, my favorite instrument on Earth, to accompany me. I was enjoying that lonesome sound so much that I was tempted to stop reading and just listen.