AUSTIN | Misc. Discussions - No Politics

[ILUVSAT]

Keep Austin Weird, right?!?

[kingkirbythe....]

Originally Posted by We vs us

Does anyone know why Austin Pride is held in August, and the rest of the US celebrates it in June?

Pride is typically celebrated In June. So why is Austin's 'official' parade in August?

https://www.kut.org/austin/2019-06-1...rade-in-august

Cities across the world celebrate Pride in June with parades and events to honor the queer and trans activists who put their lives on the line for gay liberation during the Stonewall riots of 1969. The event marked the start of the modern gay liberation movement.

But in Austin, the city’s “official” Pride celebration isn’t until August.

That led Stacy MacDiarmid, a self-described “enthusiastic ally” of Pride, to ask our ATXplained project: Why?

MacDiarmid is so enthusiastic, she bakes a Pride-themed dessert every year. Though the question has been on her mind for years, she thought this year – the 50th anniversary of Stonewall – was the year to get an answer.

She also wanted to make sure she baked a rainbow cake on the right day.

“I texted my friends to wish them happy Pride at the beginning of June, and then we laughed because we’re not sure it’s actually Pride,” she says.

Financial, logistical and functional

MacDiarmid guessed the main reason the parade is held in August is because the college students are back then.

I called Micah Andress, the president of the Austin Gay and Lesbian Pride Foundation, to see if she was right. The nonprofit has been responsible for the Pride festival and parade since 2010.

Andress says he gets the question all the time. The reasons Pride happens in August are threefold.

"There’s a financial aspect, there’s a logistical aspect, and then there’s a functional aspect," he says.

It costs $100,000 to host the festival and parade, he says. Vetted sponsors cover half the costs, but the rest comes from fundraising and ticket sales. For a smaller nonprofit like Austin Pride to be able to afford that, it has to draw out-of-towners in addition to locals, who will pay $10 to $150 per ticket.

If the parade were to happen in June like it does in most other Texas cities, he says, the nonprofit would have fewer big-name entertainers to attract festival-goers.

And entertainment is “what brings the crowds out,” he says.

Perhaps a less obvious reason the parade is in August, Andress says, is the cost for rain insurance in June. August is historically the driest month on record, so it’s a safer bet.

"We cannot afford rain insurance," he says. "It is ridiculously expensive."

MacDiarmid’s guess about why the parade is later – students! – was also correct. Andress says it takes about 400 volunteers to pull off Pride.

"Of those 400 people, about 95 to 96 percent of them are college-aged kids,” most of whom aren’t around in the summertime, he says.

All-year and all-inclusive

But Andress sees the parade as only one part of a year-long celebration of queer identity.

To raise money for the celebration, the nonprofit sponsors year-round events, like drag bingo, which he says can get “pretty wild.”

But he also recognizes the importance of the history of Pride. His group has held a Stonewall rally annually on the steps of the Texas State Capitol since 2010. In recent years, the event has also commemorated the victims of the Pulse massacre.

“[We are] reminding lawmakers in there that we are not second-class citizens. That we are not going anywhere. Y’all can make some noise for that,” Kelly Kline said during a speech at the rally last week.

This is a particularly charged year for queer rights. On Friday, an appeals court let President Trump’s transgender military ban stand. And since January, 10 trans women of color, including two in Dallas, have been killed.

A 2015 Gallup poll ranked Austin as having the third highest rate of LGBTQ residents among metropolitan areas in the U.S. But state-level protections for the 4.1% LGBTQ population rank low compared to the rest of the country.

That’s one reason why Andress has tried to make Austin Pride as inclusive as possible since taking over as parade director in 2011. For the first year, Black Pride will be running a ticketed VIQ (“very important queer”) section with an open bar, catered food and a DJ at Austin Pride. All funds will go to Black Pride.

At the end of the day, Andress doesn't see a Pride parade in August as limiting. He says MacDiarmid can go ahead and bake her rainbow cake whenever she wants.

“Pride is what you make it, it should be year-round. I don’t think it has to be in June to be celebrated,” he says. “I think it can be anytime you want it to be. Lady GaGa said that Pride needs to happen all year, and I’m like, ‘Yes, I’m so down for this!”

[We vs us]

Great find, thanks!

[KevinFromTexas]

So, there's a 2022 movie on Netflix called "Look Both Ways" that was filmed in Austin. They show the Paramount Theatre and Continental Club. I haven't watched all of it, but there are some Austin scenes here and there, and it takes place during SXSW.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14298328/

[KevinFromTexas]

That rain today as we were coming in on 290.

[kingkirbythe....]

Come for the Nostalgia, Stay for the Pinball

Craft beer, live music, and small businesses breathe new life into Old Taylor High, a repurposed school building from 1923.

https://www.texasmonthly.com/style/o...siness-dreams/

If you were a teenager in Taylor at almost any point during the last century, walking into the town’s former high school is an emotional roller-coaster. There’s the feeling of nostalgia, the bittersweet recognition of the passage of time, maybe lingering stress because you haven’t done your homework. But once you get farther into the reclaimed school building, where classroom doors are decorated with names like the Loose Screw and the Hangout Pinball Lounge, memories are replaced by a craving for a double IPA or nitrogen-frozen ice cream, both of which you can get at Old Taylor High. As I pass through the first-floor hallway with my family, I tell my eight-year-old son Javi that his grandpa graduated from this school. He responds by wiggling his little body into one of the green lockers that still line the halls.

On a sweltering summer Friday, my husband Vic and I select craft brews from the 46 taps at the Loose Screw Craft Beer House and Garden, and then tote our full pint glasses across the hall to the Hangout Pinball Lounge where there are nine pinball machines, dating from 1969 to 2019, in a former English classroom. Javi lingers in the hallway for a bit, checking out the Rubik’s Cube art, since he’s a cuber himself, and then joins us at the Hangout and bellies up to his first pinball machine of the night.

Old Taylor High was a high school from 1923 to 1969 (for white students; there were separate high schools for Black students and Mexican American students before integration), and it operated as the town’s middle school from 1969 to 2000. Now it’s a space where the community comes together for beer, live music, and play, as well as an incubator where entrepreneurs launch small businesses in former classrooms.

The development, which opened in March 2019, owes its existence in part to Taylor’s Janetta McCoy, who once owned a bed-and-breakfast across the street from the mostly vacant and under-maintained school. In 2016, McCoy brought together a task force of neighbors to oversee the vision for the school building’s next chapter. The local school district maintained Taylor High at that time, though the building was no longer used for school offices or activities. Meals on Wheels was operating out of the kitchen, but there were also rumors of squatters. McCoy, once a professor of environmental design and architecture in Washington State, brought her knowledge of repurposing public spaces to the task force. The group reviewed proposals for apartments and a medical facility in the old school. Ultimately, they recommended that the school district sell the building to the Cliff and Kaitlin Olle, a local couple who envisioned a mixed-use development in the center of town.

[kingkirbythe....]

University of Texas at Austin offers Taylor Swift English course this fall

https://www.mysanantonio.com/enterta...e-17389725.php

It seems as though universities across the Lone Star State are increasingly making room for pop-culture centered syllabi. This fall, college-bound fans of pop star Taylor Swift will want to leave a "Blank Space" in their schedule. Students at the University of Texas at Austin will soon be able to take a literary course on the singer's extensive discography.

The course, Literary Contests and Contexts — The Taylor Swift Songbook, will be offered to undergraduate students in UT's Liberal Arts Honors program beginning this fall semester. The class will be taught by Professor Elizabeth Scala.

According to the UT English Department's Facebook post, the class will serve as an "introduction to literary studies and research methods" that uses the songwriting of Taylor Swift as a foundation.

"Let’s turn that Easter Egg hunting and reading in detail to academic purposes!" the English Department wrote in the post.

“I want to take what Swift fans can already do at a sophisticated level, tease it out for them a bit with a different vocabulary, and then show them how, in fact, Swift draws on richer literary traditions in her songwriting, both topically but also formally in terms of how she uses references, metaphors, and clever manipulations of words,” Scala told KXAN.

Other opportunities for students to critically address the work of their favorite singer are available across the state. At Texas State University, a course on Harry Styles will be taught to honors college students in spring 2023.

[kingkirbythe....]

Pink Panther app takes 'detectives' on a tour of Austin's crown jewels and hidden gems

https://austin.culturemap.com/news/e...p-tour-austin/

The Pink Panther is not new in the entertainment landscape, but neither is most of Austin, and many Austinites haven’t fully explored either. A new app merges the two familiar experiences with a twist, encouraging users to get out there and see their city or tour a new one, making stops along an “app-navigated outdoor adventure.”

Bounce, a travel app that makes similar activations, teamed up with MGM to create an itinerary through “popular destinations and local gems” in 10 U.S. cities, including Austin. An animated trailer declares that the Pink Panther diamond has been stolen, and users will solve the mystery while exploring their cities, with a series of clues related to each destination.

“The exciting thing about this interactive Bounce app experience is that decisions have consequences and sometimes you only have one chance, so you have to stay on your toes, pay attention and look beyond the obvious,” said Bounce founder and experience creator David House. “Not to mention, Bounce is designed to take you to areas of the city you may have hoped to see, locations you might want to return to later, or local hidden gems that deserve to be seen as well. … Discover the city you were hoping to see, not the version that you’re ‘supposed’ to see.”

The trailer previews pit stops in “local museums, parks, and cafes” with on-theme interactive elements, such as a choice to view security footage or interview a security guard. Clues are unlocked as places are visited, and since the real idea is to connect people with their surroundings, the app can be paused and restarted on the travelers’ own schedule.

The only other experience on Bounce is available in Philadelphia, as a self-paced Rocky tour that includes stops in Mickey’s gym, Adrian’s Restaurant, The Italian Market, and, of course, the “Rocky Steps.” The Rocky experience is modeled after a straightforward film tour, which makes sense for such an iconic localized theme. Since “The Pink Panther and the Case of the Missing Diamond” is designed to fit so many different cities, it seems to take a form most like geocaching, which operates on a similar mission to get users off the beaten path, using deductive reasoning.

The experience is designed to be equally enjoyed alone or in a group, includes in-app navigation, and covers both driving and walking distances. (A video tutorial mentions some locations “that require you to walk around a bit.”) Although the experience commits to the “travel” angle, it seems equally well suited for friends at home looking for a way to freshen up a local routine, or people playing tour guide in their own cities when friends and family visit.

Tickets ($34.99 per group) are available through the Bounce app, available on Apple’s App Store and Google Play. More information is available at experiencebounce.com.

[gillynova]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

So, there's a 2022 movie on Netflix called "Look Both Ways" that was filmed in Austin. They show the Paramount Theatre and Continental Club. I haven't watched all of it, but there are some Austin scenes here and there, and it takes place during SXSW.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14298328/

Sweet! Gonna put it on queue now

[kingkirbythe....]

Barton Springs closed as Austin Police investigate homicide near Zilker Park

https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/lo...e-17397394.php

Barton Springs Pool is closed for a homicide investigation, according to the Austin Police Department. Early reports indicate one person was found dead and that Barton Springs and portions of Zilker Park are closed.

At 7:15 a.m. on Thursday, August 25, Barton Springs employees called APD to report a suspicious vehicle. Officers arrived to find a deceased male in his 20s. At the ensuing press conference, an APD officer confirmed that the body was found on the grounds of Barton Springs but not in the water.

As of now, no one is in custody and APD is looking for possible witnesses to the crime. The officer did not confirm the cause of death despite earlier reports online of a shooting.

This is the second homicide in the area in two days, following a death on Wednesday, August 24, at Auditorium Shores. APD said that it's too early to tell if the crimes are linked, but an officer said that both incidents appear to be isolated.

"We always wish we could explain it and know right away so we could fix it," the officer said. "No death is wanted in this city, especially violent crime. If we could, we would explain it. It’s hard to explain until we can figure each one out."

When asked how the department felt about two homicides in two days in or around tourist hotspots in the city, the APD officer was concise, saying: "It's not good."

The Austin Police Department asked for people to avoid the area for the time being. Barton Springs will remain closed for its regular Thursday cleaning. The Zilker Park playground is also closed, as is the parking lot adjacent to Barton Springs Pool.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

[kingkirbythe....]

Originally Posted by kingkirbythe....

Jacob's Well has stopped flowing again. That's a problem for western Hays County.

https://www.kut.org/energy-environme...-flowing-again

Jacob's Well, a beloved natural swimming hole in the Wimberley Valley, has stopped flowing for the fifth time in its recorded history.

Parks department officials said the lack of flow is a result of the ongoing drought and increased levels of groundwater pumping. The news comes at a time when Central Texas is dealing with one of the hottest and driest summers on record and bracing for even more heat and drought conditions in the coming months.

"This is really concerning," said Jay Taylor, the lead parks specialist with the Hays County Parks Department. "If you watch the weather, they're not predicting any rainfall in the near future. In fact, they're predicting this heat bubble ... [will] extend further out into August and maybe even September right now."

The well also stopped flowing briefly last year, for what officials said was the fourth time in its recorded history.

Earlier this summer, Hays County suspended swimming at Jacob's Well, citing threats of bacteria and other pollutants, as well as poor visibility conditions. Swimming remains off limits for the foreseeable future, but the park is still open daily for hiking.

But Jacob's Well is used for much more than just swimming. Robin Gary, the managing director of the Wimberley Valley Watershed Association, said the lack of flow at Jacob's Well signals groundwater levels are low in the area.

"They're definitely declining," Gary said. "[And] western Hays County is very groundwater-dependent. In fact, there's no surface water supplies in western Hays County."

Gary said that the lack of groundwater is a concern for everyone. Whether people get their water from a private well or from a water utility, everyone depends on it.

Jacob’s Well is also the headwaters for Cypress Creek, which flows through downtown Wimberley. Locals there have warned that Jacob's Well drying up could have major impacts on the local economy, which is dependent on the tourism that these natural resources bring.

"We're losing a lot of fish, vegetation, trees, wildlife, things like that, because the water levels are pretty much nonexistent starting at Jacob's Well," Taylor said. "And it's just going to get worse as you go down the creek."

Taylor said that right now the county is trying to educate people on water conservation. The Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District is asking people and local water utilities to conserve water right now.

"During times of drought, people like to overwater their plants, trees, gardens, which is the exact opposite of what you should be doing," he said. "Unfortunately, you have to let your lawns go brown or whatever."

He said, at this point, it's going to take a lot more than 1 or 2 inches of rain to replenish the aquifer, and ultimately the well.

"We are going to need some sort of flooding, minor flooding situation, flash flooding, in order to sustain the flow coming from Jacob's Well," he said. "The Trinity Aquifer just needs a lot of water in it right now. And a normal rain ... isn't going to cut it. It's going to need to be significant."

Jacob's Well Natural Area closes swimming for the year despite rainfall
The well closed in June.

https://www.mysanantonio.com/lifesty...s-17399918.php

Recent rain that hit the Texas Hill Country over the week has not been enough to save Jacob's Well from record low levels. The Hays County Parks Department shared on social media that there wasn't significant rain to reopen Jacob's Well in Wimberley.

"Hi Y'all, we made the decision to close Jacob's Well to swimming for the remainder of the year," the post reads. It goes on to state that the rain just wasn't enough to recharge the Trinity Aquifer that supports Jacob's Well. The park is still open for hiking, viewing the spring, and other activities.

Guests that have reserved a swim spot at Jacob's Well will get their refunds automatically in the next couple of weeks. On July 27, Jacob's Well Natural Area had zero cubic square-feet of flow discharge after a measurement done by the U.S. Geologic Survey, according to a MySA report.

Hays County Parks Lead Specialist Jay Taylor said to MySA that the rain over the past year hasn't been enough to recharge the area. He said the last time Jacob's Well was at zero cubic square-foot flow discharge was in 2011.

The popular swimming hole has been closed since June 28 due to high bacteria levels, poor visibility, and other pollutants. For hours and other information about Jacob's Well Natural Area click here.

[DougRockstead]

.... did they build two bldgs over 300 feet tall illegally?

crazy

https://www.yahoo.com/news/watch-ind...153702931.html

[drummer]

^^ Corruption. But it shouldn't be that easy. And it's interesting to see them actually come down after the fact. In many cases you would see fines or even jail time if word comes out, but they may end up actually using whatever what was built. More often, you see poor construction due to skimping on requirements (i.e., safety features) to save a buck. I saw this happen all the time when I lived in Asia - I had a friend who worked for the government in China and he was always assisting in investigations to chase these activities down. He felt like he was always three steps behind. The sad thing is that he represented the vast majority of people who were working to develop things the right way. Bad apples make it more difficult for everyone - and this is true in every country.

All the red tape that we have here is super annoying at times, but it does help to prevent this kind of stuff. I certainly have grown to value transparency more and more.

[kingkirbythe....]

Keep Austin word: O. Henry Museum Pun-Off returns in person this fall

https://www.statesman.com/story/ente...2/65462019007/

The most punderful time of the year is back. Celebrating its 45th year, the O. Henry Museum Pun-Off World Championships will return in person on Oct. 8.

Traditionally, clever folks looking to keep Austin word gather behind the O. Henry Museum each year to let their best puns fly. The wordplay has gone virtual for two years because of the pandemic. This year, though, the Pun-Off will take place at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center (600 River St.), since Brush Square (where the O. Henry Museum is located) is under renovation, according to a news release.

The event features two contests. During "Punniest In Show," contestants deliver a prepared monologue. For "Punslingers," contestants will face off in a battle of puns. Entrants can participate in one or both contests, but each one is capped at 32 people. "Contestants are chosen via lottery and entering doesn't guarantee you a spot in either competition," according to a news release.

Austin’s Parks and Recreation Department holds the annual Pun-Off. "The story is that it started informally as an impromptu performance outside the O. Henry Museum during the Pecan Street Festival, then it became established as an official event in 1979," according to an American-Statesman report from 2019.

The celebrated short-story author O. Henry, aka William Sidney Porter, lived in Austin for a few years in the late 1800s and held a number of jobs in the city, including founder of The Rolling Stone newspaper. The O. Henry Museum at 409 E. Fifth St. is his former residence. Today, he's best remembered for twist-ending tales like "The Gift of the Magi." The Pun-Off honors his wit and gift for language.

Attendees of this year's Pun-Off will find food and live music, and organizers will sell T-shirts to benefit the O. Henry Museum. The event will take place from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Registration opens up on Thursday at punoff.com.

[kingkirbythe....]

Step Inside This Virtual Tour of East Austin’s Historic Oakwood Cemetery

https://austin.towers.net/step-insid...ric-oakwood-ce

Oakwood Cemetery, as Austin’s oldest city burial ground dating back to 1839 and growing through the years to its current size of approximately 40 acres at 1601 Navasota Street, is the resting place for generations of the city’s history — but the memories buried here, reflecting the formerly segregated surrounding neighborhoods of East Austin, were unequally distributed, some forgotten for more than a century. The city’s 2016 renovation of the Oakwood Cemetery Chapel, originally built with a design from Austin architect Charles Page in 1914, discovered that the chapel sat on top of a number of unidentified graves in the “Colored Grounds” of the cemetery.

[kingkirbythe....]

Austin-San Antonio is the ‘next great U.S. metroplex,’ says Mayor Adler in final address

https://austin.culturemap.com/news/c...s-mayor-adler/

Look out, Dallas-Fort Worth. Austin Mayor Steve Adler wants Austin-San Antonio to become the “next great U.S. metroplex.” Experts believe we’re already well on our way toward that status.

In his last State of the City address as Austin’s mayor on August 25, Adler touched on the burgeoning notion that the Austin-San Antonio corridor — encompassing 13 counties across both metro areas — is evolving as a mega-region like DFW.

In alignment with that vision, Texas billionaire Elon Musk, CEO of Austin-based automaker Tesla, recently floated the idea of building a transportation tunnel between Austin and San Antonio. On Twitter, Musk noted that this futuristic tunnel would be the “fastest way” to travel “between one downtown and another with known physics.” The distance along I-35 between downtown Austin and downtown San Antonio is about 80 miles.

In the past, transportation advocates have pushed for a commuter rail line between the Austin and San Antonio areas, but the concept has never gained enough traction.

Calls for stepped-up transportation and cooperation between Austin and San Antonio come as the two adjacent regions become more neighborly.

Today, the Austin-San Antonio corridor is home to roughly 5 million people. As of the 2020 Census, 2.3 million people lived in the Austin metro area and almost 2.6 million people lived in the San Antonio area. The corridor’s population is expected to reach 6 million to 7 million by 2030.

From 2010 to 2020, two of the country’s fastest-growing counties were the adjoining counties of Hays and Comal. At 53.4 percent, Hays County (part of the five-county Austin metro area and anchored by San Marcos) led growth among all U.S. counties during that period. Comal County, situated in the eight-county San Antonio metro area and anchored by New Braunfels, ranked third on that list with a growth rate of 48.9 percent.

This population growth is occurring as home prices continue to climb in the Austin and San Antonio areas. However, the San Antonio area remains a much more affordable place than the Austin area. In fact, San Antonio ranks among the top spots where both buyers and renters are seeking a refuge from skyrocketing prices for housing in Austin.

In July, the median home price in the San Antonio area was $341,600, compared with $515,000 in the Austin area. That’s a gap of $173,400.

“Austin is in the middle of a housing supply and housing affordability crisis. This is an existential challenge,” Adler said. “We are losing neighbors who can longer afford to live here. With their loss, we lose the diversity that is our biggest asset — our people.”

In November, Austin voters will decide on a $350 million bond program that would add affordable housing for low-income families and homeless people.

“We have quadrupled our investment in affordable housing units in the city since just 2014. And we have invested more in the last six years than in the city’s history up to that point,” Adler said. “And it’s still not enough.”

The Austin Board of Realtors has repeatedly sounded the alarm about the escalating cost and ongoing shortage of housing in the area.

“Although we’ve seen an uptick in inventory recently, we must focus on creating more supply to meet the increasingly high and sustained demand for housing. We must put housing first and use all the tools we have in the toolbox to address this issue,” says Cord Shiflet, president of the Austin Board of Realtors.

The same sentiment likely could be applied to the San Antonio area, especially if the population of the corridor exceeds 9 million by 2050, as former San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros has indicated will happen.

In 2020, Cisneros wrote that nowhere else in the U.S. are two connected metro areas expanding so rapidly. As the two areas move closer to the mega-metro level, Cisneros believes Austin and San Antonio can “provide a 21st-century example” of regional collaboration, including the possibility that a single NFL, NHL, or Major League Baseball team could serve sports fans up and down the corridor.

“We can avoid the worst consequences of lack of planning and of erratic growth in the Austin-San Antonio region,” Cisneros wrote in a newspaper op-ed. “We can make wise investments, pursue inclusive growth, and assure environmental responsibility.”

[kingkirbythe....]

Mobile home park residents facing eviction in South Austin can stay a bit longer, judge rules

https://www.kut.org/austin/2022-09-0...er-judge-rules

Roughly a dozen families living at a mobile home park in South Austin who received 60-day notices to leave will be able to stay for the time being after a Travis County judge issued a temporary restraining order Monday.

Residents of the Congress Mobile Home Park off South Congress Avenue were told this summer their leases would not be renewed. Since then, residents who were able to have relocated, but about a dozen families remain either because they haven’t found another place to live or cannot move their homes. Despite the moniker, many homes allowed at mobile home parks are manufactured and, indeed, are not very mobile.

Texas RioGrande Legal Aid and the Austin Community Law Center sued the property owner on behalf of tenants still living at the park.

“A little bit more time will give them a little bit more roof over their head,” said Rosie Muñoz, who used to live at the park. Muñoz received notice in June that after living at the mobile home park for five years she would have to relocate her RV.

She said she was able to find another place to park farther east, but she is now paying about $400 more a month in rent and fees. The commute to her job at Lowe’s has grown by about 20 minutes.

Muñoz said she feels like one of the lucky ones. Her former neighbors who remain struggle to figure out where they will go.

“Some of them are elderly; some of them are with children. Experiencing the hardship as it is, [they] have no means to move a mobile home. They don’t have a place to put it,” Muñoz said. “They would be in the streets.”

Lawyers allege the property owner, Reza Paydar and his entity Congress Corner LLC, violated state law by not giving residents 180 days’ notice that they would have to leave. (Requests for comment from Paydar Properties were not returned by deadline.)

This additional time is required if the owner plans to change the use of the land. While a search of the city’s permitting database does not show the owner has applied for new permits, the judge noted in Monday’s order that the owner intends to do just that.

The judge’s order is temporary and gives residents some time until a final ruling in the case is made. A hearing is scheduled for Sept. 12.

[The ATX]

I spend time mostly lurking on forums for Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston in addition to SSP for Austin and San Antonio info. If the forum posters were representative of the cities they post about, this would be the general attitude about other Texas cities in my opinion:

Austin: Not much interest in other Texas cities.

Forth Worth: Envious of Austin and frustrated with being in the shadow of Dallas. Not much interest in San Antonio or Houston.

Houston: Somewhat competitive with Dallas and in recent years resentful of Austin. Very little mention of Fort Worth and San Antonio.

San Antonio: Resentful of the attention Austin receives. Not a lot of interest in the other large Texas cities.

Dallas: We're the big dog in the state. Not a lot of mentions of the other large cities. But I would say Austin gets more attention both good and bad than the other cities.

[kingkirbythe....]

Oopsy post

[kingkirbythe....]

Volunteers who show up at 5:30 a.m. to the Lady Bird Wildflower Center are given an aesthetic gift for hopping out of bed before sunup. Not all of the 28,000-plus lights have been installed yet. The volunteers are mostly there to continue screwing the circular bulbs atop the planted stems. But the undulating Arboretum at the Wildflower Center shines brightly in the haze of dawn.

Stunning Field of Light exhibit to illuminate Austin's Wildflower Center

Opening night is September 9.

https://www.mysanantonio.com/lifesty...t-17400214.php

Teri Robinson, whose first-ever volunteer shift began on August 26, was stopped in her tracks when she entered the exhibition at the tip of a cul-de-sac on La Crosse road in southwest Austin.

"It was very surreal. It was really kind of breathtaking," Robinson says. "You know, like the Seinfeld episode."

The public will have to wait a little longer for the opening of Field of Light, the newest installation by famed British light artist Bruce Munro. But for now, the 250-plus Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center volunteers get a glimpse of its majesty at sunrise.

Wildflower Center member Dale Merlo, also a first-day volunteer, describes the gorgeous sight she walked into that very morning. She's grabbing bulbs from a green tote bag and affixing them to stems like Robinson, sweating in the hot August sun, but proud that she gets to walk back into the Wildflower Center in two weeks and gaze upon her hard work.

"I can say, 'I was a part of that,'" she says, smiling.