When family and friends from out of state visit, they often mention the friendliness of the Texans they encounter. “A family at Zilker Park shared their snacks with us!” “The clerk at the grocery store was so nice and talkative.” While the image of Texans most often portrayed in media outside the state tends to focus on bravado and big personalities, anyone who’s from Texas or has spent any length of time here knows a more common characteristic is our down-to-earth friendliness.
Test the theory by asking a Texan about a time they’ve encountered kindness from a stranger, and I bet they’d be able to rattle off a few stories without thinking too hard about it. I posed it to my husband, and he quickly told me a story I hadn’t heard before about breaking down in Dumas after a fan belt went out in his car. He and his brother, both teenagers at the time, had $20 between them, which the owner of a nearby body shop accepted as payment to both tow and fix his car.
This issue, conceptualized by Deputy Editor Mike Hoinski, is dedicated to Texas’ friendly nature. Each story details an aspect of the state’s hospitality—from affable tour guides, as featured on the cover shot in San Antonio, often touted as the friendliest city in Texas; to a salute to everyone’s favorite grocery store, H-E-B; to an exploration of the daily heroic feats performed by librarians and library volunteers.
I’m sure I’m not the only editor whose love of reading was nurtured by numerous trips to the local library as a kid. Even now, walking into a library and breathing in that distinct scent of hundreds of old books elicits a happy, peaceful feeling. On a recent trip to our local branch, Dripping Springs Community Library, my son enthusiastically completed a scavenger hunt in the children’s section, and then we played a game of checkers before leaving with our stack of books. In my experience, libraries are one of the few places that make you feel right at home from your very first visit. What’s friendlier than that?
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