Having spent faaaaaar too much time in Texas, I agree and disagree with this. I mean, in the details, not the generality. My mother, step-father, and half brother lived for years in Plainview TX, and before that, in Amarillo. I find even smaller city scale areas like Amarillo, much less the big cities like Dallas and Austin to be surprisingly cosmopolitan. And a willingness to drive in the Southwest to do what you want is pretty normal - when I lived in Las Cruces NM driving to Albuquerque NM (210ish miles) or El Paso TX (50ish miles) was common when you needed specialty goods or just wanted to see a show / event.
But OMFG, Plainview and other smallish towns and cities in the panhandle especially were self-selecting for the worst stereotypes of the insular Texas communities. Note I specify self-selecting - it’s not inevitable, but using my half-brother as an example, he grew up with my secular, liberal Jewish mother in an area completely dominated by the most conservative Religious Right types imaginable. He couldn’t get to college fast enough (UT Austin!) and while he and my lovely sister-in-law live in the greater Dallas area now, that’s so they can be closer to my other brother and mom who all live in the greater Dallas Metroplex.
We periodically talk, as do my friends in Austin, about how they look around at all the culture, options and diversity they have available to them (often more than what I have -here- in Colorado Springs with it’s deep redness), while simultaneously being shamed as not being “Real Texans” to their own state governments and having their needs and desires dictated to them by folks in places like Plainview.
-deep breath-
Rant off. Wow. Sorry. Anyway, so yeah, Texas is a lot like the rest of the US, where the stereotypes overwhelm the actuality of many places, but the stereotypical ones are in political and social control.
Which in a roundabout sort of way, brings us back to the topic! The Home is going to offer events to those that have, as stated well upthread, the fewest options in terms of mobility and energy. Great! But you don’t, and shouldn’t limit yourself to them. Take advantage of the ones you like, seek out people you click with, and otherwise take advantage of the rest of what the world has to offer, online and IRL.
You are fine being you, and just because you’ve (in a metaphorical sense) moved into a new school, don’t feel like you have to fit in! You can be a good neighbor in the sense of not forcing others to do your thing, but are equally free to not do theirs.
) can’t be beat in any standalone residence.
for a while. Truth be told, I’ve never been a joiner or a team-player-type at any age.
).
