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I'm rather certain that most Texans

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have heard the often quoted words

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of John Steinbeck.

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Texas is a state of mind,

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but I think it is more than that.

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It is a mystique, closely

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approximating a religion.

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He wrote that in his nonfiction work

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Travels with Charley in Search of

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America.

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Charley was a standard poodle

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who was Steinbeck's traveling

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companion in 1960

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when together they cruised

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America's highways and back roads

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in a GMC pickup truck

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with a makeshift camper that

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Steinbeck called the Rising

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Sun.

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He named the truck after don't yield

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his horse.

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What may be news to many is that

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Steinbeck's comments about Texas

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and Texans goes

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well beyond his state of mind

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in its ten pages

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beyond.

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He has much more to say about us

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that is generally complimentary

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and sometimes critical.

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But as people on the border say, he

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says, it conquered Inyo with

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affection.

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Steinbeck wrote, When I started

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this narrative, I knew that sooner

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or later I would have to have a go

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at Texas, and I dreaded it.

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I could have bypassed Texas

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about as easily as a space

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traveler can avoid the Milky Way.

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Once you were in Texas, it seems

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to take forever to get out.

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And some people never do.

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Even if I wanted to

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avoid Texas, I could

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not. For I am lived

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in Texas and mother in law

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and uncle and a cousin and

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entered within an inch of my

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life.

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Staying away from Texas

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geographically is no help whatsoever

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for Texas.

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Moves through our house in New York

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and our fishing cottage in SAG

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Harbor.

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It permeates the world to a

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ridiculous degree.

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Once in Florence, on

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seeing a lovely young

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Italian princess, I said

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to her father, But she doesn't

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look Italian.

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To which her father replied.

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Her grandfather married a Cherokee

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in Texas.

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Here, Steinbeck laments the

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struggles all writers have in

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trying to define Texas and Texans.

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He says that they all end up

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floundering and lose themselves

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in generalizations that

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have little meaning.

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He says that he is no exception to

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this rule, but he tries anyway.

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Texas, he says, is a state of mind.

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Texas is an obsession.

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Above all, Texas is

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a nation in every sense

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of the word.

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Steinbeck notes that a Texan outside

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of Texas is a foreigner.

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He says that his wife claims that

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she is a Texan who got away, but

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he doesn't buy it.

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He says she has virtually no accent

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until she talks to another Texan

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when she instantly reverts.

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Soon she is saying yes, air

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hare and yes with two syllables.

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Yes, air, hare

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and gas.

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Steinbeck touches on many Texas

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themes in his wanderings and

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wanderings.

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On secession, he writes, Texans

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claim the right to secede

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at will.

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They want to be able to secede, but

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they don't want anyone to want them

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to.

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On Texas. History says Texas has

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its own private history

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based on, but not limited

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to facts.

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Steinbeck says that Texans are

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tight. If you attack one Texan,

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you attack them all.

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They circle the wagons.

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There may be no geographical unity

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in Texas. Its unity lies

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in the mind.

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And this is not only in Texas.

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The word Texas becomes a symbol

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to everyone in the world.

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Texans and football.

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Sectional football games have

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the glory and despair

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of war.

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And when a Texas team takes the

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field against a foreign

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state, it is an army

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with banners

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on cattle.

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The tradition of the frontier

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cattlemen is tenderly

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nurtured in Texas.

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When a man makes his fortune,

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his first act is to buy

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a ranch the largest he

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can afford and to run some cattle.

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Steinbeck concludes that Texas has

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a cohesiveness, perhaps

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stronger than any other

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section of America.

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Texas is the obsession

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and the passionate possession

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of all Texans.

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I'm W.F. Strong.

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These are stories from Texas.

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Some of them are true.