Change Needed

Small town Texas is alive and well in 2008, complete with every stereotype you can imagine. Some of us remain outsiders, no matter how long we've been here. I will forever be a Yankee in these parts, even though I technically left "the north" around 1980. I'm a worldly Yankee though, influenced greatly by college spent in the south, 15 years living at altitude becoming eco-savvy in the west, and nearly a decade here in Texas.

For those of you who don't know, the south is different. Everyone knows people here talk funny. It's annoying when you first arrive. Everyone sounds stupid. But it grows on you until you eventually adopt a twang yourself. In my case, I can turn it off or on depending on present company. Because most importantly, in the south, you need to blend in. They don't really like outsiders.

Above the Mason Dixon line (wherever that may be), you may be surprised to learn that "Yankee" is still a dirty word in Texas. It comes with all sorts of connotations, like "Cold Fish," "Direct," "Know it All," even in some cases "Evil." One only needs to say, in reference to someone being talked about in some negative connotation, "He's a Yankee," and everyone in the room will nod and say things like "Oh..." or "Hmmmm..." or "That figures."

Because I use my twang when appropriate, and because I've been around a while, not everyone in town knows I'm a Yankee. But I was born in Milwaukee and raised in Indiana and Iowa, by third or fourth generation Yankees. In fact my family has been Yankee since the American Revolution.

At the risk of sounding like a Yankee. In this part of the country, more than anywhere I have ever been, they seem to celebrate and even reward ignorance, at least among elected officials. These folks put a bubble over the town and pretend the outside world does not exist. Life here is "better" than anywhere. We pray in school and before county government meetings. We teach abstinence -- not birth control - to kids and shrug our shoulders over our outrageous teen pregnancy rate. Because life is good here. It's the south.

Now everyone knows you can't talk politics or religion and avoid conflict. In our town, religion is discussed, faith is proclaimed, and as long as you go to church you're okay. Politics is another story.

The other day I heard something really amazing. An elected official in our town was discussing the recent resignation of a school board official who had moved out of the area. Discussion ensued about the fact that with this board member's resignation, another seat had opened up, meaning three seats were up for grabs on a seven seat board for the May election.

The resigning board member was the token female, the only female ever elected to the local school board. I consider her a friend, although mostly by association. Actually our kids are friends. I do know she is the smartest person on the board, by miles. Why she stuck it out the seven years she did is beyond me, but I guarantee you she didn't cry when she resigned.

Anyway, this particular elected official said, "With XX gone, we could use another lady on the board." "You could use three, maybe five," I proclaimed quickly. My friends all laughed. He suddenly looked scared. He even went white, as if the thought had never crossed his mind. Oh my gosh! What if there were three women on the board? Could that happen? What would that be like? Oh my gosh! We're not ready for that "down here."

I honestly think this guy thought he was being really hip and open-minded by suggesting in a room full of women that we might want to replace "the gal" on the board with "another gal." What a progressive southern gentleman! Even though he surely didn't REALLY mean it.

Now I would never run for office because I have a personal fear of spontaneous combustion and truly believe the insanity of bureaucracy would ignite me and I'd be gone. I love education, but I hate ignorance. Here -- and in far too many government schools -- the two go hand in hand.

I am on a mission though. I need to find and encourage a couple big minds to throw their hats in for a seat on our little school board. I don't have any problems with the incumbents, but there is an open seat and we need some smart people who have been more than an hour's drive away from here to offer fresh perspective. We need people who will attack our problems with clinical precision. Traditions be damned. We need someone who won't soft-pedal or "yes man." We need progressive minds that think globally and act locally. No softies. No more mamby pamby, stuck in the 50s good old boys.

I don't care what gender these minds are. I do think it could be good though if they'd spent just a little time up north.