Texas Humor

Okay, go ahead and laugh: I'm from Texas. I'm used to laughing about it all the time, particularly because some of the stereotypes (even if I don't conform to all of them) have traces of truth in them...

1. The accent. Ya'll know what I'm talkin' about. Sure, some people tell me, "what, your from Texas? You don't have an accent." Truth is, I've just learned to hide it in certain situations.

2. The attitude. Most native Texans believe that Texas is the best state ever. I'm not so sure about that; but, as an Austinite, I do believe Austin is the best city ever.

3. The oversize cars. Again, not so true for me. I like to save on my gas. There are a lot of giant trucks, though -- especially Ford150s. And they force my little Civic into the slow lane constantly.

4. The food. We all love barbecue (and big portions of it), right? Almost every party in the state features a beans, brisket, and ribs buffet. Those of us who prefer a lighter feast are generally forced to lurk around the bread basket and salad station. But I do love Tex-Mex (and a nice cold Shiner Bock beer; I'll pass on the Lone Star...).

Listing out the general Texas stereotypes for me, as a native Texan, doesn't make me feel inferior. Heck, I'm an insider; I can make fun of my own. And this parallels a lot of the readings we've done--more directly with the Molly Ivins piece (which reminded a lot of Kinky Friedman's writings; "he ain't Kinky...he's my governor") and more indirectly with the gendered humor, the southern humor, and the social humor: we have to laugh at ourselves and our practices in order to a) understand the situations and contexts that make us the way we are and b) point out the situations in which show us our personal flaws (in my case, stubbornness -- other cities are probably just as cool as Austin...) and, in the context of misconception, socially (seriously, not everyone in Texas has big hair, votes Republican, and works for an oil company....). To that, I say "yee haw." I'm off to the hair salon; this time, I'll ask for extra hair spray on my bangs.