By Brittney Horner and Adam Harris
Contributors
Many people are aware that most Texans have unmatched fervor for their state.
Texans have many reasons to be proud, including boasting the largest medical center in the world, The Texas Medical Center, according to the Texas Medical Center website, and having four of the Big 12 football teams.
The local slogan for Dairy Queen, “D.Q., that’s what I like about Texas,” is only heard from televisions in Texas.
Despite making the slogan of Dairy Queen unique to Texas, the franchise is all over the country. Yet, many Texans take any opportunity to demonstrate state pride.
Dr. Michael Parrish, Linden G. Bowers professor of American History, was born in Texas and said he learned the official state song “Texas our Texas” before the national anthem.
Texas is unique because it has a good mix of urban life and country life, Parrish said.
“We have the best of both worlds,” he said.
Not everyone encompasses the love of Texas, but there is something drawing outsiders to the state.
According to statistics provided by Baylor Admissions, 30 percent of the university’s first-time freshman from fall 2012 and fall 2013 are from other states.
It is common to find out-of-state students at Baylor who are from other large states. For instance, about 10 percent of students are from either California, Colorado, Illinois or Florida.
San Deigo junior Rick Lhotan, a history major, said Texas is better than other states because it broke away and stood alone as its own country. Lhotan considers himself a Texan because he was born in Texas.
“Texans deserve to have such boasting pride because we fought against Mexico to become our own country,” he said. “Californians have a different kind of pride than Texans do because they don’t have the same history as us. They don’t have the Alamo, they don’t have the type of ‘Wild West’ mentality that Texans have.”
Parrish agrees Texas history is a contributing factor.
“Secession is a source of pride,” he said.
Some students moved to Texas thinking they would develop Texas pride, but instead gained home-state pride after moving.
Boise junior Rachel Peterson said she moved to Texas because of the warm weather, but now she misses Idaho.
“I do not have Texas pride,” she said. “But I do have Idaho pride.”
In the recent Time magazine issue “Why Texas is Our Future,” economist Tyler Cowen talks about this phenomenon.
“In 2012 alone, total migration to Texas from the other 49 states in the Union was 106,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Since 2000, 1 million more people have moved to Texas from other states than have left.”
He said it is important for Americans to consider why Texas is desirable for so many people.
“As the U.S. heads toward Texas, literally and metaphorically, it’s worth understanding why we’re headed there — both to see the pitfalls ahead and to catch a glimpse of the opportunities that await us if we make the journey in an intelligent fashion,” Cowen wrote.
