Twenty years ago today, I moved into an apartment in Grand Prairie, which lies between Dallas and Fort Worth. I had spent the previous year in College Station, teaching philosophy at Texas A&M University while I completed my Ph.D. dissertation. Before that, I lived for five years in Tucson, where I studied philosophy at the University of Arizona and practiced law to support myself. (I was also a paid teaching assistant for five years.) I enjoyed my year in College Station, but since I didn't have a motor vehicle, I didn't get to know the place very well. I went back and forth to campus from my apartment and rode my bike at least 50 miles every Sunday.
I lived in the Grand Prairie apartment until December 1992, when I bought a house in Fort Worth. I'm now a 20-year resident of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. I love this place. It's a huge metropolitan area, but it doesn't feel that way. Fort Worth is much more laid back than Dallas. The saying is that Dallas is a Southern town, while Fort Worth is a Western town. I can be out in the countryside on my bike within 30 minutes of leaving my house. There are huge lakes all around, plus many farm-to-market roads. Another thing I like about the Metroplex is that we have all the big-time sports teams. We have NHL, NBA, NFL, and MLB teams. Two of them play in Dallas and two just down the road from me in Arlington. I'm not saying that I'm a big hockey, basketball, or football fan, but this does show that there is a lively sports scene in this area. I'm not into art, but I understand that the museums, symphony halls, and other cultural facilities are quite good.
It's ironic that I've come to love North Texas, because, for a long time after moving here in 1989, I hated the place. If you had asked me during graduate school whether I could be happy living in Texas, I would have laughed and said no. I wanted to go to California. Like many academics, I wanted to teach at a world-class university with a highly ranked department. The University of Texas at Arlington is nothing to be ashamed of, but it's not even in the same league as UT-Austin (for example). We aspire to be UCLA to the University of California's Berkeley, but I'm afraid we fall far short of it.
Over the years, it became less important to me where I teach. As I'm fond of saying, John Rawls could have written A Theory of Justice at UTA just as easily as at Harvard University. Ultimately, what matters is the quality of your work, not where you do it. In some ways, I'm happier at UTA than I would be elsewhere. I get to teach the courses I want at the times I want; enrollments are small (no more than 40 students per class); I have good colleagues; we have a pleasant campus; and I have access to everything I need for my scholarly work. When you combine this with the creature comforts of the Metroplex, such as good weather, low cost of living, proximity to big-time sporting events and cultural activities, and the absence of a state income tax, it's hard to beat. The athletic scene in the Metroplex is second to none. I do 25 bike rallies a year, and could do even more if I were willing to drive farther. I do a footrace every weekend from Labor Day to the end of February. I could race all summer if I wanted to, but I focus on cycling during the summer.
All in all, I've had a wonderful two decades in the Metroplex. I hope I have 20 more.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 