Tumgik
#west texas
whiteantcrawls · 2 years
Photo
Tumblr media
Small reminder for my Texas/southwest peope. Going to be expecially nasty next week. Stay hydrated, stay cool, keep an eye on your neighbors.
24K notes · View notes
nevver · 18 days
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
You can't get there from here, Brian Finke
972 notes · View notes
skippylynn · 3 months
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Walk in the field during the snow today ❄️
01.06.2024
510 notes · View notes
chaoticdesertdweller · 8 months
Text
Tumblr media
📸 Shane Huebel
318 notes · View notes
mysteryfleshpit · 2 years
Photo
Tumblr media
In the early 1970s, prior to the involvement of either the Anodyne Corporation or the National Park Service, exploration of the Mystery Flesh Pit was a crude and arduous exercise undertaken by local agriculture & oil field workers. These young men, many of whom possessed no formal training in caving, improvised a variety of methods to aid in these early missions of discovery. An early attempt to mechanize the task of crawling through the viscera of the fleshscape took the form of field modified work trucks. Like the surviving GMC C/K truck shown here (formerly on display within the Upper Visitor Center), these jury-rigged vehicles lacked standardized designs and were highly experimental in nature. Though lacking the safety and articulation features common to later purpose-built machines such as the Grumman-produced Internal Anatomy Vehicle, these simple trucks were relatively instrumental in early exploration efforts to survey the Permian Basin Superorganism, with two or three surviving in service well into the 1980s.
2K notes · View notes
Text
Tumblr media
darkness and light
207 notes · View notes
engelart · 6 months
Text
Tumblr media
“West Texas tumble weed and barbed wire”, 2010 by Norman Engel
73 notes · View notes
tomwindeknecht · 1 year
Text
Tumblr media
Neon glow in the Texas desert at night. Have a great weekend!
283 notes · View notes
a-jaded-mirage · 27 days
Text
Blue Beetle and El Paso
I would be lying if I said that I was not disappointed by the canonical home of Jaime Reyes being changed both in the movie and in recent comics. However, I would also be lying if I said that I absolutely detested the movie for whatever reason. I enjoyed the movie for what it was and what it meant to the Hispanic and Latinx communities. It is a huge deal, and I think it was done well. Going back to my original point, it is hard to be disappointed when it feels as though I am not missing out on much when Blue Beetle's relationship with El Paso was never done true justice anyway.
The West Texan Mexican-American experience is hard to fully encapsulate into one solid thought or idea. I can confidently say that the approach DC had in most iterations of the comics, cartoons, recent movie, and other forms of media always toned the experience down and made it a duller aspect of his story. I can not recall even a single time when El Paso was brought up or portrayed in a way that was recognizable to an El Pasoan across any of the aforementioned media. It always felt disconnected and out of touch, but I still held it close to my heart because it was something alluding to home.
In a way, I am happy that Blue Beetle is now from the fictional (emphasis on that) Palmera City, because it reiterates that heroes can only be super in Hollywood when they are superficially placed in a cookie-cutter big and flashy city. All I really have to say to that is, good for them. They did what they needed to in order to reach a wider audience. I am sure that the payoff for the corporate powerhouses at the end was worth it even at the cost of individuality. Come to think of it, my mind cannot really conjure up any mainstream superheroes that operate in any desert long term. Any time spent in the less "glamorous" parts of the Southwest is almost always smaller plot-driving settings that act as a stepping stone for bigger heroes and not as a home.
Anyway, all of this is to say that I understand why they did what they did with the setting. I even still happen to think the entire production team did a great job, but that does not stop me from wondering what could have been at any point in Blue Beetle's recent history if someone had used the beauty, culture, and complexity found uniquely in Sun City far more productively. There was so much more potential than the oftentimes vague and noncommittal nods given to the setting. It just was not utilized to its fullest potential, and if that would have been a continuous theme, then I am glad that they are no longer working with it.
Shifting to something less ranty, I absolutely suck at drawing. I am a STEM person through and through, but that did not stop me from visualizing all of the things I would have loved to have seen portrayed in a Blue Beetle story while experiencing being a teenager in El Paso. He was my absolute favorite superhero because he was one that I saw every single day in my hometown, and there were several things I felt he would have enjoyed doing.
For example, we have a ton of high schools. If I had to narrow down the ones I think Jaime Reyes would have attended, I would probably say my top three picks would be: El Paso High School, Bowie High School, or Austin High School. An interesting custom that schools in El Paso have is placing the first initial of a myriad of our high schools on the mountains. They are huge and visible, as well as a testament to our school spirit and pride. The Top 10 percent of most of our graduating classes wear different colored gowns at graduation than the rest of their peers, which is something I was told was not a common occurrence in most other states.
Homecoming is a huge deal, and people will buy, make, or sell Mums and corsages. It is kind of difficult to explain to people from around the states who may not be entirely familiar with what it is, but it is an old Texan tradition that is typically shared between sweethearts (dates) on the last day of Homecoming spirit week. It is something that a lot of people go all out for, and plenty of pictures exist on the internet of the various ways that they can be customized. I always thought it would be cool to see what Jaime Reyes would do for his Mum.
Prom is pretty much Prom wherever you are in the States for the most part, and ours are held at some great venues in the city, so there is not much more to say about that part of the high school experience. As far as colleges go, some of the most popular for teenagers at El Paso high schools to apply to are UTEP, EPCC, TTU, Texas A&M, and any of the other UTs (UT Austin, UT Dallas, and UT San Antonio to name a few). There are even several private universities like Rice, Baylor, and Trinity to name a few more. Hell, a lot of us even go to schools like NMSU in what is essentially our sister city of Las Cruces, there is also UNM, ASU, U of A, and CU. There are so many different choices for universities that are realistic and in the general area that Jaime absolutely could have chosen to apply to and attend. I think that seeing him initially as a Junior or Senior in an El Paso high school, and subsequently watching his transition into a college student in the city or elsewhere while grappling with his powers and responsibilities as Blue Beetle would have been so fascinating.
As far as places that it would have been nice to see him interact with at some point, it would be easier to just give a general list of my favorites. I wish that the following places could have been incorporated into the Blue Beetle story at some point long past: Chico's Tacos, Franklin Mountains State Park, Transmountain Road, Downtown, The Plaza Theater, Cielo Vista, The Fountains at Farah, Sunland Park, the Outlet Shoppes, Rosa's Cantina, Southwest University Park, Don Haskins Center, Concordia Cemetery, Scenic Drive-Overlook, the El Paso Star, Hueco Tanks, San Jacinto Plaza, St. Patrick Cathedral, any farmer's market or swap meet, any of our museums (Art, History, Archeology, Border Patrol, Science, Chamizal), the Coliseum, Ardovino's, Orange Cow, Burrito House, Bowie Bakery, Lucy's Cafe, any of our dulcerias, as well as literally any of our regional and national recreational chains. Obviously, there is so much more, but all of what I listed could have definitely been used for something whether it be a fight with a villain of the week, or opportunities to flesh out Jaime's character more socially and individually. That, and it tickles my funny bone to imagine the Teen Titans trying something like Chico's Tacos for the first time.
Unrelated, Jaime would totally listen to Khalid.
Naturally, there are so many other locations in surrounding cities and states that easily could have been used as well for any plot points that would have added even more Southwestern charm. I mean, part of New Mexico's tourism schtick is literally aliens (Roswell), and the scarab is in fact an alien now. However, for the purposes of this, I focused on El Paso. That is really all I have to say about all of this, if you stayed for my entire rant I appreciate it. If not, I totally understand, and I really just wanted to put my thoughts out into the world and write this love letter to my home city.
I love that Blue Beetle is now further into the general public's eye, and that his character means something for the entire extended community. He now has room to change, grow, and evolve from what he was before in a way that is far more defined by the expectations for a mainstream hero. Even if the El Pasoan Jaime Reyes can only exist truly in my mind, it is an okay price to pay for a narrative that touches my heart specifically. I am most certainly not a writer, so I hope that the next time we have a hero from El Paso, some of my city's charm can truly be done justice. After all, the only person who can characterize an El Pasoan correctly is an El Pasoan.
18 notes · View notes
desolatus · 14 days
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Bryan Schutmaat
18 notes · View notes
Text
Tumblr media
19 notes · View notes
teaganpresley24 · 1 year
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
It’s teagan let’s play fun daddy’s and let’s make funs of our self it’s
Been a while
111 notes · View notes
texanbarbie · 11 months
Text
Tumblr media
🩷🤍🩶
48 notes · View notes
skippylynn · 8 months
Text
Tumblr media
Watching the summer storms in the back pasture
100 notes · View notes
chaoticdesertdweller · 5 months
Text
Tumblr media
Highway 170 between Terlingua and Lajitas.
📸 Mark Cunningham
104 notes · View notes
saiyan-druid-art · 1 year
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
my photography 🌌
198 notes · View notes