Headed to Round Top, Texas, for a writers retreat. At the moment, my mind is full of all the problems I had getting here. I had even forgotten about the blog until I received a comment in my inbox.
I listened to a gentleman from North Carolina quiz the server at the hotel's breakfast. "Does everyone in this town (Denton) have horses?" "Are there a lot of rattlesnakes around here?"
Left me with the same sense of surprise as I had when a sportscaster interviewed Kevin Durant (NBA AllStar and OKC Thunder star). He asked "Was it hard adjusting to life in Oklahoma City when you grew up in an urban environment?"
No, OKC isn't a mega city. But it IS a city, maybe half a million strong? If that's not urban, what do you call it?
Preconceptions. We all have them. When the gentleman inquiring about horses and rattlesnakes said he came from North Carolina mountain country, I immediately thought "Appalachia" and all the preconceptions it implies.
When I lived in Colorado, I'd tell people I was from Maine. "Oh, it must be cold."
Go to Maine and say I lived in Colorado--their response? You got it. "It must be cold."
I grew up in New England, but after spending my entire adult life with the exception of maybe two years in Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado, I'm a westerner and love it.
What misconceptions do people have about the part of the country where you live?
Happy trails to you until we meet again. . .
Jett and Cord (I hope they survive the first leg of Amazing Race!) have more going for them than their cowboy good looks. . .
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3 comments:
Hope you had a wonderful time in Texas but glad you are back in Oklahoma!
Beverly
Hi Darlene, I enjoyed the article. But I am going to make one point here and then RUN!!! I'm from NYC, fondly or not so fondly (as the case might be) called Gotham. Most residents have a love/hate relationship with the Big Apple. We think of Oklahoma City as a small town.
Nike, you're only proving my point. LOL. One of the things I discovered when I grew up and moved away from home was that not all of America was like my New England home. But we all see America like our slice of it.
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