My take on El Paso (Houston, San Antonio: amusement park, crime, hotel)
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I am now sitting in the lobby of a very nice hotel in Anaheim just across the street from Disney Land. My family and I are waiting for our room to be cleaned so we can complete our check in process and rest up for two days of Disney Fun.
We spent the last three days in San Diego doing Sea Wold, Old Town and La Jolla beaches. Southern California, is beautiful, crowded and very rushed. There are many places to shop, restaurants to dine at, and any type of accommodation or item can be found. I have only been in this area of the country for short durations a couple of times, so my take on the area is limited.
My view is, things look very good on the outside, but do not run very deep. It seems that everyone here is trying real hard to be cool, on the cutting edge and successful. The pace of life is very fast, and the people here tasty a tiny bit of a wide variety of experiences. The problem with that is no one experience life at a very deep level.
I know this is a long set up to present my view of El Paso, but I feel it is necessary for a complete understanding to what I'm getting at. What I'm trying to say is that while Southern California is a very beautiful place with many things to see and do (which is the same for many places in the U.S.) it didn't give me a meaningful feel.
By feel I mean I never got a sense of real personal atmosphere or feeling of calm that I get from El Paso.
I grew up in San Antonio, lived in the Seattle metro area and spent 6 years in Europe, and have never felt the calmness I feel in El Paso.
I have always tried to put a finger on what it is about EP that gives me this feeling, but I could never get it. It finally hit me on this SoCal trip.
El Paso is a city that lives in the moment. This doesn't seem like a magnificent pronouncement, but if you feel it, its a big deal.
El Paso is one of the oldest and most historic places in the southwest (or the U.S. for that matter), but the city doesn't embrace their history. To people in El Paso the past or history doesn't hold that much significance. To us (those who feel it) the past does not matter.
El Paso doesn't care about the future. City planning, the general population and the culture here has demonstrated this time and time again. The people in El Paso do not want things to change. The people here feel a sense of calm and contentment with the familiar.
So the vision I had about taking down Asarco, and making El Paso more cutting edge with an old town and botanical gardens, could be bad for EP.
What this city does very well is live in the present. El Paso cares about the here and now. People here are happy in the moment. It doesn't matter if its an old landscaper working in the hot sun or a cleaning lady mopping the floor, everyone is happy in whatever moment of life they happen to be in.
El Paso is an acquired taste. Most people, don't like it here at first, and some people never like it here. A type personalities and people that need their senses stimulated on a regular bases, hate it here. But for the rest of us, the feeling of enjoying life moment to moment slowly sets up a life (at least in my opinion) more deep and satisfying. This feeling sets in without people knowing what it is, but feel it on a subconscious level.
I believe this is the reason people don't worry about time, are slightly unmotivated, are content and friendly. This is the reason crime is low in El Paso. This is also why El Paso is one of the most laid back places around.
The Bhutanese architecture of UTEP is so ironic. Bhutan is a poor happy place, lost in time and living in the moment of happiness.
I am now sitting in the lobby of a very nice hotel in Anaheim just across the street from Disney Land. My family and I are waiting for our room to be cleaned so we can complete our check in process and rest up for two days of Disney Fun.
We spent the last three days in San Diego doing Sea Wold, Old Town and La Jolla beaches. Southern California, is beautiful, crowded and very rushed. There are many places to shop, restaurants to dine at, and any type of accommodation or item can be found. I have only been in this area of the country for short durations a couple of times, so my take on the area is limited.
My view is, things look very good on the outside, but do not run very deep. It seems that everyone here is trying real hard to be cool, on the cutting edge and successful. The pace of life is very fast, and the people here tasty a tiny bit of a wide variety of experiences. The problem with that is no one experience life at a very deep level.
I know this is a long set up to present my view of El Paso, but I feel it is necessary for a complete understanding to what I'm getting at. What I'm trying to say is that while Southern California is a very beautiful place with many things to see and do (which is the same for many places in the U.S.) it didn't give me a meaningful feel.
By feel I mean I never got a sense of real personal atmosphere or feeling of calm that I get from El Paso.
I grew up in San Antonio, lived in the Seattle metro area and spent 6 years in Europe, and have never felt the calmness I feel in El Paso.
I have always tried to put a finger on what it is about EP that gives me this feeling, but I could never get it. It finally hit me on this SoCal trip.
El Paso is a city that lives in the moment. This doesn't seem like a magnificent pronouncement, but if you feel it, its a big deal.
El Paso is one of the oldest and most historic places in the southwest (or the U.S. for that matter), but the city doesn't embrace their history. To people in El Paso the past or history doesn't hold that much significance. To us (those who feel it) the past does not matter.
El Paso doesn't care about the future. City planning, the general population and the culture here has demonstrated this time and time again. The people in El Paso do not want things to change. The people here feel a sense of calm and contentment with the familiar.
So the vision I had about taking down Asarco, and making El Paso more cutting edge with an old town and botanical gardens, could be bad for EP.
What this city does very well is live in the present. El Paso cares about the here and now. People here are happy in the moment. It doesn't matter if its an old landscaper working in the hot sun or a cleaning lady mopping the floor, everyone is happy in whatever moment of life they happen to be in.
El Paso is an acquired taste. Most people, don't like it here at first, and some people never like it here. A type personalities and people that need their senses stimulated on a regular bases, hate it here. But for the rest of us, the feeling of enjoying life moment to moment slowly sets up a life (at least in my opinion) more deep and satisfying. This feeling sets in without people knowing what it is, but feel it on a subconscious level.
I believe this is the reason people don't worry about time, are slightly unmotivated, are content and friendly. This is the reason crime is low in El Paso. This is also why El Paso is one of the most laid back places around.
The Bhutanese architecture of UTEP is so ironic. Bhutan is a poor happy place, lost in time and living in the moment of happiness.
From where your sitting just drive about 5 miles to the left or the right. You will see the real Anaheim they dont show you in the Disney commercials....YUKE!! I stayed in one of those motels across the street from Disney last year. I had to get gas and had to go kinda far. I was not impressed with what I saw.
ELP alot prettier than the real Anaheim!!!
I agree with your assesment on SoCal. I was offered a job in Long Beach earlier this year. After much research and much guidance from God I came to a conclusion that it would not be a good move for me and my family. I would've made double in salary from what I am making now. The high cost of housing, the fast lifestyle, the horrendous traffic, and the same observations you made about SoCal pretty much made up my mind not to take it.
My goals are still to relocate back to ELP soon.
Last edited by Smooth from ELP; 07-16-2008 at 05:41 PM..
El Paso is laid back, that's part of what's good about it. People here don't really try to be cool, some do but it's okay, just as it's okay to be uncool, here you can compete with the Joneses if you feel like it but there's no big reason to. Those who want change usually leave and find change.
I think El Paso is more complacent than calm. The reason for this is nothing acutely astounding ever happens in El Paso, sadly.
I agree with you. I am one of those people that think beign calm/complacent is a bad thing and the main reason EP can't get it's act toghether. I started to get complacent before I left EP, and thank god the opportunity to move came about. I worked for a company for 4 years and never got a promotion or anything and was starting to accept my fate and figured that was the way it's gonna be. I think opportunites are so limited there that sometimes your only choices are to be stay and be complacent or move.
I agree with you. I am one of those people that think beign calm/complacent is a bad thing and the main reason EP can't get it's act toghether. I started to get complacent before I left EP, and thank god the opportunity to move came about. I worked for a company for 4 years and never got a promotion or anything and was starting to accept my fate and figured that was the way it's gonna be. I think opportunites are so limited there that sometimes your only choices are to be stay and be complacent or move.
You know, I don't intend for this as a dig to El Paso, but fortunately for me, I had a leg up, or head start compared to you in that when I was only 17 years old, I knew that how I saw my parents, and older siblings live in El Paso was not the result of fate, but of choice. So right after highschool, and with not ever working a day in my life in El Paso, I knew I had to get out; I went to go try working and living in another city with family for a while to see if I liked it, and I never looked back.
I know what I'm about to say is not proper etiquette, however to make a point, my wife and I each bring in six figure incomes, live a great life and are happy with our work, and employers. I don't think this would ever be if I let fate decide my future, especially in El Paso. This is why I can't seriously consider leaving where I am at for El Paso, not because I hate El Paso, I don't; but because I cannot live the same lifestyle there.
Now for the platitudes... if you don't have ambitions, you won't get very far. If you never take risks, you'll never know. That is complacency, that is the mentality of most of my family still there, and all my friends still there.
You know, I don't intend for this as a dig to El Paso, but fortunately for me, I had a leg up, or head start compared to you in that when I was only 17 years old, I knew that how I saw my parents, and older siblings live in El Paso was not the result of fate, but of choice. So right after highschool, and with not ever working a day in my life in El Paso, I knew I had to get out; I went to go try working and living in another city with family for a while to see if I liked it, and I never looked back.
I know what I'm about to say is not proper etiquette, however to make a point, my wife and I each bring in six figure incomes, live a great life and are happy with our work, and employers. I don't think this would ever be if I let fate decide my future, especially in El Paso. This is why I can't seriously consider leaving where I am at for El Paso, not because I hate El Paso, I don't; but because I cannot live the same lifestyle there.
Now for the platitudes... if you don't have ambitions, you won't get very far. If you never take risks, you'll never know. That is complacency, that is the mentality of most of my family still there, and all my friends still there.
Ditto.
Now, not everyone in EP is like that, I know some very succesfull friends and family that live there ,and probably will never move since they do pretty good for themselves. This is the exception rather then the rule though. As for me, well I graduated from college in 2001 and worked in EP until 2005 then moved to the Houston area for a better opportunity. Most of my friends moved out after graduation simply because all the job offers were out of town. I don't hate EP either, in fact I have visited often (especially at the begining, it's hard to let go sometimes ) but then you can leave and go back home. You have to take risks sometimes, playing it safe will never get you ahead.
Yes, 'sorry, I did not mean that high $$ jobs do not exist in El Paso. Two friends that I grew up with as a kids have done very well in El Paso, one is a judge and I see his name mentioned now and again. The other is a successful attorney and partner in a notable law firm there and has been interviewed for appointments at the federal level by two of the Texas senators. And in my own family, a superintendent at one of the schools there, and an executive with the El Paso Corporation. But back to the main point, those types of jobs are not in abundance in El Paso. The two playmates of mine grew up just like me, poor, but determined! It has a lot to do with wanting to do better.
I think El Paso is more complacent than calm. The reason for this is nothing acutely astounding ever happens in El Paso, sadly.
What astounding thing do you want to happen here that happens somewhere else?
Is it skyscrapers? Or a big amusement park?
I think the astounding thing about El Paso is the sun shines almost every day, you don't freeze to death in the winter, the Franklins and the sunsets really are astounding and they happen daily.
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) but then you can leave and go back home. You have to take risks sometimes, playing it safe will never get you ahead.
