Just feeling some pride, 'sall

[stoney321]

169 years ago today, delegates at Washington-on-the-Brazos declared Texas free from Mexico and became its own nation. Still reeling from the overwhelming loss at the Alamo, (roughly 200 Tejans to 4000-6000 Mexican troops - still, they held on like sumbitches, didn't they?) help from British allies (a General by the name of Featherstonehaugh, and my ancestor - he helped the Tejanos get their guns for the Alamo battle) helped outfit General Sam Houston (who, by the way liked to wear ladies silk underwear and had an opium habit) and one month later, had a rousing victory at San Jacinto.


We DID have a Govenor named Hogg, and he DID name his daughter Ima. Eura and Wera are myths. But lord, that would be terrible/hilarious.

Santa Anna amassed such a large number of troops simply by taking his regular army from Mexico City and marching straight up towards (now) San Antonio, grabbing men out of their beds and shoving a gun in their hands. Their women would follow, singing and weeping, comforting their men at night.

The guns Santa Anna equipped his men with were too large (designed for Caucasians, av. 6 feet tall - the Hispanioles av. 5' 4" at the time) and the men were not skilled. They rested their rifles at their hips and shot blindly, and actually killed more of their own men - by virtue of blowing off the backs of their heads - than the troops at the Alamo did.

Santa Anna also had a wicked opium addiction.

The famous "hump" of today's Alamo was added by the US Army in 1848. And there's no basement at the Alamo.

Jim Bowie died of illness before the Alamo fell, he didn't die fighting, as legend says.

There were women and children at the Alamo, and the Mexicans spared them, gave them shelter, and released them.

If any of this is interesting to you, you should pick up Jeff long's book, Duel of Eagles. There's my regionalism showing again... :-)

Pee Wee Herman was right: you can go anywhere in Texas, start singing this song, wait at the right time, and the crowd WILL clap and finish the song. I fucking love where I live.

Proud of my roots, folks: those Ragin' Cajuns who crossed the Sabine for drier land, those native Indians who married them, stuck up for their rights, and called Texas home over 169 years ago. I'll drink a Mojito to them later tonight. Don't Mess With Texas. ;-)

[ETA] To make sure I remain friends with smashsc *wink* I'll say that South Carolina was its own nation for a period of 5 weeks - Dec.20, 1860 - Feb. 4, 1861 when it joined the Confederate States. Vermont also was its own state for a short period before signing the US Constitution in 1776, but Texas was the only internationally recognized nation that later became a state. This PSA is brought to you by Resistol Hats and Bee-Hives, and we now return you to your regularly scheduled *headdesk*.

Comments

[julia-here.livejournal.com]

First thing I learned about Texas was that "You can be in mud up to your knees and the dust will be blowing in your eyes" along with some very colorful descriptions of Blue Northers, from my Dad who did basic training at Ft. Sam Houston at the beginning of WW2.

I sort of knew that my husband was born in Texas but everyone thought of him as "That guy from Hollywood"; after I started dating him it soon became apparent that being born in Dallas and spending his childhood in Hillsboro and Garland, and having a Grandma in Waco, trumped any amount of time spent on Melrose Hill and school in Coldwater Canyon. It trumps 31 years in Olympia, for that matter.

Maybe if I start singing "Deep in the Heart of Texas" to him right now, he'll get out of bed?

Julia, for a larg sort of place, it's remarkably easy to make generalizations about Texas

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

*snorts*
You might want to go in thar an' start-uh sangin' "The cowboys cry: Ki-YIP-YIP-I!" for the best effect. Hee!!

for a large sort of place, it's remarkably easy to make generalizations about Texas Too true. but only about the generalizations. Huh? Had a friend from Kenya come for a visit and pout because we weren't on horses with spurs. So I drove him south a bit to where some real cowboys are.

One thing is true: we like the sound of our own voices. *grins* However, the pacing of speech depends on where you're from: East Texas, fast fast. West Texas: Hollywood-ized drawl.

But we love our home state and slap its image on everything we can, don't we?

[marlo.livejournal.com]

I love that part in Pee-Wee's Big Adventure when he sings, "The stars at night are big and bright..."

and everyone suddenly starts singing and clapping, "DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS!"

[smashsc.livejournal.com]

I love state pride. And I can't wait to visit Texas over the summer. I've been to teh airports and to Austin but I've never spent any time traveling the state. Imma looking forward to it.

[cityphonelines.livejournal.com]

Don't Mess With Texas. ;-)

Damn straight! Of course El Paso isn't always Texas-y. More like Texas won't give us over to New Mexico and Mexico can't have us anymore.

I took the day off to write, read, cruise LJ and am currently listening to Grace Slick sing on about hookah smoking caterpillars. I love today. Work can suck my metaphoric dick.

*claps and sings along w/ you and PeeWee*

[somecandytalkin.livejournal.com]

There's no basement in the Alamo!

[crazydiamondsue.livejournal.com]

General Sam Houston (who, by the way liked to wear ladies silk underwear and had an opium habit) - You make learning fun!

I loved visiting the Alamo. I made the basement joke and sang "Deep in the Heart of Texas" and Caza didn't get it 'cause he hasn't seen the movie. Loser. I thought the Alamo museum was kewl - because I am a geek. We went during Fiesta San Antonio and it was the cooolest. (Drinking beer in the streets, throwing those egg things, checking out sailors, having sex in front of the full length mirror in the hotel - what? That says Fiesta to me!) Now I want cucumber slices sprinkled with chili powder. Your fault. Thank you, as always, for thought provoking posts. You're like the PBS of live journal...only, you know, cool...

[crazydiamondsue.livejournal.com]

Sorry about last night - that's never happened to me before. I'm only 120...okay, lameness. Anyway, had to go mingle with the inlaws and passed out with exhaustion immediately thereafter. We shall attempt to regroup at a later date, bueno? How's the massive QaF tome coming?

[cityphonelines.livejournal.com]

Hey you! Is your hotmail working yet? I want you to look over something for me (if you have the time, it's real short) and I didn't save the other address.

[crazydiamondsue.livejournal.com]

I am emailing the other addy as we speak. Love the icon.

[cityphonelines.livejournal.com]

'Tis a spuzz original, simple, yet highly effective! And sharable.

[paynbow.livejournal.com]

Texas is a place I'd like to go to but have never been...I suspect I'd be easier to understand once I visited *g* Gotta aske, you an American first or a Texan first?

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

The funny thing is it's TRUE!!! Ha! I friggin' love Texas. Perhaps you picked up on that?

*muwah!*

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Austin is truly one of the great cities in the US. If you can manage to hit SXSW (South by Southwest), the big music festival, you will think you've died and gone to heaven. ALL of your faves play.

Houston: ugly most places, but has PHENOMENAL art museums.
Piney Woods of East Texas: Beautiful serene, and still home to women in bee-hives
Dallas: great for food, shopping, and ME
Austin: EVERYTHING is great. Everything. Seriously.
San Antonio: Fiesta Texas (theme park), Riverwalk (but not in summer: mosquitoes, FOOD
Odessa/Midland: smelly, hot, dry, oil fields, but Football!! Meh
San Angelo: GORGEOUS rolling hills, wildflowers (we were almost the WIldflower State, instead of the Lone Star State)

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Wheee!! You're here, you're here!

El Paso DOES seem to be it's own little place, right? I mean, Texas is kinda stillit's own nation, then there's a miny country of El Paso/Juarez. But you are close to some beautiful back country, where I have spent many a time hiking and camping and getting high.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Make sure you say that like Jan Hooks: thars no baysemeeyint in thuh Alamoe!

Ha ha ha!!

[julia-here.livejournal.com]

I once spent a rather intense New Years Day arguing in Email with my friend Camille in Austin over the proposition "There are No Mountains in Texas". My side included my Dallas-born husband and The Guy With Too Many Guiars, who was born in Medford, OR but moved to Houston when his parents divorced and lived there for fifteen years.

Now, remember, I grew up thirty miles due west of Mt. Rainier, and have a very firm grasp on what a mountain should be. And whereas Texas has some high points, topographically speaking, it's short on glaciated peaks. The ground just keeps going up west of the New Mexico border, for instance.

It was a naughty thing for me to do, but that's what happens when someone from a zone of subduction zone quakes and upthrust and active volcanoes tries to joke with someone on an eroding sea bed.

Julia, from a state so factionalized that generalizations are almost always 49.9% in error

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Man, if Sam Houston was only born 30 years later, he and Lincoln could have been secret lovers.

Um, you LIKED the Alamo? I walked in, saw gift shops, and was very disappointed. Plus? No basement. Ha ha ha!!

Those "egg things" are SO FUN to make!! For those just tuning in, you make a small hole in the tip of an egg, then make a pin prick in the other end. blow really hard on the small hole to force out the egg, then you cut up teeny bits of paper and fill the egg through the bigger hole, paint the egg, then smash it over someone's head on celebration days. Wheee.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Seriously? DO you know NOTHING of me??? :-)

TEXAN, hon. There are many old timers here who STILL think we are our own nation under the Lone Star. (We are also the only state in the Union that is allowed to fly our state flag as high as the nation's flag. We're little shits, but proud of it.)

<-- sarcasm, Julia.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Har! I'll say this, I love my state. (Obviously) But we don't have "mountains."

My dad's family lives on the foothills of the Uintas. I lived in Jackson hole, directly across from one of the largest hunks of rock in the Lower 48: Mount Moran. THAT'S a mountain.

[/concedes]

[beadattitude.livejournal.com]

And, in another bit of staggering trivia, did you know that most of the works of Emily Dickenson can be sung to the tune of "The Yellow Rose of Texas?"

Try it.

[xtrustno1x.livejournal.com]

*quietly raises hand*...

I...I'm not such a fan of Texas. eek.

I've lived here since I was three (Houston, and in the past 5 years, Dallas-area), but nearly 17 years haven't been enough to change my mind or make me feel at "home".

Except for Austin, of course. I absolutely love Austin.

*quietly slinks away...*

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

That's some trivia I knew!! Hee!! And, so you know, I have a yellow rose that is budding up. I'll take pics.

I remember being in elementary school and on Tuesdays, we'd stand outside in front of the Texas State flag and (with our hands over our hearts) sing "Texas, our Texas." (That became our state song in 1929 - people thought the Yellow Rose song was "old fashioned." Humph.)

I love wonky trivia! (Can you tell?) Spam me with it all, baybee.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Oh, sweety, that's because you haven't met me. :D My husband is from Houston (his dad worked at NASA for 30 years) and of COURSE you didn't like it. Who wants an 87 degree Christmas? And oil smog?

But Austin... Ah, the most glorious city in our fine, fine state. (Art student, right? Why aren't you there instead of up here? Are you at UNT? That is one of the FINEST music schools in the country, I'll give it that.)

Keep in mind that most people who live in Dallas aren't originally from here, so they can fuck it up for the rest of us. Then again, you kinda have to embrace the kitsch and read Molly Ivins to fall in love with it, if you aren't originally from here.

You mean you don't like bragadocious folks who think they rule the world? *smirk, hugs you anyway, feeds you gorgeous chimichangas and 'ritas*

[smashsc.livejournal.com]

I don't think I'd be able to handle SXSW. I'd never recover from the musical goodness.

Right now my idea of my route for my summer drive is Atlanta, Tuscaloosa, New Orleans, along the gulf to San Antonio, turn north, Austin, Dalls, OK, Kansas, turn East in Topeka, then back home (2 ways to go, I'll decide which later).

I figure that is about 3300 miles which puts it right in my ballpark. As the trip gets closer I'm totally going to pick your brian about where to go in TX.

[beadattitude.livejournal.com]

Um.....don't think I have anymore Texas stuff...but did you know the whole white wedding dress thing is Queen Victoria's fault? She wore a white satin dress and had orange blossoms for her wedding to Prince Albert, and it started a trend that continues to this day. Up until then, women just got married in their "best dress."

That one's on my forebrain 'cause I'm helping my future sister in law with wedding stuff.

Um, "Ring Around the Rosie" is about the plague. That's pretty well known. Uh.....

[tx-cronopio.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, have you read Molly's piece about Dallas' Lack of a Sense of Humor?

Actually, I do like Houston -- if you live and work inside the loop, it's pretty cool.

So Happy Independence Day to you too, my dear! Stoney's the Cajun/Indian side -- I'm from the Germans who landed in Galveston in 1846 and promptly got yellow fever. And J. Frank Dobie published one of my great-uncles Diaries.

Woo-hoo, Texas! I'll be eating tamales tonight.

Tamales for everyone! Ay yi yi!

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Oh, God... Molly Ivins. Bless her. I just want to camp out with her and Ann Richards and laugh until my sides ache.

I like a lot of Houston, and the downtown Arts area is great. I do Not like: driving from Conroe to the city, the Clear Lake area (where my husband lived), and the smog from the oil tankers.

But I've said it once, I'll say it again: best arts area in (I'd wager) the whole state. Incredible museums, great opera house, beautiful arts district. And man, it sure is cheap out there... But I like my deciduous plants and brief winter of DFW.

BTW: my ex-husband's family was also from that group: they anglicizes their name to Stine, however. And moved further up to Marble Falls (another gorgeous area, ruined by their presence. Hee!)

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

I did - I love how the Victorian era is still influencing us today.

Here's an odd one for you: up until the 1950s, it was still legal to kill (with a gun, or by hanging) Mormons in the state of Missouri, courtesy of a law passed in the 1800s by Wade Boggs.

And Texas has THREE state animals: small, large, and flying. (armadillo, Longhorn, Mexican Fan-Tail bat)

[elcazavampiros.livejournal.com]

Ah, Texas.

My favorite thing about Texas: saying, "What's that smell?" every time I drive cross the border. It's funny. Okay. I promise. Okay, I'm lame, I'll admit it.

I do like Texas because Everything's bigger in Texas. Especially the hair on the women.

is very, very random

[sangueuk.livejournal.com]

I went to Texas today :::grins::: it was the name of a conference room in a place 10 miles from Market Town. I just thought of you and how amused you'd be by this - the weather outside was more New York than sunny south.

[paynbow.livejournal.com]

Seriously? DO you know NOTHING of me??? :-)

LOL! Had to check. Most of what I know about Texas comes from King of the Hill and those commercials they had about The Alamo (one of the most important events in history my ASS *g*). I get the regional pride. I may be Canadian, but sometimes I relate more to the state of Washington then Ontario...Westerner and proud of it! (though it do not compare to Texas pride *g*)

[xtrustno1x.livejournal.com]

*giggles* Journalism student!

I actually enjoyed Houston quite a bit more than I do Dallas. There just seemed to be a lot more to do when I lived there. Minus the dirtyness, of course.

As far as Austin, that was my original plan for college. But, UNT was cheaper, yet still artsy enough. If I stay in Texas after college, I definitely want to move down there, though.

"Home" for me is Tennessee/Alabama, and not a damn thing in the world is ever going to change that *grins*

Re: is very, very random

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

BWAH!! Did they serve you quesadillas? Are you even familiar with the greatness that is a quesadilla? Or chimichanga?

I'm kinda food obsessed right now. Am down 5 pounds, looking for more as I am in the middle of "Operation Bathing Suit" and trying to avoid fatty foods, all while shoving fatty foods down the boy's throat.

I have some SERIOUS catching up to do with you. I've been skimming my flist and I've seen there have been horrible days and good days?

And it looks like no out of country travel for me until after August, but you are the first on my list!

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

That smell? The smell of sucess, baby.

*looks at self, with irons flat hair*
*looks at your wife with the fabulous Breck girl bouncy hair*

Uh.... Sue? You got any comments?

And Caza, iyou know what keeps Texas from falling into the Gulf of Mexico? Oklahoma, because it sucks so hard.

*buys you a margarita to soften the blow*

Re: is very, very random

[sangueuk.livejournal.com]

no - they served us sweets and I ate loads. Operation Bathing Suit - lol - I'd frighten the natives.

Yes - my life is varied and that's the truth.

If it's after August, that's good but the month itself I'm away a lot so try and dove-tail. x