Jackass Flats: Tales of the Deltaland of the Rio Grande, Paperback

This book is a virtual fireside chat with the great storytellers of the delta region of the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. It is appropriately named Jackass Flats, paralleling it with the vanished prairie herds of wild horses and jackasses that inhabited a thin range of land in the Lower Nueces Strip. Appropriate, in that just as these mythical beasts are now gone, so stands the feared endangerment of a species of "tellers of yarns" who kept the oral traditions alive, perpetuating a lifestyle that was colorfully filled with customs which were unique to South Texas colonization. Some of the little vignettes gathered their substance from countless conversations that were held in settings such as barbershops, bars, and back porches. Other, more elaborate treatises, take on the form of in-depth research papers that were compiled by reaching out to myriad sources in a manner that paints a perspective that would be difficult indeed, if one had not acquired a couple of centuries of "blood-ties" to this region. The connection relies heavily upon personally known the players who were involved with the writing of the original deeds. Four or five generations of close friendships, inter-marriages, business dealings, and even the occasional fights bring these accounts over the line, into being "personal stories". You know it's personal when you open up your family cedar chests and discover a whole cross-section of photographs of non-family, and recognize them for the impact that each one gave to the community at large.You close your eyes and you can still vividly recall the scenes where the old chats were carried out; the chiseled features of the "old folks", the smell of pipe tobacco, the salt spray of the gulf, mesquitewood campfires. You tried your darnedest to lap up all of the words of these tales. Even though your grandmother sometimes altered the details with each presentation, you wouldn't dare open your mouth to correct her - that was part of the flavor.There will always be something special about reflecting back to what it was like in a bygone era. It's like going to a costume party and dressing out your fantasies. The storytellers are a strong example of reincarnation. They left a verbal, oral legacy that will live for as long as there are those who will light a fire to rekindle the message.