Beto Bummer
Although I’m not a Texan, I was so inspired by Beto [O’Rourke]! I guess I still am; he made me better. It’s unfortunate that the Texas Monthly editors chose to bash him [“The Bum Steer Awards,” January 2020] rather than see the positive difference his campaign made in people’s lives.
Molly L. Bonnington, Saginaw, Michigan
So when did [Beto O’Rourke] abandon Texas? When he was—and still is—helping other candidates? When he returned to El Paso after the shooting? . . . If it is because he did not run for Senate, why aren’t you giving [Julián] Castro the same treatment?
Angela Nelson, via Facebook
Kind Regards
I admit I was skeptical when I started reading your first collection of “The Best Things in Texas” [January 2020]. But the more I read your list of good things, the more I approved of it. We are at a terrible place in our nation’s history, with blue versus red wanting to tear one another’s eyes out. This oasis of kindness gives us hope.
Maybe the old state motto—“Friendship”—still has legs.
John Burnett, Austin
Political Hit
I was filled with so much Texan pride after reading the Texanist’s response to “Name Withheld” [about the Texanness of being liberal, in the January 2020 issue] that I had to reach out. I was brought up in the Permian Basin, in Midland, went to college in San Antonio, went to law school in Waco, and now live in Dallas. From my moves across Texas, I’ve had the opportunity of seeing a variety of Texans at their best and worst, both red- and blue-leaning, from Pecos to Carthage. Throughout it all, I’ve come to find that as a whole, Texans are a friendly, helpful, and wonderfully diverse lot.
The Texanist’s warm and thoughtful response was probably more polite than the curmudgeonly Name Withheld deserved, but it definitely pulled at my heartstrings. It emphasized a message that easily carries to the national and global stage: we as Texans are made up of and made better by our vibrant differences.
Gabby Shayeb, Dallas
I was born in Texas, like my father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, and, likewise, my child and grandkids. My personal politics don’t match half the people I know. Some are Texans, like me, and some got here as quick as they could. Regardless, calling us not Texans is looking for a fight. I don’t agree with a lot of the politicians in the state and agree with none of them about everything. But, by God, I’m a Texan until I die.
Guy Covington, via Facebook
The most horrific twelve words to a Texan—“Hi, I just moved here from California. Where do I go vote?”
Justin Riley, via Facebook
Editors’ note: Our Pat’s Pick column in the January issue included an incorrect opening date for the Dallas restaurant Salaryman. The correct date is September 11, 2019. We regret the error.
