Comments on: podunk, USA

By: mistyexpressions

mistyexpressions — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:42:34 +0000

I hope someday your feelings will change too. I lived in Cleburne for a very long time. I can see where you are trying to make some points, but I think it came off as generalising. I think that’s why it made people think critically about your post. (They felt attacked and misunderstood.) You are absolutely entitled to your opinions and beliefs, no doubt. I just think, like you said, through hurt feelings people only made your points more valid. I don’t think anyone meant to hurt your feelings or solidify your beliefs either. I hope you see how proud people are of not being like the people you described in your post here and how passionate they were to defend that. No harm was meant and I hope you understand that. I hope you can see these people as friends and not as enemies because I’m sure truly that’s how they feel. They just wanted to convey to you their experience and beliefs. No one wants you or anyone else to believe they/we are bad. That’s a sickening horrible feeling to have. As I’m sure you feel the same way. Also, I do appreciate how you handled everyones posts. You could’ve added fuel to the fire, but you didn’t. Thanks for that. (Reaching my hand out, so you can shake it.)

Your New Friend From Texas

By: zaxxonq

zaxxonq — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:56:34 +0000

Frak! >_< I'm sorry! Had I known, I would've done something to deter this. Well, I know it's not much but I apologize for the small minded people. I have edited the description on ZaxxonQ.com. I hope that will stop the attacks.

By: Ashley

Ashley — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:49:23 +0000

I don’t mind that you shared the link, but a lot of the people who are coming here are misunderstanding the intentions of the post. It was written as an academic assignment for an academic (objective) audience, and for people who are accustomed to critical self-evaluation. It wasn’t written as an ALL SMALL TOWNS SUCK ESPECIALLY YOURS post. I would appreciate it if you wrote some kind of disclaimer on your link. I don’t enjoy being attacked for my thoughts. Anyway, thanks for the traffic, and I hope you come back :)

By: Ashley

Ashley — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:46:54 +0000

First of all, this wasn’t a “bash-fest,” it was a reflection on *my* experiences in one small town in Texas. I have acknowledged that my experience is limited, and that the last time I visited was when I was thirteen years old. Never once did I condemn anyone who chose to live in a small-town, I was merely expressing my own thoughts on the experience and why it was so difficult for me. I’m sorry that you generalized my comments to mean that I believe all Texans to be small minded, mean, and racist. That certainly wasn’t my intention. I think you should calm down, read my post again, and acknowledge that other people have a right to express their own experiences.

I’m very happy that you are so comfortable with your life and your identity and I certainly have no intention of trying to take that away from you. The intention of this post was merely to point out the nature of a small place using Cleburne as an example. In big cities with all of the diversity that comes from mixing large groups of people, local charm (and local prejudices) are mostly lost. That’s both a good and bad thing, just as it’s both a good and bad thing that they are *not* lost in smaller places like Cleburne. I have simply expressed my dislike of living and visiting in small towns but that by no means implies that I think they shouldn’t exist, that I think they are bad places, or that people with different temperaments aren’t perfectly suited for living there.

And, I would just like to point out that I would be much more likely to get into an intelligent discussion with you if you hadn’t told me to “grow up” and called me “mean.” You have misunderstood my intentions and reacted in anger, and I hope that those feelings leave you soon. They can’t be pleasant, and I never meant to cause them.

By: Ashley

Ashley — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:38:31 +0000

Thanks for your thoughts, and I’m glad to hear about your love for small town America. I wish my experiences had been similar, and who knows, maybe some day they will be in the future :)

By: mistyexpressions

mistyexpressions — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:02:49 +0000

I don’t believe every Texan is racist (just like I don’t believe everyone in the U.S. is racist). In fact, I know they’re not. I’m one Texan who is not, my husband is one, and I know of several more who are not. I’m sure that’s only the tip of the iceberg. I also believe that small towns have some of the best people around. I grew up in Rendon Texas. That town is even smaller than Cleburne and some of the best people I’ve ever known lived there. People in small towns can be very loyal, genuine, and always willing to lend a hand when someone is in need, even to strangers. I know that this day in age that many people in the world aren’t good, but that’s everywhere. In the big city or in a small town. I don’t believe it is fair to characterize everyone in a small town as bad apples. Why let a few bad apples spoil your view of the bunch?

By: TrueBlueTexan

TrueBlueTexan — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:58:29 +0000

I have lived my whole life in Texas. Although not perfect, our small town feel in a big state is one of our best qualities. We are much more friendly than people in other states. We still smile at each other on the street. You don’t get that everywhere. Also, some of the greatest people have come from small town Texas. Our small town history is deeper and more rich than many other places in our country. We are a proud and independent people as well. Perhaps so many people are posting now, because now real small town Texans have found your little bash-fest of a blog. Grow-up, get a life, put your childhood issues behind you and apoligize to small town Texas. It isn’t nice to say bad things about a place you only visited and never lived in. Only a Cleburnite or true Texan should be as mean as you.

By: zaxxonq

zaxxonq — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 06:52:51 +0000

LOL, they’re coming from me. ^_^ I was sent a link to this wonderful blog and I decided to share it on my FaceBook, Twitter, and MySpace. I hope you don’t mind. I’d also like to put a link up at ZaxxonQ.com, if that’s okay with you, since my first book deals with growing up in that… “colorful” little town

By: Ashley

Ashley — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 04:49:40 +0000

Allen and Violet: Thanks so much for commenting. Just wondering, where are all of you guys coming from? I wrote this post three months ago!

By: Violet

Violet — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 04:42:53 +0000

I was born and raised in Cleburne Texas and left at 26 yrs. old. My parents have been there in the same house for 35 years. They even have the same phone number I remember learning in kindergarten! I still live in Texas, but a much larger town, actually a city, 260 miles away. My mom asks me all the time to move back but I always tell her “no”. As a matter of fact, we had the conversation today. I told her that all my skeletons and demons are still there in Cleburne and will be forever. I love to visit my family but I am always glad to leave that place. It seems to never change and what few changes there are, are not good. My grandmother has lived there since the 60′s. She will never leave either. I told my parents that as soon as I am granted a certain amount of financial freedom next year, “I” will be getting them out of Cleburne. On a less invasive viewpoint of my home town, I do not have any regrets growing up there. I learned to appreciate the world outside those city limits.

By: Allen

Allen — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 03:11:33 +0000

I’m a Texan. I grew up near Cleburne. I now live in Virginia, but there are certain positive things about Texas culture that I still try to take with me where ever I go while leaving the negative things behind. On a recent show about the history and culture of Texas, one Texas historian commentator talked about one of those negative things, but he spoke of it as if it were a positive thing; he said that Texans like you if you can “make it”, but if you can’t “make it” they don’t want to have much to do with you. I call this social darwinism. Texas is also one of the most racist places I’ve been, but they think they can hide it despite how obvious it is. It’s like the 1000 lbs gorilla in the room on-one wants to talk about.

The positive aspects of Texas I take with me – I’m a liberal Jim Hightower type of Texan, and I speak my mind when I see something that just ain’t right (like Bush’s governorship). I have a boisterous sense of humor and I still like to wear my cowboy boots from time to time. I’m laid back and have a live and let live attitude; I welcome diversity as opposed to the “welcome to Texas, now go home” type of Texans.

This was a good post, Ashley, and it brought back some memories.

By: Ashley

Ashley — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:07:56 +0000

They may be false for you (that’s a good thing) but they aren’t false for me, otherwise I wouldn’t have written them. If your experience with small town life was a good one, then I’m happy for you, but it wasn’t that way for me or for my father. As for “hating” that I feel this way, I’m sorry? You don’t know me, so my feelings (which are based on limited experience, I grant you) shouldn’t really be affecting you this much. Different people experience things differently, and my experience has largely been negative. Just because you’ve (hopefully) enjoyed small town life at some point, doesn’t mean there aren’t others who haven’t.

By: Ashley

Ashley — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:05:04 +0000

Ha, good to know. I’ve never been.

By: Ashley

Ashley — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:04:42 +0000

No, I like Texas. I just don’t like small towns. Every state/city has its own culture; that’s the point I was trying to make, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The other point I was trying to make was that small towns — because of their smallness — REALLY have their own culture. It’s almost a necessity. In my experience, it’s really hard to be an outsider in these places, even if the people you are visiting are friendly because it’s like visiting a foreign country. Unfortunately, being in Cleburne for me (having grown up in a very different environment) wasn’t very pleasant. I’m happy that some people enjoy small town life, and power to them. I just don’t happen to be one of those people.

The other, not so nice, side effect of (most) small towns — and my father and his family are living examples of this — is that both bad and good traditions tend to stick around. I love my dad to death, but he is a racist, and he will be until the day he dies. It was instilled in him as a kid by the culture he grew up in (due to various socio-economic reasons probably out of his control).

Thanks for taking the time to comment, and I hope I didn’t upset you too much.

By: Ashley

Ashley — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:57:45 +0000

Hi, thanks for commenting and glad you enjoyed the post :)

By: kristin

kristin — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:19:37 +0000

I disagree with this post, I hate that you feel this way about a small town. And don;t get me wrong some things you said are true but as well some of your comments are false.

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:42:23 +0000

I ate at that burger place! Great burgers.

By: MeasterYukio

MeasterYukio — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:39:45 +0000

Although somewhat well written, you have failed to understand Texas as a whole. The majority of Texas is in a bygone age. We Texans have and will always be different than others. I see you as not so much having a problem with a small town, but having a problem with the culture of Texas. Texas is mostly small towns spread out over a large area. Also, Cleaburne was built around the railroad and still employes Cleburnites to this day. Cleburnites speak with a Texan accent. When in small town Texas get used to it.

By: zaxxonq

zaxxonq — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:50:40 +0000

Wow. Nice to see someone else out there has the same view as me. I was born and raised in Cleburne and I managed to not only survive and escape, but I was also able to flourish thanks to my self-sheltering imagination (which turned out to be a double edged weapon as it also made me quite shy and timid) and then later in life, the internet fed my constant cranial needs. I absorbed as much culture as I could get my grubby little paws on, even in my earliest of years. I knew from the first tangible sentient thought that there was something terribly wrong with this place and it was keeping a great deal of knowledge from me, strangling my very being. I was always gasping for air. I yearned for interaction with people, books, buildings, and LIFE in general. I’m lucky that I did not escape by the means that most youth “escape” Cleburne, that being heavy drug use which is ironic in itself that it just strengthens their anchor there. I was very amused to see others so trapped in that cycle and know that it was the wrong answer. You could often find me smirking at others because I held all of the correct solutions, all the right cards if you will, and I knew that this town would be their lifelong destiny. Even though I hold such loathsome feelings for this little speck of dirt, it was rather nice to take a proverbial stroll down that memory lane. Much better than the real thing. ^_^

-Zaxxon Q Blaque formerly Brandon Nead Sharp of Cleburne Texas

(ZaxxonQ.com)

By: Ashley

Ashley — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 02:33:17 +0000

Well, yeah, it still exists, but only in the stagnant places in the country. Small places grow their own identities and never leave them behind.