Houston: Interesting Times!
Interesting Times is a study of Houston’s transformations through thirty years of surveys. Dr. Stephen Klineburg guides us back in history and shows us the changing face of Houston through time until these days. This century, as he says, is when are living in interesting times, with dangers and opportunities. Personally, I do not really like living in Houston but life has taught me that I need to learn more about the things I don’t like in order to start liking them or hating them less
The boom in economy in around the year 1980 that was brought to Houston by the value of oil also brought concerns about social cost, such as traffic, pollution and crime. But very soon later when the oil boom collapsed, perceptions of job opportunities dropped down low. Since around 1988, people started to have hope again. Houston and Texas grew up again and depends less and less on natural resources and more on human resources. So in the past, not much education was needed in order to make a living. People needed land and exploited everything they could do on their land. Now people need knowledge and skills. The gaps between the rich and the poor became larger. One of the challenges of our time is restore the equality and ensure that all Americans could share the prosperity of the country. And the critical key is education. Next, Dr. Klineburg points out some fields that are promising for Houston in the 21st century: bio-nano-info-enviro-tech.
Houstonians started to care more about the quality of life, planting more trees, engineer better roads, making more green parks for a greener city, etc. Dr. Klineburg says that most Houstonians love living here, while other people in other places think that Houston is not a good place to live.
In the next minutes he brings our attention to ethnic diversity. For many years, racism was a problem in Houston and in this country. In 1965, Congress had to change the law about it. And then, of course, comes the topic of immigrations. In the past, Europeans were more favored. But with time, more and more immigrants come from Asia, Africa and Latin America. Dr. Klineburg briefly examines the age and race of groups of people through time.
Then, he continues to stress the importance of education required in order to succeed and move up economically. Education is, once again stressed, the key to success and the future of Houston.
As an international student from Asia, I have enjoyed my stay in Houston, although I never expected this much. Before choosing to come here to study, I was planning to go to somewhere else in Europe because of personal preference. I thought of Houston as an overpopulated city with terrible traffic and harsh weather. However, I finally decided to give Houston a try and until now, I am not disappointed.
To be honest, much of what has happened and changed in Houston all adds up to make my stay here an interesting stay. The most interesting thing is definitely its ethnic diversity with equal opportunities. As Dr. Klineburg says, it is not about natural resources anymore but about human resources. What I see in Houston is diversity with opportunities. We are all in this together, it is not like trying to live and gradually earn some money in a foreign country. I feel like everyone here is equal and is dealt with the same cards of opportunities. I know there is still some differences in, say, the percentage of people in school in different races, but basically, education is for everyone. It is not like in the past anymore when some black people and women had no chance.
On a side note, I do not like Houston’s traffic. Nevertheless, I have to admit that the road system in Houston is much more complicated than in any city I’ve ever known about in my life. So I guess public transportation will be a solution for the future. This will also help decrease the amount of exhaust fumes and pollutants caused by personal vehicles.
In the future, I firmly believe that more and more people will get education and skills and they all will bring Houston forward as one of the leading cities in terms of economy, technology as well as other fields. I have chosen this city to continue my higher education, so thank you, Houston, for all the opportunities I have here. I will live up to the fullest of my potentials to become a part of Houston’s transformations in these interesting times. And who knows where I am going to end up settling down, but, whethere I like it or not, Houston will always be a part of who I will be. So I’d better start liking it
Here’s a painting of mine. Guess where it is! Yes, Houston.
