Having been born (in 1943) and
raised in a Humble Oil and Refining
Company camp in Andrews County,
I was delighted to read Christian
Wallace’s account of the incredi-
ble oil boom in the Permian Basin.
The article brought back wonder-
ful memories of my childhood and
youth: attending the Permian Ba-
sin Oil Show with my father when it
first met in a park on the west side of
Odessa; my mother taking a hot meal
to my father when he was working
on the drilling rigs; working sum-
mer and holiday jobs with Humble
Oil and independent oil well service
companies that allowed me to pay
my own way through Texas Tech;
and seeing Andrews celebrate pro-
duction of the county’s ten millionth
barrel of oil. To read now about the
amount of oil being produced on a
daily basis is astounding. And who
would have ever thought that to go
back to Andrews now to attend aclass reunion would cost me $
to $300 a night to stay in a hotel, as-
suming the rooms aren’t being used
by rotating shifts of oil field workers.
Were my father still living, he would
be flabbergasted to hear that Toyah,
where he was born and raised, is now
filled with “man camps.”
DAVID T. SEAY, TYLERAs a native Odessan born in 1991
not far from [Wallace] (north side
of Odessa, outside city limits, now
living in Houston), this article struck
many chords with me. Every time
I go back it seems the landscape is
dotted with more and more cook-
ie-cutter housing developments.
An especially large development has
sprung up around Barbara Jordan
Elementary School, a school that
when I was in attendance would oc-
casionally be on lockdown because a
rattlesnake was spotted too close to
the building. Back then, the school
was almost completely out on its
own but now has been engulfed by
houses that stretch to the North
Loop. This may be one of the better
examples of either foresight or luck
on a neighborhood development
front. I’m glad to hear that I’m not
the only one who didn’t know about
sushi until moving out of West Tex-
as (my seafood palate was not de-
veloped until moving to Houston).
The description of an Odessa Bron-
chos game was a great nostalgia trip.
While I am glad to be out of West
Texas, it is refreshing to read about
my hometown in a way that only a
fellow native can report. I believe
you captured the bleakness of the oil
field while highlighting the human
elements. Keep up the great work.
MATT MOORE, HOUSTONPaying Respects
Congratulations for reviewing “Spy-
ing on the South” [“Spying on Tex-
as,” June 2019]. I had the pleasure
of chatting with [the book’s author]
Tony Horwitz when he was in Austingathering information for this book.
He was engaging, interested, and fo-
cused. It was clear why he was such
a successful journalist and writer.
Like its author, the book is intelli-
gent and just plain fun. Horwitz’s
sudden death [in May] was a shock
and a sad loss.
MARY BRAUNAGEL-BROWN, AUSTINNativity Seen
Just read your piece regarding what
qualifies as a native Texan [The Tex-
anist, June 2019], and it really rang
true. I am one of those “brown belt”
Texans who, once noting the hor-
rible mistake in birthplace, got to
Texas with all dispatch, never look-
ing back. I threw my lot into my ad-
opted state completely, marrying
a native Texan, raising two proper
native Texans, and spending un-
told thousands of volunteer hours
serving my fellow Texans in various
ways, as a Red Cross disaster spe-
cialist, paramedic, and firefighter,
as I plied those trades across the
world, always returning to my be-
loved Texas. Now retired, my Tex-
an wife and I are building a small,
defensible redoubt in the Middle
of Nowhere, Texas, where we can
spend a few years sipping sweet tea
on our porch as we watch the dogs
watch the goats make more goats
and plan that, upon my demise, my
ashes are to be scattered into the
welcoming arms of the Brazos River
from the Waco Suspension Bridge
so I might, over the next few million
years, wander my way through the
best part of the planet, on my way
to the sea. After a lifetime devoted
to my adopted state, I believe I can
claim the title “naturalized Texan,”
and as you are a respected arbiter of
all things Texan, seek your approval.
Or at least formal recognition of my
brown belt.
TERRY DINERMAN, MIDDLE OF
NOWHERE, TX TRoar of the Crowd
16 TEXAS MONTHLY