By Leo GreenThe 1926 chemistry class included male and female students, a progressive notion for the time. These students seem eager to use their newly donated lab equipment. Photo courtesy of The Buffalo, 1926. “The classroom should be an entrance into the world, not an escape from it.” — The Buffalo, 1976 High school is a confusing, complex […]
Archive | Energy and Environment
Discovering Greens Bayou
By Teresa Tomkins-Walsh Greens Bayou watershed imposed on rendering of Harris County. Photo courtesy of Bayou Preservation Association. Greens Bayou watershed is contained wholly within Harris County, in contrast to some regional watersheds that tap into adjoining counties. Comprising 212 square miles of drainage and including 308 miles of open streams, Greens Bayou watershed sprawls […]
20.1 Innovative Thinkers: Letter from the Editor
Debbie Z. Harwell, EditorDo you ever wonder when you see a new product, “Why didn’t I think of that?” (Sometimes followed by, “I’d be rich!”). As Google search for the question, “how do we get ideas?” returned 4.4 billion responses. (That’s billion with a “B”!). So, I did what most of us do and focused […]
Looking to the Next 100 Years
By Alondra TorresThe San José Clinic opened its facility at 2615 Fannin in 2010. The state-of-the-art facility accommodated 27,940 patient visits in 2019 and in 2020, during the pandemic, provided 18,662 visits, including drive-through services. Photo courtesy of Wes Jackson, Ph.D.In a U.S. healthcare system trying to service hundreds of millions of people, many find themselves living without access to proper healthcare. Yet, people in […]
Table of Contents, 18.1, Resilient Houston: Documenting Hurricane Harvey
Download the full pdf here18.1 Letter from the Editor, Debbie Z. Harwell2Before the Storm: Forecasting Hurricane HarveyBy Samantha de Leon5Stories from the Watersheds: How Harvey Impacted Houston’s NeighborhoodsBy Nadia Abouzir8Looking Back: First Responders Reflect on Hurricane HarveyBy Graciela Cortez11Disaster and Dedication: The Story of Meyerland’s Jewish CommunityBy Anna Mayzenberg15Connecting Through Chaos: How Social Media Platforms Helped Save LivesBy Syed Shahzeb […]
Tracking Houston Perceptions in Remarkable Times
Debbie Harwell and Stephen Klineberg at the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University.A Conversation with Stephen L. Klineberg and Debbie Z. HarwellThis year marks the thirty-ninth annual Houston Area Survey produced by the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University under the direction of Dr. Stephen Klineberg. The survey, which comes out […]
Brownwood: From Neighborhood to Nature Center
With hurricanes regularly striking the Texas Gulf Coast, experiencing multiple hurricanes and tropical storms in one’s lifetime has become a rite of passage and a life marker for coastal residents. Even though Texans know how to prepare for these events, each storm has a unique trajectory and damage path, as Hurricane Harvey demonstrated in August […]
The Power of Voices: Narratives of Offshore Energy
History comes from stories, often told in grand narratives, and one of this nation’s grand narratives is the rise of the offshore energy industry. History tends to be written from documents, but oral history collections preserve the memories of ordinary and extraordinary people. Where could one find answers to the question: Who were the people […]
Letter from the Editor – OTC: A Golden Past, A Brighter Future
Anniversaries By Joe Pratt, Editor Emeritus As the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) celebrates its golden anniversary, we look back at its activities and reflect on how they have helped Houston emerge as “the energy capital of the world” while boosting the region economy. Anniversaries are obviously all around us, while I worked on this issue […]
OTC at 50: Bold Vision Led to Unimagined Success
By Joel Parshall Visionaries possess an extraordinary power to imagine what could be. Yet when a future unfolds that validates them, it may so exceed the original vision that even an extraordinary power of imagination is proved inadequate. The reality that happens vaults well beyond one’s wildest dreams. That could be said of the original […]