Tear Down

I'll bet what's coming next in the open space is what you see behind it. Condos. They're going to build something. My memory is that it used to be a grocery store and other small shops in a mini-mall situation. Did business dry up as people who would shop there were priced out of the neighborhood? Was business fine but the owners of the space could make a truckload of money by selling the property? Cities influence development through zoning and other regulations on building. If Austin liberals can't control development it makes you wonder why voting even matters. Liberals keep voting for politicians who don't stop the destruction of working people's neighborhoods and don't stop the affluent takeover of valuable spaces.

East Austin Run Down

Why did these homeowners let their property go to disrepair? If you can barely pay the property taxes or the heat bill you can't pay for the upkeep and when your wages stay the same, well then you're done for. I think those people could at least pull some money out of the sale. Or they got property seized due to liens. I don't know. Think about all the others who rented and were poor and never owned. This is east of I-35 in Austin and that's where the segregation line began a century ago. When I see these houses I feel that sense of historical inequities regarding race. I also see how some people prospered in the face of it and made good homes for themselves. And how today is not that world but a new one with privilege based on social class more than race.

East Austin Redo

A sampling of homes in east Austin right near the interstate. Some old house were refurbished and fixed up. Some houses have been demolished and new houses built. Many of those are more dense housing--duplexes or bigger condos. Some that were so fixed up and built upon that they're basically new houses. Some old houses are total run down. I would have loved to live in one of those old houses. Even like the last pic - the home that is so small. I think its the idea of owning your own home, even back then, no matter what size, would be a huge deal. Thats how I feel now. I hope I can keep mine in better shape, or make a ton in profit from its sale.

Drive-In Theater in Trinidad

Drive-Ins probably were in on the downside when I was growing up. I only remember going once. When I was in high school in the 1980s I never remember going to one. I saw many bad movies in other movie theaters but not a drive-in. Trinidad reminds me a little of my old Wisconsin small town hometown.

Tree Man

A tree turning into Sasquatch or vice versa. Sometimes I love Austin and all this quirky stuff. We could use a few more Yetis.

The Tree of Life

I noticed the tree of life motif in works I bought at TTV in these photos. I was reading today about the tree of life in the myths of Mesopotamia and their connection to the Adam and Eve story and paradise stories in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Agrarian societies are tied to nature and the tree. When trees are healthy than usually farming is going well (well at least in the Middle East), and life thrives. Thats my explanation in the history of human culture. I have a guttural reaction to these kinds of nature scenes and I don't know the origin of that for me. I grew up in the country in Wisconsin-that's probably part of it. Trees become intertwined with experiences and memories.and help you notice the passing of time.

Ten Thousand Villages Store

Interesting shop in Austin with fair trade items and products from entrepreneurs and businesses that uplift the poor and oppressed around the world. For example, former sex workers create some of these items. The store gives you a short story of the workers who make the goods you buy. It has a very powerful effect on the consumer. Well, it did on me. I wish it was mandatory to provide the background to the main workers who make the product to consumers. Or it should be readily accessible to a curious consumer. Would people care if they knew the background to what they buy?