Hello world!

Harlingen, Texas, is one of the small towns and cities that form the Rio Grande Valley. It is separated from the lower part of Texas by what used to be the King Ranch. While that Ranch still exists, it is but a small fraction of ranch land that used to exist from the Gulf of Mexico coast to the upper reaches of the Rio Grande River. I came across a “Night Light” map from the Bureau of the Census. It showed dots of light that highlighted big and small cities; anywhere where people lived. Thus, for example, Corpus Christi and even Kingsville were highlighted. Then there was a dark band to the south until you got to the cities that make up the Valley. It is this feature that I have used to highlight the fact that the Valley has been isolated from the rest of the State by geography, ranch lands, and distance. This is not to say that Brownsville, McAllen and Harlingen are not sizable cities now. But the Valley remains a string of smaller cities in a rural area that remains mostly agricultural. It’s still isolated from the rest of the State. But, this is where I grew up. My hometown, Harlingen has grown like all others. It’s chief feature is the divides between recent construction and highways and the “old” parts of town that still look like they did when is was growing up. In the next episode, I’ll talk about my neighborhood after I was born in 1943. Gil