A cosmopolitan reader, who has lived in many liberal parts of the U.S., as well as Europe, writes:

“You have accomplished the nigh-impossible in getting me to spend a non-zero amount of time pondering whether I might apply to graduate school in Texas a few years from now. Prior to my time reading your blog, I would never have entertained the thought of living in Texas (similar to the way I would fear moving to Alabama, Saudi Arabia, or North Korea.)”

Let me just state for the record that Texas is not as hot as Saudi Arabia.

Kidding aside, it is amazing the misconceptions people have about this place. Visit Austin, you’ll like it! Consider: Ralph Nader got 10% of the votes here in the 2000 presidential election–and Gore still beat Bush in Austin!