Go Texan Day!

There's a phenomenon in Houston called the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. This is a big deal. There are cook-offs and Fun Runs and carnivals and all sorts of things leading up to the actual rodeo - which itself is the largest in the world. It's got your traditional rodeo stuff (bull riding, calf roping, barrel racing, etc), but they always finish out each day with a concert (usually by the biggest country acts at the time, although sometimes they'll feature kiddie acts like Hannah Montana, and then randomly they'll have miscellaneous stuff. I saw Bill Cosby perform at the rodeo one year. True story.) Anyway, if you grew up in or around Houston, then you've been to the rodeo.

Each year before the festivities get underway, they have a citywide "Go Texan" Day. Basically, school kids are encouraged to dress up like little cowpokes and everyone eats barbecue and wears boots and says things like "getcha sum brisket from the ol' chuckwagon!" and has a grand old time. As a kid, I never realized how silly the concept of "Go Texan" Day was, but as an adult, I'm realizing it's completely silly. In a good way.

They sent out a mass voicemail at work on Monday trumpeting the arrival of "Go Texan" Day, announcing that we'd have a barbecue lunch (of course) and encouraging us to wear our finest cowboy attire. To work. Usually I shrug off these kinds of things, but this year I decided to participate. I went to a thrift store last night and found an awesome cowboy shirt (as you can see). You'll notice it has a yellow rose on each shoulder, which is a nice touch, since there's a very well known song (well known here, anyway) called "the Yellow Rose of Texas." Not to mention there are countless strip joints throughout the state called the Yellow Rose. (side note: you'll have to excuse the webcam-iness of that picture. Self portraits with iPhones? Damn near impossible.)

On my way to work this morning, I was thinking about how my Northeastern and California-born friends would react to "Go Texan" Day, considering the entire day is a celebration of old, worn out Texas stereotypes. This tickled me, because I began picturing "Go New Jersey" Day, which would be a hilarious fashion show of Sopranos windsuits and gold chains. In fact, I may start lobbying for a "Go New Jersey" Day here, just so I can dress up. Anyway, I'm not sure if I'll actually go to the rodeo this year. At some point, I'm sure some tickets will fall in my lap. But at least now I have a shirt to wear.