Can you be a "true" Texan if you weren't born here? (Houston: live, military)

[Gunion Powder]

Originally Posted by FourFiftyFour

I posted earlier, but I so agree with this statement- I was born and raised here and definitely am not a Texan! There are TONS of people who have only been here a few years that are WAY more Texan than I ever will be.

You are a Texan. You may not fit the mold of what you think a Texan should be (I'm sure I don't either), but you can't change where you're born or where you're from.

How much of Texas are you familiar with outside of Santa Fe?

[FourFiftyFour]

Originally Posted by mega man

You are a Texan. You may not fit the mold of what you think a Texan should be (I'm sure I don't either), but you can't change where you're born or where you're from.

How much of Texas are you familiar with outside of Santa Fe?

I have been in most places of Texas, and I travel all over the US as well- road trips by myself and flying. I have lived in central Texas, outside of Ft Worth, outside of Dallas, and also on the Gulf Coast. I drive over 30K miles a year. I think I venture outside of "Santa Fe" quite a bit......... Just because I live in a Podunk POS town does not mean I stay in it.

I do not like Mexican food, pecan pie, or chicken fried steak... I am not crying over Blue Bell ice cream. I do not like Texas country music. I do not embrace the Texas way of life. Heat and humidity make me want to die. I am not proud of my state or being from here. To me, it is just a place that I was forced to grow up in, the only place where I could find a job outside of school, and where I honestly do not belong. So, like I said, I am not a Texan.

[Gunion Powder]

Originally Posted by FourFiftyFour

I have been in most places of Texas, and I travel all over the US as well- road trips by myself and flying. I have lived in central Texas, outside of Ft Worth, outside of Dallas, and also on the Gulf Coast. I drive over 30K miles a year. I think I venture outside of "Santa Fe" quite a bit......... Just because I live in a Podunk POS town does not mean I stay in it.

I wasn't assuming anything.

I do not like Mexican food, pecan pie, or chicken fried steak... I am not crying over Blue Bell ice cream. I do not like Texas country music. I do not embrace the Texas way of life. Heat and humidity make me want to die. I am not proud of my state or being from here. To me, it is just a place that I was forced to grow up in, the only place where I could find a job outside of school, and where I honestly do not belong. So, like I said, I am not a Texan.[/quote]

A lot of people feel the way you do. If you aren't a Texan then what else could you possibly be?

[FourFiftyFour]

Originally Posted by mega man

I wasn't assuming anything.
A lot of people feel the way you do. If you aren't a Texan then what else could you possibly be?

Just a person, I guess. Maybe just call me an American? ... I do not have to be any sort of label to be me. I think people think way too much into this Texas thing.... It is a place, just like everywhere else. Where you are born, and how you were raised does not necessarily mean that you have to be that. Being yourself and what you feel you are as a person is good enough to me.

[Gunion Powder]

Originally Posted by FourFiftyFour

Just a person, I guess. Maybe just call me an American? ... I do not have to be any sort of label to be me. I think people think way too much into this Texas thing.... It is a place, just like everywhere else. Where you are born, and how you were raised does not necessarily mean that you have to be that. Being yourself and what you feel you are as a person is good enough to me.

I agree. But I also think that one can be a true individual and still be a Texan. Instead of being ashamed of where you're from, why not simply be proud of the fact that you're a unique Texan? I know I am.

[mrfoe]

Screwed and chopped music and sippin syrup, and riding cadillac slabs is Texan culture in the AA community. That culture originated in Houston hip hop scene in the early 90s.

[radiolibre99]

Exactly, what defines a Texan above all others is a very strong sense of individualism that I have yet to see other states have as an ethos. It's very iconoclastic. People hate it cus they see it as stubborn. It's a rejection of the main stream.

Whether its the attitude of right wingers in the country who reject the liberal mainstream to Austin progressive hipsters who still retain the cowboy rebel spirit, to the inner city independent hip hop artists who refuse to give up the typical "Houston" sound in their rap.

I'm glad I grew up in Texas because everywhere I've gone there's been heavy heavy groupthink in a way. Not there's not that in Texas but other places just follow trends. It just seems generically American.

[Slowpoke_TX]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

Guess who wasn't born in Texas:

Sam Houston (first president of the Republic of Texas and US senator)
Stephen F. Austin ("Father of Texas" and namesake of the capital)
David Crockett (hero of the Alamo and US representative)
Roger Staubach (Super Bowl-winning Dallas Cowboy quarterback)
Randy White (Super Bowl-winning Cowboy linebacker, late '70s)
Troy Aikman (Super-Bowl-winning Cowboy QB, early-mid '90s)
Jerry Jeff Walker (country singer heavily associated with Texas but really from NY state)
Mike Judge (creator of the greatest and most accurate Texas-based TV show of all time, King of the Hill. And Office Space.)

I'd also add the Bush political family. They're a bunch of Connecticut yankees, but the media loves to use them, and the concept of guilt by association, to bash Texas.

[ScoPro]

I identify myself as a Texan even though not native born (Fort Benning, Georgia), but since my family moved to Austin when Dad retired from the Army in 1959, I'm ahead of a lot the recent immigrants. Never identified with any particular locale before that. Even lived at Fort Sam Houston & Camp Hood in the 1940s. But at least all my kids & grandkids are native born Texans.

However, once in a while I might feel a twinge of carpetbaggin' guilt.

[Slowpoke_TX]

Originally Posted by ScoPro

However, once in a while I might feel a twinge of carpetbaggin' guilt.

A cold Shiner or Lone Star will help you get past that.