dallas

i made a day trip to dallas this past saturday. i expected to see tons of american flags on bumper stickers and rifles peeking from the back cab windows of pick-up trucks. luckily, i didn't see much of it.

dallas actually reminded me of los angeles. being a new city, sprawl rules the city. i saw some signs for some form of public transportation, "DART", deep in the city, but it doesn't seem like a realistic, viable option. freeways crisscross the landscape, lined by huge outdoors shopping centers housing typical semi-suburban businesses such as petco, gap, linens-n-things, super-target, etc. my agenda for the day was mainly shopping for things to make my empty apartment livable. ikea was the first destination, followed by a mall, and ending with whole foods (for cheap good sparkling water). mapquest took me through a residential area that looked like a neighborhood for dinks: small, cute, newly-renovated houses interspersed among older houses with about a 2-inch space separating them. lots of suvs and vws sat on the driveways and on the streets. it even occurred to me that i might like this neighborhood. it looked pretty hip, something i would've expected in austin but not dallas.

this coming weekend will be a real test. i'm planning on revisiting dallas but heading for the arts district. what the museum and galleries have in their collection will be a telling sign of where dallas stands politically and culturally.