The Desk on Hancock Hill
Texas Monthly,
by
Sterry Butcher
Original Article
Posted By: StormCnter,
2/21/2020 12:30:00 PM
The desk on the top of Hancock Hill is metal and dark gray, maybe from the sixties. Its drawers are banged up, and its top is graffitied with initials. When you get to the desk, someone might already be there, and that’s okay, because they’ll likely leave pretty soon and you’ll have the desk to yourself, which is nice. You can be alone with the view and the wind and the sky. You can think big thoughts. You can daydream. It’s there for you.
Hancock Hill is long and saddled and ripples down in folds. The hill is the lovely backdrop to Sul Ross State University, in Alpine,
Reply 1 - Posted by:
StormCnter 2/21/2020 12:31:49 PM (No. 325398)
In days gone by, the mantra in households containing a struggling high school senior, it was said "Oh well, if you can't get in anywhere else, you can go to Sul Ross". But that was then and now Sul Ross has become a prestigious and fine state university.
9 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
texaspast 2/21/2020 1:09:35 PM (No. 325455)
Sul Ross is a fine school, and it is in a magnificent location. Alpine is about 25 miles east of Marfa (seriously, don't bother) and 75 miles or so north of Big Bend National Park (do bother). We stayed in Alpine a couple of nights last year. If I could choose to teach anywhere other than where I do, it would be at Sul Ross University - simply because of where it is and its reputation.
By the way, this article is an example of why us conservative Texans still will buy a Texas Monthly, although it is a liberal publication. They still publish some great writing, and they are 'Texas liberal' - not wild-eyed Bernie liberal. If they were, they wouldn't sell many ads (they sell a LOT of high$$ ads), or many copies.
3 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
texaspast 2/21/2020 1:11:37 PM (No. 325457)
#1, in East Texas that mantra was ' . . . you can go to Stephen F." But that was then. SFA is a respected University now.
3 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Grounded 2/21/2020 1:15:52 PM (No. 325460)
Not to mention that SFA knocked off the then #1 ranked Duke Blue Devils last November in hoops. Damn it felt good to write that. I cannot stand the Dukies.
5 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
DVC 2/21/2020 1:39:04 PM (No. 325485)
I stopped when it got to "overwhelming beauty in all directions....".
Everyone is entitled to their opinion. In my opinion, that is not even anywhere remotely near "overwhelming beauty". Maybe relentless desolation?
One of my favorite places, been there MANY times, and took my 11 year old niece up to the top
of that mountain on the right, about 20 years ago.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/13/da/ea/13daea96f22cd5db2e46b328be31745b.jpg
3 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
humboldt 2/21/2020 3:34:46 PM (No. 325559)
Taught at Sul Ross for 25 years before my retirement to San Diego County. Miss the Big Bend for its natural beauty and fantastic people every day but family considerations dictate that I live here. I respectfully disagree with #5's dismissal of the attractiveness of the view. A photo cannot capture the beauty of the wide open spaces framed by mountains in the distance in all four directions, and the photos were taken in January when the grass is dead. In the summer, the rainy season, the landscape is a carpet of green! I was blessed to live there and have a job teaching wonderful students and researching the social development of the area. Thanks for posting!
5 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Geoman 2/21/2020 4:13:37 PM (No. 325587)
Back when that desk was first drug up Hancock Hill, I was a geology student around 450 miles due east of Alpine. As a petroleum geology student, most of my field studies were of the sedimentary rocks of east and central Texas but to learn hard-rock geology and vulcanology, I spent a lot of time in the Big Bend-Alpine-Marfa-Fort Davis-Marathon area and was always impressed with the natural beauty and relative seclusion of that out-of-the-way part of Texas. My wife and girl-children weren't as impressed as they were with Durango, Silverton, and Lake City in Colorado's San Juan Mountains but the mountain country of West Texas grew on them over time. Like #2, I've also thought about teaching at Sul Ross University but my focus on petroleum exploration made me question my qualifications as the professors there appear to be hard-rockers. Still, hiking the Chisos and Davis Mountains, as well as Rattlesnake and Santa Elena Canyons have become family events, including a passel of grandkids getting their mandatory exposure to geology.
4 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
DVC 2/21/2020 4:16:37 PM (No. 325589)
Not denigrating your opinion #6, or the author's opinion, just respectfully disagreeing.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I have spent a good bit of time in that sort of country, and while the solitude is fine, I wouldn't rate the views highly. But that is fine, tastes differ.
2 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
StormCnter 2/21/2020 4:55:12 PM (No. 325611)
I grew up just east of Alpine and Sul Ross and I would suggest if a person hasn't experienced the beauty of that specific area, that person's speculative opinion doesn't matter.
6 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
DVC 2/21/2020 7:22:35 PM (No. 325727)
I have been through that part of Texas, most recently about 5 years ago, and I have flown a light plane over it, too. I would suggest that perhaps "growing up there" might taint a person's opinion a good bit.
I have lived in many different places in the USA and Europe, visited many more, we travel a lot. And I fairly frequently drive through the southwest. It isn't where I would choose to live, and apparently to some, that's not OK.
Opinions differ, I am perfectly happy that people love that kind of country, that is just fine. But it isn't my idea of beautiful country. I'd like to disagree without being disagreeable.
2 people like this.
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To the Louisiana L-Dotter, if the link doesn't work for you, use this one. https://outline.com/UpSGLg Maybe you'll enjoy this piece. Also, the article is from the March, 2020 issue.