I was born and raised in West Texas (not far west, El Paso, but everything west of the 100th longitude in Texas gets called “west”). I’ve lived and worked in New York (mostly Manhattan) and both Los Angles and Silicon Valley area. In my experience generalizations aren’t that predictive and there are wonderful communities and people everywhere. I’ll never forget how generous and truly “real” my experience of New York folks was. Of course there is some wary caution in a big city, and, most New Yorkers would give the shirt off their back to someone in need if it’s not a con. When a New Yorker says “let’s do lunch” and you say “ok” expect them to show up at your cubicle at 11:30 smiling and asking “where are we going?”. Northern and Southern California, for me, were very different cultures. The former more like an artistic beehive of creativity and intellectual pursuits, the latter intense in energy and expressive possibility. Texas is also very diverse, full of contradictions and enigmatic eclectic characteristics (not the least of which is a wide variety of ethnic based cultural traditions). My greatest concern for the Texas I love is the current regressive fear based political extremism infused with religious ideology. Nothing is fixed or highly predictive, the communities with the higher consciousness of kindness, tolerance, adaptability, civility, artistry, courage, optimism, magnanimous inclusion and care for one another … those communities will attract new generations. For all we know Utah and it’s Mormon (I am not nor ever have been in any way associated or around the Mormon religion) influence might be the unpredicted winner of 2040.