How Austin Became Weird: The Story of a Slogan
Everyday, thousands of Austinites roam our city’s sidewalk-less streets, creep along its concrete highways, and ramble through the corridors of its universities and start-ups with one question burning in their … Continue reading
R.I.P. “WEIRD”
TEOA is always attuned to the great Austin lament about weirdness drying up as quickly as our increasingly parched lakes. Native Austinite Riley Triggs adds his voice to the chorus of those worried … Continue reading
Sing the City of the Rounded Shoulders
For Carl Sandburg and Nelson Algren. O sing this city! a land of unstoppable drive to the self-satisfied middle where it stops to spare its energy for another corporate happy … Continue reading
Austin Within and Beyond the Dome
As improbable as the metaphor might seem, Austin is a glimmering and warming snow globe. A steadily growing number of tourists behold a beautiful kingdom of sun. Austin is a … Continue reading
Capital Improvements, 1984
TEOA is very pleased to publish Jeff Meikle’s introduction to Mark Goodman’s Capital Improvements. Written in 1984-85 on a Kaypro 2 computer and then filed away for almost thirty years, this wonderfully evocative essay … Continue reading
Sweaty Gnarled Clumps of Limbs and Torsos
Your walk should be a brief sojourn: Red River to Congress. Ten minutes, tops. But throngs of revelers block your route like a blood clot. Faces and bodies blur into … Continue reading
Welcome to Mediocre, Texas
Only the mediocre are always at their best, someone said, which could be why Austin is so damn proud of itself. Welcome to Mediocre, Texas, the home of the Texas Longhorns, … Continue reading
Neverland
When I first moved to Austin almost seven years ago, the city welcomed me with open arms. Granted, I grew up on the east coast, so it’s possible my bar … Continue reading
The End of Austin 