Richardson and Irving, to be exact, and it doesn't surprise me at all that this is happening in Frisco. Yes, there is a part of dallas that is relatively cosmopolitan (north dallas, turtle creek, west end, "downtown"), but even then, i would hesitate to call the art museum "world class." The Kimbell Museum in Fort Worth is much more deserving of that title.

But, much worse than this tiny part of central Dallas are the exploding suburbs, places like Carrolton, McKinney, Grapevine, Denton (could now be considered a suburb, i guess), which are communities of homes, malls, grocery stores, churches, and an occassional country club.

When I went to middle school in one of the these places, which was not that long ago, we had to sign an abstinence pledge in 7th grade. This was a tax-payer funded public school. We read passages from the Bible in English class that weren't relevant. We went to a rodeo as a field trip, during which there was a long and extensive prayer, during which the rest of my class stood up and prayed (what was i supposed to do, in 7th grade? i just sat there, feeling more and more alienated). And if my parents had complained about that, no one would have been reprimanded or much less suspended, with pay. The people I went to middle school with -- they all stay in their suburbs, get married right after college (those that bother going) and start having children. Their MySpace profiles list "god" and "church" as their interests, and "the bible" as "favorite books." The women gleefully write "the future Mrs. John Smith," forgetting that they have their own names and identities, even though they may be "lowly women."

It's hard for those of us living on the two coasts to imagine that there are huge swaths of the country that don't seem to have moved ahead from very traditional gender roles and societal expectations. And fine art, especially nude fine art, is certainly not part of these expectations.

What I find to be good about Texas (some ideals, some real-- skewed towards the Hill Country)

First of all, let me just point out that the Hill Country, with its proximity to Austin, is quite different from suburbs of Dallas.

Our better values: Self-reliance, egalitarianism, a mile-wide populist streak, a willingness to say what you think, a love of and appreciation for one's home and surroundings without the need to bash other places

It's cheap, but the self-reliance thing, in my experience, translated very quickly into some of the lowest level of social programs like healthinsruance, food stamps, etc. for the needy.

Egalitarianism -- if you have an accent or a weird name, not so much.

A willingness to say what you think -- Not where I lived. There, people didn't know the difference between Jewish, atheist and Satanist. So, if you say what you think, for example, "I'm Jewish," it might not go over very well.

Our food: Oh, man... the food is good. Kolaches, barbeque, fresh veggies and fruits of every kind, tacos, migas-- it's just outstanding. Something for every palate-- and in my city, American Southern, Mexican (interior, coastal, and border), Indian, Cajun, Japanese, Thai, Tex-Mex, Czech, and "organic" styles vie for supremacy, which is not a bad thing at all.

It's like that in every big city, in particular the coastal ones.

Our arts: People here produce tons of music, movies, novels, comics/graphic novels, videogames, and more-- and it may surprise you which ones they are. And, best of all, there's an innocent surprise and delight amongst us locals when they become successful or popular that I don't think is still happening in cities like NYC or Hollywood. And the festivals related to film and music and so on are really outstandingly well done.

Really? More than the coasts?

In the end, i think Austin might be a unique place in Texas. The suburbs of Dallas are closed-minded cultural wastelands, by and large.

It shows to everyone that women can be just as rough, tough, corrupt, unethical, etc. as men, and helps put to rest the Victorian higher standard for women -- that women are more virtuous, gentler, nicer, etc. than men. Putting women on this delicate, higher-standard pedestal is unfair, and backward-looking, and makes it that much harder for women to break through the class ceiling.

is the most formal french "thank you."

Here's one example, documented on Broadshet:

Frank Deford, sports commentator, laments that women's entry into sports has not made men in sports nicer, but in fact has made women in sports less nice. Where's the logic? The implication is that women are generally nicer, more virtuous, gentler, kinder...

Read it here:

http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/2006/05/24/deford_titleix/index.html