Professor J's Place

This is the line this morning at 8:45 at UTSA. I am so proud.

The other night, Susan and I were having a discussion about McCain and Palin and their liberal use of the word maverick . I said that I rather resented the use of Maury Maverick's name by a couple of right-wing nuts. After all, among liberal Texans, especially liberal San Antonians, Maverick is a name that evokes some of the finest memories. Susan hastened to inform me that a maverick is an unbranded cow or horse. Yes, I said, but I'm sure it comes from the name Maverick first--at least that's what I've always heard. Since all of this was pillow talk (aren't you guys jealous?), I waited until morning to look it up. It turns out that we were both right and both a little bit off. The word maverick does indeed stem from the men of the Maverick clan, but it comes from Samuel Maverick (Maury's grandfather) who was a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and a great liberal who, by the way, didn't brand his cattle. So an unbranded cow was often called ...