How Many Texans does it Take to Screw in a Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb?

I live in Texas. To maintain my sanity, I have capitulated to enduring all the unsophisticated quirks that make Texas unique. However, just when I thought I had seen it all, Texans outdid themselves by attempting to designate compact fluorescent lamps as the State Bulb.

Maybe I think this move is odd because I am a foreigner here. I used to be a proud bi-coastal American. I was raised and educated in California in eyeshot of the Pacific coast. I was then refined in Massachusetts within a stone’s throw of the Atlantic. So, maybe I am the only person who thinks designating a state light bulb is strange.

By moving to the Dallas Metroplex, I voluntarily relegated myself to a lifetime of cowboy hats instead of baseball caps, people “hollerin” at each other instead of telephoning, and continuous agitation from locals who feel that the Texas flag should be flown above the American flag because Texas is actually an independent county.

Nonetheless, when I read “Mayors promote fluorescents as ’state bulb’” on Yahoo! News, I thought it was a joke: how many Texans does it take to screw in a light bulb? However, this initiative is no joke. It is a serious attempt by the mayors of the major cities in Texas, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, El Paso, and Austin, to promote compact fluorescents as a means to fight pollution and cut public expenditures for new power plants.

So, although it is quirky, naming the compact fluorescent the State Bulb is one Texas oddity I think I may come to love.