There’s a lot written about John Fitzgerald Kennedy, dead on November 22, 1963, and there has been a lot of impact about it. America woke up from an innocence state of mind.
Dallas, Texas state capital, is also known as “The City of Hate”, nickname made popular after JFK’s assassination. Redneck bastion and symbol of Southern culture, Dallas is also popular due to the same name tv show that flattered families from all around the world in the late 70’s and early 80’s. They even organize guided tours of the ranch where the series was filmed.
Dallas is a foggy city with few shadow spots: summers are warm and really hard to cope with. Despite trying to uncover its tumultuous past, one of the main attractions of the Texas capital is the Sixth Floor Museum, which explores JFK and his assassination. It is located on the same building from where Lee Harvey Oswald shot the president, and it is one of the most visited in the United States. In its souvenir shop there’s plenty of interesting stuff to buy: from newspaper repros from that year to keychains and fridge magnets. Just in front of the museum there’s Dealey Plaza, where tourists and fans gather to take photographs of the exact spot where JFK was shot. There’s a cross on Elm Street that marks the exact place.
If you’re interested in the JFK and The Kennedy’s, you should visit Fort Worth, a town near the Texas capital that takes you to the Old West. Literally. Although being a modern spot, you can take a time machine to the cowboy days when visiting Stockyards. Here you can find western clothing (for cowgirls too!), boot sales and a lot of accessories for rodeos. Before visiting Dallas president Kennedy gave a press conference in Fort Worth, where streets look like a film set from a John Wayne Movie. Because in Texas, everything is different. And bigger. Texans are different, and easy to distinguish from tourists: just look for their cowboy boots and a Stetson.
Don’t say a word about Obama and be careful when driving. Just in the frontier between Mississippi and Texas it is easy to see a sign. “Drink and Drive, Go to Jail”, it says. If you do so, the Walker Texas Ranger (not Chuck Norris) will take care of you.
You can read the article (in Catalan) here.
Liz Claverí 