West Texas

In My Humble Opinion
1

In this thread, we were discussing if Texas is part of the South:

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=99728&pagenumber=1

and it leads me to ask this question…one I have argued over for years (it seems) with co workers.

This may be a question only fellow Texans can answer:
define West Texas.

Being from El Paso, it makes me laugh to no end when people say “Fort Worth is the start of the west”

As I currently live in Fort Worth, I KNOW it’s not West Texas…not in Mentality or Geography.

People also say Lubbuck is West Texas. I also disagree. (see arguement for Fort worth).

IMO, West Texas can be defined as follows:

where Texas borders New mexico, there is a vertical and horizonatl line. Make an Imaginary line continuing the Vertical one. THAT is West Texas.
To those of you not familiar with Texas:
when I would drive from Dallas/Fort Worth area to El Paso (aprox 11 hours) you would hit approx TWO towns. everything else in between is NOTHING. VAST NOTHINGNESS. :slight_smile:

So to me, People from West Texas are very different than the rest of Texas:

Our Hispanic influence is greater, as one of Mexico’s largest cities, Cd. Juarez, is near El Paso.

Our pop culture references are totally different, as cable TV is brought in from Los Angeles. (at least it was when I grew up there). I knew WAY more about LA than Dallas. My peers could repeat LA car dealer commercials, In n’out and Disney commercials ad nauseum.

I also feel that there isnt as much racism in West Texas…compared to what I have experienced in other parts of Texas. Maybe this is just me. I can’t honestly say. But In El Paso, almost ALL of my friends were half something.
This was mainly due to the Fort Bliss. There seemed to be more tolerance.

and lastly, there seems to be a contempt for El Paso in the rest of Texas. Why is beyond me. The one thing that infuriates me to no end is when I hear a fellow Texan say, “ewwww, you’re from El Paso?” or “You’re from El Paso? I’m Sorry”.
this is a whole other topic though.
[sub] btw, any fellow El Pasoan, please send me some Chico’s Tacos! Im dying here! :slight_smile: [/sub]

2

I define west Texas as “that part of Texas that lies west of the Pecos River”. That’s a nice, simple, geographical definition that works for me because, well… because I live west of the Pecos.

That said, I’d be ready to concede that I actually live in “Far West” Texas, as it’s sometimes called, and that plain ol’ “West” Texas begins in San Angelo. In that sense, calling San Angelo the western border of Central Texas and the eastern border of West Texas.

Fort Worth, no matter what they want to think, is absolutely not where west Texas begins. In a Cowboy sense, the heritage there is more High Plains–sort of southern Midwest, I guess, like Lubbock and Amarillo.

Either way… hmmm… I’d say you can’t call yourself West Texas unless you live west of the 100°W line of longitude! (And I’ll still snort at those east of the Pecos).

Not at all. Except for the whole “we’re-thinking-about-mining-your-groundwater” thing, we–at least in the rest of Trans-Pecos Texas–kinda like El Paso. (And there’s a lot of El Pasoans at the University I work for.) We save our true disdain and contempt for… (I feel dirty just typing it) [dripping with slime]Austin[/dripping with slime].

3

Having visited ElPaso, I’d say the reason for the general attitude of the rest of the state toward Marty Robbins’ favorite Texas city is probably a combination of the smog (a nice sulfur smell can ruin an otherwise pleasant day, and that brown haze you see as you approach the city really makes you look forward to breathing there), the crime rate, and the wide expanse of nothing at all you have to drive through to get there from the rest of the state.

As for when you know you’re in “west” Texas, I generally considered myself to be west when I ran out of trees and could see scrub brush and sand in every direction.

4

I’ll agree that Ft. Worth does not start west Texas but it does END east Texas. Drive SW on 30 from Texarkana to Ft. Worth. Nice green pine forest, when you get out of Ft. Worth the trees thin out a lot and the vast nothingness begins. And I’d agree with ** Kilt-wearin’ man** – I think the E- Paso comments may be said in sympathy.

5

West Texas- the lands west of the Pecos. I guess you could add the entire Trans-Pecos area into that, but the Trans-Pecos is it’s own area, IMHO.

I’ve never been to El Paso, but I could understand it if El Pasoans didn’t feel like they were part of the rest of the state. I think there is a push to get a capitol annex there, which makes sense considering there are something like eight or more state capitols closer to the town than Austin.

Kilt-wearin’ man’s make sense. I don’t really have that much of an opinion about the city, but it has to better than, say, Houston or Dallas.

:smiley:

6

And if you want to go to the beach, you go to San Diego. It’s closer than the TX coast. :eek:

7

I’m currently living in El Paso, and I confirm everything anyone says. However, there is racism here–if you’re not hispanic, you are some kind of an exploiter of the masses. I live on the west side (Upper VAlley) and it’s less of a problem here, but there does seem to be two separate El Pasos sometimes.

How can you eat that greasy Chico’s Tacos stuff? i prefer Queretaro’s or L & J’s, by Concordia!!

8

I’m currently living in El Paso, and I confirm everything anyone says. However, there is racism here–if you’re not hispanic, you are some kind of an exploiter of the masses. I live on the west side (Upper VAlley) and it’s less of a problem here, but there does seem to be two separate El Pasos sometimes.

How can you eat that greasy Chico’s Tacos stuff? i prefer Queretaro’s or L & J’s, by Concordia!!

If we want to go to the beach, we just go to beautiful Elephant Butt (!) reservoir.

9

I’d agree with that. The “West Texas” of the Trans-Pecos is a lot different than the “West Texas” of either Lubbock or of San Angelo. More like… Extra-Northern Mexico.

cornflakes, you shoulda been here this weekend when the Austin Stereotype Trio came into town–and just as I was about to cut that town some slack…

10

ha ha! I know you mean butte, but we called it butt,too. :wink:

I have never been to those other places. and concordia…it always gave me the willies as a kid.

that may be true, but the same could be said of Houston. and I simply don’t recall El Pasoans being derissive about the rest of the state. I don’t recall hearing someone say “ew!!! you’re from Houston”

and yes, I am sure there is racism there. any city will have some.
and what I don’t get: WHY do people always say Lubbock is west Texas? how is the Pan Handle defined?

11

The people who say Lubbock is in west Texas probably don’t know where Lubbock actually is…I believe the word they’re looking for is “North…”

As for why Houston isn’t lumped in with EP in the “Ewwwwww” category, there’s a very different “nothing” surrounding Houston and most of the other big cities in Texas. Green, inhabited countryside. El Paso is surrounded by desert where you can drive a couple of hours without seeing any sign of human habitation. Add to that the particularly pungent smog provided by Jaurez (much more fragrant than what you find in Houston or Dallas, and best of all, it’s coming from factories in a country that doesn’t have all these clean air laws to deal with and wafting across the Rio Grande for your pleasure) and the convenient mountain and hills around the city to hold the smog in…
Well, it literally stinks.

So, the average traveller, after driving across the monotonous scrub-and-tarantula landscape for 8, 10 or 12 hours to reach his destination, gets out of his car and takes a deep breath of Mexican factory smoke and thinks to himself…“I drove all that way for *this?**” And yet another Texan devolops and spreads the low opinion of El Paso.

That, or the known fact that if you go to El Paso and fall in love with a Mexican girl, you’re only gonna wind up getting shot out behind Rosie’s Cantina.

12

well, I guess it’s all a matter of perspective.
driving through the desert from Fort Worth to El Paso…well, it’s the same desert you drive from El Paso to Fort Worth. It may be greener, but not THAT much greener here in Fort Worth.

Maybe it’s me, but I LOVE the desert. I think it’s beautiful. I find the vast nothingness to be beautiful.

Trees are beautiful, indeed, but nothing compares to the sunset out west.

and on another point, I always hate it how people always chastize Juarez’s maquiladoras. granted, the pollution is bad…but those factories typically are AMERICAN ones. They are American factories that take advantage if the cheaper work force and lax pollution laws.

and as for the smell, I know El Paso has grown a lot in 10 years, since I was last there…but I surely don’t rember it STINKING.

13

You need to visit the eastern 2/3’s of Oregon.

14

First of all I live in Houston. Aside from the pollution, it’s really not a bad city. Got lots to do, and if you can get past the lousy roads (and avoid the bad parts), it’s fairly pretty. I think, of all the places in Texas I’ve lived, Houston’s my favorite.

I am also a reformed Abilenian. That is most certainly in West Texas. I’ve made the drive from Abilene to Ft. Worth and it’s as desolate a trip as any I’ve made. One thing I’ll say about Abilene is it’s got culture. The universities see to that.

Robin

15

El Pasoan here…

I have lived here most of my life, and I really don’t identify much with “Texas”. New Mexico and Arizona seem a lot closer and more familiar.

I’d say that the Pecos river is the natural boundary of West Texas. The Panhandle, Hill Country are not “West Texas”.

I actually like it here. Save for a couple of trouble spots, its a mostly safe city for its size, and while the town itself can be dull, there is more to do in the area around here than most people realize. It’s a great base from which to explore the southwest and northern Mexico. And I prefer the more authentic Mexican culture of this area to the touristy spots in Santa Fe or San Antonio. It’s a great place to learn Spanish.

I don’t care much for Cd. Juarez (it’s certainly not too safe), but we are less than daylong drive from places like Chihuahua City, Creel, Paquime, and other places that are very unique. But a lot of people newcomers to the area get a very negative impression of Mexico from Juarez.

Being “Hispanic” but not “Mexican” (I’m Chilean - and rather light skinned) is sort of funny in El Paso. I feel at home yet I am sort of an outsider too. I wouldn’t say its “racist”, but there is a big gap between the richer areas and the barrios. In some ways the real border is along I-10, at least it was like that when I was in school. But there are some rich people from Mexico who have moved to the area to get away from Juarez’ problems, and well off Hispanic-Americans in the area too. But, if you are “Anglo” in El Paso, and not a street person, you are assumed to be either rich or military connected.

16

West Texas is the driveover country you can’t avoid on the way to New Mexico! Starts about half an hour west of San Antonio on I-10, and it never ends.

Actually I love West Texas, they have the secret Texas mountains. Everyone should spend some time crossing Texas horizontally, you really get to know yourself.

El Paso smells, but it’s a friendly dog. Houston on the other hand is an evil place. A rotting corpse caked with makeup. It’s not so much a place as it is the ultimate denial of the concept of humanity being bound to actual places instead of unchecked desires. I grew up there.

What exactly is the Austin stereotype?

-fh

17

I don’t understand. Isn’t all of Texas west? Hell, it’s all the way on the other side of the Berkshires.

18

As a born and bred Texan, I must conced that I am not aware of any North, South, East, West, or Central Texas. It is all my homeland, and all Texans are my family.
I was born and raised in Baytown, just outside of Houston. I have travelled throughout the majority of Texas and have loved all of it. And I found that all along the Texas/Mexico border, there just happen to be many Mexican towns, it is not just near El Paso. Houston has a very large hispanic community and Tex-Mex food has to be the best food in the world, followed closely by Cajun, of course.
As for boundaries “dividing” the Great Republic? There are some very natural boundaries, such as:
The High Plains, the Gulf Coast, The Mountain and Basin or Western (includes the following counties: Andrews, Brewster, Crane, Culberson, Ector, El Paso, Hudspeth, Jeff Davis, Loving, Martin, Midland, Pecos, Presidio, Reeves, Terrell, Upton, Ward, and Winkler), The Plains and Prairies, and of course, the Heart of Texas. Each region has different landscapes, climates, cultures, customs, flora, fauna, and people. But it is all very much the Great Republic of Texas.
I have never heard any Texan speak bad of another area of Texas, and I hope that I never live so long as to do so. Although we do love to pick on our Aggies.
Anyway, I hope that you find that the rest of Texas is just as beautiful in its own way as your own little part of it, and y’all aint forgotten.

19

Is the OP question “where does the South become the West?” (and Texas just happens to be where this occurs on the map)

How 'bout “where the cotton gives way to cattle?”

20

As a citizen of Abilene, I always say I live in Central Texas. I consider West Texas to start around Midland/Odessa. The drive from Abilene to Ft. Worth is rather pleasant I’d say. I’ve lived in this area all my life and have made that drive (and ride) dozens of times. It’s only a couple of hours. The drive to Austin is worse to me since there’s no Interstate. It takes about three hours, and is very dull. Of course when you’re done, you’re in Austin, which is a pretty cool town. I lived there for about a year, a couple years ago. The drive to El Paso is mindless tedium. It’s 450 miles of not much. Especially the last hundred miles to El Paso. I seriously don’t think there’s more than about two towns out that way (est. pop. 500).