General Discussion

I've lived in the Northwest since 1979, though. I went back in 2007 for a visit, and the Texas I remembered was almost completely gone. The beauty of my hometown had been obscured by a zillion highway overpasses. The Baptist church I attended as a kid had morphed into an ultra-conservative, full-immersion Pentecostal boys club. I had always been proud of Texas as a place of scientific achievement, progress, and the home of some of the finest universities in the country. Now, it seems like every cowboy wanna-be is embracing a ridiculously outdated, empty-headed, rootin', tootin', six-gun shootin' Old West stereotype.

We've got pretty good barbecue up here in Washington, and Western dancing is, thank God, a niche enthusiasm confined to self-described redneck bars. We have a million varied, flavorful craft brews up here that beat the beer-flavored water that is Lone Star. I keep hearing that sooner or later, Texas is going to turn Blue. And yet nothing ever changes. Texas has embraced provincial insularity to the point where its energy grid is incompatible with the energy grids of its neighbors. And the less said about women's bodily autonomy and state law, the better.