Longing for a Distant Land

I remember when I first arrived in South Texas almost two years ago. It had been seven years since I left this bleak, sparsely populated area of the country. Seven years ago I couldn't get a job because I wasn't bilingual - yes, the State of Texas civil service application noted on its application "must be bilingual". I was single, had three children to raise, and was attempting to complete my B.A. because the child support wasn't enough for us to be comfortable. But a job wasn't forthcoming, and my children and I 'escaped' to Louisiana. My impressions of South Texas from that period of time linger still: a cold, hard people whose sole interest was one of self interest at all costs, a mentality that shunned outsiders and anyone who didn't conform to the...