Am I a Texan?

Evan Smith, the editor of Texas Monthly, writes in this month's issue that he is “of Texas” despite the accident of being born in New York City. His argument is that he is now a resident of Texas, roots for the Longhorns and doesn’t intend to leave. So he asks that we consider him a Texan. In this month’s issue of Texas Monthly the feature articles are “Where I’m From”. And the Texas living legend Willie Nelson graces the front cover. Willie was born in Abbott, Texas.

I was born in Carlsbad, New Mexico. For the geographically challenged, that is the big city near the famous Carlsbad Caverns National Park in southeastern New Mexico. It is 29 miles from the Texas line to the southwest, 31 miles from the Texas line to the south, and 76 miles from the Texas line to the east. But it is my contention that this corner of New Mexico is much more Texan than it is New Mexican. The entire southeastern corner of New Mexico is in the oil patch. Carlsbad, Hobbs, Loving, Eunice, and Jal are all “of Texas”. We shop in Midland, Lubbock, and El Paso. We don’t have to pay out of state tuition to attend Texas Tech or Sul Ross. And we have much more in common with Texas than we do northern NM.

In my case, both my parents were born in Texas. My father was born in Hardeman County, Goodlett, Texas in 1913. My mother was born in Comanche County near Dublin, Texas in 1915. They were met and were married in Lubbock in 1937. They moved to New Mexico after WWII. And I arrived in 1952, a New Mexican. I have lived here all my life – except for a while in college when I went to Tech.

Early summers were spent in Texas visiting with relatives in Deleon, Garland, Childress, Burnett, Quanah, and Stanton. Later summers were spent at Camp Mystic on the Guadalupe near Kerrville. Thanksgiving was a trip to Childress and Quanah. Football season we drove to Lubbock to watch the Red Raiders play football. (Daddy had attended Tech in the 30s) Until my mother bought the dress store, my best dresses came from Hemphill Wells in Lubbock, the Model Shop in Midland, or from Neiman’s in Dallas.

I speak and cook Texan. That appliance in the kitchen that keeps food cold is an icebox. The meal you eat at the end of the day is supper. If I invite you for Sunday dinner, you should show up at noon. I don’t put sugar in my cornbread – and I don’t use a mix to make it. Cornbread and sweet milk make a good supper. I fry chicken and okra. I can make chicken gravy, breakfast gravy, brown gravy, giblet gravy, or even red-eye gravy. I can whip up a batch of biscuits –without the can. And we eat black-eyed peas on New Year’s. I do put sugar in my tea and I call it sweet tea. There is a pitcher of sweet tea in the icebox all summer.

So am I a Texan?