Sun Belt.

I have this huge curiosity about the Sun Belt. A few weeks ago, my hotel USA Today reported that seven of our ten biggest U.S. cities were now within 500 miles of Mexico.

I've heard of skilled workers (like nurses and cops) heading out there to ply their trades under the sun. Hundreds of thousands of suburbanites from the north have moved their unsustainable standard of living south and southwest. But if good city planning hasn't followed all the northerners south--just think, there are over 4 million people in metropolitan Phoenix and not a single passenger train line--has "culture" itself?

Not gaudy ranches and golf courses, but a decent music scene? Not condos and expensive steakhouses, but cool taquerias dotting the landscape? Are these cities efficient, or do they require constant air conditioning? Didn't Henry Miller write about this shit 60 years ago? What has changed since to convince the masses to move?