Texas A&M University – That… Which Matters Most

One of the traditions at Texas A&M University is that of Reveille, the mascot. Most know Reveille today as a full-blood Collie, but the original Reveille was actually a mutt.

The story goes that there was a car full of Aggies coming back to school after a weekend in Houston, who came across a dog that had been hit by a car. The dog was fine, but the Aggies loaded the dog up, nonetheless, and brought her back to their barracks. That night, the dog slept on the couch in the barracks lobby.

When reveille was blown in the morning for muster, Reveille began barking and waking up the entire barracks along with the bugler. She soon became a bit of her own Reveille and began to bark just before the bugler blew, hence the name, Reveille.

The other aspect of the story that I was told was that she would also sleep anywhere she liked. So if she hopped up on your bed at night, you had to sleep on the couch in the lobby. Thus, the tradition was born.

When she died, they buried her just outside Kyle Field where, looking through the tunnel into Kyle Field, so she could still see the score board. With the new renovations, the Aggies had to add a score board on the edge of the grave site. You can see the final score of the game my boys and I watched.

I always enjoy being able to take photos at Texas A&M University. It is where I really had my photography skills refined back in the late 1980s when I was a student in the journalism department.

Going back with a digital camera is a delight. I was using a Canon AE-1 back in the day. Working for the Aggieland Yearbook, we rolled our own black and white film, processed it, and spent hours in the dark room printing photos. The senior in charge of photography really taught me how to take black and white and get it to pop with contrast. He was always telling us that he wanted to see both the whitest whites, and the blackest blacks in every photo. I still hold to that principle today and rejoice at the ease editing software makes the task. Those who actually worked in dark rooms developing photos will remember the countless filters we would go through getting the right level of contrast.

For the record, I didn’t have my digital Canon on this shoot. I had to use my iPhone. Since the boys and I were there to see the Aggies play, we were told that I wouldn’t be able to bring my camera inside the stadium, so I left it inside the car.

Amazing that my iPhone SE actually takes better pictures than my old Canon AE-1. No one could have imagined that I would be walking the A&M campus with a phone, much less, one that took really great photos.