Environmental News, Opinion, and Art                            October 28, 2005

October Letters

Readers Respond to "Houston You Have A Problem"


Editor’s Note: This month the banner of the Little Man makes sense. We used to be unsure about our Texas circulation, mainly because we constantly remind them that Montana has way more surface area than Texas and if you were to flatten out Montana's mountains, the Big Sky would dwarf the Lone Star. But perhaps now is not the time to bring that up because Mike seems to have struck a chord with our Texas readers in his piece, “Houston You Have A Problem,” earlier this month. The following letters are in response to Roselle’s rant.

Ignorance Abound in Roselle’s Simplistic Breakdown of Houston
While I appreciate your concerns (why else would I even have been on your website), I was deeply angered by Mike Roselle's comments about Houston and its people.  I am proud to live in this great city, and I will not back down on my love for it.  Roselle, who, judging by his article, hasn't been in the city since the seventies, claims that "Houston has no culture, food or music to speak of, no funky neighborhoods, no mardi gras, or even much history. It doesn't have a football team or much of a baseball team."  This statement would come as a surprise to the residents of the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th wards, unless by "funky neighborhoods" he means self-consciously arty ones.  These are real neighborhoods, real Houston neighborhoods.  And what about the large populations of Houstonian Chicanos and African-Americans; do their distinctly Houstonian cultures not count in his imagination?  They count in mine.  Even his basic facts about the city are wrong.  He claims there is no food or music to speak of.  If he has ever eaten fajitas, or in fact any Tex-Mex dishes, he has eaten food directly traceable to the 2nd ward in HoustonTexas.  It's a ridiculous assertion, seeing as how the city has more restaurants per person than any other city in the country.  In a city as diverse as ours, with as many restaurants, and as many people, do you really believe that we do not have a rich culinary tradition?  It's preposterous.  As far as music goes, I suppose he has never heard the music of Lightnin Hopkins, Little Joe Washington, Big Joe Turner, Bob Wills, Ledbelly, ZZ Top, Townes Van Zandt, Rodney "the Houston Kid" Crowell, Guy Clark, and any other of the city's musical legends, not to mention contemporary acts like Los Skarnales, Rosie Flores, John Evans, Hayes Carll, the John Sparrow,  or Miss Leslie and her Juke Jointers.  The list goes on.  In a matter much further from my heart, his comment that Houston does not have a football team would come as a shock to the millions of Houston Texans fans in the city.  And the Astros have an illustrious history in baseball.  He gets even those basic facts wrong. 

Considering his irrational hatred of my city, his wish that we be obliterated because of our oil makes me very angry.  We are not all millionaire oil tycoons in this city.  We're a city of workers and families, and we love our city.  You can go be self-righteous with your kind in Austin; we don't do that here.  If you come as a friend, we will welcome you.  Next time you swing by, please stay out of the suburbs, keep an open mind, and do some exploring in this great town.  Keep in touch.

Juan Rojas
Houston, Texas

Mike’s Humor Lifts Soggy Spirit

Thanks for making me laugh.  I like your attitude! I feel like my spirit has been dampened by all the bad news lately. Maybe a river ride would be just the thing. I hope I don't have to wait 11 years, though. Unless California cracks off into the Pacific, I'm not going anywhere!

Sincerely, Sam Smith
www.samsmithart.com 


Mike’s Jab At Houston Raise Local Ire

Houston says: Mikey, please suck this wet fart out of my a##hole when you find time. Thanks for vacating such a deadbeat burg.
Katmanl50


Another Amused Texan

“If there is one thing more frightening than a category five hurricane
barreling down on you, it’s the sight of two-and-a-half million Texans driving
north with their pets.”
Thank you for the much-needed laugh-out-loud-spit-my-coffee-on-the-monitor
moment!
”I have to admit, sometimes I do get a little religious, and I was actually
praying for the hurricanes to stay away from New Orleans and hit Houston
instead.”
No, no! Keep Texans IN
Texas! At least the rest of us know where they are and
where to stay away from. My God, can you imagine the rest of the country
being saddled with 2 and a half million Texans moving into the neighborhood?
Give us more Louisianans any day.
Marie Cain


Born-Again Lowbagger

Mike,
Greetings from a fellow Lowbagger, though I hadn’t heard that term before. I never thought of myself as a slacker, exactly, though I do plenty of it. No, Lowbagger it just feels better

As a born and raised as a 7th generation Austinite, I’ve lived from the still quaint days to here near the end. Sad to think the wild country my forebears came to is almost used up, but then America exists on high tech rape and pillage of Mom. And now that it’s official that there will be no alternative to the Cheney Plan written by our pals at Halliburton with plenty of input from the Carlyle vampires is so deeply implanted everywhere, what we call war is just the World Middle Class fighting back

You might want to peek at some of my stuff posted at axisoflogic.com, where the following still is posted, I think, but it is germane to your great take on Houston.

Best in Bad Times,

Phil Toler

Dear Rosey,
So, like how did you get your wife to forgive you?  If I told mine to kiss off, I'd have a couple of big blows on track pretty quickly.
Yours,
Dennis Sherbanuk

Camrose, AB, Canada

P.S. We have both big oil and big coal haunting us like goblins.  It's a cluster.

Spoiled Americans Irresponsible When It Comes To Gas Prices
Hello,
We in the
UK ( and much of bloody Europe ) can only dream of $5 petrol.
The stuff is far too valuable a resource to burn, anyway.
My friends certainly suffer no hardship driving as fast as they want in
small diesel cars of a certain age which are doing 65 mpg ( English
gallons, not your teen weeny things ).
Come to think of it, $5 may be about right.
I can not understand the American urge to bring forward the date of running
out. No more plastic bags to use in supermarkets nobody can get to, and only
local produce.
International trade?
A memory.
A much bigger challenge to the world as we know it than even global warming,
and the global cooling which is destroying
West Africa.
Of course the biggest thing of the lot is the coming bird flue mutation
which could restore the world's population to almost manageable proportions
by halving it. Trouble is that includes ME.
Governments fiddle delicately with the problem as if there is time
available, and it is worth only small expenditure.
When it hits it will make the occupation of
Iraq, for example, look an
irrelevant and expensive luxury when there is a real problem to face and no
time to deal with it as the funds were spent elsewhere than in preparation.
It is the biggest problem, so demands the most urgent treatment with ALL the
expenditure available even at the expense/ deferment of other apparently
important programs.
Andrew Kirby
kirby@colwall.net


New Study: Use of Caps Lock Limits Breeding

Good article Mike butttttttt a little long on bullshit!  Pay attention and I'm a fan.    IF THE SUBJECT ISN'T ABOUT OVERPOPULATION FORGET IT!!!!    ADDRESS THE REAL PROBLEM ITS THE YUPPIE FUCKERS WITH THEIR 2.3 KIDS IN SUV'S IN HUGE HOUSES LOOKIN DOWN AT EVERYONE UNLESS SOMEONE HAS MORE MONEY THEN THEM AND THEY ARE BREEDING-- THE SUBJECT IS OVERPOPULATION IE. BREEDING -- THATS HOW YOU GET POLLUTION OR CROWDS -- WHAT DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?
Good health,
Brian


Expeditious Member of August Salmon Descent Speaks

Mike,
Enjoyed your commentary on the trip.  Am I the half a homo?  Don't tell Ned.
I like your site so much I am advertising it with your sticker on my car. I would say Josh is doing a great job as editor. Hope to float down a river with you next summer.  Let us know if you want to visit or stay in
Takoma Park.
Take care,
Heidi



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