Just what is a Tramp Texan, anyway?

A Tramp Texan (copyright, me, as of right now (June 18th, 2004), so don't you go stealing it without asking) is a world-traveling Texan. Which, in Texas, means you've left the official seven-state Texan Traveling Area (TTA) more than twice (that’s Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, and Mexico (yes, I know it’s a country but travel back and forth is frequent enough so we’ll call it a state for fun)). I say twice because every Texan gets the urge to visit an uncle in Ohio sometimes, or go on a convention trip to New York City. But traveling outside of the TTA is something that most Texans never do. Many Texans rarely, if ever, leave Texas. Most Texans never visit a foreign country other than Mexico. Don’t look down on us, as travelers: we consider two-hour commutes doable and think nothing of driving an hour to the nearest grocery store. Most of us simply do, well, internal traveling. Texas is like a whole other country, you know? Even to those of us from here.

The third time out of Texas is really the killer; it means you’ve gotten a taste for traveling. My third time was my trip to Costa Rica in graduate school; forever more when I talk about Costa Rica, Texans inevitably turn to me and say, “Wow, you’ve traveled, haven’tcha?” This is okay by me; I am proud of being a Tramp Texan. I may be from Here, but I’ve been There.

Tramp Texans are legion. You go around the world, and Texans are everywhere. We include army soldiers, truckers, oil-industry workers, cowboys, and free-traveling souls. We make for nostalgic expatriates, and we form Texas clubs everywhere we go. How many states do you know of that have state-nostalgia clubs in London? Tramp Texans are often responsible for terribly-themed expat bars where they serve strange margaritas and funny-tasting barbeque. I believe there is a Tramp Texan bar in every oil-producing or –refining country in the world. We inhabit out-of-the-way locales too; more so, I bet, than any other state. We have cattlemen working in Venezuela, foresters working in Nicaragua, and stock traders in Singapore. Texas is such a diverse state, and oil and cattle such important business concerns world-wide, that we are capable of infiltrating almost every society on earth (though we may let other states infiltrate Norway—it’s cold there. But don’t they have oil?).

Texans are uniquely qualified to be tramps: we are friendly, we are used to foreign cultures, we LOVE to talk, and we do well in societies where talking and alcohol are main activities. It’s funny: many Tramp Texans are unhappy they ever left Texas, and many love Texas but would never go back. For every two drunk oil riggers in an expat bar telling you about the glories of Killeen women, there’s an old cowboy who explains to you in a vintage drawl that he hasn’t left the island in 20 years and wouldn’t leave for nothing. We can assimilate.

I left Texas many times, and for years at a time. I have always returned home to visit, but I know for true now that I will never live here. I have become a Tramp Texan, a drawling flotsam/jetsam on the currents of the world. I hope I end up somewhere nice. But I know, wherever I do end up, that I am joining the local Texas club.

Just another morning here

Some days I wake up when the sun comes up, but usually I go to back to sleep. I wake up grudgingly, eat breakfast, and drag myself off to work at 9 am. Usually I arrive around 915, but no one cares. It's beautiful in the morning; dim clear light, cool wet air, and wind stirs in the trees like a sleeping lover. When it's foggy, I think about clouds coming over mountaintops in New Hampshire. It's the perfect temperature, and I think, "If all day were like this, I would LIVE outside."

By 1130 the clouds have burned off, the light has turned harsh and golden, and the temperature, while not baking (it's only June), is TOO hot for comfort. The wind gets weak and sluggish, and the air dries out. Three more months of summer are still to come: July and August will be oven-baking heat (read, 98-105) by 11 am, and September will mostly be like June. Summer in Texas is a physical experience unmatched in the U.S.A., and really only surpassed in discomfort by the Middle East and Central Asia, where smart men wear robes to escape the heat and have many wives to distract them. Here in Texas, on good days, I retreat into the office at 11 am to bask in the air-conditioning. I wear shorts, not a robe.

I went to grad school in the great North because I loved hills and trees and thought I would like to escape the hot Texas summers, perhaps forever. I think it is the consensus of everyone who knew me in New England that I probably overshot, a little bit. I don't do well with -20 degrees air temperatures and five-month growing seasons. After grad school, I (much to my surprise and consternation) landed a job in Texas doing just what I wanted to do. Back to the Heat again I went.

As this summer begins to grind on into high gear, I think about a place intermediate between New England and Texas. I love the heat, and I love the cold. I just don't love the HEAT (months of greater than 95 degrees) or the COLD (months of less than 10 degrees). So I've been thinking about...Virginia.

Virginia pros: Not too hot, not too cold. Full of interesting places, and the people are nice. Not so many anti-environment, extreme Republicans there. A long day's drive from Texas, and a day's drive from my girlfriend in NYC. Mountains that have snow and creeks, and a beautiful coastline. BBQ.

Virginia cons: I haven't travelled Virginia extensively (though I've seen a little and liked it). I know only 5 people there (my aunt, uncle, and three cousins in DC), so I'd be lonely at first. Best nearby city is DC, which is a lil HUGE. Gotta find a job. Need lots of vacation to visit family in TX. Have to talk girlfriend into visiting a lot.

These difficulties are surmountable. The real difficulty is just getting myself to commit to this crazy idea of moving to a place just to enjoy the climate and land. But as this summer gets warmer, I think my dream of just throwing everything into my old car and driving northeast will become harder and harder to resist. If this blog suddenly stops for two weeks, you'll know where I went.

Austin, I hear that's a nice place to live? OR, DON'T MOVE HERE!!

Not all my posts will be serious, I promise. Although a good purging political rant is every bit as satisfying as winning at poker, it's not something you want to do all of the time, you lose friends that way. I am a political animal, but a sort of detached one; I don't campaign, I don't read political fact sheets, or attend rallies, I just donate money (and that rarely). Though, all that might change this year, the closer we get to the election. I will keep you posted. I put my heart into that last post, and I am not backing away from it at all. I am moving on.

So far I haven't written much about Austin. What can I say? I guess I do have one thing to say, first and most importantly:

Whatever I say that's nice about Austin, DON'T MOVE HERE. This place is overcrowded already, and each new person counts (you will find this true in Austin traffic). There are tons of Austins out in the U.S., waiting to be found and loved. Go find your own; I will be joining you shortly. I am not saying DON'T MOVE HERE because I don't want you to mess up my perfect space. I am saying it because Austin is NOT perfect, and you will only make it less perfect by adding your car and development demands to the mess. Austin is nice, a very cool place to hang out, but not to live, not anymore. There are too many people here that want to own little bits of Paradise. Now, the view is of the people: traffic, lines, suburbs. I don't know of anyone that's seen Paradise lately, i think she's moved on. So, WHATEVER I say that's nice, just come visit, give us a little of your money. DON'T MOVE HERE.

So what can I say about Austin? I grew up here. It's wonderful, relaxed, and so rapidly changing. I am not going to stay here for more than a couple of years (don't tell my nice boss, though I think he suspects). It's too hard watching a unique place turn into a place like every other, too hard watching the beautiful countryside turn into suburbanized, upper-crust city. I played on rough-grassed hills that now lie under green manicured lawns, flat streets, and over-large show houses. I loved little restaurants that now lie perpetually besieged by tourists and hip California immigrants. Austin is still Austin--lovable, rough at the heel, with a soul of outdoorsy, relaxed playfulness--but it's big business, now. I'd like to stop mourning over the past one day; for me, that day will be the day I drive out of town for the East one last time.

That said, I am glad I came back. It has reassured me that, no matter how many more people pile into this place and how much useless crap they build on empty, lovely land, some little pieces of my Austin will always exist. Instead of thinking, "Where I am from is dead and gone. Am I from anywhere anymore?", I now think of myself as an ex-Austinite in waiting.

I know I am someone who understands Barton Springs and the train at Zilker Park, who has played mini-golf at Peter Pan's, watched the bats come out from under Congress Bridge, who loved to eat at the Salt Lick, who knows where to get good Tex Mex, who swam every other weekend in the Comal, who knows to spin under the Zilker Christmas Tree, who fell in love with a small city in the cool Texas fall. That city still exists for me somewhere, and I will never lose it. I thought, for a time, that was all that would be left of the original Austin: my memories.

I see now that East Austin is always going to be kooky neighborhoods full of big trees, hippies, and blacks and hispanic communities shoved across the tracks in the 60's. I see that Zilker Park will always live, and Barton Springs will always flow, though that might take a good legal fight in years to come. The endangered salamander at the heart of Austin, in Barton Springs, has a fighting chance to live. Austin will always be Austin, at the heart. The Hill Country at Austin's border will always have a few special places left to go re-visit. Not everything will be lost to the relentless tide of immigration and ill=planned growth. A few good things will always remain. The other Austinites, the stronger ones than me, the ones able to stay and fight--they will keep them there.

Long live Austin, last of the dreaming cities. I fear she may wake up soon, but I know now that her people will hold her in the night, dream or no dream. That's what lovers do.

Let America be America again

It is raining in Austin, and it has been for three days. It has been a wet spring, but this is ridiculous for sunny Austin. My tomatoes have gotten so much water this spring that their cages are falling over, brought down by the abundance of new tomatoes.

I see in my overturned tomato cages a parable of nations. A flood of wealth and power is dangerous if it washes at the roots of integrity and democracy. The past century may be described in years to come as the century in which democratic principles were in constant conflict with the stresses of global war and temptations of economic expansion. I speak not just of America now, but also of Venezuela, of Congo, of China, of Egypt, of Saudi Arabia. All of these countries have been greatly influenced by poverty and sudden influxes of wealth, by war and reactions against war. None of these countries, excepting only America, currently has a free and democratic government. And some fear, perhaps rightly, that the U.S. is slipping on a treacherous slope. Is Lady Liberty winning the war against dictators, the war against economic hegemony and the poverty of the masses, the war against war itself?

The largest country in the world is a dictatorship, the (let's call it like it is) Empire of China. The second largest is a democracy. The U.S., most of Europe, most of Latin America, the southern tip of Africa, and most of the Pacific Rim is free, with the notable exception of China and notable inclusion of India. After two centuries of constant struggle for freedom, this is a respectable accomplishment on the part of the people of the world, a shining light for others to follow. Across the rest of Asia and most of Africa, there are shadows and darkness. Oligarchs run Russia and the CIS countries, Indonesia is a Javan hegemony supported by American military assistance, and the Arab world is full of dictators and zealot oligarchs. Africa is wracked by instability, war, disease, and poverty, and the world watches with, for the most part, indifference.

Why is the world made like this, you might ask? The easiest answer is that the rich countries wanted it to be this way; they chose the distribution of freedom in the world. They supported dictators in little-noticed countries for economic and political gain, to fight the cause of the moment or exploit their resources quickly. They, the rich and free countries of the world, supplied money, arms, and even soldiers to the cause of oppression and proxy war.

Democracy is just an empty word at home if it is not practiced everywhere. Democracy in the rich, free countries of the world is under constant assault, not just by our enemies abroad, but by our actions abroad.

Take America, the posterchild of Freedom. Every child killed in a foreign country in the 20th century by American troops, every democratically-elected official brought down by CIA action, every gun we sold to dictators that was used to quell bloody rebellions, every nation we invaded to protect our economic and political interest, every country we have troops in to keep the Pax Americana, these all are a blight on the face of Lady Liberty, and a blow to the cause of Democracy. Only honesty, not blatant hypocrisy, will safeguard a republic of free people. The U.S. would be more democratic, freer, and safer, if the entire world were more democratic, freer, and safer.

A more democratic, free, and safe U.S. would not necessarily be richer or more powerful...on the contrary, it would likely be poorer (but still rich) and less powerful. But what is the point of endless riches if others starve in Africa because of it? What is the point of power if your people must fear destruction in their beds at night? The sweet taste of wealth and power has led our nation on a century-long (and still counting), never-ending chase after political and economic domination of the world. And this chase has had clearly negative results.

Since the 1950s the democratic process that is at the heart of our country has been steadily eroded by economic forces and political corruption. In that time, the U.S. has grown more equal, but not more free, more democratic. Our foreign policy has increasingly been dictated by our military and economic interests, and our domestic policy has largely been one of neglect and lassez-faire growth. For the last two decades, less than half of the registered voters actually voted; meaning that no President of the government of the People, by the People, and for the People has been elected by a majority of the People. Our public servants, pressed by the need to get re-elected, care only about raising funds to pay for television advertisements that should be free. Our money-driven politics is paralyzed by partisan bickering.

The gap between the rich and poor is larger than it has ever been in the history of our country. The manufacturing industry, once a vital middle-class force and a generator of American capital, is in ruins. Soil erosion is at an all-time high, and decades of subsidies has concentrated farming, once the American occupation, into the hands of a few heavy-handed megaconglomerates. Only 3% of Americans farm anymore, and agricultural land and wildland is rapidly being swallowed by suburban development. Our land, our beautiful land of purple mountains and amber grain, is becoming increasingly polluted by mercury, altered by global warming and invasive species, over-grazed, strip-mined, clear-cut, and fragmented by poorly managed growth of cities. We are falling behind in the race to create sustainable technologies, we are exporting our scientists to other countries, and science and engineering, the American birthright, is no longer a favored profession for our young workforce. Our cities and countryside are crushed by poverty that resists upswings in the economy, our youth are inured to violence and hypocrisy, and we live under constant threat of terrorist reprisals for our oppressive, interventionist foreign policy.

To all of this I say, as Langston Hughes so eloquently said: Let America be America again. Let us be the steadfast, honest voice in the world for liberty, democracy, and human rights in the world. Let our allies be only the free and the honest, and let our money follow our principles, not the reverse. Let us own up to the hypocrisy in our past, and embrace the new promise of our future. Let us be the America that never was, and will be.

Let America be America again. Let us be a land of middle-class employment, of responsible corporations and people-sized businesses, of organic farms and small-town factories. We want to respect our leaders again, and help our elected officials avoid having to sell their principles for the chance to be heard. Let us free the poor from worrying about sick children, about homelessness, about starvation, and let them worry about finding a good job.

Let America be America again. Let the parks show us beauty, not destruction, let the forests and farms be fruitful forever, not just once, let our air be clean, our waters pure, and the quilt of our landscape, unique and unfragmented. Seize back our birthright of science and engineering, and put it to work on making the world's economy sustainable and pollution-free. In a world with a growing population and diminishing water and unrenewable energy resources, the biggest growth industry of this century will be providing clean water, renewable energy, and energy-efficient appliances and vehicles. Let us be the leader in the technologies of the future, not a follower.

Let America be America again. We want to live, free of fear of attack by foreign terrorists, secure in the knowledge that our troops are not exposed to danger in foreign countries, and confident that our political leaders are not eroding our freedoms. Let us all create the America that never was, but will be, one day, I know it.

Because as America goes, so goes the war for liberty and democracy. The United States of America is the greatest democratic light of the world, and without her we doom humankind to a dark future of beleaguered freedoms, oligarchs, and warlords. The wealth and power of this country is a by-product of the integrity and democracy that originally built it. Let us prevent that wealth and power from being the ruin of this Republic, and let us restore this old house together. She's beautiful, and she will be beautiful again. Let us help America be America again.

People who write blogs are insane!

But what better way to make sure people really do read your journal? And to see if they like your writing? And to get to complain, to REALLY complain, about this unjust world in the only place people listen anymore, the Net? And, when something really cool comes along, to just share? So, I am sharing. Heaven help me. And God save the King of Texas, Willie Nelson.