Aug 6

Aug 6 A (Personal) Introduction to Midland, Texas Pt. 1

I was in an Uber in Midland, TX around February this year. It was towards the end of my first official winter as a Texan and I remember the day was biting cold. My driver, a middle-aged woman, had a veteran’s sticker on her dash.

Thank you for your service.

Thank you for saying that! Did three tours in Afghanistan.

Three! Oh my gosh. What was that like?

She paused and turned her head towards the horizon, a graveyard of trees and hollowed spaces surrounding her. She lifted her arm and spoke passively,

Like this.

Midland sits at around 3000 feet above sea level, an altitude that gives it a desert-like climate that is ferocious in the summer and unpredictable in the winter. At first impression, it is outstretched and brown, save a cluster of high-rise buildings known as ‘downtown’ that serve as a reminder big business gets done here. This is where Midland gets her nickname, ‘the Tall City,’ the area around her so flat, you can see her skyline from miles away.

Photo by DenisTangneyJr/iStock / Getty Images

The irony is not lost on me that between New York and Midland, this is the one known as the ‘Tall City.’ There are glimpses of a burgeoning Gotham here - the Lofts on Wall Street, Saturday’s farmers market, a custom Poke restaurant, one of those weird liquid nitrogen ice cream shops - even Popbar, the designer gelato stand on West 4th street that I didn’t think would survive Manhattan has cropped up in a newer shopping center.

Depending on who you ask, these are welcome additions or a ‘sign of the times,’ urban capitalism sowing its seed in a growing city. But the beating heart of a small town survives in the people here, some of the nicest I have ever met. I used to believe New Yorkers got a bad rap as unfriendly - it would be impossible for a city so densely confined to survive without coalescence and conversation. But the desire, or necessity, for social interaction is different than this West Texas breed of kindness. People here remember your name, your pet’s name, your birthday, without the help of the internet. They are prompt and rarely cancel plans. They ask how you are doing and listen. They follow up. They do not care that I am new, or a New Yorker - they are generous with their hospitality.

Please don’t think I’m trying to cast aspersions on my former home or the people who live there, some of my favorite humans. They’re different, and even as pieces of New York City make their way here, me included, it’s little differences I’m learning to appreciate.

Which reminds me of the first time I saw the Midland skyline coming into view.