Robert J Wright Goes Home To Palestine

I was born and raised in Palestine, Texas, just like my Dad, just like his Dad. And, perhaps, not unexpectedly, things have changed a great deal since we moved away right as I finished fourth grade.

The biggest change, as it is for many small towns, is WalMart. Not only because of the economic effects America's largest retailer has on local merchants, but in Palestine's case, the way it moved a great many of the 18,000 population to 'outside the loop', the highway that circles the town. As a result, many of downtown's businesses closed and older neighborhoods fell into disrepair.

But, as you'll see in the photos, many things of beauty remain. Among them Sacred Heart Catholic Church, where I was baptised and received First Communion, the old - and restored - Texas Theater, home of my weekly boyhood ritual, the Saturday morning 'Kids' Show' and, as there are this time every year, bluebonnets everywhere.

I love my hometown of Palestine, just like my Dad, just like his Dad. And luckily, enough pieces of my boyhood remain to make every visit enjoyable, memorable and, certainly, worth repeating.