Lady Bird Johnson

I met Lady Bird Johnson when I was a junior in high school. I was in the same American History class as her grandson, Lyn Nugent. Our teacher, Ms McMillan, with Lyn's help I assume, arranged for a tour of the LBJ Presidential Library and a lunch with the former First Lady. As a 17 year old, after a brif introduction of hello and it's nice to meet you, I decided that Mrs. Johnson was pretentious.

Today, and after her death, I don't think that way at all. I wish really that I had never shared my thoughts with friends, family and loved ones.

I respect her goal of beautifying America and maintaining regionalism in landscape and architecture. I only wish that she had been more successful, or that someone with as much clarity and influence would take up her cause today.

I've visited the Lady Bird Wild Flower Center in Southwest Austin; it's beautiful and remains true to the Central Texas landscape. I'll make certain that I visit again on my next trip to Austin, later this summer.

Though I understand that Lady Bird didn't like to be called an "environmentalist", I think she was one, certainly not radical or unyielding to the realities of times, but an environmentalist all the same. I think she liked her landscape, natural and built, to be pretty, to be pleasant to senses.

I think I share her type of environmentalism. While I'm concerned about how pollution affects our physical health, In my gut, I hate pollution because it's ugly. Clear , blue skies, crisp mountain views are what I want. I actually like development, but I want it to be pleasing architecturally and environmentally; I want the landscape to be beautiful.

More to come later......