by Lauryn Chavez | staff writer

We’ve all seen that little hill with the billboard as we turn into Johnson. Recently these blue flowers have blossomed, covering the hill almost entirely. And people are taking entire photo shoots with them. Why? I moved here last summer from Colorado and I don’t understand everyone’s infatuation with taking pictures next to these purple and white bunches of petals. I would understand if bluebonnets were some type of beautiful luscious flower…. but they aren’t.

I first realized this obsession as I was driving home from practice. A girl and her mom were taking pictures laying in the bluebonnets, as well as a toddler and her parents. Not only is this a fad popular among teenagers, but adults as well. I truly noticed this trend when one of my friends posted a picture of her with the flowers. I then realized that this is a real thing people do and even want to post.

I then had a Texan explain to me why they take these pictures.

“A lot of people do it on instagram; they take pictures with the bluebonnets because its a cool aesthetic and only Texas people do it because these flowers are only in Texas,” sophomore Brooke Erickson said. I’ve had multiple Texans tell me that they take these pictures because ‘it’s the state flower’, but people in Colorado don’t take pictures with the state flower. Neither do people in any other state. So why are people taking pictures with the flowers here? And why at school?

It’s recently come to my attention that there aren’t any striking physical features here. In Colorado, Wyoming, California, Washington, Arizona, and many other states there are beautiful mountains and luscious forests. As an outsider, it’s weird to me that people are taking pictures with weeds that essentially mimic flowers. But because there are no dominant physical features here, hills covered in flowers are a pretty good substitute.