European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 24, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Urban Cowboy of 1978 by William Stevens new York times you cant miss him on the he rides High in his pickup a Straw hat or Black Felt Cowboy hat on his a Pinch of snuff in his Cheek and a Lone Star Beer the Brand is important at one booted foot is tapping to the beat of a Willie Nelson the other spurs the pickup in and out of traffic lanes in a style that might be with some Hes the Urban Cowboy of he Calls himself a so do some in admiration and some through gritted some say Hes living a a Showbiz version of a bygone if its the most vivid myth in and the values associated with it Are at the very heart of a spirited debate there about what kind of place Houston is and should Houston May As some surveyors of the social scene f the Metropolis of the future space capital of the Cradle of economic and artistic template for new Urban exporter of technology to the if Texas Chic is noticeable in new York it is Post Uvelyn pervasive in Cowboy hats and Lone Star Belt buckles and Levis Are Bankers and Bank computer programmers and truck Drivers and refinery workers flock to spots As galleys or fools Gold to drink Beer out of Long necked bottles and dance the Cotton eyed Joe or a old fashioned country of considerable Grace and in a Houston May be More Texas than old Texas its happening precisely during a flood tide of Migra lion from the North and the result is a swirling clash of values and with the Cowboy philosophy fat the the a shortened version of a less rained term of barnyard is cussed and and repudiated by the hundreds of Yankees hit town each week in search of personal the reality of the Cowboy of has just disappeared in the Rise of modernity in a state 80 what remains is a the Cowboy sociologists has now been transferred largely to the realm of i but pointed boots that will never feel a Stirrup or a rattlesnakes fangs Are also a badge associated with an in Modem Houston that Ideal is Central to the Rous ing largely Between self styled texans and newly arrived about the future of the heaven forbid that Houston become a replica of older Eastern and Northern Burl a hous wrote in one of scores of letters to Houston Edi arguing for a preservation of Western values and some say that the old Texas tradition is the Only thing that stands Between Houston and a future As a kind of unfocused los Angeles but there is the Texas its backers Means exuberance and open manners and buoyancy and gallantry above it Means Independence and it is also a set of values made to order for Middle class conservative leaning newcomers from the East it is made doubly attractive to those who have tired of the bureaucratic taxes and chafing ways of the cities they to the Western tradition represents a last stronghold of the free they adopt the tradition because they Are not willing to accept Urban says Una director of the Rice University office of continuing studies which is running a course for adults called living Tom Reid of the Johnson space who has lived in Texas All his said of the transplanted Yankees at they think its All a Little but they begin to Wear boots and Blue jeans and think its great fun to go out and drink Honky Tonk after a they go to visit mama and daddy up and they see that people there dont understand that one trip can change them to other new arrivals from the see in the Cowboy values Antl intellect coarse est and insensitivity to minorities and to those left behind in the free Enterprise to these one mans Independence is another mans Happy a 35yearold air conditioning technician from new York by Way of has just about adjusted to what he sees As the slam bang Cowboy style of doing but that Doest mean Hes accepted i know probably 10 people pretty who Are All immigrants and All from up he and All of them Are definitely still the Way they they have not converted a they have not gone out and bought a Cowboy or a Cowboy pair of Wright still finds himself swearing at Drivers who Cut in front of him on the shouting Cowboy or at the freeways of Houston Are becom ing not just because they Are but also because of the Way people the freeway is like the open says Wil Liam a University of Houston Texas Chic in Houston or everybody is on bit the i As its not my kids being n 2l says is a Tenet of i comes out sounding very positive but it tends to justify a lad 1 pointing to what he called a 8 service in including i makes the harsh judgment that i a third rate Many houstonian Are Sis of clashing values that will of Rice University living i Page 14 the stars and stripes Parkinson i am o Man of Many Parkinson its author is i some of the but life Ramon of 1 anything he Tiff let Northcote i Law when he was on i South China 81 piece of work As far i themselves More f therefore i exponentially i at the time he wet which wage to the British Colony i As Malaysia was to new a new Parkinson Sayin All that took a 1 added up Bow i in addition to the i into committee 1 army Days when he in bureaucracy which so you c somebody is need i so a private is i he snaps to i sits