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Office Politick

Art Vega Ph.D.

My office is a place where I come if I need inspiration. I can always find something to keep me focused, as well as something that reminds me not to take myself too seriously. Everything I put up in my office is a reminder of what I'm doing and why I'm doing it.

1. Marathon Bibs
   I've run 8 1/2 marathons [one was a half marathon] since 1999. It's a midlife crisis thing.
2. Framed Concert Tickets
   My first concert was the Eagles in 1975, maybe, at the El Paso County Coliseum. They don't make concert tickets like that anymore—now they're either online or weird receipts. I saw The B-52's at the old Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin. It was a wild concert towards the end of the punk genre when people were crazy about The B-52's.
3. Framed John Lennon Imagine Photo
   John Lennon is an interesting character, and I've always been influenced by his music. This is a photo of John and the lyrics to "Imagine." He was always encouraging people to think outside of the box and do things a little differently. It gets me in trouble, too, though. It reminds me to ask questions and to question authority.
4. Black and White Presa Print
   I like to support the local guys when I can. Cruz Ortiz is a kind of eclectic, bohemian local artist and filmmaker. His art includes a lot of San Antonio things like HEB, Hemisfair Tower, botánicas and Southtown. It resonates with everything we think about in Latino culture. This print is one of his first pieces that I bought for $20. Now his pieces sell for about $4,000, and he's had shows everywhere from Artpace in San Antonio to the Louvre in Paris.
5. Nef Garcia and Henry B. Gonzalez Poster
   This is an old-style campaign poster for Nef Garcia who was a professor of mine at St. Mary's back in the 1970s and 80s. It shows the lineage of the Democrats—Henry B. Gonzalez, FDR, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson—to show the idea that he's a strong candidate.
6. Wall of Stickers
   I started collecting political stickers and buttons in the early 1980s, but they don't make them like they used to. Whenever I go to a flea market or a rally I try to get one. Some of them are just a statement—I'm a Batman fan so I have a Batman sticker, and another reflects some sentiments I have toward Newt Gingrich. My favorites are the Kennedy '80 and the No Grapes stickers.
   
   I also have pictures with former Speaker of the House Carl Albert, the Prime Minister of Japan, and former state Sen. Frank L. Madla Jr. when I was a legislative assistant in the Texas Senate.