The past always sneaks up on you...

Here it is, the last post of the year--- and how good it feels! What better way to honor it than looking to the animals that have built the rich cultural history that we have here in Texas? I'm just waiting until next semester when I have to take Texas History, and I'm going to be reminded once again about cattle being "king" in the minds and hearts of the early settlers of Texas... as if I need to be reminded.
I grew up in a house in which agriculture and a livelihood of producing a product that nourished people was considered the pinnacle of good service work. And the cow was revered. Above all others. Just ask my mom, who was told, an hour into labor that she would have to wait to be driven to the hospital because Dad was busy delivering a breached calf in one of his first-calf heifers. Yeah! Remember, that was my entire existence, and as it was also my whole community's, that life was something that I was trying to separate myself as I ran off to Austin. Austin--the little, liberal oasis in Conservative Texas. But not only that, it has provided me with a haven to really understand what it means NOT to be around animals. And it's been an eye-opening experience.

Why must they make Bevo so strange-looking?

  So, I suppose that I could extrapolate on the meaning of being a longhorn and all the values possessed that these writers have really paralleled with our lives as college students: our "freedom," being both a "drifter" and "persistent returner" to our native grounds where with our "strong attachments to our accustomed home" we will probably some day (I'm sure the university hopes) to bestow our benevolent kindness and assumed wealth some day, after we've gone out into the world and done our "changing of the world." We, the "outlaws" or "gentle, most persistent returners." (434)  What was it they referred to longhorns as?  I believe the description was that we possess: "reputations in fierce, hardy, persistent, resourceful, daring efforts to maintain freedom. They refused to be 'dumb driven cattle' Unlike the orthodox ox, they knew not their masters and would not be led to the slaughter block. Instead of being outside the law, they followed the law of the wild, the stark give-me-liberty-or-give-me-death law against tyranny." (443) How do you look at yourself?

Pure poetry in motion. Is there anything more beautiful?

I think I might consider myself a little bit of both. And did anybody else read this and just wish that Aggies would read it? I mean, I know that's really unimportant in the grand scheme of what we needed to learn in this class, but then again, I feel like a few of my pre-vet friends need to reflect upon what culture they're buying into.
That being said, I felt like for my last entry, I should reflect on something that I might bring to the table that I don't think anybody else has had the distinct "pleasure" of experiencing: that is, "country life."  Some of it, you may have to experience to really get it, but try your imagination, and let's see if I can do this justice:

The historian must have the perspective of imagination in order to arrive at truth, but he cannot, like the novelist, discard those facts that 'fail to comply with the logic of his character.' Only stubborn facts in human history can explain the arrival of mustang horses upon the land where, in association with mustang men, they ran their course of freedom. (458)

So, Windthorst, TX--- an agricultural community in every sense of the word. I had classmates who were literally consummate cowboys. That was their job title on their tax returns: cowboy. And reading these articles today, it's a mindset. It is literally the center of your physical universe in which everything evolves: ideas of masculinity, virtue, worth, expectations of an individual. I'm not kidding. Life off of the land--- simple, rugged, "survivor-y"--- that is idolized. And from an outsider's perspective, I'm sure it almost seems a bit ridiculous or overplayed (and perhaps it is to some people who pretend or think that they are "cowboys," but they're really not, and believe me, I've met a huge amount of those in my life!), but if that's your reality, there is nothing more serious.

And maybe that's a good thing. I don't know. My dad has always spoken of our first horse as his favorite. As he says: "She's part quarter horse, part Arabian, part mustang. She's got the hybrid vigor thing going for her. Not only that, but she's completely self-sufficient. She doesn't need us. She's a survivor. Not everyone in the world is like that. That's to be admired." And I agree with him. So, perhaps that's why I get defensive about people who misconstrue what it is to be one of these people. I've heard people call those I love (who I think are wonderful human beings) uneducated brutes, bent on violence and exploitation of animals. Harsh, folks, right?!?!? You have to understand the mindset of people who share their lives with stock animals--- day in and day out: it's not an easy life. You endure the same elements the animals do. You get kicked and stomped and pushed and squished on a fairly regular basis, and you don't complain about it. You never eat before they do. Their happiness comes right up their with your own, because that is your livelihood, and that is your family. Now, this is where these articles come along, and I think it's important mentioning:

I cannot tell of these outlaws properly without telling of the brush itself and of the men and horses that the brush and the brush cattle molded... they belonged to a different species... The Longhorns of the brush, instead of being modified by men, bent men to their own ways.(449)

Then... Cleburne in the late 1800's.

Now... annual Ft. Worth stockyards drive.
Behold the power reversal! We spend so much time talking about how humans have meddled in animals' lives and changed them forever. And of course, that's true! But recognize how we have changed, as well. It is a symbiotic ecosystem, and we all make changes to our everyday life because we rely on the things all of us give one another. Perhaps that is why we can respect the "outlaw" longhorns (though all the longhorns I've ever met are actually very docile. It's the Herefords/Black Baldies and Brown Swiss you have to watch out for) and the mustangs especially. Out of all the animals we deliberately have made integral parts of our lives, we respect that they still test us, even if we try to constrain them for it. It's a complicated relationship. 

My alma mater. Midwestern State University, which changed from the Indians a few years to stay "PC" with the NCAA. Interestingly enough, since they're on good terms with the Kiowa, Apache, and Comanche nations, they have a special fund from student organizations that goes towards trying to donate to the mustang run over farther in the West that sends mustangs to slaughter. Look into projects like that if you're interested. It's a sad business. 

And so it is true that the people of Texas (and the people of my community especially) really did develop a very unique psyche that is all our own. Every time I've gone abroad, when I say I'm from Texas, people know where that is. (And then they ask me if I ride horses to school and why I don't have an accent and where my boots and hat are). I'll admit that I own a pair of cowboy boots (very well-worn in, I might add, because I only use them when I'm home to do what they were intended for.) I'm pretentious like that. And yes, I have a Western hat. Furthermore, the angrier I get, the more I'm around my folks, or the more "uninhibited" I am, the further my accent descends into "Daisy Duke-dom."And yes, I do use the word y'all like there is no tomorrow. Then again, that's not to say that that represents all of us by any means. Some of us have no more connection to agricultural production that they do aeronautical engineering (and the terminology/lingo is just as foreign to them).... And now I  feel like I'm on a diatribe, which was in no way my intent.

Sometimes I just feel bad for Bevo. And I have to wonder how much experience these young gentlemen had beforehand with dealing with bovine. I am sometimes curious how that gets decided.... I'm just saying. 

The point is:
People will find their "herd." That goes even for the non-conformist, "outlaw" types. Let me explain. A) Cows are individuals like people, and some of us will want different things for ourselves, just like the animals in these stories do. B) There's a reason I ended up where I am. Part of it was choice. Another part pure dumb luck. And the last part, the fact that having the experience that I have had here at UT is unlike anything I would have had anywhere else, and thus has gone leaps and bounds in shaping me. I think that all of us should remember that despite the great attributes of the symbolism of "Texas Longhorns or Mustangs" should remember the fact that defining all you are by that can be dangerous, and just plain incorrect. Because after all, isn't part of being "free" mean being free from any pigeon-holed ideas of you, as well?

No one who conceives him as only a potential servant to man can apprehend the mustang. (462)

"However supplanted or however disparaged by evolving standards and generation, he will remain the bedrock on which the history of the cow country of America is founded. In picturesqueness and romantic realism his name is destined for remembrance as long as the memory of man travels back to those pristine times when waters ran clear, when free grass waved a carpet over the face of the earth. (433)

It's all so idealistic--- for better or worse. 

Just look at how we advertise ourselves!!!!

Oh, and P.S. As one last note, as a historian and anthropologist, I couldn't help but feel like this would be something that I would have to bring up to my students if I was teaching Texas history and the importance of the open plain grazers who funded this state's development. Anybody else how much Spanish was used? Anybody? Anybody? Yeah. That's because the origin of this state is proud to have Mexican roots--- as it should be. When you imagine big ranchers and cowboys in that idyllic way that people are so fond of, 80% of those people are vaqueros... i.e.... not so pigmentally-challenged, y'all. They have some flavor to them. So, as my own address to the cultural diversity that this university is so adamant to aspire to, be aware of our past and what an integral part of this state our Mexican nationals have had (and I would say even to this day). Trust me. Drive into rural Texas. Anywhere. If you go on a ranch or dairy, I promise you that you are going to run into Guatemalan, Honduran, Mexican, Dominican... even Brazilian immigrants out working in the pens and pastures. My best friends growing up, and the reason I learned Spanish after all, are the Colchado's, who pretty much kept my family's business running for a large portion of my life. I just tend to think people only think of "white Texas" when they are thinking of these cattle drives and ranchers, which has always been a soapbox I get up on. End rant.