Thursday, March 11, 2010

Texas in a nutshell (with the emphasis on "nut")

Every once in a while I find myself trying to describe what Texas is like to someone who's never been here. It's not easy, because almost everything you might have heard about the state is true - even the parts that contradict each other. It's a huge state, with a lot of different regions - each with their own peculiar take on "Texas Culture".

But I think I've finally found a way to describe it... or at least sum it up. Today, on my way to work, I passed a pair of large pickup truck. One of them was a Dodge; I'm not sure about the other. They were about the same size: big, with extended cabs, tall enough that the hood was on a level with the roof of my Honda Accord. They were both being driven by white males in their late forties to early fifties. And they both had bumper stickers.

The first one I noticed because the bumper sticker was in the back window. The background of the sticker was a Texas flag. The text was a single word, in large letters, written over it: SECEDE.

The truck in front of him - very similar in size, design, color, driver demographics - had a sticker on the bumper. This sticker was white text on a black background, and said: Keep Austin Weird.

So there you go. Welcome to Texas.

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