I’m not a native Texan. I arrived in San Antonio fifteen years ago this summer, prepared to take on my first full-time gig as a professor and thinking I’d stay only as long as it took me to find another job somewhere else. I’m still here so, needless to say, things worked out a little differently. I kind of fell in love with Texas.
In fact, this place has changed me on something like a cellular level. I arrived as a person who hated hot summer days and didn’t mind the winter cold. I’m exactly the opposite person now: I cannot stand to be cold. (Actually, I can just barely tolerate being chilly.) And I don’t mind a day with temperatures in the 90’s at all. I have been known to think to myself It’s actually quite pleasant today, only to discover that the temperature is 92 degrees. I’m pretty sure I will never again live in a place where snow is measured in feet rather than inches.
Yet Texas is an easy mark: you don’t have to work very hard to get people to laugh at the very mention of the name, or to shake their heads in dismay. So I’d like point out that every place has its drawbacks (see “snow measured in feet,” above) and devote today’s Five for Friday to highlighting the things I love about Texas–or, more specifically, my little corner of Texas. Because . . .
1. Texas is really, really big. You know this, of course, because it’s the punchline of an overused joke. But the size of this state is part of what makes it so intriguing. Texas is so big that it encompasses everything from the mountains of El Paso to the beaches of South Padre Island in the Gulf of Mexico, from the arid desert climate of Brownsville to a Midwestern-style four seasons in Amarillo. Snow in Amarillo is not big deal; snow in San Antonio shuts down the city altogether. (As well it should; even those of us who know how to drive in snow have long since forgotten. People who are native to the area never had reason to learn. Shutting the city down, while it makes northerners laugh, is the smartest thing to do.) There’s something for everyone in a state this big, which is kind of cool, when you think about it.
2. Wildflower season. The photo above gives you a taste of what the landscape looks like around here every spring, thanks to Lady Bird Johnson. Until I came to Texas, I’d never seen such a variety of wildflowers by every roadside–and every year it’s a different combination of colors, thanks to differences in rain and sunlight and wind patterns. I’ve grown used to finding some random, beautiful flower in my yard and knowing it probably won’t be back next year. Wildflower season is an excellent reminder of the importance of rain, as well as a signal that we should all stop and take a moment to enjoy the beauty of the world around us while we can, since you’ll never see that same view again.
3. Fiesta! This is specific to San Antonio, where Fiesta is an annual event. What is it? A city-wide celebration. Of what? That’s the most awesome thing about San Antonio: you don’t need a reason to celebrate, as evidenced by the number of festivals that go on around the city all year long. Fiesta goes on for ten days every April–ten days full of music, street food, cultural events, souvenir Fiesta medals, and cascarones. And even though, as a dedicated introvert, I’m not normally one to participate in large group festivities, it makes me happy just knowing that it’s Fiesta time in the city.
4. Texas is multicutural without even trying. Because I’d always lived in places where the vast majority of people spoke English, moving to Texas was a little but of a culture shock. I didn’t know much Spanish, but I heard the language being spoken everywhere I went. I saw billboards in Spanish. TV commercials. Music on the radio. Signs in store windows. At this point, I’ve picked up enough that I generally know what I’m reading or hearing. (At the very least, I get the gist.) I also know about the altars of Dia des los Muertos, the Christmas tradition of Los Posadas, and a whole menu of things I knew nothing of before. Just living day to day in this part of the country has been an education, and I love that about it.
5. Authentic Mexican food. Like most Americans, I had a very limited knowledge of Mexican food before I moved to Texas–mostly shaped by fast food places like Taco Bell and restaurant chains like Carlos O’Kelley’s. Living in Texas has certainly broadened and educated my palate about what Mexican food actually tastes like. I had tres leches cake for the first time here, as well as polvorones. I’ve had margaritas in more flavors than you might imagine. I’ve learned about the importance of tamales as a Christmas tradition and have enjoyed the San Antonio Tamale Festival more than once. (That’s how much I love hand-made tamales: I’m willing to endure a crowd for them.) I’ve developed a taste for mole, though I don’t love it as much as Mike does. I’ve eaten carne guisada, barbacoa, picadillo, rajas con crema . . . You get the idea. Lots of things I’d never even heard of before are now on my list of favorites simply because I moved to Texas.
Do I rankle at the jokes made at Texas’ expense? Sometimes. But mostly I write them off to people just repeating things they’ve heard before and a lack of experience with the world. Every place has its own charms and failings. So even though I sometimes shake my head in shame at Texas politics, I remind myself that no place is perfect. And those Christmas tamales are really good.
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