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Are you guys talking about the Stake Conferences that were on the TVs in the individual wards and branches? 'Cause if you are, My stake had one (along with the rest of the midwest (live in Indiana)) It was a while ago (can't remember when, though)

are you here now? eek

Oh, and GS, not everybody is happy to be from the state they're from. They don't understand that we have ENTHUSIASM for our state, not arrogance or pride.

You just never know until you've lived there for a few years. Simple. mrgreen

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I'm sorry, but I don't feel that arguing is necessary. Yes, Texas has it bad points, but despite those, we also have good points, and unlike a lot of people, I try to focus on the more positive aspects of things. Every state has several things utterly LAME about it, but most people are more willing to see the positive side rather than diss everything and everyone. I personally am AWARE of the obesity and smog in the Houston area; I'm from there. But that doesn't mean we're not trying to chenge. We don't have as many taxis as NYC, so everybody drives their own car; hence the smog. But efforts are being made to better the situation.

As far as the "teaching defecit" goes... Many of those poor counties are where a lot of old-school farmers and small towns where people are more worried about their crops than education. Straight up. And every state has those counties. Texas just happens to have more, seeing as it covers more landmass. In the more urbanized areas, the teaching systems are alright, and where I went to school (in Jr High, at least), I was attending a school in one of the nation's top 5 school districts. My schools were always nationally recognized and exemplary schools.

We have our negative points, yes, and a lot of the literacy and lack-of-child-healthcare has to do with a lot of immigrants into Texas that don't bother to become legal citizens and get an education; they just come on over, bunker down in the most po-dunk town possible, and try to stay under the radar.

We're well aware of our faults. It's a big state with a lot of people, and we're doing what we can with the people that will actually cooperate (yes, some Texans can be quite stubborn when it comes to NOT driving gas-guzzling trucks or spending more on football than keeping the water clean), but we're not ALL like that. There are good people here, I assure you. I like to think that I'm one of them, but I dunno, seeing as you're the judge, maybe that's up to you to decide. *shrug* There's no justification for the facts, but nobody's perfect.

And it hurts me personaly to see you trying to make us feel like we're such terrible people for being Texans. I'm not going to apologize for being born in the state that I happen to love, but I guess I'm just more forgiving, and I have a bit more of a positive outlook when it comes to some things... I can only hope that you'll stop shooting us down for being happy about our origins.