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No, I have never lived there...never even been before...tell me, whats it like there?
Well, it's a mix of Cowboy Western, Southern, Mexican, Southwestern, Metropolitan, Cosmopolitan, small town, rural, Asian, black, and internationally. You have some of the largest ranches in the nation in Texas. Oil, Ranching, and cotton used make up the majority of our economy, but now it's much more diverse with huge growing high tech and medicine industry as well as rapidly growing entertainment, tourism, and education industries. Texas is one of the most diverse cities in the country in race, culture, and our peoples' back ground.
Houston has a huge influence from Louisiana which has given the city a great jazz music scene and some fantastic Cajun restaurants. The city its self is about 28% foriegn born and there are more than 80 languages form around the world spoken here. Houston has arguably one of the top 5 best museum and theater districts in country which both districts are internationally renowned. Dallas is right behind them and in they are in the process of building several new museums, which when finished, will be the largest concentration of museums in the country. Texas Medical Center in Houston is already the largest medical center in the world and has a greater sq ft area than downtown Dallas.
Dallas and Houston are the only big cities that have a major influence from Southern culture. San Antonio, El Paso, West Texas, and South Texas have a an overwhelmingly stronger cultural influence form Mexican, Southwestern, and Western culture than Southern.
And Austin, oh Austin. Austin is very Texan but not very Southern. Austin is my favorite city in Texas BTW. It has beautiful rolling with lush greenery and probably the best lake areas in Texas. In addition to UT and the state capital, Austin also has one of the leading tech and entertainment energy industries in the country. Dell is the biggest tech company here and I believe the the biggest computer technology company in the country behind Microsoft. Whole Foods is another company that the city is proud have located in Austin. The music and film industry there are very well renowned. This is do in large part to having several major music and film festivals in the city. The show Austin City limits as well as several very renowned press publications, booking agencies, recording studios, music venues, and of course fantastic musicians and song writers that call Austin home have given the city one of the top music scenes in the country. All of this an more has earned Austin the title "Live Music Capital of the World." The film scene there would competes with places like Seattle, Chicago, and Boston to claim the best film scene in the country outside of New York and Southern California.
You can find everything from the Great Plains, to mountains, to rolling hills, to deserts, to lush forest, to beaches, to swamps and marshes, etc. in Texas. It's where east meats west, Midwest meats Southwest, Southwest meats Southeast, and Latin America meats the US.
Well that's Texas and why I like it in a nut shell. I'm sure i left a lot of important stuff out. No one is saying that Texas is not in the South, it's just not limited to the South.
All jokes aside, me being a born and raised Texan has little to do with my initial inquiry...too, I dont think Texas' unique culture has as much to do with my question either. I would just like to know why Texas' prior allegiances distinguish it from the south whereas Mississippi, or Louisiana's, or VA's past allegiances and their residual cultures, dont exclude them from the south.
Why does everyone keep accusing us of separating ourselves from the south??? We all know the huge southern influence in Texas; However, it isn't JUST southern. That's the point being made here.
Why does everyone keep accusing us of separating ourselves from the south??? We all know the huge southern influence in Texas; However, it isn't JUST southern. That's the point being made here.
Oh ok..pipe down..it was just a misunderstanding on my part...I just thought people were saying Texas isnt Southern as a whole...[which is different of course than stating that the whole state isnt southern --- that is true]
likewise, let it be known, that I never claimed that Texas is JUST Southern. As I stated previously there is a sizable latin influence, as well as the german/czech influence. My only quibble was that no one makes a concerted effort to emphasize how Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi arent just southern either by those standards, as those states also were owned and influenced by both Spain and France.
All jokes aside, me being a born and raised Texan has little to do with my initial inquiry...too, I dont think Texas' unique culture has as much to do with my question either. I would just like to know why Texas' prior allegiances distinguish it from the south whereas Mississippi, or Louisiana's, or VA's past allegiances and their residual cultures, dont exclude them from the south.
Oh so you really where born and raised in Texas and you where just kidding. So I posted that long post for nothing. I swear, I'm the worst person on CD about recognizing facetious statements. Your amount of exposure to Texas has a lot to do with your question. It shows how familiar you are with the state.
One of the first reasons that Texas could be separated from the South is geography. Louisiana and Mississippi are firmly planted in Southern culture because of their location in the Southeast. I think Texas' history and culture would also have a lot to do with its vast differences from Texas and the rest of the South.
Dallas and Houston are the only big cities that have a major influence from Southern culture. San Antonio, El Paso, West Texas, and South Texas have a an overwhelmingly stronger cultural influence form Mexican, Southwestern, and Western culture than Southern.
I think we have pretty well come the full circle on our respective positions, and seem to agree on some things and disagree on others. Which is fine.
Just a comment on the above list though. I would agree that El Paso (and the trans-pecos is truly Southwestern (i.e. New Mexico and Arizona variety), but the others need qualified.
Yes, South Texas always had a large Mexican/hispanic population (some illegal for sure) and was more influenced by the same than the rest of the state. But that is a relatively recent occurance, and much different than the Interior Southwest. For quite a while, Southern influences were very heavy (San Antonio has been described as a mix of Old Mexico and Old South) and exceeded any exerted by Mexico. Demographic changes has altered this quite a bit over the years, but again, it is comparatively new as compared to NM and AZ.
Here are some excerpts from a pretty good article on the subject:
*****************************
Edited by Joseph Carleton Wilder
UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA PRESS
THE SOUTHWEST CENTER
TUCSON
From The Southwest Defined
There should be much less of an argument regarding the Southwest's eastern and western boundaries. Texans may not like it, but there is no convincing or substantial physical and qualified cultural evidence that the Southwest extends eastward beyond the 104th Meridian West. The Llano Estacado clearly belongs to the Great Plains, and the headwaters of the Canadian and Cimarron rivers roll toward the same direction as does the culture of northeast New Mexico face: eastward. Combined with the Southwest's southern boundary coordinate of 29° N., this border would enclose the western two-thirds of the "horn" of Texas, a region which includes El Paso, one of the most "Southwestern" of all Southwestern towns.
El Paso, culturally as well as physically, has belonged more with Southwestern cities Albuquerque and Tucson than with Dallas or Houston. However, the Spanish did explore and settle much of southern Texas, and that fact plus close historical ties with Mexico, remains the most legitimate-and only-claim the rest of Texas can present as a credential for membership in "the Southwest." And in many other ways Texas simply doesn't qualify, despite such vestigial Hispanic enclaves as San Antonio and Nacogdoches.
Current demographic statistics do not provoke any great revision in determining that area which we can call the "Hispanic Southwest." Place names in southern Texas and California suggest a rich and enduring Hispanic heritage in those two states. But following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, hordes of white Americans rushed into these Hispanic areas of Texas, and, even though white Americans totally dominated these parts of Texas, they continued to use many existing Spanish place names. Most of California's Spanish place names were designated by Anglo real estate developers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in an attempt to capitalize commercially on the state's romance that visitors and newcomers to the region found so "quaint" and attractive. A meaningful cultural presence of Hispanic traditions cannot be derived merely from Spanish place names. And other qualifications- primarily physiographic, climatic, and prehistoric-preclude Texas and California from being placed within "the Southwest."
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So far as West Texas goes, I still maintain that while "western" for sure, is not part of "The West." That is to say, it for sure has that frontier quality made famous during the historic Old West era (post-bellum), but it differs considerably in terms of culture from the states classified as part of the Census Bureau West (Rocky Mountain and SW states). The west of West Texas is the product of Southern settlers and influences, even if the physical geography is about as far removed from the Old South moonlight and magnolias image as it is possible to be! LOL
Anyway, better get back to work. And by the way, I like that "South by Southwest" label!
Agreed. It's funny because while the rest of America looks at us as redneck and country. We look at states such as Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, and more as country and redneckish.
Than in Texas you have the major cities who look down on the smaller Texas cities. It's weird because when I tell people I'm from Waco in Houston; they either say "Eww" or "Oh you from Dallas??" lol
That is hilarious, now the state of Texas as a whole is for sure more progressive than the state of Georgia as a whole. Not gonna argue with that (not by that much though, both states have a number of red state loonies). But I find it hilarious that you said that because growing up in Atlanta we always considered cities like Houston and Dallas to be slow. I remember the first time I went to Dallas my cousin and I were really getting a kick out of how the locals dressed. First off we saw tons of people still wearing Reebok classics, but back home we stopped wearing those years before, and you would get roasted if you still wore those. But the icing on the cake was the leather shorts. I had heard about dudes in Dallas rocking leather shorts, but I had to see it with my own eyes. Basically 75% of the people I saw in Texas dressed how we dressed 2-3 years earlier. I agree with most of what you say in your posts homie, but you all may very well look at us as country and redneckish, but please believe that we look at you all the same way in Atlanta. LOL.
That is hilarious, now the state of Texas as a whole is for sure more progressive than the state of Georgia as a whole. Not gonna argue with that (not by that much though, both states have a number of red state loonies). But I find it hilarious that you said that because growing up in Atlanta we always considered cities like Houston and Dallas to be slow. I remember the first time I went to Dallas my cousin and I were really getting a kick out of how the locals dressed. First off we saw tons of people still wearing Reebok classics, but back home we stopped wearing those years before, and you would get roasted if you still wore those. But the icing on the cake was the leather shorts. I had heard about dudes in Dallas rocking leather shorts, but I had to see it with my own eyes. Basically 75% of the people I saw in Texas dressed how we dressed 2-3 years earlier. I agree with most of what you say in your posts homie, but you all may very well look at us as country and redneckish, but please believe that we look at you all the same way in Atlanta. LOL.
Really wasn't speaking on Atlanta, but that's cool.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by youngMichaelJackson
That is hilarious, now the state of Texas as a whole is for sure more progressive than the state of Georgia as a whole. Not gonna argue with that (not by that much though, both states have a number of red state loonies).
Just a couple of questions...
What exactly is a red state loony?
How is he/she different than a blue state loony?
Your amount of exposure to Texas has a lot to do with your question. It shows how familiar you are with the state.
True, but you asked whether I had lived in Texas...IMO one can have exposure, and gain a great deal of familiarity with a place's culture without having lived there...Even if I were only a frequent visitor, I would still hold the same perspective. And I cant see how me being a resident would really alter that too much.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wpmeads
One of the first reasons that Texas could be separated from the South is geography. Louisiana and Mississippi are firmly planted in Southern culture because of their location in the Southeast. I think Texas' history and culture would also have a lot to do with its vast differences from Texas and the rest of the South.
I think using this qualification, I could easily understand that reasoning. Despite the fact that Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi were also owned by Spain, Texas remains the most closely situated state to the nation with heavy cultural influences from Spain (Mexico).
Just a couple of questions...
What exactly is a red state loony?
How is he/she different than a blue state loony?
A red state loony is a person who uses coded phrases like "I want my country back". Red state loonies stand outside town hall meetings with automatic rifles, and attend tea parties protesting tax increases that probably wouldnt even affect their tax bracket anyway. Red state loonies do things like start petitions to secede from the USA, and take their children out of school on the day the President makes a speech about staying in school. I could go on and on. And how is he/she different than a blue state loony? Well I dont know LD, I live in a red state just like you
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