All in Wild Lands
Having lived in both Florida and Texas, I've noticed surprising similarities beneath their distinct landscapes and cultures. From Florida's sunny coasts to Texas' stark horizons, a shared American spirit unites fiercely individual characters shaped by history and destiny.
Fort Worth doesn’t have much of a national profile. It is the FW in DFW and has always taken a backseat to Dallas – its more urbane sibling located just 30 miles east. I almost called Dallas more sophisticated, but doing that would not be true.
Beneath all the highways, sub developments and strip malls, there is a lost kingdom. A once-real, now-mythic place called Florida. The name literally means The Land of Flowers. It is a place of vulgar abundance, a place of underground springs, plentiful fish, wildflowers, panthers, bears, alligators and pumpkins. There is no place else on Earth — and probably in the universe — that looks like it.
How can one of the biggest media markets in the nation produce such ineffectual, booster-happy journalism? How can a city with limitless financial resources fail to build anything beautiful in brick-and-mortar? How can a place that hosts concerts daily fail to capture the national imagination with any consistency?
There’s not much chance to turn around until you reach Cedar Key, where everything is built out of that dark, weathered wood. You see kids with coolers selling various morsels like oysters and clams on the side of the road. This article first appeared on darrenwhitecreative.com on Feb. 11, 2013.
