re: If you're a right-winger, you'll love Lubbock
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6/6/2010
Why do you have such an obvious hatred for people who live Christian values? It seems it is easy to call people closed minded when you yourself are so quick to hate them and insult their values. I will not deny that Lubbock is a very conservative city...that is true, but I don't think this fact is deserving of your animosity.
Your account of Lubbock is erroneous at best. First, there is a downtown revitalization program that is trying to pump life back into what was once the heart of the city. Obviously, it is moving slowly, because it costs a lot of money, but it is making progress. There is a growing arts district, centered around the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, near the Mahon Library and the civic center. The First Friday Art Trail brings thousands of people downtown each month, with dozens of venues (studios, restaurants, bars, and wineries--yes, there are two wineries and a brewery in the downtown of this bible-thumping city). The Depot District is open for entertainment every night (and there are even gay clubs there that have not yet been bombed or burned down by the EVIL Christians). Texas Tech's College of Architecture is building a downtown studio for its Community Design program, which will be heavily involved in making downtown a place people will want to spend time. We've seen several restaurants open up for business downtown as well. The Pioneer Hotel is being renovated as upscale condos and apartments. As for your Wal-Mart comment...I don't even know what you mean. How is it "top priority"?
I know more needs to be done about recycling...I do my part. I compost/recycle as much as I can, but in order for a municipal recycling program to operate without hemorrhaging funds, the population must be at least 1,000,000. Lubbock is only 1/4 of the way there. Many of us try to do our part, though.
There are thousands of people in Lubbock who are not church-goers (among them, atheists, agnostics, Buddhists, Jews, etc.), and believe it or not, they can actually leave their houses without being lynched in the streets! Even more remarkably, they're not shunned by society, as you have accused. As for the LGBT issues, the way your friend's family handled her outing is their business, and does not represent the city as a whole. I also have a friend who was disowned by his family when he came out of the closet...and he came from San Diego! Wow, Christians even live in California!!! There are several homosexuals who are prominent members of the Lubbock community, and I'm proud to say some are my friends. Some are tenured faculty at Texas Tech, many are doctors, lawyers, police, etc. The new Marsha Sharp Freeway, which runs from the southwest side of town to downtown, is named after a former coach of the Texas Tech Lady Raider basketball team...a local legend, and yes, you guessed it, an open lesbian.
Now, with all that said, Lubbock is far from being the greatest city in the world. Sometimes its conservative nature is frustrating even for a conservative like me. There are many things I'd do differently if I had the capacity to do so. But, ever since I first moved here in 1994 to attend Texas Tech, I've grown fond of the friendly people. I've lived here since, with the exception of 6 months in England, 1 year in Las Vegas, and 1 year in Dallas, and though there are many people in the city who are narrow minded (I encountered just as many of the same types in those other cities), I've never seen experienced anything to the extent you've reported.
I'll leave you by saying that I hope, on your next family visit to Lubbock, that you're in no way harmed by all of the evil, bible-thumping, Taliban-style, cultist, gay-bashing, conservative, monster Christians here.
Michael | Lubbock, TX