Life in Austin was offbeat, affordable, spontaneous, slyly amused.

April 27, 2023 4:36 PM

My town, once celebrated for its laid-back weirdness, is now a turbocharged tech megalopolis being shaped by exiles from places like Silicon Valley. Archive link.This is a long-winded, very well written, very accurate picture of the capital of Texas as it is today. Austin still a great town, Disneyland for adults, just that you gotta pick your spots; there is nowhere near as much music drifting out of no-cover or $3 cover clubs, they'd pass a bucket for tips for the musicians. Wright laments what's gone but he's not blinded to the beauty that's here now. One thing he absolutely nails is that it's changing so fast that you can't find your way by landmarks that were here but gone now.

Dallas is a bankers wife with a .38 in her purse, Houston a trashy stripper, make-up running, sprawled in the muck on the gulf coast, San Antone a poorly educated beauty with a good heart, Austin is the girl next door. I'll hold to that even today, regardless how much it's changed; Austin dresses well out of thrift shops, she's Capital A Art moving through life, poetry in motion, she'd never in fourteen million years fake an orgasm, she's got a festive laugh that rings totally true..

posted by dancestoblue (2 comments total)

did this 75 year old cis man in the new yorker really just try to compare various cities to a set of quasi poetic female archetypes he pulled from his ass

oh actually when i type it out like that i realize i was a fool for being surprised at all
posted by Gymnopedist at 4:45 PM on April 27, 2023 [5 favorites]

cis man writers need to be 86d from the phrase “trashy stripper” thanks
posted by Gymnopedist at 4:45 PM on April 27, 2023 [3 favorites]