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Maybe it is time we tell the good people of Colorado that us Texans will start spending our ski vacations & money in Utah.

Now, kids, let’s read about the Coors family political history. While downing a Blue Moon.

is this another lame attempt to get hundreds of comments on your blog?

*bangs head on desk* This thread worked SO well the last time.

Brass Knuckles:

More likely, you hear Yankee voices telling you what to do as you mow their lawns, deliver their newspapers, wash their cars, or clean their toilets. Apparently you missed the memo: what does a native Texas call a Yankee who has been in Texas for more than five days? Boss.

Brian:

You mean non-dumbed-down jokes? No, we have to play to our audience.

I will smile each time I read one of those bumper stickers. Then, I will ski (or attempt to ski) down a Colorado slope, drink in the Colorado bars, eat in the Colorado restaurants, and sleep in the Colorado condos. Then, I will come back to the greatest state on Earth and welcome anybody from Colorado who chooses to visit. I will toast them with a Shiner and make them feel right at home.

I meant poorly adapted, cliche jokes that barely fit the situation. I’m part of a northern transplant family (OMG we left for a better job down here and both areas have great people – o noes!) and you captured everything I don’t miss in two brief comments. Hats off to you, my friend! Now go enjoy the winter!

I’m from the East Coast, too, originally — came here not much more than a tyke and still don’t do “y’all,” let alone “fixin’ ta.” All my extended family was Back East, and we visited quite regularly, sometimes for weeks. I didn’t have fried (or any other) catfish until I was 20 years old, because my parents made it plain that such a repast was disgusting and uncivilized. Discovered immediately just how wrong they were.

NYC is one of the wonders of the world, but other than that, the East Coast bites. It’s dirty; despite its mostly liberal politics, it’s oddly conservative in a way that’s hard to place; it’s socially claustrophobic, with far more class stratification than we have here; despite their convenient stereotypes of racist Southerners, most of the cities are brutally segregated, with ghettos that make South Dallas look bucolic by comparison.

And, with apologies to Mom and Dad, yes, they talk funny.

You’re right, Team Obama. Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Fort Worth aren’t diverse at all.

Does it hurt to be that stupid?

@ Team Obama:

I would welcome them if they want to legally visit our great state. I assume you are one of the vocal that wouldn’t welcome them if they are “white, straight, and Christian.” Shame on you. We should take any money that tourists want to spend here.

HEY! You’re talking about my state there, buddy! I’m tremendously proud to be a Texan.

When I was a little girl, my dad would sing to me the words:

The eyes of Texas are upon you,
All the live long day.
The eyes of Texas are upon you,
You cannot get away.
Do not think you can escape them,
At night, or early in the morn’.
The eyes of Texas are upon you,
Till Gabriel blows his horn!

But instead of just referring to them as his
alma mater’s song, he told me about all of the people in his family that had worked early in the morning or late at night just to do the work that allowed me to have the life I take for granted every day. He said that the eyes of Texas meant the people of our state’s past, present and future all look at us each as individuals who have the responsibility to make a difference, to make our state into the kind of place we want each other’s grandchildren to live.

I keep a photograph on my desk of my 28 year old grandfather (Joe C. Thompson, Sr.)who was at his age one of only two people to have served on the city council’s for Dallas, Oak Cliff (when it was a separate city) and Highland Park. During that time he was in the midst of fighting the Ku Klux Klan in order to integrate the State Fair of Texas. They had put him in charge of “Negro Day” and he therefore made a lot of friends with the African American community who would later work beside him when he began building Oak Farms Dairy and later 7-Eleven. He made many arguments against segregation and the Klan routinely terrorized his family, lighting crosses in their yard and gathering in groups of 20 to 40, all in their white cone hats and robes, threatening him to back down. But he didn’t. Instead both he and my grandmother, Margaret “Peggy” Philp Thompson, were willing to risk their lives for years and the lives of their children, to fight for what they believed was right. Today, I live four blocks away from the old Thompson family home. The very fact that I can do this, let alone even be in an interracial marriage, is due in large part to the sacrifices made by people like my grandparents. When I feel discouraged, I ask myself ‘How many people would risk their family’s lives to fight for human rights?’ and I feel a kind of fire inside that I know was lit by generations before me. That fire fuels my belief in humanity’s ability to evolve into a society consciously aware of how it is creating the culture future generations will inherit. I call being this, being a “conscious cultural creator”. Dad called it living while knowing that the eyes of Texas are upon me. For when we know that internally, we can’t escape the responsibility we each have to be the best version of a human being we can. Why would we want to? Instead grab that heritage and derive strength from it! Sure, we say “ya’ll”, but we’re also the home to the entrepreneurial spirit, to the innovator, to the dreamer, to the aspiring leader – progressive or conservative- I’ve got both in my family, and everyone says the same thing to each other,”Fine. You believe that, you stand up for that, but you better be the best damn___(fill in the blank with the person’s apsirations)__ you can be.” In other words, “The eyes of Texas are upon you,
Till Gabriel blows his horn!”

@Mary Ann, you are one fine Southern lady. And your eloquent history is an excellent example if why I am proud to be a Native Texan. I’ve lived in some nice places around the US, but Texas is home.

Bill Marvel – Well I know this pair of Texas eyes are on Colorodo every ski season! ;o)

the cynic – thanks for the compliment, I’ll take it to heart, know’n you’re a Texan!

LakeWWWooder – I’d love to hear one of your neighborhood stories!