Texas vs. California

I’ve always thought of myself as an American – period. But if you push me for a regional identity, I’m a Tennessean. Always have been, always will be. I was born in Tennessee, grew up in Tennessee, went to school in Tennessee, and lived in Tennessee for almost all of my first 33 years. Much of my family and many of my friends are still in Tennessee. I felt at home in Atlanta and I’ve made a home in Dallas, but Chattanooga will always BE home. I may live in Texas, but I am not a Texan.

So I have some objectivity when I say that Texas and California are a lot more alike than either care to admit.

Both are big. Both are full of people who are kind, hospitable, and gracious. Both have some great food. Both have some geographic sections that are beautiful, and some that are butt-ugly. Both have a deserved reputation as a land of opportunity, and both have been inundated with people seeking those opportunities.

But both have an awfully high opinion of themselves. Both were once independent republics (Texas for 10 years, California for less than a month) and both occasionally act like they still are. Californians think the world revolves around Berkeley and Texans think the world revolves around the Alamo. Both have areas that would be a better fit in the other state (Austin, Orange County). And both have governors that would be better off in another line of work.

I was in Southern California for three weeks in 1985 and didn’t see any reason to go back. But I could get into living in the Bay Area… if I could afford to live there… which I can’t. And then there’s the earthquakes and wildfires…

I think I’ll stay in Texas. I hear there’s a shortage of Druids…