Adjusting to new environments is something I’ve grown accustomed to doing. I’m probably good at it, not sure if that’s a pro or a con though. My approach is to pay attention to what’s around me, learn the area through exploration and keep my mind open as much as possible. It’s easy to get lost in expectations, the opinions of others, and comparisons to previous comfort zones. Doing so will almost ensure a less than ideal transition to a new place. When I was in the Air Force and received my first assignment in Okinawa, Japan I was nervous and not at all excited…though I pretended to be. I placed a lot of negative expectations on the place and arrived to a very beautiful island, albeit on a rainy day. I traveled to Kuwait, Germany and Canada while stationed out there. All very different, but I gained an appreciation for newness back then.
Here we are, 24 years later and I’m still moving to places without prior roots, and there are probably a couple more moves ahead to be honest. I haven’t been here long enough to really do a deep dive into the place, but I can say my experiences are all over the place. The one negative that I’ve observed that probably won’t improve over time is the driving culture. People seem to believe that if they can still see your license plate, they’re too far behind you. I’m a defensive driver, and I will say in Texas you have to play good defense at all times. Red lights are merely a recommendation, the vehicles are oversized and there’s a good enough mix of people that just don’t give a f*** that you feel like you’re in an episode of Jackass. Most of my issues with this state are driving or city planning related honestly.
Make It Fit
The social aspect of Texas was the biggest hurdle everyone foresaw on my behalf. You’ve read these thoughts of mine; I don’t fit in AT ALL with conservative types, like two left shoes. I play well enough with others to co-exist peacefully, but that’s about all I have in me. I briefly mentioned “southern hospitality” in a previous post and how it is not authentic here. That opinion is holding true thus far as well. The one thing that isn’t holding true is how cheap the place is. It seems to be on par or slightly more expensive than Las Vegas, but since it is still far cheaper than East Coast cities, I guess they can claim to be budget friendly to most newcomers.
I haven’t had any blatant racist moments, hoping that I don’t…but I did come across a culturally ignorant moment already. My daughter goes to a charter school out here, and surprise, surprise, diversity comes with an asterisk. The school technically has more brown kids than not, by way of India which is cool, but the Black demographic is less than 6%. She was the only Black kid in her class up until late October. The class was reading To Kill A Mockingbird, which has a few N-bombs sprinkled in the text, normal for an old book. I asked her what they do when reading aloud in class, and she said “we just say Black people at when it comes up”.
I fully understand why some may think this is OK. The original intent of the author was to use the term for Black people, that’s how White Americans spoke back then (some still do). Seeing as there are rarely ever Black kids or parents to challenge the teachers at her school, they have been doing it for years, seeing nothing wrong with it…and then I showed up with my opinion on the matter.
It’s crazy out here
As I write this, we’re coming off of a killing spree in San Antonio and Austin, as well as a killing spree at UNLV, and today my daughter’s school contacted me stating there was a threat made and that we could pick our kids up if we chose to. My daughter sent me a text message trying to find out what was going on and why all of the kids were leaving. The school said the threat wasn’t credible, but of course I made my way out to pick her up anyway. When I got her, she let me know the kids didn’t know what was going on real time, they were just locked down in their class and kids were randomly getting pulled to go home. When they found out a threat was made, they assumed the worst and began writing letters about what they wanted family and friends to remember about them if they didn’t make it home.
Now, this is just a quick blast of thoughts and ideas, some of which I’ve written posts on before, some that will be elaborated on fairly soon. In addition to all of these things going on domestically, the war in Ukraine and the genocide Israel is inflicting on Palestinians are going on too. I’ve had some time to think about all this and I’m sure none of it will be news to anyone, but I might as well dive in it anyway.
I’m ready…hopefully you are as well
What I recognize is that we all have similar basic wants and needs, republicans, democrats, and independents, Black, White, Asian, Hispanic and all others. We certainly have differing views on how those needs should be met, but focusing on our differences has created more room to believe we don’t actually have the same basic needs. It has made it even easier to dehumanize someone for superficial differences. While I’d LOVE to write these ideas from a purely neutral position, I have real thoughts and feelings about the goings on. My goal for 2024 is to share those with as little of a filter as I can. I have no sponsors or anything so I plan to speak freely…with the understanding some people may be offended in the process. Such is life. Happy New Year, it’s good to be back!