The beautiful cactus

by Phil Houseal as published in the Kerrville TX Community Journal & Boerne TX Hill Country Weekly - Mar 3, 2010

It’s prickly, pesky, pernicious, and a pain (literally) in the rear, but cactus is fascinating to Allen Duncan. The professional banker has been collecting the thorny plant for 58 years. There has to be a story there.

When Duncan was a lad growing up in west Texas, he was gung ho about the outdoors. Every summer he loaded up his army surplus backpack, BB gun, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches wrapped in wax paper and went exploring.

Once day as he was eating his sandwich, he looked over and saw a beautiful flower with thorns on it. He took out his machete, dug it up, popped it into his pack, and took it back to plant in his cactus garden. “That,” he said, “is how I got started collecting.”

Duncan remains “fascinated” with cactus.

“It was the beauty of the flowers that first caught my attention,” he said. Then he wanted to know the names of them. “I got to looking around and asking what kind of cactus that was. They said ‘strawberry cactus.’ I’d see a different kind and they called that a strawberry cactus too. So I had a problem: this can’t be a strawberry cactus and this big one, too. I didn’t like that, so I began learning the botanical names.”

That led him to the library, where a helpful person helped look up, then explain the Latin naming system.

For someone with a love for cactus, it was fortunate he grew up in Texas. While the prickly pear is the most common type, there are actually 49 varieties in Texas, 17 in the hill country alone. Cactus range in size and shape from 20-foot candelabras to a little one the size of a dime. Most people don’t see those, because they are hard to find and nobody is looking for them.

Duncan’s favorite is the Ferocactus pilosus.

“Feros is a derivation of fierce,” he said. “The cactus is fierce because of the spines.” It is one of many species of that “barrel” cactus. All look different, and are easily identified using the length and color of spines, and other traits. The Nevada Firebarrel, for example, turns bright red when it rains. “I like it because of the beauty.”

According to Duncan, cacti are also easy to care for, most obviously for not needing water for long periods of time, up to one year. Ironically, that aspect can keep hovering gardeners away.

“One girl looked at this cactus for one hour,” Duncan recalled. “She wouldn’t buy it though. She told me she loves them every time she sees them at a cactus show, but ‘I can’t buy it because I am an addict - I am addicted to watering, and I’ll kill them in a week!’”

But that hardiness is also a reason for the recent growth in popularity, as homeowners add them to their xeriscaped yards.

Duncan believes “anyone and everyone” will enjoy his class.

“What’s neat is that it is something most people don’t know anything about,” he said. “Every fencepost in Texas has a big clump of prickly pear on it. That’s what people think cacti are.”

XXX

Allen Duncan’s Cactus class starts April 6. For information or to sign up, click www.clubed.net, or call 830-895-4386.

Club Ed is the Community Education program of the Kerrville Independent School District. Each year, we offer more than 400 classes throughout the Texas Hill Country, along with online courses, business and individual training, and after-school and summer camps. Comment online at clubedcomments.blogspot.com, or follow us on Twitter @clubedtx.

Refuse to be a victim

by Phil Houseal as published in the Kerrville TX Community Journal & Boerne TX Hill Country Weekly Feb 24, 2010

Club Ed offers many classes that can improve your life. Deborah Wardlaw teaches a class that just might save your life.

Wardlaw is a Level II national Rifle Association Training Counselor on shotgun, handgun, rifle, and personal protection. She is passionate about her class “Refuse To Be A Victim.”

The course is a basic introduction to shotgun and handgun. Designed for women, it teaches types of guns and ammunition, how to hit a moving target, and tips for personal safety. It can also help prepare you to take the concealed carry class.

It’s not all about shooting. It is also about common sense.

“There are common sense ways to be sensitive to any environment,” said Wardlaw, who has taught since 1994. “Whether in your home, at your business, or talking on the telephone, we need to be aware of our surroundings.”

The course was originally geared toward women and safety, but Wardlaw says this is also essential for teens, the elderly, male or female. Most requests are from people who travel alone a lot. It is especially critical if someone is at a stressful phase in life, such as going through a divorce or split.

Wardlaw shares some easy tips for staying safe:

1) Before leaving an establishment, look around to see if anybody is there that looks out of place or suspicious. If so, go back in and get security.

2) When you stop to get gas, lock your vehicle. If someone does approach you, get back into the vehicle.

3) At a hotel, don't get in the elevator with someone else. If you get in and someone else gets in after you, get out. You don't have to ride with them.

This class has been literally life saving and life changing for some.

“I’ve had students who were stalked, threatened, or accosted. You can see it in their faces when you are talking to them. You know something happened to that lady.”

One student had had a gang member stick a gun in her face at a traffic light and demand money.

“She found me, and I taught her how to shoot,” Wardlaw said. “She had the mindset that she was not going to be a victim anymore. She said that empowered her more than counseling did.”

The story doesn’t end there. Years later, Wardlaw ran into that student again. Wardlaw tells what happened.

“She casually mentioned to me, ‘Did I tell you I was shot?’” Wardlaw said. “One night, something hit her windshield. She realized someone had fired a shot at her. She got out her handgun and returned fired. The shooters roared off.”

Or course, Wardlaw emphasized that is an extreme example. She stressed that students don’t have to be in an exotic environment to be in danger - many things can happen at a local grocery store.

But in at least that one case, the training paid off.

“I looked at her and said, ‘You just saved your life because you responded.’”

xxx

Refuse To Be A Victim will be offered Monday evening, March 29. For information or to sign up, click www.clubed.net, or call 830-895-4386.

Club Ed is the Community Education program of the Kerrville Independent School District. Each year, we offer more than 400 classes throughout the Texas Hill Country, along with online courses, business and individual training, and after-school and summer camps. Comment online at clubedcomments.blogspot.com, or follow us on Twitter @clubedtx.

Drums... Just Once

by Phil Houseal as published in the Kerrville TX Community Journal & Boerne TX Hill Country Weekly - Feb 17, 2010

You don’t need to know a paradiddle from a flamacue in order to start drumming, according to Matt Gillis, instructor for the world premier of a new Club Ed class called “Just Once Drumming.”

Gillis will be in the Hill Country on February 28 to teach the world’s very first “learn to play drums in just a few hours” course. This has never been tried before with drums. However, it uses the same concepts as proven in similar “just once” courses for piano and guitar.

“This curriculum was written by someone with a degree, and it’s being used in combination with the experience from what I’ve learned as a teacher and musician,” Gillis said. He is looking for people with a passion for drumming, whether they already play a little or just “beat on the dash in the car.”

“This class is specifically designed to introduce everyone to the basic set up, with hands-on practice and information on how to purchase, play, and go on from here.”

Each student gets a pair of drumsticks and a portable practice pad to drum on during the class. Gillis will set up a drum kit that everyone will get to try. The class is low stress and supportive, and is designed to give people a feel for what playing the drums is like.

You don’t even have to be the next Gene Krupa or Buddy Rich, according to Gillis. “Music in general is an emotion catcher,” he said. “The more you play an instrument, the more your emotions join in the fun.”

But can anyone really learn any instrument in just one session?

Gillis admits that playing drums differs from other instruments, if only because one must use all four limbs.

“But I am always surprised at how many people pick it up quickly. Basically you will learn to keep the beat and add a few fills. You don’t have to know too much, but you will definitely learn the basics.”

You also will get a book and DVD to take home so you can practice and annoy your family.

While Gillis has been a musician for 15 years, he came to drums only in the past few years. So he empathizes with adult beginners. He thinks this class will attract everyone from people who have never picked up an instrument and have always been curious, to people who have played a bit in past and want to get more serious. He specializes in church and praise music, but this course will demonstrate all styles.

“The main thing is this class is designed to be fun and not to be a headache. You will get lots of information, and get to talk to someone who has done it. It’s just fun.”

XXX

“Just Once Drums” meets Sunday, Feb 28. For information or to sign up, click www.clubed.net, or call 830-895-4386.

Club Ed is the Community Education program of the Kerrville Independent School District. Each year, we offer more than 400 classes throughout the Texas Hill Country, along with online courses, business and individual training, and after-school and summer camps. Comment online at clubedcomments.blogspot.com, or follow us on Twitter @clubedtx.

New "center" of learning

by Phil Houseal as published in the Kerrville TX Community Journal & Boerne TX Hill Country Weekly - Feb 10, 2010

When you are looking for lifelong learning, there are many places to go, large and not so large.

Of course the Club Ed program covers Kerrville and Boerne, offering hundreds of classes. Go down IH-10 to the east and you will find hundreds more classes hosted by Northside ISD. But don’t forget to dig in unlikely places, like deep in the hills in the small town of Center 

Point.

[PHOTO: Cooking up new ideas, Center Point residents are diving in to classes such as Cake Decorating offered locally in the school’s new community education program. Shown: Sharon Kirby and her Pumpkin Cake. Photo by Shirley Wright]

I had heard that Center Point got its name from being at the “center point” of Texas when measured from east to west. More probable is that the name came from its central location in relation to the neighboring towns of Kerrville, Comfort, Bandera, and Fredericksburg. Now, thanks to Shirley Wright, the unincorporated town is becoming a nexus of lifelong learning with a new program of classes that the locals are embracing with enthusiasm.

When it comes to enthusiasm, Wright has an abundance. “I am having a ball,” she said of setting up and running her program. “My wheels are always turning, trying to think of different things to offer.”

Just started last fall, Center Point put out an ambitious catalog of 30 classes. The 3750 residents of the district could pick from such offerings as computers, martial arts, Spanish, quilting, cooking, and photography, along with some more unexpected topics such as yoga, acting, cake decorating, and bread dough basket weaving. All are held in the buildings of Center Point ISD, a Class 1-A school. Opening existing school facilities to the public has been the cornerstone of the community education concept ever since its introduction in the 1930s.

One innovative project is the new fitness center. Housed in the Center Point schools, the center is open to residents of the district and sports 10 new workout machines. It is available each school day from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Wright - who also wears the hats of librarian and cheerleading coach - enjoys the support of her board and Superintendent Cody Newcomb, as well as the support of the community. Most of her first classes “made” and she is eager to expand the program.

“Even if some of our classes don’t make, at least we are taking steps and offering you the chance to come learn something new,” she said. “I am very excited.”

If you would like to learn more about the Center Point ISD community education program, contact them online at www.cpisd.net or call 830-634-6124.

Lifelong learning has something for everybody, and it should be everywhere. There is lots to learn around every corner.

P.S. Any school district interested in adding a community education program of its own can find out more at www.tcea.com.

XXX

For information on Club Ed or to sign up, click www.clubed.net, or call 830-895-4386.

Club Ed is the Community Education program of the Kerrville Independent School District. Each year, we offer more than 400 classes throughout the Texas Hill Country, along with online courses, business and individual training, and after-school and summer camps. Comment online at clubedcomments.blogspot.com, or follow us on Twitter @clubedtx.

Secrets of successful interviewing

by Phil Houseal as published in the Kerrville TX Community Journal & Boerne TX Hill Country Weekly - Jan 27, 2010

A job interview is a minefield for the unprepared. Jim Keefe wants to keep you from blowing yourself up by making a bad first impression.

It may not be as disastrous as the applicant who asked if the personnel manager was qualified to conduct the interview, or the one who challenged his interviewer to an arm wrestling match. But in Keefe’s experience as owner of an employment agency and headhunter for Fortune 500 companies, he has seen every aspect of the employment process. He knows that the weakest part of any job search is the interview.

“Most people don’t know how to develop the chemistry with the interviewer, which is all important,” Keefe said. “If the chemistry is not there, it doesn’t matter how qualified you are, you are not going to get past the interviewer.” Keefe has seen cases where the most highly-qualified candidate did not get it the job, just because they lacked chemistry.

So what is this “chemistry” and can it be conjured?

According to Keefe, the secret is empathy. That comprises listening skills, interaction, definitely manners and politeness, cleanliness and hygiene.

“The first way to make a great impression, is you have to be clean,” he said, stating something that should be obvious. Next, you have to be dressed for the position. “If you are applying for a janitorial position, you do not need to wear a Brooks Brothers suit. But you need to be clean. You can’t have an interviewer recoil because of body odor or holes in your clothes.”

Beyond those basics, interviewees must put some advance effort into any interview. That means knowing something about the company and position you are applying for.

“You have to examine the company so you can form questions and show interest,” he said. “If you show interest, the interviewer is going to show interest in you.”

An interview is a two-way street. “Don’t make him do all the work. He has to ask questions to see if you are what he wants. But you are interviewing the company, too.”

There are also a few “don’ts” that many applicants stumble on.

Don’t ask about salary or benefits. Don’t ask about vacations. Instead, ask about what you can do for the company, and if you get the job, what lies ahead.

And what, I wondered, do you do with the question that has always been asked in every interview I have been in: “What is your greatest weakness?”

Keefe has an answer for that “loaded question.”

But you’ll have to take his class to hear it, along with dozens of other secrets and tips such as why you should look for a job that is not posted, who to select for references, how to follow up the interview, how to quit your current job, and how to research a company.

“This class is a two-hour investment of time that will make a huge difference in your life. I’m looking for people who have a worthwhile attitude, but no one has ever told them how to do this.”

And it just might land you your next job.

XXX

“Secrets of Successful Interviewing” will be held on Feb. 9, with another session set for April 14. For information or to sign up, click www.clubed.net, or call 830-895-4386.

Club Ed is the Community Education program of the Kerrville Independent School District. Each year, we offer more than 400 classes throughout the Texas Hill Country, along with online courses, business and individual training, and after-school and summer camps. Comment online at clubedcomments.blogspot.com, or follow us on Twitter @clubedtx.