Name: Is Houston a Prophetic City? Or a Pathetic City?
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Is Houston a Prophetic City? Or a Pathetic City?

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Sort ByFilter ByLocationsTypeView ResultsFiltersFeatured in the Houston City GuideDiscover the best things to eat, drink, and do in Houston with our expertly curated city guides.One of the side effects of living in a city that runs on oil and gas is that time feels cyclical. Instead of progressing from the past to the future, life in Houston has historically alternated between boom and bust. It’s as if the city runs on some Mayan calendar that repeats itself over and over as—according to —it counts down to the apocalypse.Stephen Klineberg’s new book (Avid Reader Press) breaks that wheel. The longtime Rice University sociologist has crafted a linear narrative—a march of demographic trends that points forward rather than simply bouncing between economic poles. Houston’s older Anglos, the data shows, are being succeeded by a younger, more diverse cohort with different views, values, and economic needs than their predecessors’. The majority of Harris County residents under the age of twenty are Latino. Only a fifth are white. The problems and opportunities the region deals with today are a glimpse into our increasingly multiracial nation’s future. Rather than being a city of oil and gas, Klineberg argues, Houston is a city of prophecies.To Klineberg, Houston transcends the refineries and oil fields. More-mundane events and locales—naturalization ceremonies, business luncheons, Chinatown strip malls—are the heart of the city. As he points out often, Houston is now a city of conveners, not kingmakers. (He borrowed that line from Mustafa Tameez, a well-respected local politico and first-generation immigrant—a.k.a. a real Houstonian.) The wealthy pooh-bahs who once pulled the political and economic strings from have been replaced by a spectrum of partnerships, nonprofits, and community organizations. Plenty of Houstonians may have a chip on their shoulder about living in a place maligned by architects and urbanists as the anti-city for its endless sprawl and lack of zoning, but Klineberg reframes that narrative. Houston isn’t about the place—it’s about the people. Consider it appropriate that a sociologist has emerged as the city’s scribe.Stephen Klineberg on Houston’s eighties oil boom: “It was so easy to find well-paid work and high profits in those days that people used to say you could dress a gorilla in a business suit, send him downtown, and he’d become a millionaire in a week!”There’s no denying that philanthropies play a critical and beneficial role in Houston—I should know, I work at one. But as Klineberg attests, the sad fact is that most public school students have been left behind, and UH and Rice will need a lot more help if they want to compete with world-class institutions of higher education in and around San Francisco, New York, and Boston. Heck, Houston can’t match San Antonio when it comes to pre-K.Klineberg is admirably tough-minded about the city’s failure to educate its children. “In a city with at least thirteen billionaires and private foundations with some of America’s largest endowments, Houston’s public schools are filled with a majority of children in poverty who will graduate without the skills needed to succeed,” he writes.Those are sharp words. But, frustratingly, Klineberg tees this argument up and then never takes a full swing. The reader waits for him to name names, grab some local leaders by their figurative lapels, and demand the effort it would take to set the city’s educational system on the right track. Because whatever they’re doing now, it isn’t enough.ByByByByByByGet our weekly newsletter.ByByByandByByByByByByBy

Sort ByFilter ByLocationsTypeView ResultsFiltersFeatured in the Houston City GuideDiscover the best things to eat, drink, and do in Houston with our expertly curated city guides.One of the side effects of living in a city that runs on oil and gas is that time feels cyclical. Instead of progressing from the past to the future, life in Houston has historically alternated between boom and bust. It’s as if the city runs on some Mayan calendar that repeats itself over and over as—according to —it counts down to the apocalypse.Stephen Klineberg’s new book (Avid Reader Press) breaks that wheel....

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Evan Mintz

TexasMonthly

Covering Texas news, politics, food, culture, travel, and more. RTs not endorsements. Tweets by @tayloraprewitt. Subscribe: https://txmnth.ly/3I9Klr1

Is Houston a Prophetic City? Or a Pathetic City?

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