Vacation in Dallas, or why you should not believe the stereotypes about this city

Among Russian-speaking immigrants and even some Americans who have never been to Texas, there is a fairly typical idea of ​​this state. Texans are often portrayed as modern-day George W. Bush-style cowboys: gruff, simple, not very erudite, and sharp in judgment.

Photo: Ksenia Kirillova

The new culture wars raging in America have added a few more touches to this characterization. Texas is perceived by many as a typical Republican state, whose inhabitants openly wear weapons on their belts and reject fashionable political correctness. True, in recent years, the state capital, the city of Austin, sheltered for many IT professionals and Silicon Valley companies, increasingly refutes this stereotype.

However, other cities in Texas are much less known, which means that there are more myths about them. Let's try to refute them using the example of another large Texas city - Dallas, notorious for the assassination of the president that took place in it. John F. Kennedy.

1. The myth of "free Texas" as the antipode of "Wall Street financial monsters"

It is generally accepted that the developed financial and banking industries are the lot of the "liberal" states, while the Republican states are distinguished by their commitment to the "real" economy. Texas is indeed the center of the American oil and gas industry, but if we talk specifically about Dallas, it is also the largest banking and financial center in the southwest of the country. It is here that the central offices of over 100 insurance companies, numerous banks, including the Federal Reserve Bank, as well as many advertising firms are located.

By the way, downtown Dallas itself looks almost like Manhattan. The abundance of skyscrapers and shopping centers for a moment creates the illusion that you are in New York. Consequently, entertainment in this city is also quite consistent with the metropolis. There are many restaurants in Dallas (by the way, with very tasty cuisine), and grilled meat with various sauces is generally considered the hallmark of the city. In addition, Dallas has a very developed arts scene, and the Downtown Arts District is the largest and one of the best in the country.

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By the way, it was in Texas that the Neiman-Marcus chain of stores was born, where you can buy any luxury items - from gold plumbing fixtures and live lion cubs to jet planes for two. So if we talk about the freedom of “financial sharks” engaged in unwise consumption, this definition will be very fair in relation to some of the Texas rich.

Photo: Ksenia Kirillova

2. The myth of the scarcity of cultural life

When talking about the culture of the “Wild West,” it is customary to imagine smoky saloons in which slightly tipsy cowboys amuse themselves by shooting at whiskey bottles. Yes, such salons can indeed be found in Dallas, but in the park-museum old city parkwhere you plunge into the carefully recreated atmosphere of antiquity. True, no one shoots bottles even there. But modern cultural life is no different from the "jazz capital" of Louisiana. Trade fairs, music festivals and tasting a variety of dishes are constant components of Dallas life.

Photo: Ksenia Kirillova

For example, the fall State Fair of Texas festival lasts several weeks. Approximately 3 million people visit Dallas during this period, and the celebration includes costumed processions through the downtown streets. At the JMBLYA music festival in early May, you can listen to jazz, rap, hip-hop and electro-rave, and for fans of indie rock and the underground, the Homegrown Festival is more suitable. At the end of June, Dallas hosts the Decks in the Park festival, dedicated to electronic music, and in mid-October, you can get to the Lamar Street Festival, where, in addition to listening to music, you can watch new films. And this list is quite long.

3. The myth of the "simplicity and ignorance" of the Texans.

Alas, there is some truth in it. One has only to drive a little away from the big cities - and you will see many farms, the owners of which are very open and unsophisticated people who hardly studied at prestigious colleges. Farmers can often be found in Dallas - on weekends they do not mind offering tourists ride around the city on their own horses for a moderate fee. But this does not mean at all that science and education are not developed in Texas.

For example, the University of Texas at Dallas was tagged Carnegie Endowment as a research university with the highest rating for research activity. It is associated with four Nobel Prizes and has members of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering on its faculties. University research projects include developments in the space industry, bioengineering, cybersecurity, nanotechnology, behavioral research and brain health.

4. The myth of the monotonous nature

Texas is truly a prairie world, and American parks are visually very different from European ones. Dallas Botanical Garden (Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden) is a unique exception in this sense. In fact, these are several mini-gardens with fountains and views of White Rock Lake. A variety of landscapes and flower beds, a rose garden, elegant sculptures, ponds and fountains really resemble the parks at Parisian palaces.

For example, the garden of the Boswell family is set against a beautiful stone wall. Here you can admire myriads of magnificent roses of all kinds. The secluded McCasland Garden features the Chico and Chica sculpture, which, along with the fountain, makes this place very popular with honeymooners. Eugenia Palmer's Fern Hollow has over 90 species of ferns, camellias, azaleas and old trees.

Photo: Ksenia Kirillova

5. The myth of “rejection of the democratic agenda”

Texas is without a doubt a Republican state, but don't think that it is alien to modern human rights values ​​or the problems that are happening in the world. In Dallas, for example, there is the Holocaust and Human Rights Museum. In addition to many expositions dedicated to the extermination of Jews in Nazi Germany, a special section of the museum is devoted to examples of the genocide of other peoples, including the repression of the Uighurs in China and the Ukrainian Holodomor, as well as other human rights issues in the world.

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A separate section of human rights is also represented in the Museum of the 6th floor, created in the same school book depository, from the window of which on November 22, 1963 Lee Harvey Oswald shot at John F. Kennedy. This murder is still fanned by many rumors and conspiracy theories. Oswald lived in the USSR for some time, married a Russian woman, and shortly before the murder, frantically tried to get a Soviet visa again. All this has become fertile ground for many versions of the recruitment of Oswald by the KGB or the CIA - depending on the political preferences of the authors of the theory. Unfortunately for conspiracy theorists, declassification a huge array of documents of American intelligence services did not confirm any of these versions.

And yet, with all the makings of a large and modern American (and in some places - European) metropolis, Dallas, of course, is the bearer of a typically American character. Its inhabitants are friendly, hospitable and quite straightforward. They can be slightly tactless, as is sometimes the case in American outback, but, as a rule, they are sincere and friendly, which is especially valuable for immigrants.

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