“Two houses down on the same street.” I LOVE that! Works so well as a description of the similar challenges Arizona and Texas face. As ready as I am to poke fun at myself and the residents of our two states, I think the American southwest is one of the best places to live on this planet.

Keep the beer cold, BG! You’ve convinced me that I need to swing by to meet some more Texans and together we can solve our mutual problems.

Greetings from Texas, two houses down on the same street.
I don’t recall 1968 very well since I was not born but from some readings found online I do know the civil rights act of 1968 passed “fair housing act” prohibited discrimination housing concerning the sale, rental, financing housing. 1981, 6 years before my birth. I believe many folks back then only have consisted of “silent generation” / “baby boomers”-eyewitnesses to the civil rights movement.

Isnt the border a mess? America cannot keep drugs from entering prison insitutions but we can keep them from entering the country? Looks like we need to looks for better solutions…

Hope you stop by soon.

Repectfully
bg

My comments regarding the “social environment” of Texas are based on a number of trips I made through that state from 1968 through 1981. I won’t go into all the details, but during those years I wore my hair shoulder length or longer and had the demeanor of what Steve Miller called a Space Cowboy.

On every single visit to Texas, on every single stop there, it didn’t matter if it was at a gas station or a grocery store or a tavern … or even a CHURCH one time … there was at least ONE person who started in with the comments like “Which bathroom do yew use?” and “Where’d yew steal that nice car?” and “Yer kind ain’t welcome around here.” Most of the time those comments were made by guys, but that last one was made by The Church Lady.

Interestingly enough, the only other state I’ve EVER had to deal with comments like that is in my home state of Arizona. Whenever I have fielded a comment about how racist we are here in AZ (and some of us Zonies are), or how “gun happy” we are (and some of us Zonies are), or how wildly conservative we are (and some of us Zonies really, REALLY are), I’ve treated it as an opportunity to “mock” myself and the residents of my home state by responding using the same tone and vernacular as my first post, above.

It’s all in fun, but if you’re taking it as a serious knock on Texas … well … ya better come up with a more SERIOUS presidential candidate than RICK PERRY!

In a world where egos are measured with tabloids, where automobiles are like morals, where beliefs are like naps, you leave them behind when somebody touches you.
And in a place where oil takes precedence over life, I find myself sitting on a bus, when a little boy floats down like fresh water, carrying a book I used to read and asks if I want to see what he sees if only for a little while.

Regarding Texas, it will not surprise you to know that my own experience commuting in San Antonio and environs for a couple of years mirrored your Dallas experience. But some/few/many police seemed (much) better informed on rules of the road than did woefully informed motorists. One cop who actually knew Texas travel law said he came to understand it by way of first having learned bicyclist rights and responsibilities….and that in his experience, of the roughly one motorist a year who actually knew and asserted the law during a traffic stop (thus avoiding a citation), for some reason most seemed to have a cycling background.

The ignorant hillbillies are actually the least of our problems, since they rarely, if ever, get involved with local politics. It’s the highly educated rich people who are the main problem, in my experience. They actively fight any attempt to put in bicycling infrastructure.

Actually, I found biking to be the MOST pleasant in rural areas populated mainly by the “ignorant” hillbillies that you are mocking, because they are not so self-important as to think that they own the road. They recognize that the road is there as a public service, and are more likely to share it with pedestrians and cyclists.

By contrast, when I lived in Dallas and biked to work every day, any time I had a frightening experience that involved a rude motorist, it was inevitably someone driving a very expensive car, wearing expensive clothing, who probably thought that his life was more valuable than anyone else’s simply because his Stuff was bigger and shinier.

Your comment shows an intense lack of understanding of the social environment of the area you are mocking. Considering that you are evidently a cyclist, who is probably often mocked by people who fail to understand bicycling culture, I find that oddly ironic.

The major reason is I grew up in places that taught traffic laws and behavior to children as young as six.

-First grade Traffic garden class, many kids favorite class. (New Jersey).

-10th grade really deep traffic eduction – We were told we would fail tenth grade if we failed this one class. North Carolina must have had the BEST traffic class of any state.
They also taught us how to find, read and interpret the states written laws.

-To 16 and older, North Carolina offered a free state run school bus driver education class.

With all this education there are still many gaps where I had to learn for myself… If I had not have had the education then I would be just like all the hordes of un-educated Americans.

This type of education, throughout the entire school years and truly teaching more than the laws, including why these laws are, is what the US and states should be doing…

If, and only if, the US takes the responsibility to educate it’s citizens, then and only then the quality of life that America claims to have will be…

By having only a few people mentioning that I am doing my best to follow the written laws, means they too were taught at least those laws they observe me following.

Leaving the car-culture to teach is business as usual.