Texas Homecoming Mums Have Bells. One District Asks for Tape.

I had the same reaction to my first Texas mum, at a cousin's game in Lubbock, and said so out loud, near the cousin.

Schultz, a photographer, went to a local mum-making party to find out. She was quickly "fired" from construction, being, by her own account, terrible at it. So she took pictures instead, and started seeing the work in all that ribbon. "You can't just shrug and say, 'Everything's bigger in Texas,'" she said. In 2019 she became artist-in-residence at the Arlington Museum of Art, which exhibited her photographs and stories of the tradition, and she later turned them into a book, Mumentous.

The schools, meanwhile, have logistics. Plainview ISD's reminder to elementary families welcomed mums and garters, then laid out the terms. Secure them so children can manage them on their own. Tape the bells and any other noisy parts. Staff will not be unpinning, repinning, repairing, or keeping track of pieces that come loose.

A corsage that needs its bells taped before it can attend reading group is no longer a corsage. It is a band.

I love the clarity of that. Not "may be unable to." Not "where possible." Will not.

Plainview's rules would also work at our house for nearly everything. Please secure it so you can manage it yourself. Please tape anything that jingles. The adults will not be repairing it or tracking its loose pieces. I read the list aloud at breakfast. The youngest asked if it applied to her backpack, which jingles. I said yes. She asked if it applied to my keys, which also jingle, and which I lose daily. My wife said yes, and handed me the tape.

Schultz, fired from the craft table, found her role holding the camera. I have found mine. I hold the tape.