Helping my Homie

Thursday, July 8, 2010
Many, many years ago, I attended a high school in Jefferson County. Well, "attended" might be too strong a word - I was registered, I went to class occasionally, and eventually I (barely) graduated.

Like most teens, I had a group of kids with whom I hung out, getting into trouble. One of those friends was a young man named Chris Tomlinson, and we used to tease him because he was a TEXAN. A TEXAN among a bunch of Colorado natives. Poor Chris.

I remember Chris as a serious, thoughtful, disciplined individual, with plenty on his mind and a bent towards youthful pomposity. (As opposed to me. I was not thoughtful, serious or disciplined in high school. In fact, I was a complete slacker. In retrospect, I'm amazed he was willing to be my friend at all. But I digress.) After graduation, we lost track of each other, and as it turns out, there was a reason for that. While I was off gallivanting all over the Pacific Rim as a member of the armed forces, Chris was working for the AP first as a reporter and later as their Bureau Chief in East Africa. On opposite sides of the world, each doing what we did. I'm not at all surprised that Chris saw the world - of all the people I went to school with, I always thought he'd be the most likely to go, see, do.

We recently reconnected via the wonderful (evil) tool of social networking, Facebook. It seems that Chris is back in Texas, working as the Managing Editor of the Texas Observer. And I'm happy to say he appears to have outgrown his pomposity, just as I've outgrown my slacker ways.

And now I've found out that Chris has a new project he's working on. It's called Tomlinson Hill, and it's a book and documentary about his family history in Texas, where his family owned a plantation worked by slaves. From the website:
The documentary film, Tomlinson Hill, follows the parallel stories of these two individuals as they discover answers to the same questions: What is the true state of race in Obama’s America? What can be done to reverse rural poverty that has hurt both whites and blacks in Texas? Have Americans truly reached a point where they can be honest and overcome the history of bigotry and racism they share?
Unfortunately, the project needs some financial help in order to succeed. If you're so inclined, please consider supporting his project over at Kickstarter.

Good luck Chris.

3 comments:

Chris said...

Thanks for the shout-out Janiece. As for my pomposity, ALL Texans are pompous, it's part of our national character.

As I remember it, you were one of the cool kids, much more worldly than the rest of us. And like you, I did a spin in the Army before joining the AP. My class ranking wasn't much different from yours, so there wasn't a college that would touch me. Nice to see some of the kids who sat in the back of the class turned out alright.

Very cool to be back in touch.

Janiece said...

Welcome, Chris.

I had forgotten you did a hitch in the Army.

And when did Texas become a "nation?" :-)

mom in northern said...

You need to catch up on your Texas history. It was known as the Republic of Texas and an independent country before it became a part of the USA. Just ask any Texan. They will be happy to "edu-macate" on your ignorance.

:-)