Fall 2018
Triple Meat Whataburger Loses to White Castle The historic senate race, the closest race in Texas since 1978. Pg. 16 A look into the best restaurants in Austin. Pg. 9 Live Music Capital of the World. Pg. 30 Electric Scooters are changing Austin. Pg. 24 Austin based non-profits help the community. Pg. 38
Table of C How the Tables Can Turn.…..……………….........................9 The challenges of opening a restaurant in Austin
Road Map of Austin………………...……..............................14 A display of restaurants in Austin
Triple Meat Whataburger Loses to White Castle........16 A recap of the Texas Senate Race
Reasons to Ride……………………………………..................22 Lime and Bird scooters and their uses in Austin
Transformative Transportation……………………...........24 Dockless scooters taking over Austin
Solar Panels: The Cost of Clean Energy…………............28 A history of solar panels, how they work, and their benefits in Austin today
Contents ACL, What’s All the Noise?.………………………................30 How the most famous festival in ATX is evolving
Top Ten ACL Headliners………....……………….................34 A list of the most popular bands at ACL to date
Perspectives of Change……………………………..................36 Nonprofits bring diversity to Austin’s growing social sector
Q and A with Austin Buchan…...………….........................38 A discussion about College Forward
The Top Five...........................................................................40 The largest non-profits in Austin
MEET THE CREW Jessy Ingersoll
Individual Layout Editor Jessy is a nerd who makes obscure sci-fi and anime references. In her free time not consumed by piano, marching band, winterguard and homework, she enjoys reading good books, baking food for other people to eat, drawing comic strips and watching Netflix. She is also currently trying to write a good book for NaNoWriMo 2018.
Nitin Murthy Content Editor
Nitin is an avid fan of many science fiction works. He also enjoys playing tennis, which he has diligently played for the past seven years. Nitin is also a grouch who absolutely abhors any kind of music that is not classical music. He is working on learning how to use computer animation software at the moment.
Sydney Boothe General Layout Editor
Sydney is an lover of food and community. She is both a competitive swimmer and dancer. In her free time she likes to be with her family, play board games, bake, playing with her dog, and watch random TV shows on Netflix. She is working hard to be a good student while maintaining a life.
Maya Hanser-Young Visual Editor
Maya is an interesting person. In her free time, she enjoys watching Netflix, sleeping, and doing absolutely nothing else. When she isn’t working on The Austin Breakdown, Maya doesn’t enjoy doing homework.
Benjamin Mines Copy Editor
Ben enjoys listening to music and hanging out. He skateboards, plays basketball, waterpolo and the guitar. He enjoys volunteering, working with his church youth group and helping in his community.
From The Editors
Austin is very well known for its live music as it hosts two of the largest music festivals in the United States, but there is more to Austin than music. It has a culture that promotes new technology and innovation, fledgling restaurateurs, and nonprofits. And, being the capital of Texas, plays an important role in the politics of the state. After creating this magazine, we feel closer to the community of Austin than ever before. We know the community better than ever from all of the people we’ve talked to around the city. We hope that, through reading our magazine, you will learn more about your community as well!
Sincerely,
Collin Morgan Amy Atchley Juliette Coulter Jennifer Herber James Holmes Karen Nightwood Andrew Wiseheart Kelli Kelley Austin Buchan Madge Vasquez Meg Erskine
Lime Lucy’s Fried Chicken Contigo Ainsley Freeman Peter Potrowl- Table of Contents, graphic by Nitin Murthy Google Maps
Rachel Muir Chris Boothe Mary Martinez Kevin Garcia Liz Ingersoll Chris Parisi Leah Yanez Tracee Heneke Leigh Ridge Joshua Blank Ross Ramsey
Kumar Appaiah- Front cover, back cover, inside back cover, graphics by Sydney Boothe and Maya Hanser-Young beau-foto- Inside back cover, graphic by Jessy Ingersoll
HOW THE TABL
A Look Into the Austi Sydney Boothe | Overall Layout Editor
People eat at Contigo restaraunt in Austin, Texas. Contigo is an American fine-dining restaraunt. photo courtesy of Contigo.
LES CAN TURN
in Restaraunt Scene
People come to Austin for a work very hard to be successful. a restaurant people must make variety of reasons, and there The new flood of people choices about who they want are constantly new restaurants coming to Austin is one thing to go into business with. It is a popping up and keeping Austin that can be helpful to restaurant difficult decision and according interesting. These places are owners. It can allow them to to Wiseheart, it is much like a some of the biggest draws to quickly acquire a following. Austin, so the people who run Karen Nightwood, food critic, them work hard to make sure has seen many successes and they are exciting and enjoyable failures in Austin. “Owning a restaurant for visitors. is really T h e h a r d , ” process of Nightwood creating a “I always return to s a i d . restaurant “ T h e r e Andrew Wiseheart (left) and partner is hard, Austin because the are so many Ben Edgerton are co-ownwers of the people restaurants here are things that Contigo. Photo By Sydney Boothe d a r i n g can go relationship. enough to home” wrong. It is start one “Co-owning is a lot like a difficult to marriage,” Wiseheart said. “I typically -Karen Nightwood, start and was extremely lucky to find a have to writer and editor for maintain a great partner.” work for a Eater Austin restaurant. It long time Each restaurant is an addition takes a strong to Austin culture. Restaurants to get them idea and a lot try to cultivate an atmosphere open. The first step is to come up with of follow-through... A lot of the utilizing the decor, menu, and an idea, a vision of how they time in other cities we don’t see environment. James Holmes, want people will perceive the this amount of success. There a restaurant owner said his restaurant. Many restaurant are a lot of failed restaurants atmosphere was based off the owners have to let go of some everywhere that are hidden ideas in order to continue the by the owners as damage process successfully. Andrew control, but here my job is Wiseheart, co-owner and chef to learn about those.” Austin has developed at local Austin chain Contigo talked about the work and the a large and diverse community. Being able to process. “We went through a long attract diners determines process with the city of the success of a restaurant, Austin, architect, builder, and but there is another vital first step in the creation of Live music set at Lucy’s on South Congress. landlord,” Wiseheart said. Restaurant owners have to a restaurant. When starting Photo by Sydney Boothe a restaurant a community is created with the team of The Austin Breakdown | 12 workers and the owner. Starting
city itself. “I first opened up it was in the heart of you know south Austin, it has a music vibe sorta of a rock and roll atmosphere so we had a lot of musicians,” Holmes said. “I always tell people if you want to see the musicians that play at the Continental Club that they should come eat at Lucy’s.” When restaurants grow a following, restaurants look to expand or diversify. There are different challenges to opening a second location. James Holmes owned upscale Austin location called Olivia prior to Lucy’s Fried Chicken and learned how much pressure there is to create a second successful restaurant. “[Olivia] was voted best restaurant in Austin for several years, so if anything I had a lot of pressure to live up to those standards [when I] opened up a chicken restaurant,” Holmes said. Many restaurants have more than one location in order to be accessible to the city. There are local chains as well as restaurants that started in Austin and moved around the country. Holmes believes that he was lucky in his experience because he was quickly able to start his new restaurant and easily spread. “It kind of came easy to me, Holmes said, I got a lot of press and I started winning awards and so it was just a matter of communication and
keep cooking good food and be consistent.” There is diverse and interesting food all around Austin, and it is vital to the culture in the city. In 2011 there was a growth in the restaurant industry. According to the 2011 food sector report, the economy of Austin food distribution increased approximately 10% in the fiscal year. The growing economy produces opportunities, but the process of creating a restaurant is a long and difficult one. The city of Austin provides challenges for restauranteurs because of the variety of options. Austin’s demanding environment provides exciting possibilities to add to the vibrant culture of the city’s restaurant scene. Nightwood explains why she thinks restaurants are important to Austin. “I was originally born in Austin, but my job has taken me to many cities, Nightwood said, I have been lucky to explore many different cultures and review many restaurants, but I always return to Austin because the restaurants here are home. Austin’s unique personality houses experiences for restaurant owners they can’t find anywhere else.
Photos Courtsey of Lucys Fried Chicken
Photos of dishes Courtsey of Contigo Press Team 13 | The Austin Breakdown
South Congress
South Lamar
11th Street
Austin Road Map
Starting a Food Truck in Austin
Restaurant Edition
by Sydney Boothe
Obtaining the Truck $20K-$40K Gas $2.35$2.61
Materials $30K-$40K
6th Street Starting a Restaurant in Austin Obtaining the building $200K-$800K OR Rent $10K-$20K Permits $5k-$7K
Materials $100K-$400K
Transformative Transportation Dockless Scooters Taking Over Austin Maya Hanser-Young | Graphics Editor
Lime scooters came to Austin in May of 2018, bringing convenience and controversy to Austin residents.
Austin residents riding around on their scooters, Photo by Sydney Boothe
I
@Austin Residents Riding Limes around South Congress. Photo by Sydney Boothe
In the Summer of 2018, Lime’s electric scooters made an appearance in cities all over the United States. They showed up seemingly overnight in Austin, and after a few months it became hard to turn a corner without a neon green scooter catching your eye. These scooters have brought a cheap, efficient, and entertaining form The Austin Breakdown | 18
of transportation to people all over Austin. “It gives people more independence to go and do more quickly,” said Amy Atchley, a member of the Electric Vehicle and Emerging Technology team for Austin Energy. Lime scooters have also offered accessible transport for tourists. Kevin, a tourist from Portland, Oregon, used a lime scooter to explore the
city. “It’s fun,” Kevin said. “It’s quick and easy. You can have a smaller carbon footprint; it’s fiscally responsible.” Many riders use Lime as a cheaper alternative to cars in an effort to lower their carbon footprint, and according to Collin Morgan, the general manager of Lime for Austin and San Antonio, it has greatly reduced Austin’s carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions.
“Since Lime launched earlier this year, by taking Lime scooters, Austinites have saved more than 500,000 lbs of CO₂ emissions.” Austin has had access to docked rental bikes for years, but according to Atchley, these docked bikes have been mostly utilized by tourists, not Austin residents. Lime Scooters might be used more by Austin residents because they are dockless they can be parked and picked
up anywhere. According across that are improperly to Atchley, these dockless parked,” Morgan said. scooters have caused a sizeable But little has been done to increase in the use of public enforce parking regulations transportation for riders. Issues “Some places because they with safety have have become art allow many caused an angry Austin residents installations, with outcry from to use public people living in bikes that are transportation. Austin who don’t stacked up against Riders are using want their city Lime Scooters telephone poles, to be dominated to travel the by these scooters or dumped in d i s t a n c e and bikes. ponds.” between them But according and bus stops. to Atchley, Lime -Amy Atchley, Austin Energy Although scooters could Electric Vehicles Team this freecause some form parking much-needed allows for new transportation change in Austin, like an opportunities, Lime doesn’t increase in come without issues. Many are air quality and a decrease in not fond of the effects Lime traffic. scooters are having on their “I think that new city. According to Atchley, it’s transportation like [Lime] is hard to blame them for their an indication to people that distaste. change is here. It’s a new “Littering the city with technology, and it is changing thousands of vehicles makes the landscape of the city, and it congested and causes safety it’s changing us.” issues,” Atchley said. “Some places have become art installations, with bikes that are stacked up against telephone poles, or dumped in ponds.” Lime has made an effort to offer solutions to these issues by discouraging unruly parking and requiring riders to wear helmets. “Lime operation’s team members are on the ground throughout Austin to proactively 19 | The Austin Breakdown remove any scooters they come
REASONS
Where Are Yo
14%
Other
39% To Work, School, Or Appointments
Lime
PRICE: $1 Start Fee + $0.15 per minute MAX SPEED: 14.8mph
AVAILABLE IN 90 cities
2.3 MILLION APP STORE DOWNLOADS
S TO RIDE
Source: THE VERGE, Lime, Bird
ou Riding?
27%
To Connect to Public Transit
20%
To Restaraunts and Shopping Destinations
BIRD PRICE: $1 Start Fee + $0.15 per minute MAX SPEED: 15.0mph AVAILABLE IN 74 CITIES 1.9 MILLION APP STORE DOWNLOADS
Triple Meat Whataburge Nitin Murthy | Content Editor This rather odd title originates in a quote that Emily Miller, a spokeswoman for Senator Cruz, said when talking about Beto O’Rourke, former representative from El Paso and Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator. “He’s like a Triple Meat Whataburger liberal who is out of touch with Texas values.” In response to the criticism of O’Rourke, Senator Cruz was mocked by his critics on the subject of his love of White Castle. The irony of the situation is that Whataburger was founded in Texas but there are no White Castles in the state. Yet, O’Rourke was said to be out of touch with Texas values. Now that the midterm elections are over, Texas voters have a chance to
A Recap of the 2018 U reflect after making the choice between two very popular candidates: Ted Cruz and Beto O’Rourke. In the end, Cruz beat out O’Rourke by 213,750 votes. But what were the challenges facing Cruz and how did the campaign play out? In March of 2017, Rep. Beto O’Rourke announced his candidacy for the position of U.S. senator from Texas. He was blown off as a Democrat with no chance of
er Loses to White Castle
US Senate Election in Texas
winning. The Democrats was different. Sen. Cruz was and the two were polling have not been taken seriously actually being challenged by very closely all the way up to election day. in Texas because the Rep. O’Rourke “This [was] only Ted Republicans have been the Cruz’s first reelection dominant party since the campaign and the 1990s. “Winning the Republican circumstances of his first election primary is often a de facto were a guarantee that you will win little unique “Winning the because of the court challenges Republican primary that pushed is often a de facto his Republican guarantee that you primary runoff will win the general into the middle of election.” the summer,” said Blank. - Joshua Blank, manager of In 2012, Cruz and polling and research for the Republican David Texas Political Project. Dewhurst were the general election,” Joshua Blank, manager of polling and research for the Texas Political Project said. In past election years, Republicans have dominated Senate races, winning every Senate election since 1993. “In the last few cycles, Republican candidates that top the ticket usually have about a 900,000 vote cushion,” Blank said. 23 | The Austin Breakdown But this election
Beto O’Rourke speaking at the El Paso Community College Student Government Association 2012 Spring Debate. Courtesy of betofortexas.com.
Ted Cruz speaking at a Nevada Courageous Conservatives rally in Henderson, Nevada on February 21, 2016. Photo by Gage Skidmore.
fighting a legal battle which centered on gerrymandering which is the redistricting (changing the district of a certain area) of voting areas causing a delay in the race. During the legal process, Cruz picked up a lot of support and managed to claim victory. Because of the delay, the first real chance for him to display himself to Texas voters was in the 2016 presidential election where
he was making last-ditch efforts to appeal to the highly conservative voters, which is not the image that Cruz was attempting to craft in Texas. “Cruz running for president and really focusing his campaign on being the most conservative candidate in the race might have turned off some of those moderate Republicans,” Blank said. According to Blank, the
appeal to more conservative voters may have caused Cruz to lose some support from some moderate Republicans and could have influenced the outcome of the race. It could have been responsible for the final vote total being as close as it was. However, O’Rourke gained support by appealing to undecided voters and moderate Republicans who were upset with the direction the party was taking. “O’Rourke is probably less progressive than Cruz would like to portray him, but I also think that Cruz is probably just as conservative as O’Rourke would like to portray him,” Blank said. Therefore, O’Rourke’s poll numbers were incredibly high for a Democrat while Cruz’s were down from normal Republican poll numbers in Texas. “He is able to generate a lot of earned media attention through the way [he] runs his campaign, but he’s also generated huge amounts of resources in campaign donations based on his ability to generate earned media attention,” said Blank. The media attention that was generated was paying off, with Rep. O’Rourke raising 23.6 million dollars, which is 8 million more than Ted Cruz raised during his campaign. One of O’Rourke’s volunteers, Rachel Muir, commented
on the success that she was seeing when block walking for O’Rourke. “The response that I got… from people was very positive.” According to Muir, people really responded to O’Rourke’s campaign and they decided to help him in the race. “In the most recent elections Democrats have run, candidates really had difficulty gaining much traction,” Blank said. There were many things that the two candidates disagreed on. One issue was border security, an issue which was dividing the country during the 2016 presidential election. They disagreed on other issues included climate change, abortion rights, social media, the controversial appointment of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and the President himself. O’Rourke was not fond of Trump while Cruz had Trump speak at a rally to support him. Interestingly enough, one thing that both candidates did agree on was that the #MeToo movement has been doing a lot of good by exposing sexual predators like the disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein. “I’m sure that in the polarized partisan environment we live in there are definitely if not polar opposites near polar opposites when it comes to policy,” Blank said. “His entire platform is a strong one and it’s one that people care about. People
care about having affordable health care, they care about having access to health care, they care about having their existing preconditions covered, and they know that they’re going to lose under a Republican,” Muir said. But this race focused on very divisive issues with the candidates taking up stereotypical vantage points based on their party affiliation with Cruz acting as a hardline conservative while O’Rourke was acting as a more moderate liberal. But, O’Rourke is not without his radical policies. He was campaigning for universal healthcare, an extreme version of ObamaCare which is considered very liberal “We [will] lead this country on guaranteed, high quality, universal health care for every child, every woman, and every man no matter who they are; no matter where they are,” said O’Rourke in an Austin campaign rally on September 29th. Voters hadn’t heard much from O’Rourke outside of El Paso, which is the city that he represents in U.S. Congress. O’Rourke got the chance to display himself to all Texas voters for the very first time and this gave him a chance to define himself as a moderate Democrat who is willing to work across the aisle with Republicans. In the first debate between the two candidates, Rep.
O’Rourke said that he had introduced legislation with Sen. John Cornyn to secure the ports of entry across the border. Whereas, Sen. Ted Cruz said that he supported the construction of a 2,000mile border wall, which is in line with the President’s conservative policies. Cruz’s constant support of the President has caused his views to become more and more conservative. “I am proud to have worked hand-in-hand with President Trump to pass the biggest tax cut in a generation,” said Sen. Cruz at a campaign rally in Houston. “Beto [O’Rourke] is running to the left of Elizabeth Warren (a very progressive, liberal senator from Massachusetts) and to the left of Bernie Sanders (socialist senator from New Hampshire who is known for his radical, liberal policies),” Cruz said at the same rally. This strategy of appealing to voters by O’Rourke has been unsuccessfully attempted before, albeit with much less momentum. “Ordinarily, for more than two decades, Texas Democrats have lost to the Republicans in statewide races and yet the polling in this race has been close all summer.” Ross Ramsey, executive editor of the Texas Tribune, said. Democrats have not been able to appeal to voters living
in the northern part of the state. Most of the democrats’ support is coming from the south and the far west. The only major support that Democrats have received in the north has come from Dallas. The figure on the right shows the results of the 2014 election in which Senate incumbent John Cornyn soundly defeated Democratic challenger David Alameel. In the election, Alameel only won in the south, El Paso, Austin, and Dallas. Usually, races are as close as the 2014 senate race was. In other words, a race in Texas is almost always a sure win for Republicans. But this time, the story was different. One of the big issues in this race was President Trump, who is a very divisive figure in American politics with people on polar opposites of
Source: Michael McDonald
the political spectrum either supporting or condemning. For voters, you either love him or hate him. This may have been a deciding factor in whether to vote for Cruz or O’Rourke. “President Trump is pretty popular with Republican voters in Texas and it is shown that in other states, if you are a republican and you aren’t seen as a Trump republican, then you will have a problem with Republican voters,” Ramsey said. Of course, there have been some notable exceptions like in Alabama, where the President is extremely popular. He gave his support to a moderate Republican named Doug Jones who was likely to win the Republican nomination. But strangely, he lost to ultra-conservative
Roy Moore. After Moore won, Trump slyly withdrew his support for Jones (after throwing a fit according to White House aids) and announced that he had always been supporting Roy Moore. Then, allegations of pedophilia came out against Moore and he lost the election. In this race, President Trump’s support may not have helped Cruz as much as Trump and Cruz would have preferred. Another big issue is ethnicity. Ordinarily, Republicans only get a majority of white voters but since they still make up the majority of the voting population, they can coast to victory knowing they have enough support to win. But, Rep. O’Rourke was mobilizing white voters and turning a lot of them from the party. Cruz had to battle
tooth and nail in this race and could not rely solely on the white vote. One of the most difficult things Texas is facing is finding a way to get Hispanics to vote. According to the Texas Tribune, the average voter turnout for Hispanics is much lower than any other demographic. Both Cruz and O’Rourke were trying hard to win over the Hispanic vote, a large, inactive demographic populace. All of these factors were shown in the final vote total, where O’Rourke lost by 2.7 percent, getting 48.3 percent of the vote while Ted Cruz
got 50.9 percent. “But what has a very bright political happened to the other .8 future.” percent? It is very important to me personally,” you might say. Well, the other .8% went to Libertarian candidate Neil Dikeman. Despite all of the challenges, Cruz got through to Texas voters and even though O’Rourke put up a very strong fight, he wasn’t able to actually get the mass turnout that he needed. But the former representative’s political career isn’t over. Muir spoke excitedly about O’Rourke’s future. “I don’t know where this will go but I feel that [O’Rourke]
Texas Senate Race 2018 Cruz
All graphics by Nitin Murthy
O’Rourke
Photovoltaic Cells
A photovoltaic cell is the part of a solar panel that converts sunight into electricity, a bit like the chloroplasts in photosynthesis. These cells can be as big as a smartphone or as small as a dot on a page. Despite the size difference, the main processes remain the same . The cells are basically semiconductors, which use photons from the sun to energize electrons. These electrons’ flows creates electricity.
The Benefits of Solar Panels
Solar panels are environmental friendly energy sources that are better for the ecosystem because they use solar power, not fossil fuels, which pollute the atmosphere. They also provide solar panel system owners with a tax credit of 30% of the cost of running the system and a property tax exemption.
Make-Up of a Solar Panel
The solar panel is made of a phtovoltaic cell, which creates the electricity. A group of those cells is called a module. A group of modules makes a panel, and a group of panels makes an array (figure 1).
A Timeline of Solar Energy Use The greeks use magnifying glasses to set things alight.
7th Century BC
Roman bathhouses are built to use the sun’s light for warmth.
1st Century AD
Source: Department of Energy, Solar Austin, Austin Energy
Sunrooms become more common place with more and more people building them.
6th Century
Solar Panels The Cost of Clean Energy Horace de Saussure builds the first solar capturing device.
1767
The first photovoltaic cell is The international made from silicon by Daryl space station installs Chapin, Calvin Fuller, and solar panels. Gerald Pearson of Bell Labs.
1954
2000
WHAT’S ALL
How the Most Famous Fe Ben Mines | Copy Editor
View of the flags and Zilker Park, ACL fest 2018. photo by Sarah Majorie, courtesy of C3 Presents.
THE NOISE?
estival in ATX is Evolving
Thousands crowd together at Zilker park in early October, 2018 to watch a show at the AMEX stage. photo by Charles Hackleman, courtesy of C3 Presents.
The Texas sun beats down on the green, rolling fields of Zilker Park. Thousands of festival-goers can be seen dancing in unison to the beat of a song that flows throughout the crowd and connects a whole city. Austin City Limits, an annual music festival that takes place every year in Zilker park, consists of six days over two weekends. Performers from all over the world come to the festival to play live music for large crowds in “The Live Music Capital of The Austin Breakdown | 32
the World”, Austin’s nickname because of its abundant live performances and culture that supports musicians. Austin’s culture is partly what founded the amazing tradition of ACL, a place where everyone can come together for one or two weekends a year to sit on the grass of Zilker Park and experience something we all can enjoy together: live music. ACL-goer Chris Parisi, a chief operating officer at a tech company, said the festival has evolved over the years. “Austin is kind of a melting pot,” Parisi said. “It has
something for everyone.” While it is true that the festival is exclusive to Austin, it often attracts the attention of people from Dallas, Houston, and other nearby Texas cities. “When they started, it definitely seemed more Austin, it just always had a small town feel. Back then it was a lot less commercialized. Year after year it has gotten more commercial.” Parisi said. The better known artists or headliners usually play in the evening. In recent years, the headliners tend to be what draw people to the event the most
and Travis Scott have played. “It’s starting to feel more production and more commercialised,” Parisi said. While the festival has been adding more and more headliners, it has tried to include a variety of lesser known acts as well. “The crowd is getting so big. I don’t know how they pick how many tickets are sold on “Austin is kind of a a given weekend but they need to reinforce that it is indeed melting pot.” meant to be a smaller festival,” Parisi said. “It’s very representative of -Chris Parisi the culture in Austin,” Leah frequent ACL-goer Yanez, an account manager and frequent ACL attendee, said. “I think that as a city we embrace music, and it’s a time big headliners such as The Foo when everyone looks forward Fighters, Chance the Rapper, to something. Even though we because of the larger, longer, and louder shows played by more famous acts. When the festival began in 2002, the acts were kept local with mostly unknown performers such as Los Lobos, Abra Moore, and Asleep at the Wheel. Recently,
Greta Van Fleet plays on Friday, weekend one, at ACL fest 2018. photo by Charles Hacklem, courtesy of C3 Presents.
still have a lot of outsiders that go, the majority of people that do go feels like mainly Austin locals,” Yanez explained that while many people come from all over Texas, or even the country to hear live music at ACL, the festival will always be a local event. Yanez believes that the fact the festival is in the exact middle of the city is what makes it so unique to Austin. “I think because it’s so close to town, like it’s in walking distance of so many things and you can see the skyline from the park, if you’re at Zilker, you can still hear it. I think that’s cool.” Yanez said. “I wasn’t too crazy about this year’s lineup,” Yanez said. “I think that part of that is because music is shifting and
33 | The Austin Breakdown
Nelly performs on Saturday, first weekend, ACL fest 2018. hoto by Greg Noire, courtesy of C3 Presents.
I think it represents a younger crowd and an older crowd with not much in between. It isn’t taking into consideration people my age, in our 20s and 30s.” Yanez said. ACL is a large event that requires many volunteers to work. Tracee Heneke, a frequent volunteer and fan of the festival shared her thoughts on the event. “I usually try to go on the first weekend,” Heneke said. Heneke agrees with Parisi and Yanez that the festival is rooted in the city’s deep history of live music love, and is meant to be more of a local thing. “In terms of music, Austin’s a pretty chill city, pretty weird, and different. The music The Austin Breakdown | 34
festival really captures that. I don’t typically like to go to outdoor music festivals because they seem really ‘stressful’, but I love to go to ACL. It’s super
“In terms of music, Austin’s a pretty chill city, pretty weird, and different.” -Trrace Heneke ACL volunteer and attendee
chill and just really fun. I think that’s really cool and unique.” Heneke said. Despite enjoying many of the acts that the festival has tried to incorporate in past years
Heneke made it clear that she was not excited about this years big names. “I’m not super stoked about the headliners, although I do want to see The National. I think some of the other acts I’m really excited for. Some of the bands earlier in the day and afternoon bands I’m excited for. I’m not as excited as I was for the 2017 lineup, but I am for some of the acts this year.” Heneke said. An occuring trend that seems to be very evident within the interviewees was that in past years, the festival was kept more local and less commercialised, with little outside influence and mainly local bands. The increased traffic and bigger names is one thing that local ACL fan and Managing Director at College Forward
Leigh Ridge explained is a large issue. “I think parking is still a challenge and a bit of a bummer. So just more parking spots that are cheaper would be awesome,” Ridge said. Ridge said she wishes the festival was more like the way it used to be before the larger
names and outside influence. “It’s one of the things that I tell people about the most because it’s a representation of us being the ‘Live Music Capital of the World,’ it’s one of the things that we can do,” Ridge explained. “We have live music every weekend but I feel like we can be a part of a concentrated
View of the Honda stage at ACL fest 2018. photo by Greg Noire, courtesy of C3 Presents.
music group with many many bands.” Ridge said. Ridge still attends the festival annually despite being put off by the growing size of the crowds and larger setlists. “I was going to go already, but now I buy the early bird tickets before I even know who the lineup is,” Ridge said.
35 | The Austin Breakdown
Top Ten Headliners at ACL
by Ben Mines, Copy Editor
The following list is an ordered group of the greatest headliners to appear at Austin City Limits Music Festival. This list contains acts from 2004 all the to 2015 and spans multiple genres of music. This list will only include performances that appeared as bold headliners on the acts list. This top ten list was picked and ordered by the Austin Breakdown’s board of editors.
#10
Beck (2008)
Beck began his musical career in the early 1990’s with his debut album Banjo Story. Beck has been praised critically for his ability to blend genres such as Rock, Folk and Hip Hop into a wonderful style. Beck appeared at ACL festival on (March 27th, 2008) and played such headliners as “Loser”, “Devil’s Haircut”, and “Where It’s At”.
The Pixies (2004)
#9
The alternative rock band played at Austin City Limits in 2004. The group played notable tracks such as “Where Is My Mind” and “Monkey Gone to Heaven”. The Pixies performance is remembered as one of the most successful venues the band has ever played.
#8
Red Hot Chili Peppers (2017) The Red Hot Chili Peppers is one of the most successful rock bands of all time with their ability to blend Funk and Punk music. With notable tracks such as “Go Robot” and “Can’t Stop” as well as an entertaining performance by all members of the band, RHCP rocked the stage on October 7th, 2017.
The Black Keys (2012)
#6
Foo Fighters (2015)
#7
The Blues/Indie rock group appeared at ACL Music Festival on October 12th, 2012. The two man band played a setlist featuring notable tracks such as “Lonely Boy” and “Gold on the Ceiling”.
Formed in Seattle by Nirvana’s drummer, Dave Grohl, the alternative rock superstars appeared at ACL Festival on October 3, 2015. The legendary performance included songs like “Monkey Wrench” and “Everlong”.
Willie Nelson played on September 20th, 2006. The Texan used his blend of jazz, country and blues to deliver a truly memorable performance with songs like “On the Road Again” and “Superman”.
#4
Willie Nelson (2006)
Drake (2015) The Canadian rapper debuted at the festival on October 3rd, 2015. Some of the songs he played were “Back to Back” and “The Motto”.
Radiohead (2016)
#2
#5
Radiohead is an English experimental/electronic rock band formed in 1985. They played on October 1st, 2016. There most popular songs played were “Paranoid Android” and “The Numbers”.
#3
Kendrick Lamar (2016)
16. A few of ed on October 6th, 20 rm rfo pe er pp ra a ni The Califor d “Alright”. are “M.a.a.d City” an ed ay pl s ng so s ou m his fa
Chance the Rapper (2017)
#1
Chance the Rapper played on October 8th, 2017. Chance is an American rapper from Chicago began his musical career in 2011 and earned more traction with his mixtape “Acid Rap”. At ACL festival, Chance’s most memorable songs were “Same Drugs” and “Blessings”.
PERSPECTIVES OF
Nonprofits Bring Diversity to Au
An employee of the Multicultural Refugee Coalition works at the MRC’s Open Arms Studio. The MRC is a nonprofit that provides diverse employment opportunities to refugees. photo courtesy of the Multicultural Refugee Coalition.
F CHANGE
ustin’s Growing Social Sector Jessy Ingersoll | Individual Layout Editor
Austin is a growing, thriving city, which can make it easy to overlook those who don’t have the same opportunities as others. Nonprofits in Austin are wildly diverse organizations, but they all share one thing in common: devotion to make Austin a better place for everyone in it. Meg Erksine, co-founder of the Multicultural Refugee Coalition (the MRC), started out her career as a bat biologist for the state of Texas, moving into Austin’s nonprofit space after teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) to refugees. “I had the opportunity to co-found this organization with two Liberian refugees and another American woman,” Erskine said. “We just came together and wanted to do what we could to help refugees feel more connected to their community.” Kelli Kelley, founder of Hand to Hold, was inspired to create Hand to Hold after the birth of her premature son who was kept in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for a long time after his birth. “I didn’t know at the time that I wanted to go on to start a nonprofit, but my husband says he knew right away that I somehow would take that experience and grow it into something to help others,”
many educational services to teach parents and siblings about the challenges babies in the NICU face as well as emotional support for the family. “We have a national peer to peer support program where we train NICU graduate parents,” Kelley said. “We also have programs now in hospitals where our employees actually work to provide support every day to the families. They provide support groups and they An employee of the MRC digs a hole for a plant in a field at the MRC’s New Leaf Farm. The MRC is a do education classes for nonprofit organization that provides diverse employment opportunities to refugees. photo courtesy of siblings when there are Multicultural Refugee Coalition older brothers and sisters Kelley said. Erskine said. “You don’t have to educate...Beyond that we Madge Vasquez, CEO of to be necessarily fluent or started a podcast about 18 Mission Capital, worked in educated in a particular thing months ago and that podcast the business world before she to get a job with us. They’re has now reached more than joined Mission Capital’s staff. really meeting people where 25,000 people, not just in the She got the chance to get to they’re at.” United States, but the world.” know the organization and was The MRC has three Hand to Hold focuses on interested in the work they did. different industries, which each family-centered care, a method “I got to know the staff and have relevance in the Austin was just really excited about community. the work they do to support “We have a textile nonprofits and leaders in the manufacturing unit called community,” Vasquez said. Open Arms Studio,” Erskine The MRC provides livelihood said. “We have a program called opportunities for refugees. The New Leaf Agriculture; the organization goes beyond just 12-acre farm and community providing refugees with jobs, gardens. The third is called but also work to provide the Shared Voices. That’s for education necessary to get a job training interpreters so they can and make them feel welcome. go on and use their interpreting “That world livelihoods...to skills to have contract work in us really means friendly, flexible the courts and the schools.” hours, upward mobility,” Hand to Hold provides support for NICU families in The staff of Mission Capital take a team photo a nonprofit that partners with other organizatio The Austin Breakdown | 40 a variety of ways. They give Mission Capital
of NICU support that focuses on the physical health of the baby and the emotional health of the family. This includes counseling and education services for family members in addition to the medical care the baby is already receiving. “Family-centered care is not just the medical care of the baby, but the emotional wellbeing of the entire family,” Kelley said. “It’s educating and communicating with the families about what’s happening with their child and looking...to make sure that they are ready to take care of this medically fragile child once they go.” Mission Capital has many different avenues through which they support the community. These avenues include consulting services for other nonprofits, and a program called Aligned Impact.
o at their office in 2018. Mission Capital is ons to promote growth. photo courtesy of
In addition, Mission Capital serves as Austin’s chapter of SVP International. “We are a hybrid of sorts,” Vasquez said. “We are a capacity builder, a nonprofit consulting firm that provides training and strategic planning and business development, and
"I think the overall goal is to just make this community a better place for everyone." - Madge Vasquez, CEO of Mission Capital
based business,” Erskine said. “All three of our enterprises have a lot of ties and the reason why we’re doing them is because there’s been an expressed need in the city for each one of those three things.” By the end of 2020, Hand to Hold plans to expand to 13 hospitals across the state of Texas and aims to provide all Texas hospitals access to their free resources. They hope that their podcast will spread to even more people. “We’ve just found different ways, unique ways, to provide support not only here in Austin, but now across the country,” Kelley said. Mission Capital is currently focusing on what they call equitable opportunities. These programs combat gentrification and other examples of Austin’s economic divide. “As Austin’s done really well there are certain parts of our community that have done really well, and at the same time it’s caused...what we call an economic divide,” Vasquez said. “While some people are doing well, others are not, so houses are getting really unaffordable which means that...poor families have to move further out from Austin, further away from jobs.” Mission Capital is now working to improve their
we’re also home to a Social Venture Partner chapter of SVP International...Our Social Venture Partners have been a great help in sharing their business expertise. We also have a program called Aligned Impact and that’s where we come in. We get invited to be almost like a facilitator for lots of different organizations, “ Vasquez said. The MRC has received offers for franchising in other cities, such as Los Angeles and New York City, where sustainable fashion is also in demand, but has responded with a firm “no” each time. 41 | The Austin Breakdown “We want to be an Austin-
impact through strategic planning. This is a process to redefine mission statements, and then goals. “We are in the throes of that right now with our board and staff to look at what we do well, “ Vasquez said. “Another important piece to that is figuring out how you measure your success; how you know you’re both being successful in that plan that you set out to do.” With their varied goals, these nonprofits have had a very diverse impact on Austin’s business and cultural community, helping different people in different ways. Hand to Hold has helped hospitals expand their care to include family-centered care. Now family-centered care is taken into consideration when giving NICU designations, which are a way of ranking how good a hospital’s NICU care is. “Back in the early 2000s we didn’t talk a lot about what is family-centered care in the NICU and now it is a very big topic and as hospitals get their designations for their NICUs, they’re looking at [if] they have programs in place like ours,” Kelley said. Kelley is very passionate about the work that Hand to Hold does because she went The Austin Breakdown | 42
through many of the same experiences as the families that Hand to Hold serves. Because of this, she knows how much of an impact programs like those sponsored by Hand to Hold can make. “I’m constantly out there talking about how important this is for NICU families because I remember what it was like to be there and so that’s just what drives me,” Kelley said. “That’s why I’m so passionate and not scared to use my voice to get out there and talk about these families that need this care so badly.” The MRC has been able to affect designers in Austin who want to provide sustainable fashion. It has also provided many of Austin’s refugees with dignified job opportunities that also help expand refugees’ communities. “That matchmaking of sustainable fashion designers matched up with folk who can do the production, like the refugees that we employ,” Erskine said. “We have the skilled workforce, but an elevated workforce and not just something where it’s just like cheap labor.” Mission Capital has worked to impact Austin’s social sector and also to provide equitable opportunities for everyone in Austin. Their Aligned Impact program has also worked to better the lives of children in the Texas foster care system.
“It’s many things that over time have developed what I call the social sector,” Vasquez said. “All of those different programs...and services have built amazing leaders; both the nonprofit leaders...and the Social Venture Partner leaders who have offered their time, talent, and treasure to help them get stronger...It’s almost like a cumulative effect in my mind of transforming community leadership and the ability of nonprofits to really make a difference.” Mission Capital’s programs aim to jumpstart permanent social change in Austin. Similarly to the MRC and Hand to Hold, Mission Capital is tackling issues that will take commitment and many years to solve. “It’s kind of long-term work,” Vasquez said. “Any problem that we’re trying to solve typically takes years to solve. That’s one thing I’m learning; to reduce poverty takes years, and sometimes generations; to transform education also takes years. It’s just figuring out what little piece of the pie is yours.” Though the missions and goals of these nonprofits vary, they all work to improve the lives of Austinites and provide equal opportunities for everyone living in Austin. “I think the overall goal is to just make this community a better place for everyone,” Vasquez said.
THE TOP FIVE 1. Goodwill 2. Seton Foundation 2. Michael and Susan Dell Foundation 2. St. David’s Foundation 5. Habitat For Humanity
50% have volunteered at a nonprofit.
55% have donated materials
From a survey taken of 20 ninth graders
50% have donated money
21.1% are very involved in a nonprofit
O
ever since. BREAKDOWN: What does College Forward do, exactly? BUCHAN: We do quite a bit these days. The real bread and butter of the organization, what we’ve focused on the past almost sixteen years now is providing wraparound coaching services to students who are first in their families to go to college and typically come from low-income backgrounds. We pair them up with a team of about 100 folks who are very recent college grads themselves, and they work with a group of students just to make sure that everything is taken care of and so that the students know they have someone in their corner beginning in high with AUSTIN school and then we extend that support BUCHAN, CEO service all the way until they graduate from college. The process of getting into college of COLLEGE is very confusing, so we help navigate that system. Because our students are lowFORWARD income, obviously financial aid barriers are a huge piece of what we do. The big third bucket is just helping navigate all the stuff photo courtesy of Austin Buchan, graphic by Jessy Ingersoll that happens outside the classroom: any THE AUSTIN BREAKDOWN: How did you emotional or social support we can offer get involved in nonprofit organizations? throughout the process. We’ve grown that AUSTIN BUCHAN: Initially I was working program to support over 13,000 students since for a political consulting firm. I graduated 2003. In addition we have some different undergrad in the middle of the run up to the types of works that we’ve spun off since then, 2008 presidential election and I worked on where we are actually providing tools and a national presidential campaign for about resources to other organizations that have two years. That was a for-profit; the first similar missions. We work with a number of nonprofit I worked for was actually abroad high schools, colleges, and other nonprofit in Nicaragua and that was the first time I got organizations around the country, supporting into the nonprofit space and also the first time them with technology and curriculum and I got into the education space. I was working training of their staff to make sure they’re with students in the rural community of doing their jobs as best they can. That’s the Nicaragua, helping them get into college, and real crux of what we’re doing and the final leg made the jump over to College Forward about is more recently I’ve personally been getting eight and a half years ago where I’ve been more involved through College Forward in advocation for legislation that is aligned with The Austin Breakdown | 44 our students’ goals and objectives, working
with policy makers both in the state of Texas and nationally. BREAKDOWN: Does College Forward plan to expand their programs in the future?
and it seemed like a perfect fit for me. And that’s why I decided to stay every day and come back to this place. BREAKOWN: What has College Forward done that you think has had the most impact on our community?
BUCHAN: We do. I think a slight It’s a really powerful adjustment to that moment for them as BUCHAN: Well, I’d say most framing is that we plan directly, this past year we just individuals, for their to expand our impact celebrated our 1,000th college families, and it’s just over the next three to graduate. The pipeline of support five years. Our goal incredibly rewarding that we provide is long. We start is to impact either work to be a small part working in high school and we directly or indirectly extend that service all the way of that story. the lives of 1 million through college graduation. In other students in five years. words, it takes a really long time for How we go about doing that is kind of a us to see our mission all the way through to multi-pronged approach. We don’t, at least for the finish line and I think I’m probably most now, have any plans to open up new offices proud of that; the fact that we’ve crossed a outside the state of Texas, but we do hope major milestone. When I first started working to expand our pool of student impact pretty at College Forward we’d only had eight significantly over the next five years. literally eight - college graduates. The fact that we have 1,000 now is hard to believe and BREAKDOWN: What interested you in the you know those are folks finding great jobs, or work that College Forward does? they’re contributing back to the community. BUCHAN: Like I said, I got my start around They’re in leadership roles and the education education, specifically around college access sector and politics; they’re lawyers or doctors, and success work while working in Nicaragua they’re mechanics ... I’d say in second place and I think just working with students in a would be - this might seem a little weird - but classroom and watching their hard work and I think College Forward is changing the way their aspirations come to life and see some of nonprofits think about their work and think their goals made real as being the first in their about strategy and think about growth. I think families to graduate high school, let alone get we have been a good model and case study for into college ... It’s a really powerful moment other nonprofit organizations who have lofty for them as individuals, for their families, ambitions like we do to think about their work and it’s just incredibly rewarding work to be and their impact in a different way. We’ve had a small part of that story. When I was looking great student impact and we’ll continue to to come back I think that I pretty quickly have that and I think we’ve had a pretty big realized that I wanted this to be my personal impact on the field as a whole of nonprofits career plan coming out of Nicaragua. I was and other social public organizations doing looking for other organizations doing similar similar work. work and I found College Forward. Again, this was 8 and a half years ago or so, and they 45 | The Austin Breakdown were doing some really powerful, great stuff