Heaven forbid!  A Yankee?  No, No.  I'm from the "other West."  Describing
myself as a Westerner has worked well in my current environment and I get
along quite well.  It took a while to learn that tactic, though.

I am not of the opinion that one must fully adapt to a culture that is not
his own.  I will always hold on to my Northwest cultural attributes (don't
think I could get rid of them if I wanted to).  My years of dealing and
studying about how to deal with multiple cultures (remember, I spent my
first twenty professional years in international stuff), has taught me that
I should appreciate the differences, accept them as making sense to members
of that particular culture but to maintain my own values in the process.  I
will not, for instance, accept certain Texas values--like those that lead
to more people being incarcerated here than in all the European Union
countries together.


------
Robert Handy
Brazoria County Historical Museum
100 East Cedar
Angleton, Texas  77515
(409) 864-1208
museum_bob
[log in to unmask]
http://www.bchm.org

----------
From:   Cordova Kloepping[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:   Monday, August 31, 1998 7:45 AM
To:     [log in to unmask]
Subject:        Re: Equity, and All That

As a native Houstonian (also my mother grew up in Angleton) I have to
say that I believe that it is your apparent rejection of the culture you
live in that may be creating the resistance you feel.  There is nothing
more offensive to a Texan than a yankee who seems negatively charged
toward Texas culture.  If you are looking for more support, perhaps you
should begin to display some of that Texas pride (an attitude and
perspective that I have to say is very different from that of the deep
south).  I recently moved to New York and the only thing that Texans
have in common with New Yorkers is an almost fanatical sense of pride in
their state.  I'm sure you've seen those bumper stickers that say "I'm
from Texas, What country are you from?"  This comes from knowing you can
drive almost 10 hours in a given direction and not leave the state, that
Texas is the largest in the domestic US, and that, of course, there is
no better place to get a margarita or two step in an old dance hall to
the sounds of local musicians. I find that there is a sensibilty about
Texas that is not easily described and things I miss that I could not
exactly put my finger on.  (I'll never get used to people saying they
are standing "on line" when I am clearly standing "in line".)
My suggestion is for you to slow down a bit, take a look around you,
breathe in deep, and appreciate what you see.

Anissa Cordova
Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art
Snug Harbor Cultural Center
Staten Island, NY

Robert T. Handy wrote:
>
> Uh, oh.  How long in NJ?
>
> I'm from Portland--thirty years--and I resisted this place rubbing off on
> me, but people now say I even have a hint of an accent.  No pickup truck
or
> cowboy hat  yet, though.
>
> ------
> Robert Handy
> Brazoria County Historical Museum
> 100 East Cedar
> Angleton, Texas  77515
> (409) 864-1208
> museum_bob
> [log in to unmask]
> http://www.bchm.org
>
> ----------
> From:   Adrienne Deangelis[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent:   Friday, August 28, 1998 8:33 AM
> To:     [log in to unmask]
> Subject:        Equity, and All That
>
> RH: "But then, I've been in the South for twenty-seven years and haven't
> been
> up
> in your territory for awhile.  Maybe I am just mis-reading that naturally
> abrasive (as I was called for years by my southern colleagues) tone that
> folks in your regional culture have in their voice all the time."
>
>         Umm, RH: I'm from California.  Born and bred.
>
> A. DeAngelis