FamiLee Life

Eyes of Texas are Upon You...

This past weekend, I went down to San Antonio, TX for the Expert Summit on Immigration sponsored by APA. My colleague, Sumie Okazaki who teaches at University of Illinois-Champaign-Urbana, had invited me to speak about international adoption for a symposium on Asian immigration. Needing to escape the Minnesota winter (despite it being "relatively" warm), I jumped on the chance to head south.

I also was looking forward to seeing some of my colleagues from the Asian American Psychological Association who were attending the Summit. One of the most important professional and personal developments has been the friendships that I have formed with these people. We all met as graduate students attending the annual APA and AAPA conventions and over the years we have formed good friendships and collaborations. I credit much of my success in academia to these folks because we have been there to support each other's careers, challenge each other's thinking, and teach each other new things about psychology and research. Amazingly, it has been over 15 years ago since I started my graduate training and began these collegial friendships. Here is a photo of us all (Will Liu, Christine Yeh, Alvin Alvarez, Sumie Okazaki, me, and Bryan Kim) sharing a nice meal in San Antonio.

Another reason why I wanted to go down to Texas was to visit my friends in Austin. For three years (1997-2000), I taught at the University of Texas at Austin in the Dept of Educational Psychology. During the new faculty orientation, I met two new faculty both coming from California (like me). They were Archie Holmes (Electrical Computer Engineering) and Kelli Keough (Psychology). Being new to the area, I set up a happy hour for new faculty and am so glad that I did because I was able to become good friends with both of these people. Through these friendships, I was able to meet many other cool Austinites.

Since leaving Austin, I miss a few things (besides the warm weather). First, I miss the Saturday football games with the great faculty seats on the 50 yard line. Oh, it was a wonderful day when Texas beat USC in the Rose Bowl for the BCS Championship. Second, I miss Amy's Ice Cream which has the best ice cream ever. My decadent favorite is white chocolate with fresh strawberries and grape nuts mixed in. What did I do when I first drove into Austin? Headed straight to Amy's for ice cream. Third, I miss Texas bbq, specifically the Salt Lick. Last, I miss my friends, so I try to visit them once a year if possible. Here is a photo of the whole gang down at the Salt Lick.

The University of Texas has a school song that they teach all new faculty. It is called the "Eyes of Texas." It's corny that they teach this song to new faculty but it does stick with you. Although I now consider myself a Minnesota man, through and through, I still remember this song because of all the good memories associated with my first teaching job. I guess it's a lot like your first love, you always remember her...even many years later.

Posted by richlee at February 7, 2006 10:03 AM