Waco, Texas, USA

[lpret]

I'm not from Texas. I'm not really from the USA for that matter, and so because of all this, I think I'll be a great tour guide for yall here in Waco. You may be wondering, what the hemm is in Waco besides that crazy Koresh guy? Well, not much. But what is here is quite interesting. So let's start walking...

First, a little history. The Waco Indians lived here first, they had a nice little village going along and were friendly towards the white people who came along. In 1837, some Texas Rangers came to Waco village to build a fort but it was out of the way and there were Comanche problems elsewhere, so that idea was abandoned. You'll see this abandonment is a theme throughout Waco's past. After several businessmen had set up a trading post, the city of Waco started in 1849, and in 1856 it was incorporated.

In 1870, Waco being the center of commerce for central Texas, many railroads and wagon trails came through Waco, encouraging it's growth and development. The city planners realized this and took care to lay out the city carefully so that the city would be bustling yet organized. Good 'ol German immigrants

So at this time, Baylor University, which had started in Independence, Texas, decided that they needed to move to a bustling yet organized town, and Waco fit the bill. So in 1886, Waco became Baylor's home.

Well, times have changed, and so has transportation. Railroads just aren't a big deal, and as roads became more popular, people didn't have to move towards the hubs of railroads. So Waco soon became a ghost town of sorts. Now, in 2003, Waco is considered one of the poorest cities in the nation, due to the rapid deflation in the 50's, and it has not recovered.

I'm a student at Baylor, so let me give you the rundown on Baylor, as it is the largest employer in Waco and a major driver of the Wacoan economy. Baylor has 13,000 students and is a Baptist school. It is the only private school in the Big XII, which has not treated us kindly in some sports (always ranked near bottom in Football and Basketball) yet we manage to consistently do well in the lesser known sports (Big XII champions in Tennis, Baseball, and Rugby). Academically, Baylor is considered the Harvard of the South, with much more emphasis on it's Baptist heritage. Some would say that hurts it, others would defend that heritage -- whatever. It's a good mix of crazy frat parties without feeling like everyone's on speed around you.

I'm sure most of you have heard of David Koresh, and rightly so -- it's a testament to the gullibleness of people and the way the government can fark things up. David Koresh started his own little cult where he told people that he was Jesus Christ reincarnate and that they should all follow him. Same old story as many other cults. However, the FBI got involved because of the children, and so they surrounded the Branch Davidian compound (that's what he called his little cult), and tried to wait them out. Well, after several unsuccessful raids to get children out, many in the compound started a fire and burned themselves to the ground. One side of me wants to say they got what they deserved, and the other side of me blames the FBI for screwing up negotiations (promising stuff to Koresh and then not doing it, etc.). That's the biggest news in Waco in the past decade.

We have your standard Barnes and Nobles, 2 Starbucks, a Best Buy, a Chili's, a Friday's -- all the things a town of 100,000 people should have. But not large enough to get a good nightlife or specialty restaurants. If you want to see some of old Texas, there's a bunch of museums here, but not much else.

So on that happy note, let's break for lunch, and then you can either head 100 miles north to Dallas, 100 miles south to Austin, or 100 miles southeast to College Station (Texas A&M).