It’s been said that a friend will help you move, and a real friend will help you move a body. Somewhere between those two points is the friend who will take the day off work and get up at the crack of dawn despite not being a morning person, in order to drive you from Sweetwater, Texas to the Howard College campus in Big Spring, Texas to take your ATI TEAS exam for admission to nursing school. On April 24th of this year, I was that friend. As the TEAS exam can take up to 4 hours to complete, I found myself with some time on my hands, so after a not particularly refreshing 45 minute catnap in the laid back front seat of a Chevrolet Equinox, I grabbed my phone and searched “Things to do in Big Spring, TX.”
The time being a quarter to 9:00 AM on a weekday, it seems whatever bars, clubs, restaurants, amusement parks, and sold out shows the bustling, 26,144 strong city of Big Spring has to offer were mostly closed. Not a worry. Being rather a boring fellow, I was thinking more along the lines of a park, public monument, or historical district. Turns out Big Spring offers all of the above, and I had my choice of the Big Spring Vietnam Memorial, Big Spring State Park, Hangar 25 Air Museum, or the Heritage Museum of Big Spring, located near the historic Hotel Settles. A quick check of Organic Maps revealed that the Heritage Museum was the shortest and easiest drive, so being unfamiliar with the area, I decided that would be the best place to start. The hours are 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM Tuesday through Friday, and 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM Saturday, so after an abortive attempt at another catnap, followed by a quick restroom and beverage break at the Lowe’s Market down the street from Howard College, I set out for my destination.
I followed the signage to the parking lot across the street from the building and made my way inside, where I was greeted by the sort of terribly sweet older lady you can only find in small town Texas, who collected my $3 admission fee. The change from my $10 ended up in the donation box. The ground floor contains a small gift shop, banquet hall, and temporary exhibits. Owing to a recent event in the banquet hall, there were substantially no exhibits on offer on the first floor, so I headed upstairs to the main exhibit area. Elevator access is available for the lazy and/or handicapped.
At the top of the stairs I made a left, and worked my way from one end of the museum to the other. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I had the place to myself. A unique and interesting hodgepodge of exhibits gives us vignettes into the lives of the people of Big Spring from its Native American history, founding as a Texas and Pacific Railroad outpost in the late 19th century, to the modern era as a petrochemical hub. The city is home to the Delek US Big Spring Refinery, first constructed in 1929, and still producing transportation fuels, solvents, asphalt, and liquefied petroleum gas.
Making efficient use of space, there is a Cowboy/Cowgirl Hall of Fame located in the actual hall to the emergency exit.
A small gallery showcases a collection of works from painter H. Wallace Caylor.
Moving down the corridor past a quadriptych of the city circa 1929, we are presented with some Texas and Pacific Railroad artifacts.
A small nook, which I neglected to photograph, features an interactive learning area for children, with some trivia games and local animal pelts. Just beyond is a cozy theater room playing a looping video of trains traversing the route through Big Spring. It’s terribly relaxing, and the sort of place one could easily doze off.
The final leg of our journey takes us through the Old West history of the area.
Despite lingering to read all the signs, look at all the donated curios, and take in a dozen or so pages of handwritten letters, postcards, telegrams, and documents from the scrapbook, I found I had completed a full circuit of the museum in about 45 minutes. I departed, remembering to thank the front desk clerk, and prepared to set off for the Vietnam Memorial. No sooner had I started the car than my friend called to let me know she had finished the exam almost 2 hours early, having passed despite hardly any study or preparation, and was ready to be collected (congratulations Jessica!). Perhaps another time, then.
The Heritage Museum of Big Spring tells the story of a place, like so much of flyover country, that makes modernity possible, while being despised by much of modernity’s beneficiaries. For those like your humble narrator with an appreciation for local history, it’s a pleasant way to burn off a Friday morning. A full resolution photo gallery can be found here.
Congrats Jessica!
I love little places like that. Thanks for writing.
A small gallery showcases a collection of works from painter H. Wallace Caylor.
I like those paintings.
It’s terribly relaxing, and the sort of place one could easily doze off.
How long was your nap?
Thanks Pat!
I won’t lie, my head started to droop, and that’s when I got up to continue my tour, knowing if I let myself pass out I’d be there until my phone rang.
Quite, cool, dim lights… I know the type of place.
“It’s been said that a friend will help you move…”
“Next ya know you’ll be driving ‘im to the *airport!*”
“I’m NOT DRIVING HIM TO THE AIRPORT!”
Hotel Settles sounds like a pleasantly available, though letdown last option. I strongly approve.
Indeed, congrats, Jessica! She finished early and already knows she passed? A lot of nursing doesn’t seem to be multiple choice, though much really is, I semi-presume. That’d be a good oral exam subject to let ‘profs’ know if the student knows wtf they’re talking about.
Jessica owes you a mighty favor. *furrows brow* Have her clean yer gutters!
(Joking aside, good on you for bein’ there for a friend in need.)
I said the same thing when she told me. Apparently they score it instantly.
TEAS stands for “Test of Essential Academic Skills,” so it’s more about demonstrating you’re prepared to learn the material you’re going to be encountering in nursing school. It’s a mix of multiple choice, “choose all that apply” and “supply your answer” type questions. I imagine like most standardized tests, it is functionally useless at predicting academic success.
Nice. Glad you are enjoying your time by wandering local museums. It is amazing how many small towns have local museums down here.
We’ve got one right here in Sweetwater within walking distance of my house that I’ve been meaning to visit since I moved here and still haven’t gotten around to. Although it’s just a historic mansion. That’ll probably end up being another dispatch if I ever get around to it.
Mojo, from the deadthread: Why do people adopt untried things with “unforeseen” consequences?
This bothers me about AI, on a large and small scale. “Our business needs to go all-in on AI because our competitors might do it first.” “We need to invest immense money and resources on AI because China will do it first.”
No talk of *should* we do this, how it will fit into our business model, any of that. Just blindly run down the road because someone else might get to the end faster.
Also Mojo (and Pat): Thanks for the LibreWolf suggestion, I am trying it out now. Brave is getting flakier by the day.
Give the people what they want
Even Bottoms’s critics who worked on opposing primary campaigns acknowledged that her ability to energize black women was impressive—a sentiment shared by national observers as well.
“There is something still very powerful in the Democratic party about identity, especially in the wake of Kamala Harris losing,” said Easton. “In Georgia, especially, I think they see Keisha as the next stand, and there’s a sense of ‘We’re not gonna let them do to her what they did to Kamala.’”
Anita Howard, the district attorney for the region around Macon, similarly told me that “the electorate in Georgia wants a black female governor.”
“The politicos and elected officials, the small percentage of naysayers, have got to come to grips with it. We’ve got to give the electorate what they want.”
Good and hard.
I had no idea Georgia was exclusively populated by black female Democrats. That’s quite a demographic anomaly.