Great article. I enjoyed reading it. As I thought about the issue of whether Dallas can aspire to being something other than a place that knows the price of everything and the value of nothing, I wondered what city do I know of that has better aspirations? I can only go with cities I know. I thought of the place of my birth and the Hill Country around it I grew up in, along with a whole clan who came before me there.
Austin is now extremely self-regarding. It used to be just a backwater college town and place where the legislators cavorted and engaged in unsavory extra-curriculars. It developed a unique redneck/hippie fusion culture in the seventies. And its been riding what was an authentic identity in the 60's and 70's ever since. Except now that culture is a caricature. Its been corporatized and commoditized and utterly destroyed. It reminds me of when developers mow down five hundred year old oak trees, build a subdivision and call it "Stately Oaks". They always seem to commemorate the good and desirable features of the land they destroy. Austin is "Austin" now, not Austin.
So, is this any better than Dallas' self-regarding boosterism? It's just different. Austin isn't a sentient being either. It just reflects the people who live there at a given moment. A city in Texas I think has a durable, stand-alone identity is San Antonio.
Since its founding in the early 1700's, it has been remarkably consistent as a Hispanic/German/Anglo amalgam which absorbs the new arrivals and integrates them instead of vice-versa. San Antonio seems very secure in itself, unlike Dallas and Austin.
Thanks for the comment. I think what I am trying to dance between (and not explicitly saying) in the article is that boostersism is a symptom of soullessness, not the disease itself. The root cause is far more human and simple, which is that our culture here is so focused on money, prosperity, wealth, and growth. That produces a city which legitimately makes a lot of people’s lives better, if they move here from California or from Columbia. But it’s lacking something else, an orientation towards anything other than the self. A soul, if you will. I guess I am proposing replace the love of self with the love of something else? Maybe, our neighbors? As for Fort Worth, I can only give the most Dallas answer I know. I do not think about it at all.
I lived in Dallas for over 20 years and my wife is from there. The culture of constant striving and consumer bullshit began to leave too much grit in my mouth. When offered a chance to work from home, we moved to Santa Fe. No regrets. Not a single one. I do find it sad that the city squanders so much civic potential. Pass another bond, mismanagement at City Hall, the whole place yawns and life goes on in between St. Patrick’s day yearly celebrations and pro sports championship withdrawal. Having been gone over 6 years now, it puzzles me whenever I look at it from the outside.
One of the most unfortunate casualties of Dallas Boosterism is the willful destruction (or at least over-editing) of our own history in service of the Myth. If you don't know where you've come from, how can you know where you're going?
It has turned this place, which has a longer and more interesting history than people realize, both good and bad, that could be used to frame the present and future, into a sort of white board that anyone can erase and write over. Even City Hall, which itself is probably about to be erased and written over, was an attempt to turn the page from the Kennedy assassination.
I know a lot of places that, while not as economically successful as Dallas, have more what I'll call "civic virtue" and a will to pass it down through generations. Places where people are always telling old stories about failed projects, new ideas, corrupt officials, and golden ages that build a culture beyond "we have this cool stuff; we want more cool stuff." It creates a desire to do something to join that history, not just create more capital.
"Myths are not a lie, mythology is poetry, it is metaphorical. It has been well said that mythology is the penultimate truth—penultimate because the ultimate cannot be put into words. It is beyond words. Beyond images…” -Joseph Campbell
A lot to digest here. But I would say that the façade of Dallas is often mistaken for the reality of Dallas. Both by people who live here and those from the outside.
Dallas is very different between I 35 and Central. Quite another difference on the outside of that corridor, and certainly to the south.
While there has always been a flashy business front to it (that inspired a famous TV show) there has also been a seedy underbelly that is pushed under the rug and not well documented. And while "the accommodation" concentrates its history on the racism, ...indeed a primary color of the spectrum, it is not the whole of it which makes the light. Read about Benny Binion's tales of Dallas here: https://a.co/d/0ji6FYMU
From my perspective, as one who was born here, and has had family here for 150 years, I would say that current Dallas is at a flashpoint given the regional and state economy and the potential for magnificence is at hand.
Compared to most other cities, however, there really isn't much interesting here in the ways of topography. Yes a muddy river runs thru it, a little bit of forest,...some hills towards the south. But overall it's flat and there is nothing like oceans or mountains drawing you outside.
So, perhaps, by will, and of course money, we have made our own through such things as our trail system (reclamated from the old railroads), the arts & entertainment we procure, and of course, our social interaction.
Great article. I enjoyed reading it. As I thought about the issue of whether Dallas can aspire to being something other than a place that knows the price of everything and the value of nothing, I wondered what city do I know of that has better aspirations? I can only go with cities I know. I thought of the place of my birth and the Hill Country around it I grew up in, along with a whole clan who came before me there.
Austin is now extremely self-regarding. It used to be just a backwater college town and place where the legislators cavorted and engaged in unsavory extra-curriculars. It developed a unique redneck/hippie fusion culture in the seventies. And its been riding what was an authentic identity in the 60's and 70's ever since. Except now that culture is a caricature. Its been corporatized and commoditized and utterly destroyed. It reminds me of when developers mow down five hundred year old oak trees, build a subdivision and call it "Stately Oaks". They always seem to commemorate the good and desirable features of the land they destroy. Austin is "Austin" now, not Austin.
So, is this any better than Dallas' self-regarding boosterism? It's just different. Austin isn't a sentient being either. It just reflects the people who live there at a given moment. A city in Texas I think has a durable, stand-alone identity is San Antonio.
Since its founding in the early 1700's, it has been remarkably consistent as a Hispanic/German/Anglo amalgam which absorbs the new arrivals and integrates them instead of vice-versa. San Antonio seems very secure in itself, unlike Dallas and Austin.
I wonder what you think about Fort Worth?
Thanks for the comment. I think what I am trying to dance between (and not explicitly saying) in the article is that boostersism is a symptom of soullessness, not the disease itself. The root cause is far more human and simple, which is that our culture here is so focused on money, prosperity, wealth, and growth. That produces a city which legitimately makes a lot of people’s lives better, if they move here from California or from Columbia. But it’s lacking something else, an orientation towards anything other than the self. A soul, if you will. I guess I am proposing replace the love of self with the love of something else? Maybe, our neighbors? As for Fort Worth, I can only give the most Dallas answer I know. I do not think about it at all.
Keep on rocking in the free world, Dallas.
https://www.dallasobserver.com/opinion/dallas-hotel-st-germain-demolition-high-rise-40662529/
I lived in Dallas for over 20 years and my wife is from there. The culture of constant striving and consumer bullshit began to leave too much grit in my mouth. When offered a chance to work from home, we moved to Santa Fe. No regrets. Not a single one. I do find it sad that the city squanders so much civic potential. Pass another bond, mismanagement at City Hall, the whole place yawns and life goes on in between St. Patrick’s day yearly celebrations and pro sports championship withdrawal. Having been gone over 6 years now, it puzzles me whenever I look at it from the outside.
One of the most unfortunate casualties of Dallas Boosterism is the willful destruction (or at least over-editing) of our own history in service of the Myth. If you don't know where you've come from, how can you know where you're going?
It has turned this place, which has a longer and more interesting history than people realize, both good and bad, that could be used to frame the present and future, into a sort of white board that anyone can erase and write over. Even City Hall, which itself is probably about to be erased and written over, was an attempt to turn the page from the Kennedy assassination.
I know a lot of places that, while not as economically successful as Dallas, have more what I'll call "civic virtue" and a will to pass it down through generations. Places where people are always telling old stories about failed projects, new ideas, corrupt officials, and golden ages that build a culture beyond "we have this cool stuff; we want more cool stuff." It creates a desire to do something to join that history, not just create more capital.
Or not. I didn't sleep well last night.
"Myths are not a lie, mythology is poetry, it is metaphorical. It has been well said that mythology is the penultimate truth—penultimate because the ultimate cannot be put into words. It is beyond words. Beyond images…” -Joseph Campbell
A lot to digest here. But I would say that the façade of Dallas is often mistaken for the reality of Dallas. Both by people who live here and those from the outside.
Dallas is very different between I 35 and Central. Quite another difference on the outside of that corridor, and certainly to the south.
While there has always been a flashy business front to it (that inspired a famous TV show) there has also been a seedy underbelly that is pushed under the rug and not well documented. And while "the accommodation" concentrates its history on the racism, ...indeed a primary color of the spectrum, it is not the whole of it which makes the light. Read about Benny Binion's tales of Dallas here: https://a.co/d/0ji6FYMU
From my perspective, as one who was born here, and has had family here for 150 years, I would say that current Dallas is at a flashpoint given the regional and state economy and the potential for magnificence is at hand.
Compared to most other cities, however, there really isn't much interesting here in the ways of topography. Yes a muddy river runs thru it, a little bit of forest,...some hills towards the south. But overall it's flat and there is nothing like oceans or mountains drawing you outside.
So, perhaps, by will, and of course money, we have made our own through such things as our trail system (reclamated from the old railroads), the arts & entertainment we procure, and of course, our social interaction.