I'm Happier With the Myth
Aug. 16th, 2005 09:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mrdreamjeansI’m in love with Texas, the myth, the ideal put out in the movie westerns of a certain age. I like the idea of cowboys and a code of honor, of aw-shucks hospitality, wide-open spaces, stubborn independence and strong character. I like rodeos and riding horseback, wearing a cowboy hat and boots, driving a pick-up, listening to Willie Nelson and George Strait on the radio and gustily singin’ along. I love to two-step...
I celebrate our pioneer history. I’ve read dozens of Louis L’Amour and Zane Grey novels. I’m proud to reside in The Lone Star State when I’m not touring, particularly happy to live in Washington County, the birthplace of Texas. I like barbecue, spicy Tex-Mex food and County Fairs. I even like to brag about how Texas has the prettiest women (I’ve judged a beauty pageant or two:) and the most ruggedly handsome men. I love my family and friends who reside in Texas. For most Texans, the myth is their belief, symbolism takes precedence over reality.
The truth is Texas has a corner on lots of mind-boggling negatives: on crazies, inept politicians (at least giving most states a run for their money) and bad decisions. We have a statewide toll road system under construction, bulldozing our farm and ranch land willy-nilly; there’s no affordable mass transit other than buses in the cities; our politicians push tax cuts at the expense of childrens health; our environment/ climate is hot, humid and alarmingly polluted.
We allow Charter schools that siphon off diminished dollars for public education with little oversight and a court system that fills up its prisons with non-violent offenders and kills its prisoners at rate unmatched by any other state. Who out there thinks permitting concealed handguns and cutting tax dollars for law enforcement at the same time isn’t a recipe for disaster? Raise your hand.
I love being from Texas. But I am most happy to be a Texan when I’m living elsewhere ... like Seattle, New York or Europe where many people still think the whole state lives like the Ewings on “Dallas”. Unfortunately, the couple of years leading up to the war in Iraq and the present, have disabused most foreigners of that notion. I’m not ready to give up on Texas. I’m willing to work for her best interests; to be part of a solution to our problems; to effect change in the current political system and elect representatives that value ideas, creativity, statesmanship over partisan, mean-spirited politics. It’s going to take time. I may have to invest my time and energy at a distance at first. But I want the reality and the myth of Texas to meet somewhere in the middle and offer all Texans quality of life.
Texas Monthly magazine is, in my opinion, one of the finest publications in America. It’s a standard-bearer for in-depth articles; I value its editorial point of view, willingness to avoid dumbing down the hot button issues of the day. It exemplifies critical reporting and story-telling at its best. It’s highly entertaining too. In May, the magazine published an excerpt called “Where We Rank”. If you’re a proud Texan, according to these statistics, we’ve got a lot of work to do to get back to the head of the line.
Where we rank within the 50 states (random examples):
50th in percentage of the population with health insurance
50th in the number of high school graduates age 25 and over
50th in percentage of low-income children
50th in consumer credit score
50th in per capita spending on government employee wages and salaries
50th in affordability of homeowners insurance
50th in per capita spending on government administration
50th in affordability of residential electric bill
49th in Tax revenue raised per capita; per capita spending on state arts agencies;
total general expenditures per capita; per capita spending on water quality.
48th in per capita spending on parks and recreation; Mean Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) scores; Average Spending per child on child protection; percentage of workforce represented by a union.
47th in Amount of welfare and food-stamp benefits paid and percentage of poor who receive Medicaid; 46th in per capita spending on environmental protection, on mental health, on protection of open spaces (so much for the myth wide open spaces) and average hourly wages; 45th in per capita spending on public health; number of secondary teachers with degrees in the subject they teach; home ownership rate; 44th in number of pharmacists and percentage of eligible voters who are registered.
37th in Compliance with the Supreme Court decision declaring that unjustified institutionalization of a disabled person is discrimination. (A key fact given my own family’s battles with the state)
On the other end of the spectrum, Texas is:
15th in murder rate; 12th in obesity; 11th in percentage of low-income students in public schools and violent crime rate; 9th in the rate of infectious diseases per 100,000 people, the unemployment rate and number of alcohol-related deaths. We are 7th in poverty rate, 5th in the total crime rate; 4th in the percentage of children living in poverty; 3rd in percentage of the population that is malnourished. We are 2nd in sales tax dependence; percentage of the population that goes hungry; overall birth rate, teenage birth rate (God forbid you should teach kids about birth control) amount of exposure to ozone pollution, number of hazardous-chemical spills, number of inmates per 100,000 people and number of highway fatalities.
Drum roll please... We are 1st in:
Child population growth
Percentage of uninsured children
Amount of toxic and cancerous manufacturing emissions
Number of clean-water permit violations
Number of Environmental civil rights complaints
Per capita consumption of electricity
Number of job discrimination lawsuits filed
Number of deaths attributed to floods
NUMBER OF EXECUTIONS
You have to ask...Who’s minding the store?
I realize that this is a grim accounting of Texas’ ranking on important issues, but I do still think of my area of the state as a ”little bit of heaven”. (Afterall, we make Bluebell Ice Cream here as our main industry:) It’s going to take time to get my Texas, the Texas I love in myth and in reality, turned around; but I believe we can do it. I know there are thinking, caring folk out there who are willing to do it one vote at a time. After all, you’ve got to like a state which has folks like![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
daltxfurry, woofytexan,eggwards, deebee and gaugetx living here, don’t you? Until then, (spoken in my best John Wayne voice), “I’m goin’ to wrestle me a grizzly and kiss me a handsome man”..well, I made that last part up...so sue me... I bet we’re not last in that....
I celebrate our pioneer history. I’ve read dozens of Louis L’Amour and Zane Grey novels. I’m proud to reside in The Lone Star State when I’m not touring, particularly happy to live in Washington County, the birthplace of Texas. I like barbecue, spicy Tex-Mex food and County Fairs. I even like to brag about how Texas has the prettiest women (I’ve judged a beauty pageant or two:) and the most ruggedly handsome men. I love my family and friends who reside in Texas. For most Texans, the myth is their belief, symbolism takes precedence over reality.
The truth is Texas has a corner on lots of mind-boggling negatives: on crazies, inept politicians (at least giving most states a run for their money) and bad decisions. We have a statewide toll road system under construction, bulldozing our farm and ranch land willy-nilly; there’s no affordable mass transit other than buses in the cities; our politicians push tax cuts at the expense of childrens health; our environment/ climate is hot, humid and alarmingly polluted.
We allow Charter schools that siphon off diminished dollars for public education with little oversight and a court system that fills up its prisons with non-violent offenders and kills its prisoners at rate unmatched by any other state. Who out there thinks permitting concealed handguns and cutting tax dollars for law enforcement at the same time isn’t a recipe for disaster? Raise your hand.
I love being from Texas. But I am most happy to be a Texan when I’m living elsewhere ... like Seattle, New York or Europe where many people still think the whole state lives like the Ewings on “Dallas”. Unfortunately, the couple of years leading up to the war in Iraq and the present, have disabused most foreigners of that notion. I’m not ready to give up on Texas. I’m willing to work for her best interests; to be part of a solution to our problems; to effect change in the current political system and elect representatives that value ideas, creativity, statesmanship over partisan, mean-spirited politics. It’s going to take time. I may have to invest my time and energy at a distance at first. But I want the reality and the myth of Texas to meet somewhere in the middle and offer all Texans quality of life.
Texas Monthly magazine is, in my opinion, one of the finest publications in America. It’s a standard-bearer for in-depth articles; I value its editorial point of view, willingness to avoid dumbing down the hot button issues of the day. It exemplifies critical reporting and story-telling at its best. It’s highly entertaining too. In May, the magazine published an excerpt called “Where We Rank”. If you’re a proud Texan, according to these statistics, we’ve got a lot of work to do to get back to the head of the line.
Where we rank within the 50 states (random examples):
50th in percentage of the population with health insurance
50th in the number of high school graduates age 25 and over
50th in percentage of low-income children
50th in consumer credit score
50th in per capita spending on government employee wages and salaries
50th in affordability of homeowners insurance
50th in per capita spending on government administration
50th in affordability of residential electric bill
49th in Tax revenue raised per capita; per capita spending on state arts agencies;
total general expenditures per capita; per capita spending on water quality.
48th in per capita spending on parks and recreation; Mean Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) scores; Average Spending per child on child protection; percentage of workforce represented by a union.
47th in Amount of welfare and food-stamp benefits paid and percentage of poor who receive Medicaid; 46th in per capita spending on environmental protection, on mental health, on protection of open spaces (so much for the myth wide open spaces) and average hourly wages; 45th in per capita spending on public health; number of secondary teachers with degrees in the subject they teach; home ownership rate; 44th in number of pharmacists and percentage of eligible voters who are registered.
37th in Compliance with the Supreme Court decision declaring that unjustified institutionalization of a disabled person is discrimination. (A key fact given my own family’s battles with the state)
On the other end of the spectrum, Texas is:
15th in murder rate; 12th in obesity; 11th in percentage of low-income students in public schools and violent crime rate; 9th in the rate of infectious diseases per 100,000 people, the unemployment rate and number of alcohol-related deaths. We are 7th in poverty rate, 5th in the total crime rate; 4th in the percentage of children living in poverty; 3rd in percentage of the population that is malnourished. We are 2nd in sales tax dependence; percentage of the population that goes hungry; overall birth rate, teenage birth rate (God forbid you should teach kids about birth control) amount of exposure to ozone pollution, number of hazardous-chemical spills, number of inmates per 100,000 people and number of highway fatalities.
Drum roll please... We are 1st in:
Child population growth
Percentage of uninsured children
Amount of toxic and cancerous manufacturing emissions
Number of clean-water permit violations
Number of Environmental civil rights complaints
Per capita consumption of electricity
Number of job discrimination lawsuits filed
Number of deaths attributed to floods
NUMBER OF EXECUTIONS
You have to ask...Who’s minding the store?
I realize that this is a grim accounting of Texas’ ranking on important issues, but I do still think of my area of the state as a ”little bit of heaven”. (Afterall, we make Bluebell Ice Cream here as our main industry:) It’s going to take time to get my Texas, the Texas I love in myth and in reality, turned around; but I believe we can do it. I know there are thinking, caring folk out there who are willing to do it one vote at a time. After all, you’ve got to like a state which has folks like
daltxfurry, woofytexan,eggwards, deebee and gaugetx living here, don’t you? Until then, (spoken in my best John Wayne voice), “I’m goin’ to wrestle me a grizzly and kiss me a handsome man”..well, I made that last part up...so sue me... I bet we’re not last in that....
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-08-17 03:27 am (UTC)(ps - blue bell has to be the WORST ice cream in the world...i know, i know...but i had to say it...)
no subject
Date: 2005-08-17 03:28 am (UTC)if you are ever in dallas touring with a show - or for whatever reason...
i'll make you some REALLY good ice cream,,,
no subject
Date: 2005-08-18 01:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-17 03:42 am (UTC)I forget what polutant they sited but it's related to what is left in the air after combustion of fossel fuels, such as gasoline.
What, with the plethera of single occupency vehicle SUV (and often large ones at that) that abound in and around the state, I'd not be too surprised.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-18 01:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-18 02:26 am (UTC)Besides with all the dry weather, things here are looking a tad hazy, about normal for this time of the year.
Then the "monsoon" season hits in mid Sept/October and all that haze will dissapear. :-)
no subject
Date: 2005-08-17 03:42 am (UTC)Oh, and I bet Texas ranks first in the number of non-denominational churches and tacky evangelical church architecture.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-18 01:14 am (UTC)You may have seen my post about a County Fair parade where I went ballistic over one of the floats. One of the Christian Schools had a float with a young handsome man with flowing dark hair in prayerful posture, hands raised to a dramatic cross draped with a red cloth. At the foot of the cross, kneeling in submission was a guy dressed as Uncle Sam. I had to be peeled and nearly got in a fight because I was booing the crappy symbolism:)
Seeing your handsome face, I can imagine you wearing a hat and boots and driving a pick-up:) Nice image! HUGS!
no subject
Date: 2005-08-18 05:26 pm (UTC)Hat, boots, pick-up. Yep, I've done it... if a Ford Ranger counts as a pick-up. Not an overly macho pick-up, but still.
Wranglers tend to flatten my ass though. Thank god for Carhartt's.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-18 05:49 pm (UTC)I'll have to investigate Carhartts. I have a cap as you can see in this picture, but don't have any other pieces of clothing from them.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-17 04:11 am (UTC)Texas is messed up, and it's purely from the fact that people have refused to open up their wallets to pay for services and take care of Texas. A big problem is that Texas is still in denial that our government is no longer funded by oil land that the state has, money that paid in full the budgets for UT, A&M and a mess of other services.
We've also increased our population tenfold, but haven't dealt with the economic reality of that. Most people are unwilling to make the necessary moves to improve our schools, social services and infrastructure, thinking that someone else, or worse yet, that free enterprise will do it. Unfortunately, that's a wishful thought that isn't reality, and more and more we're developing groups that cannot take care of these things, namely new immigrants and more poor.
Of course, with our legislature more worried about voting themselves pay raises, getting their odd social agendas forwarded, and just the lack of time with their short legislative season, they are useless. All they want to do is get re-elected, not make real change.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-18 01:21 am (UTC)I read your posts. I've met you. You are one of the good guys. Believe it! Hugs!
no subject
Date: 2005-08-17 12:02 pm (UTC)But the current reality of Texas leaves a little bit to be desired. If I thought that I could goto Texas and really have it all (great job, a horse, some decent land) I'd give it serious thought.
And for what it's worth, I'd offer to be that grizzly, or the handsome man.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-18 01:28 am (UTC)I'm not sure about the job market. After all, my two careers, newpaper writing and entertaining, aren't known for their top pay in Texas:)
You can have a great horse. (We still have three alive... Pace, age 32; Callie, age 30 and Sandy, age 24.) You can still buy decent land live in an area of rolling hills and wildflowers in the Spring. I'm 90 minutes each way to Houston or Austin. TGRA is still active, particularly in Dallas/Ft Worth and Austin.
I think you'd work as a Texan, honorary or otherwise:) Big Hugs! Thanks for raising my spirits!
no subject
Date: 2005-08-19 12:25 pm (UTC)killing two flies with one rock
Date: 2005-08-17 02:14 pm (UTC)Maybe you could find a Grizzly Adams and wrestle and kiss him both!
Hugs and well wishes to you and yours
Re: killing two flies with one rock
Date: 2005-08-18 01:32 am (UTC)Seems like a long time since we got to run around Norfolk and Williamsburg. *sigh*... Just imagine, next time I see you, I won't be sick. Imagine me healthy! LOL! Hugs!
Re: killing two flies with one rock
Date: 2005-08-22 02:46 am (UTC)Glad you are in good health and good spirits too
no subject
Date: 2005-08-17 03:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-18 01:38 am (UTC)Wait a minute, I'm supposed to be responding to my serious post about Texas and where it's headed and now all I can think about is what you'd like in a wrestling outfit! Dammit, you'll ruin my serious demeanor:)! LOL!
no subject
Date: 2005-08-18 01:55 pm (UTC)comment to self:
dang, this jockstrap really is see-thru in my red singlet.... pops leg straps once or twice thru material.....
Texas!
Date: 2005-08-17 04:29 pm (UTC)Looks like you've got a few people willing to wrestle with ya. Be sure and have someone take pictures... sweaty hairy shirtless men... my vision of texas! Especially if they leave their boots on.
Re: Texas!
Date: 2005-08-18 01:41 am (UTC)You sure you don't mean... "Texas - The Bored Game"? Hehehe
Hugs!
Re: Texas!
Date: 2005-08-18 05:00 am (UTC)Re: Texas!
Date: 2005-08-18 01:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-17 06:33 pm (UTC)It's nice to know that someone feels the same way.
*HUGS*
no subject
Date: 2005-08-18 01:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-18 01:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-18 01:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-17 06:49 pm (UTC)That said, I can't help but notice that the Texans responding to this post are universally attractive. Y'all DO make some mighty fine Bears down there. (But then, I do have a weakness for burly cowboys)
no subject
Date: 2005-08-18 01:47 am (UTC)I'm on a mean streak
Date: 2005-08-18 09:44 am (UTC)Re: I'm on a mean streak
Date: 2005-08-19 05:22 am (UTC)Are you suggesting that the fellows at BRB are less than...sterling...in appearance?
I'm on a mean streak
Date: 2005-08-19 07:43 am (UTC)OMG! I'm so mean, Neil will cuss me out for this!
But the truth is I feel I can joke about this because how many of my bedpartners or bfs' tummy rolls roll over their sterling belt buckles? Ummm... A LOT! :0)
To be sure, I have long overgrown my 'bear' phase and 'cowboy' fetish only to return occasionally simply because of the person himself. As for Girth & Mirth, I shall save them to savor in the next life.
But, seriously, there are some serious babes at the BRB and in TX, in general. Neil in younger days is a good example of that (BUT STILL HOT, though, still hot!... carefully scanning for Neil) But it's also worth noting that TX is about extremes even when not meaning to be so = There are some serious babes here that shine even on the national and international levels and, then, there is ugliness that makes you go: "In-breeding!" - It's the only answer :0)
Same with women.
As for obesity, weird fashion only to name 2, there is DEFINITELY a thing called 'BAD TEXAS' - no question!
But all of this makes the charm of TX, I suppose.
I will never forget the site of 2 cowboys 2-stepping at the BRB while trying to avoid each other's 10-gallon hats!
But now, I'm waiting for genuine mid-western beef to do leather with! YUM!!! I hear they go CRAZY when they go crazy, don't they? LOL!!!
HUG to cool papi bear!
Re: I'm on a mean streak
Date: 2005-08-19 07:55 am (UTC)The last time I saw a local leather man, he was stripping down from his jeans to the point where he was wearing nothing more than his harness and boots. The moment he dropped trou, I left.
I cannot speak from first-hand observation how crazy they get, and, since I'm known for my own tendency toward hyperbole, I question the reliability of the stories I hear.
"Are we in Kansas?"
Date: 2005-08-19 08:04 am (UTC)"I'm known for my own tendency toward hyperbole" - Really?... So, how far is Wisconsin from TX, I wonder? :0)
Re: "Are we in Kansas?"
Date: 2005-08-19 06:16 pm (UTC)PS
Date: 2005-08-19 07:57 am (UTC)You've never been to any bear gathering? No wonder I love you!
You ain't miss much, papi! The muscles - if any - of the insecure are only good to look at :0) 'Noteworthy performance' is hardly possible when you're all drunk and/or drugged out even if such 'noteworthy performance' could have happened otherwise. And we know better to want a real meal to chew on than plastic foods to look at, don't we? :0)
Bitch session
Date: 2005-08-18 10:12 am (UTC)And you forgot to mention that son-bitch who ran his pick-up over Camp Casey's crosses in Crawford, TX, yelling: "TX's Bush country!!!" Now, there's a damn guuud reason to be proud of TX, hear?
So, I went to check out gaugetx cuz he's new meat to me :0) and he's got the coolest HAPPY FEET and HAPPY icons ever! But, then, I read that his brother-in-law or sister or both may have cancer and got all bumped out! :( Hope they're ok.
Then, I checked out woofytexan or deebee (don't remember cuz they're both new meat to me) and, boy, does the dude look like he's from TX in that tux pix or what???
Well, it's all your fault, Neil! Grrrr!... So there!
I wan even mean to papi wisconsin bruin! sob, sob...
PS: Can I call you Nelly when I love you? I want to soooo bad, please!
Re: Bitch session
Date: 2005-08-18 01:42 pm (UTC)I haven't heard from you in a month or more and you go off:) I have no idea what Mike (gaugetx) looks like. I've never seen a picture of him, or for that matter of you. If you look at furrytxcub in the tux, he isn't included in the list in the post either, but I am delighted he read the post and responded.
And... there was no need to be mean to BruinWI just because he likes Texas Bears. He's a great guy and entitled to his opinion, just as you are....I consider him a friend. The "white, fat and hairy" is unkind and untrue, Thanh. Particularly of the guys you checked out...
There are more important issues to tackle... like what kind of sauce goes best with fried Republicans....*grin*
Garfield gaze, Garfield purrrrr
Date: 2005-08-19 06:43 am (UTC)I was TEASING, of course!
C'mon, do you honestly think anyone would be so mean as to literally MEAN "white, fat and hairy"???... Ok, I take that back - may be there are people who are like that, but NOT MOI!
'Bitch session' was completely tongue-and-cheek which I guess would have been clearer if we were carrying on in person with body language and all the rest at the BRB or Lone Star Salon or somewhere LIVE?
BruinWI: I adore him and his cartoon strip and trust that he's smarter than to be offended by my obvious rib? I would apologize profusely if he did but don't think he does. We've played like that in the past and he had no problem with it.
STRAYING FROM SUBJECT: But, you know, fully accepting the possibility that some people on LJ may very well think that my online demeanor and sense of humor are sometimes 'abrasive', 'politically incorrect or 'out of place', I see the same done by other people but noone seems offended when THESE people do it?
Barring YOU, there's sometimes a sense of cliquish hypocrisy about this pervasive attitude that puzzles me. Because it does'nt happen only to me. I see it happen to other people, too, when I read some of other people's journals on here.
I see this happen in person as well but, curiously enough, hardly EVER to me? :0) Very rarely, indeed, if never - unless the person or group and I are REALLY incompatible.
Also, I feel a certain sadness whenever I see the lack of flirt, rib or joke. It's as though some of these queens are so hungry for drama that they shun happy comers and dismiss them as 'lewd' or 'pc incorrect' accusing them of all sorts of psycho babbling no matter how much they deny doing it OR unless you're 'their type' :0)
Being fiercely individualistic, I resist and confront these schoolboyish games ever since kindergarten.
Once again: Some people EXCEPT YOU. You are undeniably sweet (sometimes 'too' :0)) and genuinely so even when you disapprove. And that makes the class of Neil. A true texan, indeed, even if I sometimes cringe at the mental image of Neil showing up in 'creased' Wranglers!... Oh wait, I forget: You don't wear Wranglers, right?
But that's why I like to hang out here.
As for activating my LJ blog, I stand accused and really feel bad about not doing it yet. The play is heading toward the finish line and I promise I will start blogging and post pix - the whole bit - as soon as I finish this project. It is very important to me and I hope you and fellow LJers and beyond will approve and get behind it. It is for all of us... or, rather, for those among us who want it.
Not remembering the exact dates of Evita in Houston but only that it's sometime in Sept (?), I apologize in advance should I miss it.
I will be in Paris for Premiere Vision (a textiles tradeshow) in Sept and NYC in Oct for market and, more excitingly, to promote the play!
Expect YOU and be most flattered by your attendance of its Houston premiere!
MANY, MANY HUGS - and we will take our time to savor them, won't we?
PS: How's RussBear? My regards to him.
Re: Garfield gaze, Garfield purrrrr
Date: 2005-08-19 01:43 pm (UTC)I look forward to posts and pictures from you and I'm happy that you're approaching completion of your play. I know how much hard work that is...
As to
PS to Garfield gaze, Garfield purrrrr
Date: 2005-08-19 08:33 pm (UTC)Rossbear rocks! A sweetheart. Please say hi!
Many more hugs!
mispell
Date: 2005-08-19 06:54 am (UTC)