There and back again, a hobbit's tale of Lubbock. I think she meant it as some type of compliment. At the least, a simple observation unworthy of deep analysis. "You look like a hobbit," said the fellow partygoer, celebrating the graduation from Texas Tech of my girlfriend's godbrother. Perhaps it's my curly hair, coupled with a slightly oversized version of Elijah Wood's nose. Regardless, it was my first experience of Lubbock, one my girlfriend worked hard to convince me to experience.

Ultimately, since I have engaged in derogatory comments about the landscape of the South Plains, I felt that at some point I had to visit to see for myself. That, and not having traveled farther west in Texas than Fredericksburg and Johnson City. There is an untamable beauty in the country of the Llano Estacado, the Palisaded Plains, in the escarpments and mesas. Untamable, yes, and also unyielding, the type of place that forces perspective, the marginalization that humans seek to avoid with their endless manipulation of their environment.

While not as overwhelmingly strange as some places I have been, like Spanish Fork, Utah, the ultra-conservative stronghold of the Mormons, Lubbock still struck me as a slightly odd place. In cursory travel around the city, it appeared mostly semi-industrial, a collection of slightly run down and worn buildings, with few apparent neighborhoods in the areas through which we drove. It's also a town still in development around campus, with new apartment buildings and shopping area still under construction. In that sense, Lubbock feels like it is still striving to find it's place, seeking a slightly more sophisticated reputation.

I spent the greatest part of the graduation ceremony entertaining myself by looking at the home towns of every graduating senior, wondering what draws people to Texas Tech. As a native Hoosier, I found myself at UT because of everything that Austin has to offer, attributes that were apparent to me from the moment I set foot in central Texas. For Lubbock, those reasons still remain mysterious to me. Why a native of Los Angeles would matriculate at Cal-Berkeley and Harvard, then gain a doctorate at Texas Tech. Why a child of Snoqualmie, Washington, the beautiful mountain pass in the Cascades through which I have passed when traveling from visiting my brother in Seattle back to Montana, exchanged a rich and lush environment for the semi-arid plains.

My trip failed to truly elucidate my quest, but I do know that I appreciate Austin all the more for my experience. The music. Places of incredible natural beauty like Barton Springs, Hamilton Pool, and Mount Bonnell. The murals covering nearly every blank wall around campus. Most of all, for being a Longhorn and everything it represents. So, after applauding the culmination of the journey of bright young minds at Texas Tech, I still felt obliged to remain seated during the Tech fight song, holding my horns proudly in the air.

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Sorry, Urban. But... no.

No, no, no.