Social Solidarity in a Pandemic

More people are out and about than usual, I think. During the coronavirus outbreak? Yes. Just folks hanging out in the yard or on bikes or walking. And they seem to be saying hi more than usual. I'm not sure. But I swear people are more likely to be friendly right now. Hard to say cuz most of the friendlies are old folks like my parents and young kids. The grandmars and grandpars were raised to be friendly. Young kids don't know how not to be. Life has not jaded them to be suspicious of fools like me on a bike. I have almost no contact with people I care about right now. I mean I have none. It might last for weeks or months. So I appreciate the folks who look at you and wave or say hi. To me this is a big deal. I wonder if we don't move forward politically cuz we don't really care about each other. And we don't cuz we don't need to in this complex amazing civilization that allows most of us only to really care about our own. Even liberals in Austin take each other for granted. But now we know its all or none. The pandemic reminded us we need to remember who we are and who is around us. And how we all need to care for each other and care about each other. That your health and well being is intimately connected to mine. Solidarity. I've heard stories about this phenomena in places of war. How did most of Europe get national health care and other social protections against a capricious economy and an unpredictable natural environment? After the crisis of World War II and the realization that you need to stick together. I pray we can do something like that.

Lockdown in Austin

I'm exaggerating a little. Only a little. Only essential businesses are allowed and the direction from the Mayor and County Officer is to reduce our social interactions by 90 percent. I work at a middle school which has stopped and we are working at home. I have no family or friends that live with me. And nobody cares about me to actually drop in and see me even staying six feet away. So I have definitely got it at less than 10 percent. As I bike around the city I see all kinds of people in small groups. Like in the pics below you see hundreds of people in Zilker Park. Or people walking or biking in small groups. One couple was walking six feet apart. Honestly you don't see that much. A friend said he and his family have their pod of three that they get closer to than six feet but they keep it to that. So his lady friend has not hugged her grandchildren in awhile and won't until  after social distancing is no longer required. Sad. Dude. Rally sad. Who's responsible for this social disaster? Lets think about that. Was this preventable. Yes. If political leaders did their job and we elected people who do their job. We havent.

Rainbow Summer

Three rainbows appeared to me the summer of 2015. I was driving through Dallas to get to one of my favorite places in the world when a rainbow appeared. That was out to Johnson City TN and my frined Hugo and his family. Later I went with my friend Corey to the great state of Colorado and ran into thunderstorms again and lucky me a rainbow. The video below shows it. Amazing. More crazy and miraculous was the Supreme Court decision in the summer of 2015 that legalized gay marriage in all of the U.S. I remember hearing about it at a Ben Kweller outdoor concert in Austin when he played Penny on the Train Track and thinking this is the trifecta of rainbows and lets call it Rainbow Summer. I went home and proposed "Rainbow Summer" to urban dictionary with my own take and thought it would get rejected like every other proposal. Holla, it got accepted. I think the editors just couldnt be against it so I got my one urban dictionary post. I'm guessing Ben had something else in mind but that song just smashed me in the face with emotion and relief. I get why some people on the left get so passionate when the authorities are unfair and unjust. I feel it too. And when a major obstacle is taken down a rung like gay marriage its a big deal. And it opens space for more freedom. And it says to the bigots to knock it off.

Public Housing Moves Along - I Wonder Where?

When i used to walk down to Artz Rib House there were public housing buildings along the street in a neighborhood of mostly middle class and increasingly upper middle class homes. The Zilker neighborhood in Austin is an awesome location. I live in an apartment right across from the local elementary school. I remember being the first in line to vote in 2004 against the war party candidates. My guy Nader lost if you didn't know. It was about five minutes on bike to Barton Springs Pool. It longer going back cuz he drive up Robert E. Lee road was steep uphill and always a bummer after the easy ride down there and the invigorating swim. And Zilker also a big park with tons of open space and right next to the river and the hike and bike trails. I wonder if the people in the public housing units took advantage of those spots like I did? But I don't wonder that anymore since those units are gone an in their place are what you see below. Way more money to be made off of the new housing. I wonder where those folks went. Maybe they have good alternatives elsewhere in the city. But I wonder if those locations gave them access to a really good school like Zilker and the park. I bike by another public housing park when I bike downtown and its in a pretty good location like the Zilker one. I wonder how long before thats also gone. I don't have pics here (yet!) of the old type of housing and I will try soon and talk about that. Not a fan of the public housing they had but displacing them for middle class people is not cool.

Artz Rib House - Mecca of Texas Barbecue - Now, Sadly, Dead

Kiddy corner from Maria's Tacos used to be a run down used car dealer the the greatest Texas barbecue joint ever. As I wrote this I had blanked on the name and felt a rush of shame like not remembering the name of an old girlfriend. It was called Artz Rib House. I lived about a half mile from it for about five years and it was like living a half mile from heaven. Artz's was a little rundown but the barbecue was as good as you can get. Every weekend I went their for years. When I first started teaching it was tough and most Friday's I came home and walked down to Artz's. They often had live music that was perfect for a small restaurant. Acoustic folk and country that you could listen to and still have a conversation. I don't know how it worked so well but it did cuz people knew how to play and how to converse. There were often lines out the from door on weekend nights. I didn't usually have to wait cuz I usually sat by myself in a bar stool. Or I came by earlier on Saturday afternoon and maybe got an awesome cup of coffee with real cream and had the chocolate moose pie for desert. Its experiences like this that make Austinites think their city is so cool. But its not. I bought a house in 2006 and moved out of the local neighborhood. I went back a few times but not like when I lived there. I remember coming in one time after swimming in Barton Springs Pool which is right down the street and the waitress who had seen me a ton of times asked "Where have you been?" I told her I'd been swimming. And she said "No, like where have you been?" as if I hadnt been there nearly like I used to and I'm sure she was right. By 2012 Artz's wife, who was around and involved in the business as much as Artz, had passed. You could see she had a debilitating disorder but I didn't know it was a lethal one. When I just looked online to find out what ARtz is doing now, cuz for a while he was a barbecue chef in a suburban restaurant, I found out he had passed in 2016. The old and really cool Austin is dying, literally. Sad.

Maria's Tacos

"Did you have the breakfast tacos? Oh, you gotta have the breakfast tacos in Austin. Austin is so cool isnt it? The tacos are lit." Alright I may have gotten the last turn of phrase wrong but you get what I'm saying. I'd guess Maria's had a lot to do with that cultural phenomena or nonsense, whatever you want to call it. When I lived in that neck of South Austin I went there a few times. I found the tacos mediocre and it was a little run down. And the beer sucked. But they had live music and a cool vibe if youre got a bit of a hippy and counter culture fool in you like me. Maria's used to have that corner pretty much by herself. The city made the developer who built all the other shit around Maria's pay to move and preserve it. That's back when the city leadership still tried to make it look like Austin was weird. Its not unique or special and it never was. It was all a gimmick by boosters that eventually led to the present which is a corporate city with bourgeois citizens who like it and go for it and vote for it. Some old timers wanted to preserve the small city elements of Austin which are cool. Family neighborhoods and good local schools, funky small businesses, a public culture of coming together as a community, ethnic neighborhoods with their own subculture. or they said so but they've been pushed out, left, or got bought by the liberal establishment who gives them crumbs in return for acquiescing to the destruction of this city. Let me repeat, Austin is not cool.

The Broken Spoke - The Best Dance Hall in Austin

The beer is terrible. It's really run down and looks like its going to collapse. When you are in the dance hall it looks like the hull of a ship that is collapsing into the ocean. You ignore all that and dance your butt off or just drink a lot of cerveza. Its an awesome place to hug your sweetheart tight and move around. Asking for a dance in a polite way is still happening there. Seriously feels like the old Texas. Notice the condos behind it and they surround this beauty of Texas country music  and dance hall culture. I think the developers made a deal to keep it there. Probably good for business for everybody. If it disappeared I wouldnt even notice but a lot of folks would. So many great musicians have played there over the years. A bunch of pics of the owner James White (no relation other than a mutual love of country music) and pop stars fill an inside room with memorabilia. But a lot of lesser known and incredibly talented folks played there and locals like me love them. If you can dance to it then itl work.

Homeless Camps and Virtue Signaling

Homelessness is one of those issues you see and know about but somehow fades into the background most of the time. These pics are kind of like that cuz you can barely see there are tents and homeless encampments but believe me they are really there. Biking by the other day when SXSW should have been here there were a scattering of people and a group of young people were looking in the same place as you see here. Before this mess of the coronavirus it was homelessness that was a big issue here in Austin. Conservatives complain that the weakening of anti-camping ordinances led to more crime and problems. And they say its inhumane to leave mentally and physically ill on the street. I agree with both of these complaints. But those conservatives don't want to pay for fixing the problem. how can you help people without paying for it. So the only solution in the meantime would be kciking them out and harassing them which is what the liberals complained about. Virtue signal but don't do anything that will fix the problem. Its a problem on the left and the right. But if there are enemies to kill conservatives will spend godless amounts of money on that. And they say America first. Corporate hacks just like most liberals.

Graffiti - PC and Guerrilla

I took these pics to show the polished and PC graffiti that proclaim the message of whatever myths liberals believe. But as I looked at them again I noticed the other graffiti that would often come down as illegal and not sanctioned by the authorities. Which is better? More artistic? More meaningful? More daring? More transgressive of unjust authority? I have changed my mind about graffiti over the years. I loved it when I was in college. Who cares? But a lot of that stuff is nonsense and ugly. It's like when people throw garbage in my yard. Its not a act of resistance to litter. Nor is it a great sin. But don't tell me you are being empowered or helping people. You are just being a jerk to people like me who pick up after your trash. And a lot of the graffiti is trash. Please do something more important than the equivalent of littering. Like I've said I go back and forth. The commandment to  pick your own gender rule book seems right on but its also propaganda to manipulate people on other issues. And I've tried other ways of resisting and I'm not sure if I had a greater impact than the graffiti artists. I don't think I meant to include the bike lane sign but that is funny. It can't be graffiti is it's from the government but it is way less interesting and way more ugly than the real graffiti. But it is important, especially for people like me who actually bike around Austin.

Buildings Built Into the Hillside on Barton Springs Road

There is a steep rock cliff just in back of these businesses and buildings. That creates an odd feel for me as I make my way down this stretch of Barton Springs road.The places you see look like they've been there for many decades. And the businesses seem to be functioning but the house like structures behind them fascinate me. Do people live there? They probably used to. This is right next to Barton Springs pool and that whole area is fascinating to me. The Umlauf Sculpture Garden is near there (check out my recent post on that place).  Sometimes I think I am fascinated by a place because I would love to live there or near there. As much as I hate many things about Austin I also love many things about it. The pics show a materialism we all seem to be obsessed with in one degree or another. I hate the consumer culture but am captive like everyone else. I love the rock formations around here and its like walking through the nature walks along Barton Creek Green Belt that suddenly have juice shops or bike shops where all you expected was nature. But these shops don't seem to ruin the natural environment the way the new businesses do that you along South Lamar and all over new Austin.

The Wrong Side of the Street

What you see here is basically all I saw up and down South Lamar (is it SOLA now?) twenty years ago when I first moved to Austin. Look at the post on "the right side of the street" to see the future. All the structures and businesses in theis posts will be gone in ten years or quicker. Maybe not all. And I've got future posts about the stuff that will probably stick around. Iconic places. But most of  the regular businesses you see here are not iconic or beloved enough to warrant saving. And the big names like Torchy's and Kerby Lane can just move to another spot or get incorporated into the new condo model. I'm not sure it's going to work. There are a lot of empty business spots or one's with few customers connected to these monstrous nouveau apartments. It's not that the old businesses were doing great either. I'm not a fan of consumer capitalism no matter how it looks or is organized geographically in the modern urban environment.

Bar and Music Shop on South Lamar

Classic Austin music businesses along South Lamar do still exist among the condos and bougie surroundings. The South Austin Music store fixed my Dad's old tube amplifier which sounds awesome. And the Saxon Pub has been hosting great local musicians for decades. I used to live near it but it was always crowded. Either it was already too popular when I got there or I was simply  getting tired of bad service just trying to get a beer and listen to good music. Make me pay more for better service. Oh yeah I was already spending ten or more bucks to get in then 5 bucks a beverage and the service still sucked (and this was 20 yrs ago). I guess profit margins are still low. So the business owner is being rational in making me pay a lot for a crappy experience. So why do people still keep going? The reality is that many haven't and the old Austin music haunts continue to die off. The Saxon Pub is not long for this world. And living in Austin is too expensive so many authentic musicians don't live or play here anymore. Wait, I think I forgot to tell you how great Austin is. 

The Right Side of the Street

Lamar Boulevard has totally changed in the twenty year I've been here. These pics show the new condo developments there. Other posts will show the older stuff I knew when I moved there decades ago. I compare the architecture to the dense buildings of older European cities and its very different. These buildings are cold and angular and have most windows that look onto other buildings. I grew up in the country. I moved to the city and dense apartment like buildings for three years in Madison and I tolerated it because I was in a real city with interesting things happening and tons of different people to meet. And you could always walk down the street to the outdoors or people hanging out. But you always came back to that prison cell. This is the vision of the right way to organize a city? I would rather not live in that kind of city. I'll be gone before that comes to my neighborhood. Or the current crisis will turn into a real crisis and this fake Austin economy will crash down and these repellent condos will turn into ghost towns and homeless encampments and rat cities.

Austin Is Currently On Life Support

If you went biking with me today you would not think I was exaggerating. It is usually SXSW here and the city should be too crowded with vacayers and locals going in droves to the coolest gigs and restaurants and bars and music shows and conferences and I don't even know what else cuz I don't go to SXSW much. It felt like Xmas break more than spring break. I loved it. The few pics below barely show the downturn in social life in Austin. You won't see it here but construction of condos and bigger houses and tall skyscrapers seems to continue unabated.