Thank you for sharing this piece! We lived in Texas for 6 years and my two kids were born there, but we left before they started school so we never experienced the flag allegiance part.
One thing that really surprised me after having lived in Texas for awhile was discovering that the state motto is "friendship".
After doing more research it makes sense, but when you hear so many other things about Texas, like "don't mess with Texas" and "everything is bigger in Texas" and then you hear "friendship", it feels a little off, you know?
It's definitely a little off. And there were many things we loved in our six years (hence this whole series), but the people are both friendly and not open to anything that isn't Texan. I mean, we lived in a Midwest city full of really nice people who weren't friendly. These are all of the things we learn when we live somewhere outside of our home or origin, you know?
I think we probably had very similar experiences :)
I do miss a lot from our Texas life (including some trees I planted that I really hope are doing well!) and also learned a lot that you don't quite pick up unless you live there too. :)
Something my fellow Americans fail to understand 🤦🏼♀️ Our obsession with our flags is just weird. And when it goes down to the state level, even weirder.
We left behind some dear friends and there were SO many things we both loved and hated about Texas. But that's why I'm doing the series and hoping that this will help me workshop an eventual book on the topic. As you and Brent repeatedly point out with your pieces, different places are complicated and difficult to understand if you don't experience it for yourself 😊
Hah this was great! I did not grow up saying it nor did I know it was a thing until my son started school in 2020. I still think it’s bizarre and I also think the US pledge is bizarre.
Texas is gonna Texas and sometimes we do really dumb things.
I love Texas and her history. There are quirky things about most states and for those who are not from Texas or lived here for a long time, this may seem odd. But no more odd than living in a small Massachusetts town and being considered an outsider for life, because I wasn't born in the particular town. Regionalism, history, tradition (family, town, county, state, country), have richness and I consider them thoughtfully. There's "good" and "bad" in all of it, and the semantics, how one defines those things, can ignite banter or arguments. Good read!
And knowing about and trying to understand those quirks would help all of us relate better to each other. We are defined as much by our states of origin as we are by being American, sometimes even more so. They are both a part of who we are and how we see the rest of the world. Thank you for reading!
This is wonderful! I had no idea about the pledge you describe. I've done talks and readings many times at Jewish Book Fairs in Texas and nobody ever mentioned it.
Thank you for sharing this piece! We lived in Texas for 6 years and my two kids were born there, but we left before they started school so we never experienced the flag allegiance part.
One thing that really surprised me after having lived in Texas for awhile was discovering that the state motto is "friendship".
After doing more research it makes sense, but when you hear so many other things about Texas, like "don't mess with Texas" and "everything is bigger in Texas" and then you hear "friendship", it feels a little off, you know?
It's definitely a little off. And there were many things we loved in our six years (hence this whole series), but the people are both friendly and not open to anything that isn't Texan. I mean, we lived in a Midwest city full of really nice people who weren't friendly. These are all of the things we learn when we live somewhere outside of our home or origin, you know?
I think we probably had very similar experiences :)
I do miss a lot from our Texas life (including some trees I planted that I really hope are doing well!) and also learned a lot that you don't quite pick up unless you live there too. :)
Truth! 💗
It didn’t used to be that way, or at least to my younger mind. It’s definitely not the same and we are no longer friendly. Unfortunately.
I lived in North Carolina for a few years when I was a kid, and we pledged allegiance to the USA flag every morning!
This seems like a totally crazy notion when I tell any Brits about it back in the UK, we barely acknowledge our flag. 😂😂
Something my fellow Americans fail to understand 🤦🏼♀️ Our obsession with our flags is just weird. And when it goes down to the state level, even weirder.
I have many wonderful Texan friends. But there aren't enough at the moment to keep Texas from being a place I want as little to do with as possible.
We left behind some dear friends and there were SO many things we both loved and hated about Texas. But that's why I'm doing the series and hoping that this will help me workshop an eventual book on the topic. As you and Brent repeatedly point out with your pieces, different places are complicated and difficult to understand if you don't experience it for yourself 😊
100%. Houston is incredibly liberal and diverse. It's wrong and a mistake to write off the entire state.
And we loved Austin as well. And Big Bend is beautiful and has a fantastic artist colony right outside of it in Terlingua. And... 😊
Hah this was great! I did not grow up saying it nor did I know it was a thing until my son started school in 2020. I still think it’s bizarre and I also think the US pledge is bizarre.
Texas is gonna Texas and sometimes we do really dumb things.
I'm not a fan of any flag pledge for different reasons, depending on the pledge. But yeah, Texas is going to Texas.
I love Texas and her history. There are quirky things about most states and for those who are not from Texas or lived here for a long time, this may seem odd. But no more odd than living in a small Massachusetts town and being considered an outsider for life, because I wasn't born in the particular town. Regionalism, history, tradition (family, town, county, state, country), have richness and I consider them thoughtfully. There's "good" and "bad" in all of it, and the semantics, how one defines those things, can ignite banter or arguments. Good read!
And knowing about and trying to understand those quirks would help all of us relate better to each other. We are defined as much by our states of origin as we are by being American, sometimes even more so. They are both a part of who we are and how we see the rest of the world. Thank you for reading!
Indeed!!!
This is wonderful! I had no idea about the pledge you describe. I've done talks and readings many times at Jewish Book Fairs in Texas and nobody ever mentioned it.
I think that's because it's just this thing that is done in schools and the state house and nowhere else? But still!
Amazing. Have you thought of writing about it for a newspaper, given the talk about secession?