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This weekend I returned to Houston for a special engagement. The Monarch School, a place I’ve written about before, decided to give me an honorary high school diploma. There were ten kids in the graduating class, and me. In this shot, we're all lining up for the official photo:





Here I am, with the leadership of the school, as a newly minted graduate:



Each of the kids had done a senior project. One made a park bench for the new campus. Another wrote poetry. Several did art. One did a special education project. One wrote an essay about his mom and her struggles coming to America and raising him. Two kids promised to return to school after graduation and help with programs, like sports.

And one kid, in a wonderful display of Aspergian eccentricity, made a multi-pane display for school yearbooks. As he said, it’s configured to be free-standing, hung from a wall, or used as an ornamental door.

I wished I had a project of my own to tell them about.

It was a remarkable display that showed why Monarch is unique, and shows the benefits of small schools in general. http://www.monarchschool.org/

After graduation, there was time for a trip to the Ship Channel, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston_Ship_Channel the highlight of any trip to Houston. The best place to see the channel is east of town, by the Battleship monument. If you go all the way to the end of the road you'll reach the Lynchburg Ferry, which you can ride for free till the service ends at dark.




There are two ferries, which swap sides every 15 minutes or so. I rode the William P Hobby. The photo above shows the Ross S Sterling as we meet mid-channel.


Here are some pictures of the traffic, which I watched till dusk. The towboat Elizabeth Bleiler passed close by, with two barges:









A lone biker rode watched the channel from his hog:






As the sun began to set, the tanker Stolt Creativity headed out to sea. Stolt Creativity is a 37,000 ton tanker that carries specialty petroleum products.








The light was too low to get the name on this one, my last tanker of the evening:



The refineries glittered like gold as the lights winked on at dusk:







After that, I drove back to the Galleria for dinner, where I encountered this van in the garage. The name truly says it all.



They’re online, for real, at http://www.texaslicesquad.com/

I’ve been scratching a bit since dinner.(c) 2007 John Elder Robison


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