In a recent comment, a new blogpal, who is also a refugee from the Lone Star State, expressed some concern about finding something (like Texas Tumbleweed Peach Cobbler and a national championship in college football) that a progressive Texpatriate could still be proud of, given the right-wing shenanigans going on in the only former Republic to join the Union.

Here are a few I would proffer for consideration...
(not counting Matt, Luke, CGAntie, ChaplainMom and some members of my family, A/K/A the cool people in Texas I know and love.)

1. The 8 and a half foot(!!) mirrored disco-ball that is suspended over the intersection of Montrose and Westheimer for the nighttime (it is June after all) Pride Parade held in Houston every summer. The ball is provided each year by none other than Houston furniture discounter extraordinaire: Gallery Furniture. (Where they really will, "SAVE....YOU....MONEEEYYYYYYYYY!")

2. Tommy Tune--still hoofing it with elegance and style at 67.

3. Molly Ivans--'nuff said.

4. Lance Armstrong

5. The Alyssa...the beautiul sailing ship restored by George Mitchell and berthed in Galveston.

6. The International Festival Institute at Round Top. Music, natural beauty, good food, and cicadas that, through osmosis, have learned to 'sing' in harmony (well, 3 out of 4 isn't bad).

7. The Edythe Bates Old Grand Organ at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University...75 stops, 84 ranks, 4493 pipes, and zillions of bells and whistles including a Rossignol (a couple of pipes that play UNDER WATER). This thing kicks some major organ ass. We can debate the sanity of speding that much money ($1.75 mil) on an organ....but holy cats...this thing is amazing.

8. The Kerrville Folk Festival, incredible singer-songwriters, funky artisans, and mosquitos too high on pot to bite. :-)

9. Larry McMurtry: Witchita Falls' greatest novelist ("Lonesome Dove" & "Terms of Endearment"), the co-screenwriter of "Brokeback Mountain," and the solo scribe of "The Last Picture Show."

10. Renee Zellweger, Judith Ivey and Sissy Spacek and Owen & Luke Wilson, Dennis & Randy Quaid, and yes, even Steve Martin (born in Waco, Texas).