Because
of politicians and the horrific state of Texas public education -
people that have never been to Texas have a horrible opinion of the
place. It's understandable to feel that Texas must be a horrible place
from having Bush and Rick Perry as governors; but people who have been
here and spent some time here can see the beauty that Texas has to
offer, and can also tell about the unique and special culture that we
Texas have that no one else can compare theirs to.
Far too often these days I hear things like,
"EEEWWWWWW!!!!!! Texas??? I couldn't live there!"
I am almost hurt by these things. I have to make an effort to respond or reply politely to these. I know exactly why people react in this way, and so I can't be harsh with them. I only have to be patient.
I recall this past Spring when I visited San Francisco, and how all the things I'd heard over the years could lead one to expect to see horrible, hairy men dressed in women's dresses everywhere. I don't care about seeing gay men out and about-but the ugliness I was prepared to see. . . . .didn't exist. Sure, it might exist somewhere in San Francisco, but who cares? Surely, one would have to be looking for it.
When all was said and done I decided that San Francisco, California was perhaps the coolest, hippest, most fun place in North America; and that could I afford to live anywhere in the states of my choosing-then I'd probably want to live in San Francisco. This probably isn't going to happen, however, and why should it? Texas has a super liberal city of fun and education, and it is the capital city, Austin. I've already got friends in Austin, and it wouldn't cost nearly so much to live there. I could even keep my same profession in the hvac industry if I wanted to move to beautiful, Austin, Texas.
"EEEWWWWWW!!!!!! Texas??? I couldn't live there!"
I am almost hurt by these things. I have to make an effort to respond or reply politely to these. I know exactly why people react in this way, and so I can't be harsh with them. I only have to be patient.
I recall this past Spring when I visited San Francisco, and how all the things I'd heard over the years could lead one to expect to see horrible, hairy men dressed in women's dresses everywhere. I don't care about seeing gay men out and about-but the ugliness I was prepared to see. . . . .didn't exist. Sure, it might exist somewhere in San Francisco, but who cares? Surely, one would have to be looking for it.
When all was said and done I decided that San Francisco, California was perhaps the coolest, hippest, most fun place in North America; and that could I afford to live anywhere in the states of my choosing-then I'd probably want to live in San Francisco. This probably isn't going to happen, however, and why should it? Texas has a super liberal city of fun and education, and it is the capital city, Austin. I've already got friends in Austin, and it wouldn't cost nearly so much to live there. I could even keep my same profession in the hvac industry if I wanted to move to beautiful, Austin, Texas.
Kaufman, Texas
Just some of the BEAUTY of Texas
Texas gets bad press around the nation-but when does our media ever play fair?
Let's
be honest, people, creationists are illiterate morons, and there's no
way around that. If you don't know what an archetype is, or metaphor,
simile, etc-you shouldn't have graduated from high school, and you
aren't qualified to read the Bible. Since the days of Bush Jr., Texas
has been run by illiterate morons. I'm not saying that Bush jr. is a
creationist. I doubt he cares either way-but he's a moron regardless.
Rick Perry, who took over after him is not only his clone, he may be an
even worse person morally, and intellectually. Because of the many
questions involving the murder of Cameron Todd Willingham by the state
of Texas for a crime he did not commit, and Rick Perry's subsequent
refusal to admit any wrongdoing. . . Rick Perry has become even more of
an embarrassment.
Here's a simple truth for you all who think we Texans are less educated and weird. The Bush family is from Connecticut. They were never from Texas. be certain that you keep that in mind.
I've traveled a pretty good deal in this country. I've been down to Florida, I've been in New York State, but not the famous city. I've been to Ohio, I've crossed over into Canada, briefly. I've never been up and over to either Maine, Washington State, or Alaska; but I've been as far West and North as San Francisco, as I've already stated above. My family used to vacation in Colorado every Spring break when I was in school. A whole group of us folks from the Kaufman, Texas Church of Christ would gang up with groups from other local churches and we'd convoy to usually either Purgatory, Colorado; or Breckenridge, Colorado for snow skiing. Shit, truth is, and now that I think about it-I've been to Chicago and L.A., and Houston too. I sort of "know" America.
I've only brought up my own travels because I often think about Jimmy Buffet, and his song from the legendary film Urban Cowboy, and how I've always felt such a sense of relief upon returning to my native state. Jimmy Buffet isn't even from Texas, but I bet he's spent enough time here for his song to contain genuine emotions. I'd imagine that Texas is infectious.
Right here you should be thinking, "So what? Todd's been around the country a little bit-that doesn't mean he knows much about Texas, the place is huge!" You're damn right this place is huge, and we might come for Oklahoma next! I've spent most of my life in Kaufman, Texas; but I've had addresses in Dallas on more than one occasion, and I've lived in several places in the Rose City, which is Tyler, Texas. I've lived in Waxahachie, Glenn Heights, and Groesbeck(this last one is a killer inside joke, but I did have an address there, and I truly lived there.). I've had a place in Rosser, Texas; and I've lived in Scurry and Peeltown too, but there are very remote places.
Speaking of college, and of Tyler; I should say that I didn't first hear of evolution at Tyler Junior College, no-I'd heard of it before. I took Mr. and Mrs. Pilgrim's Biology for the Science major my first year at T.J.C., and I must simply state here and now that they were two of the finest teachers of any subject that I'd ever had. They were (and still are, I'd suppose) a husband and wife team-I don't guess you had to ever have either one of them - there were probably other professors that taught those classes-but I'd recommend those two to anyone. I learned about evolution there. It became overwhelmingly obvious to me that evolution was a fact, and neither of the Pilgrim's had to stress that point. They never had to say it. They knew that you should be able to see that on your own-if you'd passed their classes you knew.
Education in Texas has a bad rap, and it deserves it in my opinion-but we are only talking about the Public Schools. I used to work for the Dallas Independent School District, and I went from Kindergarten through high school at Kaufman Independent School District. I just might be one of the more informed individuals you'll find out there concerning either one of those two school districts. They are both horrible, and I can tell you time and again why. I'm not saying that I didn't have some outstanding teachers at K.I.S.D., I certainly DID have some outstanding teachers there-but the plain facts are that often times in Texas Public Schools football is more important than education.
This very year at Kaufman independent school district there was astroturf installed on the football field, but teachers received no pay raise. Do you hear me?
There's other things I could say that are altogether positive-about Dallas I.S.D., should you want to know some of the most amazing things I know about any Texas Public School-then you should know about Skyline High School. Skyline is the largest school at the extremely large Dallas I.S.D. At Skyline there is everything that a high school student could possibly desire-they even have a huge building at that huge facility where students can learn to work on airplane engines. Trust me on this-there are plenty of airplanes and airplane engines for them to work on. I've seen it. It's freaking amazing.
You can't talk about Texas without talking about Hispanics, or Mexican-Americans. I've been talking a lot here about education in Texas, and so I should say something about how that relates to Mexican-Americans. If you don't know, then the truth of the matter is that Mexican-American families often have much tighter family structures than either blacks or whites do. Mexican-American people often, it seems to me, have ahigher level of willingness to work, and work very hard. In the past it seemed like Mexican Americans valued work over education, but this, I believe, is something that is changing. Mexican-Americans in Texas nowadays are just as likely to value college education as anyone else.
So anyways-there you go, I've wrote just about enough for my first of many Texas hubs to come. It's true that Republicans have degraded education in this state in favor of ignorance, and they've done this in more ways than just with creationism. I also recall reading the Texas school Board had decided that Thomas Jefferson was a____, and they didn't want to talk about him anymore, ridiculous. Here's the thing, in Texas, we learn enough about attitude and independence to overcome oversights by fools. We used to be our own country, and we don't forget THAT in the classroom.
Here's a simple truth for you all who think we Texans are less educated and weird. The Bush family is from Connecticut. They were never from Texas. be certain that you keep that in mind.
I've traveled a pretty good deal in this country. I've been down to Florida, I've been in New York State, but not the famous city. I've been to Ohio, I've crossed over into Canada, briefly. I've never been up and over to either Maine, Washington State, or Alaska; but I've been as far West and North as San Francisco, as I've already stated above. My family used to vacation in Colorado every Spring break when I was in school. A whole group of us folks from the Kaufman, Texas Church of Christ would gang up with groups from other local churches and we'd convoy to usually either Purgatory, Colorado; or Breckenridge, Colorado for snow skiing. Shit, truth is, and now that I think about it-I've been to Chicago and L.A., and Houston too. I sort of "know" America.
I've only brought up my own travels because I often think about Jimmy Buffet, and his song from the legendary film Urban Cowboy, and how I've always felt such a sense of relief upon returning to my native state. Jimmy Buffet isn't even from Texas, but I bet he's spent enough time here for his song to contain genuine emotions. I'd imagine that Texas is infectious.
Right here you should be thinking, "So what? Todd's been around the country a little bit-that doesn't mean he knows much about Texas, the place is huge!" You're damn right this place is huge, and we might come for Oklahoma next! I've spent most of my life in Kaufman, Texas; but I've had addresses in Dallas on more than one occasion, and I've lived in several places in the Rose City, which is Tyler, Texas. I've lived in Waxahachie, Glenn Heights, and Groesbeck(this last one is a killer inside joke, but I did have an address there, and I truly lived there.). I've had a place in Rosser, Texas; and I've lived in Scurry and Peeltown too, but there are very remote places.
Speaking of college, and of Tyler; I should say that I didn't first hear of evolution at Tyler Junior College, no-I'd heard of it before. I took Mr. and Mrs. Pilgrim's Biology for the Science major my first year at T.J.C., and I must simply state here and now that they were two of the finest teachers of any subject that I'd ever had. They were (and still are, I'd suppose) a husband and wife team-I don't guess you had to ever have either one of them - there were probably other professors that taught those classes-but I'd recommend those two to anyone. I learned about evolution there. It became overwhelmingly obvious to me that evolution was a fact, and neither of the Pilgrim's had to stress that point. They never had to say it. They knew that you should be able to see that on your own-if you'd passed their classes you knew.
Education in Texas has a bad rap, and it deserves it in my opinion-but we are only talking about the Public Schools. I used to work for the Dallas Independent School District, and I went from Kindergarten through high school at Kaufman Independent School District. I just might be one of the more informed individuals you'll find out there concerning either one of those two school districts. They are both horrible, and I can tell you time and again why. I'm not saying that I didn't have some outstanding teachers at K.I.S.D., I certainly DID have some outstanding teachers there-but the plain facts are that often times in Texas Public Schools football is more important than education.
This very year at Kaufman independent school district there was astroturf installed on the football field, but teachers received no pay raise. Do you hear me?
There's other things I could say that are altogether positive-about Dallas I.S.D., should you want to know some of the most amazing things I know about any Texas Public School-then you should know about Skyline High School. Skyline is the largest school at the extremely large Dallas I.S.D. At Skyline there is everything that a high school student could possibly desire-they even have a huge building at that huge facility where students can learn to work on airplane engines. Trust me on this-there are plenty of airplanes and airplane engines for them to work on. I've seen it. It's freaking amazing.
You can't talk about Texas without talking about Hispanics, or Mexican-Americans. I've been talking a lot here about education in Texas, and so I should say something about how that relates to Mexican-Americans. If you don't know, then the truth of the matter is that Mexican-American families often have much tighter family structures than either blacks or whites do. Mexican-American people often, it seems to me, have ahigher level of willingness to work, and work very hard. In the past it seemed like Mexican Americans valued work over education, but this, I believe, is something that is changing. Mexican-Americans in Texas nowadays are just as likely to value college education as anyone else.
So anyways-there you go, I've wrote just about enough for my first of many Texas hubs to come. It's true that Republicans have degraded education in this state in favor of ignorance, and they've done this in more ways than just with creationism. I also recall reading the Texas school Board had decided that Thomas Jefferson was a____, and they didn't want to talk about him anymore, ridiculous. Here's the thing, in Texas, we learn enough about attitude and independence to overcome oversights by fools. We used to be our own country, and we don't forget THAT in the classroom.
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