California v Texas

[der nister]

Then sad thing is, Texas produced one of THE great presidents only 50 years ago.

LBJ?

Do your parents know you're saying this?

I happen to agree, but it's NOT a popular perception.

[Matt Wilson]

Can you get a good curry in Texas?

Anna should do a Texas vs. the UK thread to really know where she's coming from.

[T. Willy Rye]

Which, if either, has the death penalty?

You'll be glad to know that they both do.

California's only executed 13 people in the last 40 years and none in the last 8. Texas tops that in a couple months.

[Loki]

California has more stunning beauty and nice weather. Texas has soul.

Yeah. Kinda impossible for me to choose.

[Loki]

I'm eyeballing Austin for Psychfest 2015.

Do yourself a favour. Austin is fantastic.

[Dr. Baron]

Which, if either, has the death penalty?

You'll be glad to know that they both do.

California's only executed 13 people in the last 40 years and none in the last 8. Texas tops that in a couple months.

Just answering the question asked.

I would be shocked to learn that Griff, a European, didn't know Texas had the death penalty and has executed many people.

[Conrad Knight Socks]

Give me San Diego over Dallas any day.

[GoogaMooga]

Mike Love wrote The California Myth. Who wrote The Texas Myth? When I was a little boy, though, I equated Texas with cowboys. Ask any Danish boy in the 1960s what Texas meant to him and the answer would be cowboys.

[Dr. Baron]

Give me San Diego over Dallas any day.

Me too, I suspect.

[Dr. Baron]

Mike Love wrote The California Myth. Who wrote The Texas Myth? When I was a little boy, though, I equated Texas with cowboys. Ask any Danish boy in the 1960s what Texas meant to him and the answer would be cowboys.

I think The California Myth was written long before Mike Love was around. There's a long (and fascinating) tradition of California boosterism and myth making. But that's OK---no doubt the Beach Boys amplified it greatly.

I don't know that any one person or thing is singularly responsible for establishing the mythic image of Texas (cowboys and the like). Movies and music, I reckon. But the Texas Revolution as an origin story for modern Texas is pretty potent material.

[GoogaMooga]

Mike Love wrote The California Myth. Who wrote The Texas Myth? When I was a little boy, though, I equated Texas with cowboys. Ask any Danish boy in the 1960s what Texas meant to him and the answer would be cowboys.

I think The California Myth was written long before Mike Love was around. There's a long (and fascinating) tradition of California boosterism and myth making. But that's OK---no doubt the Beach Boys amplified it greatly.

I don't know that any one person or thing is singularly responsible for establishing the mythic image of Texas (cowboys and the like). Movies and music, I reckon. But the Texas Revolution as an origin story for modern Texas is pretty potent material.

Recuerden El Alamo!

[Dr. Baron]

Anyway, I'm obviously from Texas and am a fifth or sixth generation native. I love it, but it's really gone nuts in the past ten or fifteen years. This has culminated in our recent primaries where the tea party trounced the establishment Republicans. There's a lot of talk about how the demographics are changing and how the politics will follow, and I believe that. But for now, it's a race to a bottom that keeps getting lower and lower. Texas has 13.6 million registered voters, but the winner of the most recent primary runoff for Lieutenant Governor (historically the seat of the most practical power in the state) earned votes from only 3.5% of those voters. Admittedly, that is a primary runoff, but unless the Democrats show up big in November and beat the Republicans for the first time in decades (there's a very outside chance), those voters had an outsized influence in the makeup, conduct, and tenor of our state government.

My point? Yes, Texas has always been relatively conservative. But recent politicians and laws aren't necessarily a reflection of the actual attitudes of a majority of Texans. But that same majority tolerates a tiny vocal minority of wingnuts and enables them by not participating. It's depressing, to say the least. Texas has huge problems, including the future for water and transportation infrastructure, but the politicians aren't interested in spending any money and are, in fact, hell bent on slashing an already spartan state government.

In the meantime, Central Texas and the Houston area are booming, and the state is changing rapidly. I'm of two minds about it, as the part of the state I grew up in is nearly unrecognizable and I'm sentimental, but much of the growth is ultimately good, as it is bringing more diversity and the urban areas are increasingly cosmopolitan. It's going to change more and more, and that promises to be a fascinating prospect. The story is always much more complex than the caricature---even our criminal justice system, which is easily lampooned for a few reasons, is quite progressive for a few others. I imagine we'll be here for awhile, but I would be perfectly happy in the UK, or California, or a few other places. Even when the population catches up with the politics (and I DO believe that the latest round of right wing demagoguery will be their death rattle), I'll still have the bad taste in my mouth from the last few years and some of the very nasty shit I've seen from a small minority of my fellow Texans.

I've posted this before, but it's a quick story about how a county south of Houston/Harris County is now, by some measures, the most diverse area in the country (which actually means that, "this county southwest of Houston comes closer than any other county in the United States to having an equal division among the nation’s four major ethnic communities — Asian, black, Latino and white residents.")

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/24/us/wh ... .html?_r=0

[sloopjohnc]

California has more stunning beauty and nice weather. Texas has soul.

It's even in a commercial. . .

[sloopjohnc]

I'm currently re-reading a history of California by historian Kevin Starr. The history of most states is pretty interesting, but in my mind California is particularly interesting because it became so big so fast.

Beginning in the Gold Rush and continuing through the Internet/social media/biotech/you name it, it's still the place that represents "Go west, young man," to make your fortune. Texas, particularly Austin, is now that place too.

People still come here in droves from all over the country and the world and Silicon Valley where I live is a prime destination. Someone from Ukiah, to name a town up north, wouldn't have that perspective, I presume.

I'm a fourth or fifth generation Californian on my Dad's side from his mom. But my other family is kinda typical of Californians. My mom's parents both came from Sweden and my dad's dad came here from Hawaii.

My ex-wife and every one of my former in-laws live in California but are from somewhere else.

I bet if you stood on the corner of Fifth and Market in San Francisco and asked 10 people where they were from, more than half would be from other countries or states.

That wouldn't be necessarily true in Ukiah.

[Dr. Baron]

I've dabbled, to use a loose term loosely, in California history, and it's absolutely fascinating. I know Mike Davis's books are controversial (or not universally lauded), but City of Quartz and Ecology of Fear (both about southern CA and LA) shaped the way I see things in a lot of ways. I would recommend them. I've started California: The Great Exception more times than I could count, but I'm gonna get back into it soon.

[sloopjohnc]

I work in Fremont and my kids and ex-wife live there. It's named after John C. Fremont, a very significant figure in the history of California.

His Wikipedia entry is pretty interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Fr%C3%A9mont

[Conrad Knight Socks]

Good post about Texas, Baron.

General Sherman's memoirs are very interesting about the Calif gold rush.

[Samoan]

[toomanyhatz]

I've dabbled, to use a loose term loosely, in California history, and it's absolutely fascinating. I know Mike Davis's books are controversial (or not universally lauded), but City of Quartz and Ecology of Fear (both about southern CA and LA) shaped the way I see things in a lot of ways. I would recommend them. I've started California: The Great Exception more times than I could count, but I'm gonna get back into it soon.

I second that emotion re: Davis. I loved 'Ecology of Fear' in particular. Californians have a grand tradition of life "in the face of adversity," said adversity basically being nature acting in a completely expected way.

Los Angeles, the city I've recently fled, is only an ideal place for a city as far as its proximity to what is possibly the largest variety of climate of any major city in the world. The fact that it's built on a fault line that's constantly moving beneath them, and is expected to hit hugely populated areas any day now, bothers the residents only after they're forced to deal with it.

[sloopjohnc]

I've dabbled, to use a loose term loosely, in California history, and it's absolutely fascinating. I know Mike Davis's books are controversial (or not universally lauded), but City of Quartz and Ecology of Fear (both about southern CA and LA) shaped the way I see things in a lot of ways. I would recommend them. I've started California: The Great Exception more times than I could count, but I'm gonna get back into it soon.

I second that emotion re: Davis. I loved 'Ecology of Fear' in particular. Californians have a grand tradition of life "in the face of adversity," said adversity basically being nature acting in a completely expected way.

Los Angeles, the city I've recently fled, is only an ideal place for a city as far as its proximity to what is possibly the largest variety of climate of any major city in the world. The fact that it's built on a fault line that's constantly moving beneath them, and is expected to hit hugely populated areas any day now, bothers the residents only after they're forced to deal with it.

We got two fault lines up north, San Andreas and Hayward. Nyah.

I've lived within two miles of either one almost my whole life.