What's YOUR Houston?

[JJVilla]

I think you can see where I'm coming from regardless of where in town I live. Third world country sums up this place.

From what I can see, these Mexicans aren't so poor. Their trucks are bigger than my house. I don't mind them so much... better than the whitebread rednecks who think Houston is the best place on earth.

When someone says this, it shows they have NOT traveled much or at all. Have you been to Dubai or Mumbai or any other major foreign city? I am not saying they are Third World, but they make Houston look like pretty good place to drive and live. Driving is not bad and you can afford to live here, among many other qualities that favor us.

I am not white or redneck, btw.

[crunchtastic]

I never really thought about it, but you know, I bet if you asked someone living in cardboard lean-to on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, they would tell you that the only thing standing in their way of first-world status is a network of hike and bike paths, and maybe a smidge extra parking enforcement.

[musicman]

I never really thought about it, but you know, I bet if you asked someone living in cardboard lean-to on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, they would tell you that the only thing standing in their way of first-world status is a network of hike and bike paths, and maybe a smidge extra parking enforcement.

and a bottle of water.

[totheskies]

I think what has been so appealing to me about Houston is the mix. A true red-blooded Texas city, but we have more in common with Louisiana than Lubbock for sure. Huge Asian population and Hispanic population. Mega churches within the loop, but (quite possibly) right next to a gay bar or a strip club or a crackhouse. Developments here just seem to "happen". The coastal funk, east Texas funk, ultra-urban funk, River Oaks funk, Vietnameese funk, and Tejano funk all seem to find a place here.

In reference to the Third World comments. I've never been to a Third World country, but I highly suspect that the average citizens are there running errands between Starbucks, the dry cleaners, Applebee's; following the primaries on YouTube, or typing on their computer and complaining about how horrible their city is. Compare Houston to anything you like, but just remember that you were handed a fortunate card in life to even be here and make those crappy comments.

[bkjones98]

Mega churches within the loop, but (quite possibly) right next to . . . a strip club.

Lakewood Church and The Diamond Club are within a few blocks.

[bkjones98]

I don't think everyone is on the same page as to what "third world" acutally means. Basically everything that was not the US, Europe, or the USSR was third world. Here is a wikipedia's worth of explanation:

The term Third World is now deprecated, and has been replaced with the more politically correct "developing country". It is a term used, along with First World and Second World, (now more commonly called "developed countries"), to broadly categorize the nations of the Earth to three social, political, and economic divisions. It is also known in some academic contexts as the Global South.

Etymology

First (blue), Second (red), and the Third World (green) countries during the cold war era. The economist and demographer Alfred Sauvy, in an article published in the French magazine L'Observateur, August 14, 1952, coined the term Third World in referring to countries currently called either "developing" or "under-developed", especially in Latin America, Africa, Oceania, and Asia, that were unaligned with either the Communist Soviet bloc or the Capitalist NATO bloc during the Cold War (1945