Mopac and 360 closed, man attempting suicide at the greenbelt

Yesterday, was a good day to be a cyclist.

A 22-year old man with a gun, threatening suicide, was spotted at 3 pm on the Barton Creek greenbelt in Austin by a witness who called 911, according to the Austin American-Statesman. The SWAT team converged on the site and shut down both lanes of Mopac near 360 to handle the situation. In turn, all of Austin's traffic ground to a halt. Cars backed up from Mopac/360, the bottom edge of Austin, to 2222, a near edge in the north. Perhaps you know, perhaps you were in it. The steaming metal beasts of cars trickled along Austin's major highways and side streets with no option of speed. But the cyclists, they, reigned supreme.

I was in a car, heading southbound on Lamar home to Bouldin Creek. From work, at 2222, I heard traffic was a sludgy mess and tried to take side streets and Lamar instead. It barely worked. Scanning the radio for news, I finally found a local sports show devoting some time to discussing the standoff between police and the suicidal young man. I can't say I was glad to hear their thoughts. Their traffic reporter though, had insightful, compassionate things to say. She hoped the situation would be resolved and the young man would emerge unscathed, seek the help he needs and heal. Her co-hosts, chuckled over her well wishes with phrases like "I hope he does succeed! I hope the dude offs himself now and let's us re-open the highway." and, "Man, if you're going to commit suicide can you at least do it at home so we don't have to deal with it?!" Perhaps the best, "This guy doesn't really want to do it, he doesn't really. He's bluffing. But you know there are people in this traffic who now want to kill themselves!"

My car still sluggishly moving forward, I stared out at all the bikes, scores of them, zipping along on thin silver wheels. Beautiful, glinting objects flying along the sidewalk at warp speeds compared to us. This was no planned Critical Mass, just a bunch of cyclists who were doing the right thing.

The cars we all sat in were tremendous burdens. Too big for us, to heavy for us to just pick up and move to the side to scoot home. Yes, they kept us cool. Yes, their air conditioning was a welcome respite from the 101 degree air outside. But their engines are only making the climate warmer. The CO2 created yesterday from the entire city of Austin performing a spontaneous, enormous, collective idling "happening" across the city must have numbered in the hundreds of pounds. CO2 emissions from idling are real, see this primer and you'll stop idling your car at the train tracks or to warm it up in the winter.

The cyclists whipped past us, getting to their destinations on time, and arriving having put their muscles, bones, bodies to work. They arrived happy, upbeat, with quickened pulses, alive. The drivers were exhausted, frenetically giving up on getting home any time soon, while the cyclists played on bouyant tires, zinging past us.

I am putting my car to rest. It's bikes and buses for me. I won't contribute to continued global warming and global climate change. This heat will only get worse if we don't all radically change. And it's time. If you can't figure out how to put your car to rest, post a comment here and we'll help you make it possible.

I'm a newly converted bus rider. Join me.

I now ride the bus to and from work because it became too ridiculous not to. The number five bus rolls up 100 feet from my house in the morning and 45 minutes later rolls in twenty feet from my office. I have no excuse.

I went on Capital Metro's website and found this commuting calculator that fully validated my desire to save money and the environment by riding the bus. Through a bunch of data I filled in, it calculated I spend $197 a month commuting to my job nine miles north of my house. That's $2373 a year I could be using for much more interesting things than a car. Like gaycations!! In the present too, the bus gives me more of an opportunity to draw, write, read, watch movies, listen to music, meditate, etc. because I'm not on Mopac navigating the highway like a zen surfer in a metal rocket on tires. 

I am also now predictably on time! My own car could wait for me indefinitely as I changed outfits three times, but the bus will leave me behind if I don't hustle. Now I arrive at work at 8:45 daily, as smoothly as a clock.

Riding the bus thusfar has produced: 2 poems, 3 small painting/drawings, the reading of two books, and the rediscovery of ancient gems in my iTunes including thought-provoking slam poems by the Suicide Kings and Saul Williams left over from my performance poet days. Too, my sense of connection to humanity and interest in learning about others has been effortlessly heightened as I sit next to blind teenagers and aging construction workers, professionals in ties and high heels bound by their laptop cases, young men headed to school or jobs who shout and laugh in Hindi while riding for only a few stops and then departing, and so on. 

The seclusion of our automobiles can feel like a cozy, moving shrine at times, or an extension of ourselves, but during other times, like 5:30 pm Mopac rush hour, cars can feel like boxy weights holding us back from the joy of home. I'm glad to be moving in a new direction. Try it out. I'll see you on the bus.

(This Friday, May 15th, is Bike to Work Day. Many local bike-loving businesses are providing breakfast for the cyclists: see a map of all the food stops here.) I'll be riding!

Gay Slurs Lead to Child's Suicide

I found this tremendously important to watch and think about. Hearing this story too, makes me glad Austin has organizations like OutYouth, to help our young people with self-acceptance and raise the understanding, acceptance and celebration of diversity in Austin as well. There's so much further we could go, but at least we have resources to work with.

Witch playing at 3 am, Lamar Pedestrian Bridge

Tonight, metal band Witch (Kyle Thomas, J Mascis, Antoine Guerlain and others), are playing at 3 am on the Lamar Pedestrian Bridge. They are the SHIT.

J Mascis is performing with Dinosaur Jr. at other times and Kyle is performing as King Tuff but this is their one show as Witch during SXSW 2009.

Austin has a sushi train now! And it's tasty.

Finally, the vibe of a big city has parked its techno-food savvy ass on Austin soil.

Korea Garden on N. Lamar just remodeled and installed a sushi train. When my girlfriend and I walked in tonight we were surprised by the scene: the band Corto Maltese was just leaving as we arrived, tiny hipsters from UT filled a row at the conveyor belt, and, 75% of the patrons were gay. We ordered a hot pot of green tea and took our perch at the counter between a middle-aged, gay male couple on our left and an awesome, quirky student and her friends on our right.

Korea Garden has been around for a while and serves up Chronicle/Statesman lauded Korean food, but the sushi conveyer belt is a new addition. Called a kaiten-zushi in Japan, the metal conveyor belt slickly delivered lots of nigiri sushi, goma wakame (seaweed salad), a few eel rolls, a few california rolls, desserts, and even house salads with ranch dressing on them. Though it would seemingly be fully unexciting to eat an iceberg/ranch dressing salad off a sushi train, Korea Garden's house salad was delicious. The radish sprouts, avocado, carrot and cucumber slivers spiced it up to an enticing level.

When I lived in New York I frequented a sushi restaurant with a conveyor belt like this between Union Square and Gramercy Park (17th and Broadway?) and loved it. Prices were based on the color of the plate, a format Korea Garden will be moving to after tomorrow. For now though, for its opening week, Korea Garden is running a special: all plates $1.50 each! Get it cheap while you can.

Back to the bar around the conveyor belt, an awesome behavior was happening amongst the patrons. In true Austin fashion, as soon as diners sat down they became part of a collective conversation. You can't put Austinites in the same goddamn space as each other and facing each other without a ton of friendly banter. The sushi train I went to in New York was more like a bar; you faced the sushi chef/server. At Korea Garden, you face other patrons. And, inevitably conversations strike up over the sushi and over who wants what as the plates slowly make their way down the line.There's already a Missed Connection about the sushi train! I think it's arrived. And, I think Austin has arrived in some small way. Hear me out on this one: Clearly the young'uns, gaymos and artists have been waiting for this; a new city trinket that facilitates the same gentle friendly Austin has possessed all along.

Inauguration Poem for Obama, on Inauguration Day

As we watch the Inauguration with joy today, a re-post of my poem celebrating Obama's victory, the beauty of our collective connected humanity, and the conscious evolution we are undertaking.

Austin Celebrating in the Streets On Election Night After Obama Won!

A compilation of videos from the post Obama victory melee in downtown Austin, outside the Driskill on November 4th, 2008. My poem (posted above), "Above the Streetlights; The Night Obama Won," is a rumination on that night, what it meant for all of us, and what it will mean in our futures.

I'm glad for the bottom up media that documented that night and got these videos onto YouTube. It was a beautiful street party that night in Austin; jubilant beings finally feeling empowered and inspired by their government. Look at the people in the crowd laughing, dancing, hugging each other. And I've never seen radical young people sing the national anthem or wave a flag before!

Above the Streetlights Poem with an ASL Interpreter

Dave Pokorney was also filming my poem at the Vets for Peace Concert. Here's his video, from Vimeo. Diane Delange is the incredible ASL interpreter next to me. Thank you Diane.

Joshua Allen Harris Street Art Piece

This street art piece by Joshua Allen Harris makes me nostalgic for New York. I only feel that way because I miss casual encounters with intelligent art. Notice the folks on the street who just happen to be walking by and get to have their day marked by stumbling upon these inflatable pieces on the street.




It would be interesting to create a similar thing in Austin, based on Town Lake/Lady Bird Lake. Perhaps the flow of the water could push kinetic sculptures, or the sun could heat up air inside an inflatable causing it to expand and contract.

The Graffiti Abatement Program here is very quick to paint over all the graf art and street art murals that get painted up around town, but street art pieces that are three -dimensional would perhaps be more enduring.

Transgender Day of Remembrance, Austin

November 20th was TENT's (Transgender Education Network of Texas) Austin vigil at City Hall for International Transgender Day of Remembrance. Transgender Day of Remembrance is a day in honor of the lives of people who were killed because they did not conform to traditional gender norms. Some of those killed identified as transgender, transsexual, or none of the above, some dated someone who identified as something other than the traditional gender binary and were killed for doing so.

Each attendant was given a glow stick instead of a typical vigil candle. This proved to be a very sentimental symbol, as my sweetie and I still have our glow sticks sitting in our room and their glow fades a little more each day.

TENT's vigil honored those who were murdered for their radical gender identities by having twenty-nine empty chairs on the stage, one for each person murdered for their gender identity in 2008. At the very end of the vigil, one of the organizers read the full 2008 TDOR Names List, and as each name was read, someone from the crowd came up and sat in one of the seats. Live, human bodies, transgender, transexual, beautiful beings in varying expressions of gender, emerged from the crowd to populate the chairs. They then sat in silence and we all soaked in the reality of these killings.

There is still no legislation banning hate crimes based on gender identity. Some states still do not have legislation protecting transgender people from job discrimination. As a sidenote, Vermont, is the only state in America that has never had an anti-transgender murder occur in it.

East Austin Studio Tour Recommendations

Of the art I saw yesterday on the East Austin Studio Tour, I was most impressed with the work of Yale MFA grad and San Marcos, TX-dweller, Annie Simpson. She's a guest in the studios on Bolm Road this weekend.

The work Annie is showing at the Bolm studios is all maritime, figurative, and extremely well-made. The video above, from her website, is a great introduction to what you'll see. Annie Simpson's work at the Bolm studios includes intricate pencil drawings of ships, oil paintings of ship captain-esque hot lezzies, and large black and white oil paintings of waves. All the work is oceanic in some form except a patterned pink and green canvas that Annie threw in for fun. Her mastery of the craft of painting is abundantly evident and I highly recommend going to see her work.

Other highlights of the tour include:

-Basically all the Big Medium artists, (on Bolm Rd) with the biggestmedium nod to Joseph Philips' paintings/drawings of remaining wilderness being hemmed in and propped up by plywood in the emptiness of white voids.

-Emily Hoyt and Debra Broz (with an emphasis on her revised porcelain figurines actually), both at the Pump Project Art Complex.

-Most of the work at the MASS gallery on Springdale, with a huge special emphasis on a collaborative piece by Anthony Romero and another artist involving hair, orange flowers and a contact paper covered box that seemed to reference a speaker box. It was a fucking gem of greatness. That's my review.

-Co-Lab_A New Media Project Space, had a fun, collaborative piece going on if you want to get to make some art in the midst of looking at so much.

As a sidenote, this google map of E.A.S.T. is just so good looking.
Out to see more today.

Adrienne Brabham is nice and different.

detail
Originally uploaded by niceisdifferent

Adrienne Brabham, an Austinite living outside Detroit and attending Cranbrook Academy of Art, has just started Nice is Different, a blog for her work. Her etsy store already features small items of her work for purchase: felt pins, drawings and fabric-art wall-pieces, etc.

Now, her larger, Cranbrook, studio work is up for view. She's only posted one piece so far, but it's worth investigating further. A conglomeration of small drawings on paper and fabric, the wall worth of installation is a beautiful representation of Adrienne's unique aesthetic rubric. Soak it up with your eyes!

Adrienne's sweetie, Scott, is the lead singer of the local indie dance band the Black and White Years. The band has a show coming up at Emo's on December 11th. Go see them and dance. The B&WY go on at the Independent Workforce Christmas Party that night at 8:20 pm.

PandaToes Music Blog

A reminder: There's a Dartmouth kid named Greg who has a pretty extensive, established and cogent music blog called PandaToes. You should check it out. From his site you can download most of the songs he mentions and I think he might even be from Austin. Enough reasons, go look at it.

Fun Fun Fun Fest

Not an Obama post!

This weekend was the third annual Fun Fun Fun Fest, put on by Transmission Entertainment, at Waterloo Park in Austin.

Fun Fun Fun Fun Fun Fest had many moments of goodness and question marks and badness but here are EIGHT:

-Tim Fite's hi-quality, med-fi, transmedia, beautiful little show!

-The dust! Kicked up in round grey clouds, swirling into nostrils.

-The misogyny of Kool Keith as Dr. Octagon ("girrl, let me touch you there, I want to feel you!")(and then boys in the crowd thinking it was okay to then touch the girls they were with). The truth that he's also very talented, just needs to examine his gender and sexuality views.

-The National being so polished and tight I felt like I was sleeping inside a cold piano. I loved it when I was able to be awake for it. The horns, the piano, all. The men in the band are precious and clearly utterly musically skillful though almost too tight (in all ways) for their own good.

-A surprise band: St. Vincent. I didn't know I liked her work. I walked in at the beginning of her set and was drawn in like a moth. She's from Dallas originally and was a musical gem and also clearly a little nutbar. She reminded me of my friend Jordana who's poppa dated Hillary Clinton back in the day—hot and gently off the handle. (The video that links to is just a catchy song, really her stage presence was the slightly off the handle part)(though maybe she's just a goddamn good performer).

-Writing poems on the ground while sitting on the "bad trip" sidewalk at the back of the Minus the Bear show.

-Biking to and from the festival with Jason, our bikes covered in lights. I had seven on. Feeling swift, safe and human. Biking around the capitol building at night, all heft and pink granite, rough and elegant.

-The kindly, OLD-souled five year-old on the halfpipe with a mohawk who, while waiting for his turn for the halfpipe (among fifteen adults), would use his skateboard as a guitar, thrashing it around to the sounds from the nearby punk stage.

-Okay, there's a ninth. Why were there no queer bands that I could find? If it was radical dykes rapping "girl let me touch you there, I want to feel you," at least it would explore the meaning of that phrasing more.

Gay-Friendly College Towns

Austin is the #1 Gay-Friendly College Town in the U.S., and Eli and I are in the fall issue of Out Traveller!
I'll scan in the image sometime soon; it's not available online.

Out Traveller did a feature on the top 10 most gay-friendly college towns.
Eli & I were over at UT for the Sustainable Business Summit when we first moved to Austin. We walked by a crowd of kids getting their photo taken on the steps in front of the UT Tower. First we noticed there were some lezzies in the back of the group and then suddenly realized the whole crowd was a group of homos. The students saw us and all turned to wave to us simultaneously. Then the photographer, Michael Thad Carter, told us to get in the photo in the front. I love homos recognizing each other. Thusly, we became gelebrities. Thank you, thank you.