Flashback to June

Summers of Jay, of course, begin the day after my last day of school. The plan for that first day usually involves sleeping late, and some sort of frozen beverage with lunch. This year the plan was an early alarm clock buzzer, followed by a day of travel. If I was going to break summer routine, there had better be a good reason. St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands was our destination, so that's a good enough reason, right there. My mom and her husband celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in May, and wanted to renew their vows on a beach  in the Virgin Islands, where my sister Julie lives. No way were Carrie and I going turn down that invitation.  It was a quick and thorough break from school, and an easy place to move into relaxation mode. The first picture, I took as we glided along the bay after Julie had taken us out on a small boat to a nice snorkeling spot.

Weather-wise, June marks the beginning of hurricane season; not exactly ideal. We did get rained on, and the bugs were pretty vicious, too. We managed to get some sunny beach time, and snorkeling in the rain is remarkably pleasant, especially compared to sitting on a rainy beach. Plenty of fresh seafood, great burgers at Skinny Legs, and tasty home-cooked meals by our hosts, Julie and Ken, kept us fed and happy.

Barton Springs

My second job in Austin, circa 1992-1994, was as a counselor in the outdoor group therapy program that MHMR/Child Protective Services ran at Zilker Park. During the school year, we met from 3-6 p.m., but in the summer, it was 9:00 in the morning until 1:00, and included PB&J sandwiches three days a week. I was poor back then (not like now, 'cause I'm making teacher money, baby!), so that was free lunch, three days a week.

On therapy days, an hour for work in the summer was spent swimming with the kids at Barton Springs. Glorious. As a symbol of nature in Austin, nothing tops Barton Springs. The water is cold and clear, and there is no place that feels more like Austin. 

When friends came into town with their kids last summer, we took them to Barton Springs. The two younger kids focused on the cold water, while the soon-to-be college freshman understood the cool factor, which included many college-age girls in bikinis.  

The pictures in this post are from what has become an almost annual tradition for me: A New Year's Day dip in the springs. It's supposed to bring good luck, but I think of it as more about washing away the old year, and a clean start to the new. This "swim" usually lasts only a few minutes, and then it's time to quickly dry off and warm up. That is me and our friend Tara in the picture below.

Tara wanted to swim in Barton Springs for her birthday last week. Couldn't pass that up, especially since Tara is something like 78 weeks pregnant right now. With record heat, the pool felt great, and it was easy to see why people flocked to this oasis back in the day when there was no air-conditioning.

Just before we left, a couple in their 30's (maybe their 20's, it's tough to tell when you're in your 40's) asked me to take their picture with Barton Springs in the background. I was delighted to help, because this was a couple that understood. They hadn't just gone swimming, they'd just gone swimming in Barton Springs, and they knew the difference.

Peace,

JS4

Waterloo, Part Two

Audience participation is a risky proposition anytime, but especially at an in-store performance when you are from out of town. The Rosebuds tried it, and pulled it off, by coming off the stage, down to the floor, and getting the crowd to move in close to them. The quartet from North Carolina has an indie sound that I didn't expect when I saw the acoustic guitar and violin. The violin was played with choppy strokes, like in a horror film score, and the slow, moody keyboards set the pace for most of the songs. It was the first time this summer that I had seen a band that I knew nothing about before the show, and I like the "no preconceived notions" approach that this provides. The Rosebuds skew younger than me, like they grew up on Death Cab for Cutie, but put their own non-jaded stamp on the sound. They played later that night at The Parish, and I hope they drew a good crowd.

Ruthie Foster brings a gospel soul flavor to her live shows. She's got a voice that would sound good if all she did was sing names out of the phone book. Turnout was good for this show, even though they did not have beer. This is a video from Waterloo performance from a couple of years ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8YSyxox2Iw&feature=related

The Greencards used to live in Austin, and during their show they promised to move back, "someday."
They've got two new members, on guitar and fiddle. They used to be more of a bluegrass band, but they have evolved more into a pop-sounding group that happens to play bluegrass instruments. I thought some of the songs had a "Tusk" era Fleetwood Mac sound, but the new album is self-released so they branched out even more from a traditional sound. One song was a Latin-inspired, two-man instrumental with only the mandolin player, and the very talented new guitar player. The Greencards tour a lot, and if they ever make it to your town, it's a good time.
If you were alive in 1979, you shouuld watch this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5LHxvDyRHo

One more picture fron The Rosebuds.

This week featured in-stores on four of the five days of the week. Amazing. I'm so thankful to be able to see them all.

Peace,

JS4

Waterloo means music

Live music at Waterloo Records is a "Summer of Jay" staple, and Waterloo is keeping their end of the bargain with a steady schedule of performances. These shows are not just summer events for the store, but it seems like they have a busier lineup this time of year. Plus, it's a whole lot easier for me to get to 6th and Lamar at 5:00 when I'm out of school. There may not be much structure to my schedule on a daily basis, but I'll build my afternoons around getting there.

Everybody likes Matt the Electrician, and he shows up in the audience when his friends are playing their gigs. He seems like the kind of guy that would pay a cover charge to support other musicians, rather than get comped at the door. His song-writing is full of bouncy melodies and standard ballads. He played with a full band that included Scrappy Jud Newcomb, and a female singer that really helped round out the songs. Matt plays multiple instruments, including the banjolele in the picture, but he really benefits from having a backing band that fills out the songs without stepping on the lyrics.

Matt is pretty well known for his cover of Journey's "Faithfully." People kind of giggle when they hear him start it for the first time, but he plays it totally straight. The result is sweet and sincere, not a bit campy, and a reminder that an over-played, sappy love song can still be a damn fine song. I was going to link to a YouTube video, but I'm having techo-problems. Do it yourself, if you are interested, and watch or skip to the end, where the audience sings along.

Hey, look. Google/Blogspot fixed the glitch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umO1uxi82VQ

While trying to solve those problems, I lost my picture of Foster and Lloyd, and could only re-post it at the top of this entry.

Foster and Lloyd had a little success in the 1980's as a country duo, and then broke up, with Radney Foster gaining some acclaim as a solo artist, and Bill Lloyd falling off the face of the earth. Foster still has a terrifically smooth voice, and is more of a showman than Lloyd, who played lead guitar while his partner did most of the vocal heavy lifting.

Their new songs felt pretty tied down to a Nashville formula, and I was left wondering why they've gotten back together. I think they are both really talented, and capable of writing smarter songs (although they did manage to rhyme "innuendo" with "comprendo"), but the results are not greater than the sum of their parts.
Here's a video from their first career:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAGncA1BlQ8

This entry was written a couple of days ago, but The Blog Company was experencing difficulties, which appear to have been fixed. Yea.

Peace,

JS4

P.S. It appears that the tech problem was largely Blogspot's, and that my incompetence was overestimated, but based on a reliable history of techno-incompetence.

Election update

The numbers tell the story, but I'll tell you more than you want to know.
Kathie Tovo: 23,911
56%
Randie Shade: 18,594
46%
Turnout was higher than in the general election, but both candidates did well in that area. Tovo got 9,000 more votes than in the general, while Shade added 8,000 to her total.

Media coverage of this race merits a comment or six. Not surprisingly, the Statesman endorsed Shade, the establishment incumbent. As soon as the runoff began, and Shade worked to negatively define Tovo, the Statesman played up the negativity, without providing much balance to what were supposed to be actual news stories. Editorially, the Statesman went all out to make Shade voters believe she could come back and win. The topper (whopper) in this effort was written in their editorial on Saturday, election day:
"Usually, a runoff election draws fewer voters, and usually, a candidate trailing by 13 points, as Shade was when the ballots were counted on May 14, finds it impossible to catch up. The comments of people who monitor city elections closely range from 'Shade has more than closed the gap' to 'the race is too close too call.' For Shade, the surge represents a vindication of sorts."

Surge? Surge?? She closed a 13 point gap to a 12 point gap. That was a surge comparable only to a LeBron James fourth quarter surge against the Mavericks. Please. That editorial is what inspired this entire post.

I was also disappointed in the Chronicle's (Austin's weekly alternative paper) tepid endorsement of Kathie Tovo. Their political coverage is good, but their endorsement decisions betray their ever-closer-to-establishment status. I have a theory as to why they were not full-throated in their support for Tovo, but I don't want to get into that here.

I spent about half an hour at the victory party at Scholz Garden, and recognized a few people there, including a cab driver who had given me plenty of unsolicited advice on how to enhance the script we were using for get out the vote calls. When I ran into Chris, the volunteer coordinator, he looked exhausted and elated as I offered my congratulations. He said, "We couldn't have done it without you." Yes, my 200 or so calls made the difference in the 5,500 vote squeaker. Nice guy, needs some sleep.

I shook Kathie's hand (Yes, I'm sure we'll be on a first name basis now), and exited through the beer garden, where the Hot Rod Honeys, a local roller derby team, was having a fundraiser to finance their trip for a big roller derby event in Australia. The election celebration, and the roller girls' party were not officially related, but I love that they were at the same place, on the same night. In my Austin, it seemed like a perfectly natural pairing, like chips and queso.

Peace,
JS4

2011. We're back.

Welcome back.

A few people have asked if the blog would return, and while I would not say it's back by popular demand, a few requests/inquiries is all it takes for me to get sucked back in.

I finished my seventh(!) year of teaching in May. Summers off are an amazing benefit of the teaching gig, and I try not to take them for granted. People have stopped asking me if I'll be teaching summer school. Ha! Most of all, what summer allows is what I affectionately call, "The luxury of inefficiency." There are many things that I need to get done before mid-August. The list builds throughout the school year, and this is the time to take care of the list. But I can address those things at a pace that brings very little stress, and as much as I enjoy my job, having a couple of low-stress months is really sweet.

As I considered the blog this spring, I thought about the fact that I moved to Austin 20 years ago. I think this will be a common theme to my writing this year. Some of what I write will be memoir-like, looking back to record some of the events, even if the details are getting a bit fuzzy.

I love Austin, and I cannot imagine what my life would be like if I'd settled anywhere else. When a city doubles in population every 20-25 years, major changes are inevitable. One thing that has not changed since I moved here is the full-contact nature of city council elections. People may decry the low voter turnout, but there is no denying the passion and energy involved in city elections around here.

On Saturday, a run-off between faux-liberal Randi Shade and true-liberal Kathie Tovo will be decided. When Tovo nearly unseated the incumbent Shade in the general election without a run-off, I was surprised by Shade's weak performance. When I first moved to Austin, local elections were boiled down to "development/growth" vs "environment/quality of life/Barton Springs" battles. Even though the environmental/neighborhood voting bloc has generally controlled the city council, growth in a city like Austin cannot be stopped. "Smart Growth" became the pragmatic slogan, and center-left realism has ruled the day.

The battle lines of the Shade/Tovo race are a throwback to the early/mid 1990s in Austin politics. Back then, I was still learning about the electoral dynamics in the city. I voted for the environment candidates and hoped for the best. This year, I've got time to get more involved in such a race. On Memorial Day, I called the Kathie Tovo campaign to say that I wanted to volunteer. Guess who answered the phone? Yep, Kathie Tovo. Probably a million dollars will be spent on this race, and yet, there is small town feel to how leaders are elected in this city of more than 800,000. The candidate herself was answering the phone. Sign me up.

My critical role as a volunteer for the campaign has been to bug people with phone calls. The volunteer coordinator is ready for anyone that walks in off the street. I'd had a follow-up phone call, so they knew I was coming. When I made that call, the woman who answered the phone said to Chris, the volunteer coordinator, "We've got a live one." Other volunteers were occupying all the other rooms in the pleasantly spartan campaign office, so they put in a room that had a shower and a sink, and room for two small chairs. They not so originally called this "The Shower Room," and promised me that the acoustics would be awesome.

I had a script, and a list of names and phone numbers, which also included information about how often the people I would call had voted in recent elections. Nothing about who they had voted for, but clearly targeting regular voters in strong Tovo precincts. At least half of the calls resulted in messages left for people on their machines. With such a low percentage of people voting, pushing turnout is the key. I know that most people find these calls annoying. I know I find them annoying, but the professional campaign people seem to think it works. 14,000 people voted early in the general election, and 24,000 voted early in this runoff. The campaign people are wondering what those numbers mean, and they are keeping the hammer down, trying to keep the momentum strong until tomorrow's final vote.

I've been in the campaign office three times, and twice Kathie Tovo has been there, doing whatever a candidate does in the last week of a big election. She has been good about thanking volunteers, and taking the time to talk to people who are giving their time to support her run. One odd thing about this race is the public support that the mayor and other council members are giving the two candidates. I knew there were divisions on the council, but most of the members have openly chosen sides, trying to get, or keep, an ally on the council.

I have no idea how this race will finish. My prediction about how the general election would go was far from accurate, but Tovo's strong showing motivated me to get involved in the run-off. Cold-calling people was not fun, but getting to see some of the inner-workings of a campaign, while helping a candidate that I think will be good for Austin was worth it. Especially if she wins.



Remember, comments on the blog are not just welcome, they are mandatory.

Thanks for reading.


Peace,

JS4

Guns in the Capitol

Earlier this year, some unbalanced guy entered the Texas capitol building with a gun, acted suspiciously, went outside and shot his gun into the air a few times. No one was hurt, but the incident opened the public debate about security at the capitol. Governor Perry weighed in, saying he was against metal detectors, and making the capitol look like DFW airport. This might be the only issue on which the governor and I agree. Any nut job can do unspeakable harm in this, or any open setting, if they want to make the news badly enough. Metal detectors and other obvious security measures only serve to provide the illusion of safety at such a symbolic location.

Then there is the combination of legal exceptions and political posturing which allows just about anyone to enter the capitol building with a gun. Texas, being a state with a concealed handgun license law, and a state where lawmakers aren't about to give up their guns at the door, or go against the gun lobby, is not going to take meaningful steps to make the capitol building a gun-free zone. So, as pictured below, we have metal detectors and a clump of state troopers manning the area. And then we have the express lane, where those with a concealed handgun license can bypass the line, and enter with their loaded weapons. I feel safer already.

When I read about the new "security" measures in the newspaper, I was especially struck by one detail. As an "open carry" state for long guns (shot guns, rifles, etc.), people can bring these weapons into the capitol. My first thought was, "Wow, that's crazy." My second thought was, "I'm going to do that, just to see what will happen."
Stephen F. Austin, role model:

At first this seemed like a bit of a stunt, maybe even a joke. Still, I knew to take it seriously enough not to just stroll up the steps with my gun. And not being a gun owner, I had to buy a Daisy BB gun, which at about 3 feet long, could pass to the untrained eye for a dangerous weapon. So I went to the capitol to do some reconnaissance. I spoke to the troopers about what I planned to do. One guy asked me for what purpose I wanted to carry a long gun into the capitol. I told him I wanted to exercise my rights, to the full extent of the law. This seemed to throw him off a bit, and he referred me to the sergeant in charge that day. I met with the sergeant, confirmed that what I planned was legal, but he could not tell me all of the security policies in place. He emphasized that a weapon should not be carried or held in a threatening manner, and that other people in and around the building might react to me if they sensed that I was a threat. He was very clear and very professional.

Gun themes are evident all around the capitol complex. I walked past this statue between my parked car and the front of the capitol.

Carrie knew that I was thinking about doing this. When I told her that I had been to the capitol to check out the situation, she said that she was worried about me getting arrested. I assured her that she need not worry about that. What I did not tell her was, rather than being arrested, I was more likely to be shot by someone with a concealed handgun, who perceived me as a threat. Not wanting to die, but in my mind committed to taking my gun into the capitol, I had to figure out the safest way to make it happen. I also had no interest in freaking out families and other tourists as they visited the capitol. Imagine seeing a man entering the capitol with what looks to be a shotgun or rifle. From any distance, one's first thought is not likely to be, "Oh, that's obviously an unloaded BB gun. No problem."

I made at least two more trips to the capitol, thinking that I would carry out my plan. Too many people. People I might scare. Scared people doing things I could not predict or control. The metaphor is too obvious, but I was sweating little metal projectiles. This was a bad idea. I asked a state trooper out front what hours the building was open to visitors. 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM.

7:00 AM. That was the key. A few days later, I arrived at the capitol just after 7:00. The place was not deserted, but it felt calm. I walked unarmed, to the security station inside, and told them my intentions. I wanted to walk around the rotunda a few times with my gun and then leave. The trooper I dealt with seemed unfazed, but told me he wanted to check the gun to see if it was loaded before I came past the check point. When I asked him later if someone could bring in a loaded long gun, he said, "We probably would not let you do that." From the way he said this, I got the feeling that he was revealing a security policy that they really prefer not to make public.

I went back to my car, and pulled the gun (still in its box) out of my car trunk. Though few people were around, I was amazed that my anxiety level was so low. I could tell that this was going to be fine. The same trooper met me just outside the doors and walked inside with me. I handed him my gun, and he checked it quite thoroughly, even stepping just outside to examine it in the natural light. He handed it back to me, and said that he would hold the box for me until I was ready to leave. During all of my dealings with the troopers, I had made clear that I wanted to cause the least amount of alarm to others as possible. He saw that my actions were consistent with this, and he projected a calm confidence, and a trust that I was in no way a threat. I'm pretty sure that he had alerted troopers in other parts the building, because when I was in the rotunda, the state troopers there were on their radios, and keeping close track of me.

As I circled the rotunda, I kept my gaze mostly on the portraits of past governors. I looked down the side halls, and made sure to make eye contact with members of the security team that were close by. There were no other civilians in proximity to me, so any threat dynamic was off the table. In fact, by this time it felt almost like an academic exercise. I was thankful for the lack of drama. I returned to the security area, boxed up my weapon, thanked the man for his professional help, and walked quickly back to my car.

My reflections on this activity:

Aside from the specific actions, this turned out to be an exercise in fear, mine and that of others, and finding ways to minimize it. On the days that I went to the capitol planning to take my gun inside, but never got it out of the car, I had to trust what my self-inflicted anxiety was telling me. I would stand on the steps of the south entrance, look down the great walk and Congress Avenue, and think, "Not today."

As to the issue of gun rights vs. gun control, I am firmly ambivalent. The political battles are mostly symbolic, and great ways for special interests to raise and spend money. My ambivalence is evident in that I can't decide what to do with my Daisy Red Ryder. I don't know of a family that would want it for their kid, and I don't want to throw it away, like it's some kind of danger that must be buried. So for now it is in its box, in the trunk of my car.

The men and women of the Department of Public Safety are very professional, and do a great job. I am grateful for how they dealt with me each time I was there. The one question that I could not bring myself to ask was, what would they do if 500 people approached and wanted to enter the capitol with their rifles?

This will be my last post for a while. Thank you for reading.

I should tell you that the outcome of my property tax appeal was successful beyond my wildest dreams. I had asked for a $10,000 drop in the appraised value. After the lady from the county came to do the interior visual inspection, they dropped the value by more than $28,000. Wow, we do live in a hovel. It's amazing what you can get used to. I love our house.

If I write anything during the school year, I will consider you "opted in," and will notify you when I post. If you want to "opt out," send me a private e-mail - it's less humiliating for me that way. Thanks again, for encouraging me to blog, and reading when I do.

Peace,

Jay