On June 1 of this year, it made forty-two years that we have lived in Lake Jackson. In the posts that follow I have written a few of my memories of that move from where we had lived in Houston to the south of town, Lake Jackson and the Brazosport area.
I have written more specifically about our relationship with the Brazosport Center for the Arts and Sciences, an unexpected treasure that turned out to be of inestimable value in helping us with the job of raising our kids. In a culture that trumpets entertainment, violence, greed and the glorification of self-obsessed social media influencers, The Center, along with our United Methodist Church and some excellent public schools, helped us provide them a deepened sense of their humanity, integrity, honor and the values we share as Americans and as citizens of the world.
My focus is on The Center because of its vital role in serving our family and our community over the time we have been in Lake Jackson. But our community has changed significantly since we arrived here in 1982 and the people served by The Center have different needs and resources than those of its founders. And the building that houses The Center is fifty years old and in need of either major capital investment in its preservation or, even, its replacement.
My bias should be clear. We need The Center and we must find ways to support it. Our community, although constantly changing, is a community that still goes by the name of Brazosport and it remains our home and our community. We must not allow The Center to decline and die.
Subsequent posts will provide some snapshots of what The Center has meant to one family and some thoughts on what we must do if its important work is to continue for the community that exists here today and that of tomorrow. I hope you will follow along.
South of Town: Notes and Scenes from Texas' Upper Gulf Coast 