For the sixth time in the program's short history, Honors Northeast has seen its scholars publish essays. Articles by Elyse Coleman and Zachary Davis have just appeared in the 2015 issue of the journal,†Touchstone,†a publication of the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA).† The volume, which carries seven of the best student essays in the state of Texas written during the year 2014, as well as an article by a professional historian, was first made available at the recent meeting of the TSHA in Corpus Christi.
Coleman, from Gilmer, and Davis, from Pittsburg, are both sophomores at Northeast Texas Community College, and two-year members of Phi Theta Kappa as well as honors.† Elyse?s essay, ?Texans Loved the Railroad,? was a revisionist look at how latter-day, railroad-hating Texans actually were dazzled by the technology when it appeared in the nineteenth century.† Coleman notes that the railroads made the state of Texas possible.† Davis covered new ground with his article on the place of Texas in the digital revolution.† Whereas most think of California or New York as early centers of digitalization, Texas had a pioneering role with the invention of the integrated circuit by Jack Kilby in 1958, the work of Texas Instruments, and the rise of Dell, and other Silicon centers in Austin, Dallas and Houston.
Both essay are richly illustrated with pictures, and Coleman?s article provided the basis for the image of the ?Crash at Crush,? a famous railroad collision, that appears on the cover of the 2015 edition of the journal.†Anyone wishing to acquire this issue of†Touchstone†can contact Honors Director, Dr. Andrew Yox at 903-434-8229 or†ayox@ntcc.edu.
