Brief Detour to Houston

I took a whirlwind trip to Houston Texas this week to do training for a multi-state grant I am working on:  Promoting Healthy Eating and Activity in Low-Income African-American and Latino Preschoolers: A Family Focused Prevention Program.  The project is a coordinated effort between faculty at Washington State University, Baylor College of Medicine, University of Colorado and North Carolina State University.  Houston surprised me.  It is known for its urban medical center (and I do not mean one).  The medical complex is huge with beautiful skyscraper-like hospitals and medical education and research facilities.  I had a wonderful walk on Tuesday. Here are some of my the things I saw.

Mascot of Rice University.  I took a long walk around the campus which was very near where I stayed -I enjoyed the sites there and the imagery of the Rice Owls.  There was a clever campaign that reminded us that OWL is part of the word KnOWLedge.  Owls are also symbols of wisdom, to say nothing of their fame in the Harry Potter Universe.  I loved  it!

The football stadium in the background frames the site of these two bike riders on a training ride around a track that was cleverly built in the stadium parking lot.  It was good to see multi-use for this land.  There were people exercising all around the University.  Runners, walkers, soccer players, and more.  These bike riders caught my attention because my dear husband Mike is a cyclist and I wanted to have pictures to share.   He always asks me about what kind of bikes the people I see are riding.  I noticed after I took the shot (see my shadow?) that the rear rider has one leg.  He was doing an admirable job of pedaling.  I wondered how he lost his leg and thought how lucky he was to be in a place with so much support for medical technology and rehabilitation.

Another surprise in Houston (which my colleague who was born and raised there tells me that the county is very progressive).  This sign was in the window of a humble and interesting import shop near Rice.  I think part of my journey of this sabbatical is deconstructing stereotypes.  That happened to me last year when Mike and I traveled to China.  Perhaps it is the result of traveling with both eyes wide open.

This fellow was waiting for me at Houston International Airport.  Houston is of course one of the main NASA centers and I guess the cow is the representative of Texas. The cow looked tome like she belonged in a dairy herd in beautiful Whatcom County.  A Holstein in space????  This made me smile and made Houston seem more approachable.

I am excited to post more about my work and look forward to writing soon.

Thanks for reading.