Recently I have found myself pedaling the similarities between Texas and 19th Century Russia to my friends. Now this is not to say that I have been attempting to instigate a four-person Socialist Revolution in Texas – love to see that in the news headlines. Yet as I read Dostoevsky I can’t help but feel a kinship with him as he describes his stubborn, excessive pride in his homeland (I think Texas pride is coded into our DNA upon birth), and simultaneously the lofty Russian efforts to mimic the social elite of Europe who perpetually look down upon them.

To begin this discussion we need to examine the origins of St. Petersburg. It was founded in 1703 by Peter the Great on a patch of frozen, uninhabitable swampland on the Baltic Sea in an effort to gain the culture and status of Western European nations by having a great port city. The land itself had to be raised and thousands died in this ambitious project. It is a location where a city this size should not exist, and so it remains the largest city in the Sub Arctic. Dallas is the largest city in the U.S. without access to a navigable body of water and is in one of the hottest regions in the country.

Peter the Great had a singular ambition: make Russia as great as Europe, and even went so far as to enact a Beard Tax penalizing those who would not shave their traditional Russian beards in favor of the clean shaven European look. St. Petersburg was created as a window to Europe. As with the origins of any great nation, this began with impressive building projects — creating a city full of culturally significant, international bragging rights. Peterhof, Peter the Great’s palace, also known as the “Russian Versailles,” is one of the best examples of this approach. Everything was built on a massive scale to gain the attention of Europe, announcing that “we are here.” Think of having the largest arts district in the nation and the new Cowboy’s Stadium (yes I know, not Dallas, but still DFW).

Dostoevsky portrays his modern 19th century Russians as nationalistic and extremely proud of their heritage, yet they constantly look towards Western Europe for cultural styles, economic strategies, education along with basically anything originating from there. Dostoyevsky noted that Russia needed Europe, and that Europe was the second Russian fatherland. Although he traveled to Europe and was self-educated and heavily influenced by European writers, Dostoyevsky maintained a fierce loyalty to his homeland, even after being exiled to Siberia. He felt that Russians are unique by being Russian and are among the “chosen people.”

But Dostoevsky began to feel that the only way to restore unity and harmony among Russians was for the educated upper classes to reject the imitation of European ways and ideas and to return to a uniquely Russian manner of life. Pochvenniki—Return to the Soil. This idea did not prevail and the Socialist Revolution occurred and we know the rest of the story. Yet St. Petersburg has matured into a world financial and industrial trade center specializing in oil, gas and technology. As Dallas develops the nation’s largest inland port and continues building on a Peter the Great scale we can only hope that our ambitions will lead us in the right direction and firmly establish us on an international platform.

We can also look at this as a cautionary tale for the Dallas art’s community. Maybe it’s time Dallas stops trying to be like New York. Stop running panels that make lofty claims that we will be the next New York. Stop looking towards New York as the pinnacle of achievement in culture. Maybe this is the very problem with the Dallas art scene. We are trying to play a constant game of catch up, trying to create our own windows to the North. This is not to say that Dallas should drop all ambitions. Quite the contrary. But we should try to be great on our own terms.

We should return to the mindset that helped Dallas rise out of the middle of a place where no city of this size should exist. Let’s become truly proud of where we are once again. Not be ashamed of our homeland. Let’s make this more of a competition instead of a search for approval. This is still Texas right? The Lone Star State?