The Ways Texans Help Each Other

The interviewee is my grandmother on my mother's side of the family and the interview occurred at her home on the east side of San Antonio. The interview was informal in structure, however it was very eye opening. I have always had a great relationship with my grandmother for as long as I can remember. She has spent the majority of her life Texas, and she is the person in our family that knows the most about our history. She is also very patriotic and loves Texas with a spirit I have rarely seen in other people I've met.

While on the way to the interview I had gotten lost and was late. But I managed to get there with plenty of time to spare for the interview. In the beginning, I was not recording with my phone, but I recorded the majority of it with it. She clearly stated that there was not one memory in particular that would sum up her experience as a Texan considering how long she had lived here. She later explained why and in great detail about how she grew up seeing people in Texas help each other without even asking. Here are some of her quotes on this theme that I picked up throughout the interview:

Patti: "The way the Texans responded to Harvey with Houston almost being annihilated, and again with H.E.B sending millions of dollars of relief. I think it's the whole experience of being a Texan"

Me: "Looking out for one another?"

Patti: "Yeah and they are friendly and they accept you, I mean we do have some stinkers and rascals, but those are everywhere and I almost wonder if they are really true Texans. I am a second-generation Texan, but it gets in your blood, it's just Texas. There are people I know who were born in Texas and they lived here for a good portion of their childhood that have moved away, but they still consider themselves Texans. Once you're a Texan, your just always a Texan. But it's changed, a lot of the good stuff has gone. It used to be that you could drive down country road or on the highway and people would wave, and you would wave back. That doesn't happen anymore."

Patti: "I'm proud that we have had two presidents that came out of Texas."

Me: "So would you say that how Texans help each other and contribute the country is what makes you proud?"

Patti: "Yeah I think so. You feel pride that they step up."

Jokingly she brought up how cities celebrate sports team wins.

Patti: "These other states need to learn from Texas. When we win national championships, we don't burn our city, we don't burn our cars, we celebrate sensibly! And we love to party."

She also brought up the size and geography of Texas:

Patti: "It's a good state. It's a huge state. That's another thing about to.We are bigger than everybody, except for California and Alaska. We have the coast, coastal plans, plans in North Texas, the Guadalupe Mountains, hill country, desert towards El Paso, pines out east. We got it all, why would you want to go anywhere else? It's all right here in your own backyard!"

Over all the Interview went extremely well and I enjoyed visiting with my grandmother on a Saturday afternoon. I hope her message is received well by anyone reading.

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My name is Grayson Ginder and I am a transfer student from Northern Virginia. I am currently a Junior working towards having my degree in history and teaching. I have enjoyed my time at Saint Mary's so far and look forward to my future semesters here.

Posted March 22, 2018

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