AUSTINtatious Spring 2013
Discover the ‘herstory’ of BookWoman
WEST gives a peek into artists’ studios
Chow down on a list of Austin’s top restaurants
Formula for Austin Growth
Austin races into its future with Circuit of the Americas
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Photo by Logan Kramer
table of contents West Austin Artists Showcase Work Photo courtesty of “crazyoctopus” on Flickr
At the annual West Austin Studio Tour, artists showcase their work in territory that is most familiar to them: their own studios. Two local artists, Ruthie Powers and Honoria Starbuck, describe their experiences with the tour and what it’s like to create art in the Austin art community.
Photo courtesy of (C) Karen Marks, Bat Conservation International, www. batcon.org
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A racecar speeds around a corner at the Circuit of the Americas track outside Austin during the first Grand Prix race in 2012. 80 percent of the race spectators came from areas outside of Texas.
Formula for Austin Growth Austin experienced Formula One for the first time in 2012, but there is much more to come at the Circuit of the Americas track. Read about how the track has already impacted the local community and economy by creating jobs, increasing tourism and creating a new venue for concerts and other events.
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Contributor Biographies page 4 Letter from the Editors Cover photo courtesy of “CaterhamF1” on Flickr
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South Congress Bats Fly Towards Fame Millions of Mexican-free tailed bats live underneath South Congress Bridge in the world’s largest urban bat colony. Discover facts like this about the flying creatures that attract tourists and locals alike.
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Local Pastimes Want to find something interesting to do in Austin this weekend? Discover festivals, concerts, 5K races and more with our calendar full of the most “AUSTINtatious” events this spring and summer. This issue’s list includes events such as the Old Pecan Street Festival (shown below.) Also check out a list of Austin “summer essentials” to bring while you explore the city.
Photo courtesty of “LABabble” on Flickr
Photo by Hannah Marks
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Customers stand in line outside Franklin’s Barbeque for several hours for the chance to purchase the restaurant’s famous brisket. Franklin’s Barbeque stays open only until they run out of brisket, which usually takes two to three hours.
AUSTINtatious names top restaurants AUSTINtatious names the top Austin restaurants in three categories: barbeque, tex-mex and burgers. Read about these local spots that keep Austin weird and delicious.
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by the numbers
days spent in Electronic Magazine class working on AUSTINtatious
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stories about local places, businesses, events and Austinites
editors of AUSTINtatious
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hours that the editors spent working on AUSTINtatious each weekday
pages full of Austin culture
Photo by Hannah Marks
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Local bookstore embraces feminism Susan Post tells AUSTINtatious about her experiences as the owner of local bookstore BookWoman, which began in the mid-70s and is one of the last feminist bookstores in the country.
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biographies LOGAN KRAMER
Logan is a freshman at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy. She is 15 years old. When she’s not transcribing interviews or writing stories in the newspaper room, she can be found hanging out with her friends or cramming for her next test. She plays for the Lady Jags softball team and has come to appreciate the color purple in the past year due to extreme exposure to the color during football season. Outside of school, she loves doing things with her youth group, surfing the internet and making anything crafty. AUSTIN FAVORITES Dessert: Salted Caramel milkshake at Hopdoddy Area: South Congress Swimming Spot: Krause Springs Annual Event: East Austin Studio Tour Photo by Hannah Marks
PABLO VILLAFUERTE
Pablo is a freshman at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy. He is 15 years old. He loves to spend time with his friends during the weekends. He likes One Direction’s music and is in love with Zayn Malik’s hair. He also listens to old school rap. His favorite rappers are Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre. Pablo wants to became an architect and build the next Twin Towers. His favorite hobby is drawing self-portraits and thinks of art as his second occupation option. Pablo believes everyone should live life to the fullest and party all day . AUSTIN FAVORITES Dessert: Michael Jackson cupcake from Hey Cupcake! Area: Southeast Austin Swimming Spot: Deep Eddy Annual Event: Trail of Lights Photo by Logan Kramer
HANNAH MARKS
Hannah is a freshman at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy. She is 15 years old. She is obsessed with reading. Chances are, if you are looking for her, she is hiding away, holed up with a book. The library and the bookstore are her favorite locations, next to the couch in her bedroom. Her next great love is movies. No popcorn is better than the popcorn at a movie theater. Lesser know, she loves to sing (though a pop singer is NOT her future occupation). She doesn’t let that stop her from having a good time. She is a gregarious people person. She likes to think she is the life of the party. AUSTIN FAVORITES Dessert: Vanilla shake from Player’s Area: Downtown/UT campus area Swimming Spot: Northwest Pool Annual Event: Trail of Lights and Texas Book Festival
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Photo by Logan Kramer
Letter from the Editors
Austin is its own world. AUSTINtatious is our way of expressing our love of all things unique to this unusual city. Through our stories, we express our love for all things this destination has to offer. At the beginning of the semester, when we were placed into groups based on the type of magazine we each wanted to do, we were the ragtag group of misfits with no common ground. Individually, we wanted to focus on books, sports, and crafts. Apparently, we were all “weird” enough that no one else in class shared those interests. How could the three of us find common ground for a magazine? What could be as weird as us? Austin! We quickly realized that we all could find something that we wanted to do when it came to a magazine about Austin. This city has almost anything one could think of: sports, books, music, movies, art or entertainment of any kind. The broad range of topics we wanted to cover would not be strange under this umbrella. Thus, AUSTINtatious was born. Our mission is, “sparking interest in Austin culture.” We hope to give our audience a taste of Austin culture and get them excited about this popular tourist stop. Our stories reflect our love of all things here, inour city, that you just can’t find most anywhere. Unique stores and events, cool restaurants, new innovations and much more. We all learned new things over the course of creating this magazine, whether it was about ways to design, about unusual Austin attractions or about ourselves and each other. We have grown over the course of this semester. We hope that you, too, will grow: to love this magazine, to become explorers and adventurers yourself, to find your own personal AUSTINtatious paradise. This magazine was a labor of love on our part. We have worked hard to make sure this magazine was ready and beautiful for you. We hope you learn as much as we did during this process and that you enjoy all the effort we put into this. We gave it everything we had and tried to have fun while doing so. We hope you have a good time when reading it.
Enjoy reading.
Sincerely,
The Editors of
Pablo Villafuerte
Hannah Marks
Logan Kramer
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events AU S TIN S T YLE
March 3
85th Annual Zilker Kite Festival
Hundreds of kites adorn the sky during this event, which is the longest running kite festival in the nation. Join in on kite-flying contests or sit back and watch others fly their kites while taking in spring at Zilker Park. Admission: free
April 13-14
Art City Austin
Artists and patrons descend on Cesar Chavez Street for this outdoor art fair. Look out for unique art installations and different types of artists showcasing their work. Admission: $8 for adults, free for volunteers and children 12 and under
April 19-21
Austin Reggae Festival
This annual festival is a gathering of Bob Marley lovers interested in listening to reggae music and browsing the vendors
recurring events
available at Auditorium Shores throughout the weekend. Headlining bands this year hail from Bermuda, Jamaica and Cuba. Admission: One-Day Passes are $15, Three-Day Passes are $35, children under 12 are free with an adult.
April 27-28, West Austin May 4-5 Studio Tour Artists in West Austin open their studios to the public for two weekends a year for this tour to showcase the Austin art community. Since the tour is self-guided, anyone can drive or bike between studios on the tour to discover new artists and their work. Admission: free
May 4-5
Pecan Street Festival
Over 30,000 people flock to this arts and crafts festival each year, which is the largest of its kind in Central Texas. Artisans, food vendors and local musicians can all be found on historic 6th Street throughout the weekend. Admission: free
City-Wide Garage Sale Another person’s trash may become your treasure at this sale held monthly in the Palmer Events Center. There are all sorts of items to be found including antiques, clothing and other tchotchkes.
Many of the events considered unique to Austin repeat weekly or monthly throughout the year. Here are some of AUSTINtatious’s favorite Admission: $5 for adults, free for recurring events. children 12 and under. For more
information, visit http://www.cwgs.com/
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Experience free concerts and unique festivals with this calendar of the most AUSTINtatious events this spring and summer. These events were chosen based on their popularity in past years and how unique they are.
By: Logan Kramer
June 22
36th Annual O. Henry Pun-Off World Championships
There are puns galore at this competition crowning the punniest people in Austin. Listen to competitors in the “Punslingers” and “Punniest in Show” categories while listening to live music. Admission: free
June 22
Keep Austin Weird Festival and 5K
Be prepared for wacky costumes, kids’ activities and everything in between at this event showcasing all that keeps Austin weird. Enjoy local vendors, a kids’ zone and live music during the festival at the Long Center and join in on the 5K at night. Admission: $10 for a fest pass, [$37.50 for 5K registration]
July 4
Fourth of July Fireworks and Austin Symphony Orchestra
Watch Central Texas’ largest display of fireworks with friends on the lawn of the
First Thursdays On the first Thursday of each month, Austinites (and tourists) flock to South Congress Avenue to shop and eat at the businesses on South Congress. Many businesses stay open late and musicians can be heard at venues such as Jo’s. Admission: free. For more information, visit http://www.firstthursday.info/
Aug. 17
7th Annual Austin Ice Cream Festival
austin summer essentials 3
Enjoy the ice cream eating or popsicle stick sculpture contests while eating one of Texas’ coolest summer treats. Live music will play all day for those who wish to relax while eating their ice cream. Admission: $10 for adults, free for children 8 and under
Aug. 24
BatFest
Watch one of Austin’s most well-known natural wonders with thousands of other bat lovers at this annual festival honoring the official state flying mammal of Texas. Food and arts vendors, music and attendees fill the South Congress Bridge waiting for the Mexican free-tailed bats to emerge. Admission: $7
Aug. 25
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23rd Annual Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival
If helping to crown the best hot sauces in the Austin area sounds intriguing, take time to visit this festival and taste one of its many offerings. Winners are picked for individual entries and commercial bottlers’ entries based on the type of sauce. Admission: free
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tank top & shorts
2
water bottle
3
walking shoes
4
sunglasses
5
reusable shopping bag
{ { { { {
During late summer when temperatures rise past 100, many events outdoors become unbearable when wearing anything other than these essentials. Save the earth, save a body from dehydration and save a wallet from buying expensive water bottles at an event by bringing this essential. Austin’s events are spread throughout the city so walking is necessary to explore. Comfortable shoes can make even the worst day seem better. The Texas sun can be brutal during the spring and summer, and sunglasses will keep eyes protected so that fun can be the focus while attending festivals. As of March 1, plastic bags are no longer available at Austin businesses, so reusable shopping bags are a must for any unexpected shopping trip.
SFC Farmers’ Market Downtown
Deep Eddy Pool Splash Movie Nights
Dozens of farmers and other vendors set up booths in Republic Square Park each weekend to sell their vegetables, jams, fruits, meat, eggs and more. The market is open year-round, rain or shine for Austinites to find healthy, fresh foods.
Splash around at one of Austin’s most popular swimming spots while watching family flicks such as “Kung Fu Panda.” Movies start at dusk, but get there early to stake out a spot at the pool.
Admission: free. For more information, visit www.sfcfarmersmarket.org
4 Photo by Logan Kramer
Long Center to celebrate Independence Day. The Austin Symphony Orchestra begins at 7 pm and the fireworks begin at 9:45 pm, so bring a picnic blanket. Admission: free
Admission: $1-$3 depending on age. For more information, visit http://www. deepeddy.org/
Little Shop of Horrors Bring a picnic blanket or lawn chairs to watch this musical at the Zilker Hillside Theater and experience an Austin tradition that began in 1959. The show runs Thursday-Saturday nights from July 12-August 17. Admission: donations are accepted at intermission. For more information, visit www.zilker.org/
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t s ze r o f
Bright yellow yard signs dot patches of grass throughout West Austin as artists frantically sweep their studio floors, create price tags for their art and arrange their work on folding tables, walls or any other empty space they can find. Soon, bicycles will fill the artists’ yards and their studios will be teeming with Austinites interested in art.
ABOVE: At WEST, Starbuck showed mostly recent paintings involving sports cars underwater. Her pieces involve many layers of stencils and painting. RIGHT: The sign outside Starbuck’s house attracted WEST attendees who drove or biked around West Austin to see artists’ studios. Each artist received a sign to mark their studio as part of the tour.
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These artists participate in West Austin Studio Tour (WEST), an annual event showcasing local artists. WEST began in the spring of 2012, but its sister tour, the East Austin Studio Tour (EAST), began in 2003 as a project of local nonprofit Big Medium. According to their website, Big Medium is “dedicated to supporting visual arts and artists in Texas” by organizing the West and East Austin Studio Tours and Texas Biennial. The tour only runs for two weekends annually, and ran from April 27-28 and May 4-5 this year. Artists have “stops” on the tour at their studios, whether they work in a studio complex or in their home. For artists, the tour serves as a way to showcase their work in a format where they can interact with the people who are interested in their art. “I love for people to see my work but I don’t really want to go through the hassle of courting galleries and all that,” local artist Honoria Starbuck said. “So I participate in things that are really easy
Story and Photos by: Logan Kramer like West Austin Studio Tour [which] I have complete control over.” Starbuck said that after exploring other artists’ art at the East Austin Studio Tour for many years, she heard about the West Austin Studio Tour last year and was excited to join in. “The East Austin Studio Tour is always so exciting,” Starbuck said. “It’s just so stimulating. So I want to give back. I want other people to get what I’ve gotten.” Starbuck had her “stop” on the tour at the studio in her home in West Austin. Starbuck said that receiving feedback during WEST is an important opportunity for her as an artist. As an instructor at the Art Institute of Austin, she encourages her students to not focus on one piece that may not have turned out how they expected, but instead to realize that it’s important to explore and learn from their experiences. “One drawing is just part of an endless series of a lifelong project of making art,” Starbuck said. “So I try to say,
featured artists
28 Artist: Honoria Starbuck Neighborhood: Brentwood Medium: painting Website: http://www.honoriastarbuck.com/
Starbuck created handmade stamps to use in her recent paintings by finding images online, playing around with the images on Photoshop and then rubbing the printed image onto her stamp material.
‘Don’t put too much weight on any one product. Just continue to explore.’ Each thing you make teaches you, and then you can build on what you’ve learned to make the next thing. And that’s just exploration. You can build on those two things to make the next thing. And then you have three things you’ve done. If you did the same thing over and over again, you wouldn’t have learned as much as if you had done three different things.” Starbuck does work in both
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pieces as she answers questions about her process and her work. Ruthie Powers is a local artist who participated in WEST for the first time this year. Last year, Powers retired from her full-time job just before the inaugural WEST, and didn’t have enough time to prepare for the tour. “I just really was so occupied with my job that I didn’t have time to really do art,” Powers said. “But once I retired, I really jumped into doing a lot of creative projects. Having a full-time job
One drawing is just part of an endless series of a lifelong project of making art.
traditional media and iPad drawings. Two years ago, she discovered a drawing application for her iPad called Zen Brush at a pop-up studio at South by Southwest. She spent a year working with the application. For the inaugural WEST, half of the work she showed was from her iPad and half was from traditional media. “Some people were really excited about the iPad drawings or some of them really liked the traditional stuff,” Starbuck said. “It was just interesting to have both types of work there. In a gallery, you couldn’t do that. They would want you to have one or the other.” Just a few miles away from Starbuck’s studio, another artist showcases her work at Mockingbird Domestics. She uses printing plates to create original
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makes it really hard to be an artist.” Powers’s art mainly consists of printmaking on paper and dyeing scarves. Her work with textiles began at a young age when she made many of her own clothes. Later she began quilting, and eventually switched from making traditional quilts to creating art quilts. This led her to dye fabrics. “I took a bunch of different workshops and learned techniques and found books and people who could answer my questions,” Powers said. “And as I started doing dyeing, I just really loved it.” As she explored dyeing techniques and printing on fabrics, Powers began to think about the possibilities of using her methods with
121 Artist: Ruthie Powers Neighborhood: South Lamar Medium: printmaking Website:
http://www.ruthiepowersstudio.com/
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different mediums. “I like to explore, so I thought, ‘I wonder if some of the processes I apply to fabric and textiles, like screenprinting, could be done on paper,’” Powers said. “So that’s how I transitioned over to paper as a main interest. One of the first things I did was I took the dyes that I used to dye fabric and I tried those on paper. It was really interesting.” Soon she experimented by using printing plates rather than screenprinting. Powers now uses printing plates as her main method of printing on paper. “I’m very improvisational,” Powers said. “Many printmakers are very
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Counterclockwise from top right: On the second weekend of WEST, Powers hung up her work in the back room of Mockingbird Domestics. 2. Powers points out details in one of her prints to WEST attendee Jason Abrevaya. After making a new printing plate, Powers usually prints about five copies and then adds more to the plate before printing new copies. 3. A WEST exhibition sign topped the usual sign outside Mockingbird Domestics for two weekends while Powers showed her work in the shop. 4. Dyed scarves sit out on a table for WEST attendees to look through.
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someone says, ‘What are you going to do with that red there?’” Powers said. “I said, ‘Well, I’m going to make it look like if fits in.’ So I added red in other places.” Powers said she appreciates the high caliber of EAST and WEST compared to other art events she has participated in and the format of WEST allows her to set goals in a way that works for her. “I like it that it’s focused on two weekends, because I can really work up to that deadline and put a lot into it,” Powers said. “Then when it’s done, I have a little recovery time. But then I can go on to bigger projects.” While Powers said she loves both the West Austin and East Austin Studio Tours, but acknowledges that artists must have other venues to show, and sell, their art. “I think it is important to have a variety of ways that I can get my art out to people,” Powers said. “I put my stuff in shows when I can. I’m trying different ways of letting people know about my art.
I think it is important to have a variety of ways that I can get my art out to people.
precise and they know what they’re going to do when they go into the printmaking studio. I have some ideas and I have plates made ready to go, but what I like to do is I like to layer colors over each other like I do with dyes on fabric. I just see what happens when the colors combine.” Powers demonstrated her dyeing techniques at WEST this year for two hours on April 27. She said that her demonstrations allow her to create a conversation with those that come to see her work, and allow people to realize that they can make more mistakes. “I remember [last year at WEST] I dropped a bunch of red dye on this scarf, not where I really wanted it, except then
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But I do love the intensity of EAST and WEST.” One of the unique aspects of WEST is the catalog that Big Medium produces each year for the tour. Each artist involved in the tour has a page in the catalog where they can share images of their work, their artist statement and their contact information. Catalogs from the East Austin Studio Tour have become collectors’ items over the years. The catalogs are sold at various WEST stops and include a map for attendees to refer to when trying to find stops on the tour. “One thing that’s cool about these tours is that people have the catalog and they have the map and they
can go through and see artists whose work appeals to them and go visit them directly,” Powers said. “That’s what I did last year during WEST. I looked through the catalog and I said, ‘Oh, I really like this person’s art, so I’m going to go meet them.’ And then later on through the year, I’ve gone back to see what they are doing now.” Both Powers and Starbuck are involved in their own specialized niches in the Austin art community. Powers is a part of Women Printmakers of Austin and works in their studio at the satellite building of the Pump Project art complex on Shady Lane Boulevard near Bolm Road. Starbuck is involved in the local life drawing community, and attends weekly groups that draw from a model. Starbuck said she approximates that there are 20 groups that meet each week. “There’s a whole bunch of people from different walks of life that come together to draw from the model,” Starbuck said. “Since I teach anatomy and I also teach life drawing gestures,
I encourage my students to go to these different groups that draw from the model every week.” Although Starbuck is involved in both local groups and WEST, she also recognizes that the art community around the world creates many opportunities for artists to find inspiration. Starbuck encourages her students at the Art Institute of Austin to be aware of the art that is created worldwide. “So it’s mostly be open to the creative world that we live in right now because with the Internet you can see the work of other artists, whether they’re published or not,” Starbuck said. “You can see it constantly if you just go on the Internet and do a search for anything you want. You’ll find all sorts of people that are doing creative work all over the world and so I try to get my students to say, ‘You are a global citizen and don’t think too small. Really get what’s going on around the world so that you know where your place is in it.’”
want more
?
The 2013 WEST catalog can be found online at the WEST website: west.bigmedium.org
............ Like Big Medium on Facebook to find more information about the East Austin Studio Tour and Texas Biennial
One of Powers’ prints sits atop a table on display at Mockingbird Domestics. The shop sells mostly homewares and prides itself on selling locally-made items.
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Photo on “Flinkr” By SaharaForceIndiaF1Team
Circuit of The Americas: The Impact in Austin
W
ith the swift sound of the machinery, the crowd cheers for their favorite race competitor. The cars whiz as they pass by the spectators eyes. Thousands of aficionados from every corner of the globe are now together in the same place screaming and experiencing one of the best attraction events in Austin.
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Circuit of The Americas is having huge impact on Austin. Recently inaugurated, the race track has brought many benefits to Austin including thousands of fans from all around the world. They’re coming to experience the car’s velocity on the racetrack and other events that are hosted at the Circuit of The Americas. The events that take place at
By: Pablo Villafuerte COTA are projected to generate millions of dollars and help the local economy grow according to Taylor Kelly an assistant media who works at the circuit. “COTA is projected to generate $400-500 million a year, equating to $4 - 5 billion over 10 years for Texas,” said Kelly. The construction of COTA helped many of our local Austinites with
Photo by: Logan Kramer
Photo by: John Neese from “Flickr.com”
This is the Austin 360 Amphitheater located at the Circuit of The Americas, the new location to see the brightest stars. The amphitheater is the base of an observation tower. Both the amphitheater and the tower were designed by Miro Rivera Architects.
their daily working routines. Angel Martin a construction worker was provided with work. “It provided me with work, not only to me, but the F1 project created many jobs which is helpful for our city’s economy,” said Martin. Race tickets make money for the track, but there are also small concerts that attract people to come and have a great time. There have even been spectators who have driven from countries in South America just to witness the events that Circuit of The Americas offers. “As the Live Music Capitol of the World, Austin has a lot to offer when it comes to entertainment and culture,” said Kelly, “Austin is also centrally-located between Mexico and North America.” The track was constructed on the rural areas of the city where the AustinBergstrom International Airport is located. The designers believed that being
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close an airport could make everything easier for the outside aficionados which use the airport as the way of transportation. Austin was also selected because the change of elevations are what make a race track special.
As new events come along more people will fall in love with this track and the amenities it has to offer
This is the Circuit of The Americas observation tower, it measures 251 feet. Spectators climb to the top to have a perfect view of the races. Miro Rivera Achictects desinged the tower and the armphitheater located at the base of the tower.
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“The location of the track is ideal in its proximity to downtown Austin, and international airport,” says Kelly. Austin has grown and received more recognition in recent years. With the creation of the Circuit of the Americas, the city is most likely to keep expanding and become even more recognized as new
FUN FACTS •
A Formula 1 season is viewed by an estimated 520 million people in 187 countries.
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Approximately 800,000 to 1.2 million people are expected to attend events at COTA annually.
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Approximately 300 full-time equivalent jobs will be created by Circuit of The Americas.
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Construction of the 375-acre Circuit of The Americas™ project will cost approximately $400 million in private investment.
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events come along. “Original owners live in the area and recognized the appeal of the city. Austin is a unique city that has quickly gained international appeal,” said Kelly. COTA believes their track will continue to grow. “As new events come along more people will fall in love with this track and the amenities it has to offer,” said Kelly. With 80 percent of its spectators coming from outside of Texas, it can be concluded that the events that take place at the Circuit of The Americas are making people fall in love with them. Not all the spectator who have attended the events are too happy about some things. Efrain Garduno a freshman at LASA High School who attended a race was upset due to the cost of the tickets. Efrain said he thinks that the prices should be cheaper so that a larger demographic can come and witness such a magnificent experience. People from lower economic ranks are unable to attend events at COTA because they cannot afford the tickets. “What can be changed to make the experience more enjoyable is make the tickets cheaper, they are very expensive about $350 a pop for my parents and I,” said Garduno. “Attending the races was not worth $350 for a middle class Mexican family, no way.” Currently, Circuit of the Americas is trying to make their customer’s experience more fascinating. “We are constantly getting feedback from race attendees to see how we can make it a more enjoyable experience,” Kelly said. Although many people may think the experience is not all that fascinating COTA is already being nationally recognized a great place to visit. “The Circuit has been rated among some of the best entertainment venues in America,” Kelly said. Having the circuit built in Austin has changed the city in a lot of ways and it has a lot to offer to the attendees. “Not only does it hold premier motorsports races, it also has worldclass entertainment at its new Austin360 Amphitheater,” Kelly said.
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UPCOMING EVENTS CALENDAR
May 2013 May 5: Zac Brown Band May 17-19 : V8 Supercars May 21: Dave Matthews
June2013
June 9: Mumford And Sons
August 2013 Aug 2: Mayhem Festival Aug 9: Train
September 2013 Sept 18: Maroon 5 Sept 20-21: American Le Mans Series (ALMS)
University of Texas at Austin
What starts here, changes the world
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AUSTIN’S
Breadwinners By: Hannah Marks
Austin’s citizens pride themselves on being unlike any other city in the U.S., or really even the world. Austin is hotspot for local stores. There are your garden-variety chain restaurants. But Austin has an extensive variety of locally-owned restaurants. Non-chain means there is one restaurant location or if there is more than one location, all of the locations are located in the greater Austin area. Escape the endless “chain-restaurant” slump. There are ways to avoid it, especially while visitng Austin, where there are plenty oif ways to avoid the normal
FRANKLIN’S BARBEQUE
Barbeque
Franklin’s started out selling brisket out of a trailer. Since then they have opened their own building, at 900 East 11th Street. Franklin’s has quickly rising in popularity, hailed by some magazines and newspapers as the “Best BBQ in America.” The restaurant runs a little differently than most. It opens at 11a.m. everyday except Mondays, and they stay open till they sell out of the brisket they have made for that day, served on a first-come, first-served basis. People have been known to start lining up at around 8 or 9 a.m. to secure their taste of Franklin’s magnificent brisket.
People campout in front of the restaurant starting very early in the morning to secure their place in line and their lunch of brisket.
THE SALT LICK
Salt Lick has recently been remodeling to update their look. They have added a “Kids Ranch” for kids and a vineyard for wine tasting.
The Salt Lick is a Texas BBQ tradition. If you are in Austin, Texas, and you haven’t been to the Salt Lick, it’s almost criminal. They have been around for around 40 years, still a family owned business, though they have grown. Their home is still the Dripping Springs location, but they do have other, smaller location in the Austin Airport and in Round Rock. They cook their BBQ over an open flame for three hours, fueled with oak wood that helps to give the meat a special flavor and baste their meat at least four times to give it a moist feeling. All these old fashioned techniques have helped raise them to stardom among BBQ.
All of the biographical information on each restaurant was collected from the restaurants’ personal website. For more information on the restaurants, like locations and times, vistit their websites. All photos taken by Hannah Marks.
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Taco Shack originally started out in a shack downtown, though they have expanded to several locations.
Tex-Mex TACO SHACK
Taco Shack sells tacos at cheap price. But while most people would cringe at the idea, Taco Shack deserves a second look. Originally a family owned restaurant, there are now several franchises around the Austin area, due to customer popularity. They make food fast, with friendly service, for a decent pricesomething that’s hard to find nowadays. Juan in a Million has one location and gets quite a bit of business. There is normally a line around lunch time.
JUAN IN A MILLION
Juan in a Million is one of a kind restaurant, with no other like it. Juan in a Million got its start in the summer of 1980, when Juan Meza opened it for the first time. Today, Juan still runs the restaurant with his family. It serves Tex-Mex classics, in large portions at low prices. Add in fast service and a kind staff, and Juan in a Million is off the charts. Best of all, there is the Juan Meza handshake tradition. He is kind owner who loves what he does, walking around the restaurant and greeting all the patrons with his one of a kind handshake. An opportunity not meant to be passed up, Juan in a Million truly is one-in-a-million.
Burgers TOP NOTCH
Top Notch has been in Austin for close to 40 years, on Burnet Road. They cook their “flamed kissed” patties on a grill over charcoal briquettes. The have an old-school vibe to them, from their classic-looking sign, to their old school interior design, to their curbside service option, Top Notch is a great choice for good food and a blast from the past.
Top Notch is one of few remaining restaurants that offers curbside service to its customers.
P. TERRY’S
P. Terry’s is not your typical “fast food” burger stand. Though they can be considered fast food due to their relatively quick service (it’s not a restaurant with staff), they like to call themselves “anti-fast food.” They don’t use meat for their burgers that have chemicals. It’s all natural Angus beef, preservative free. Their fries are cooked in 100 percent canola oil, instead of those oils with trans-fat or hydrogenated oils, so they are still great tasting. Their produce is delivered fresh daily. Austin prides itself on having many healthy alternatives available conveniently for its residents and P. Terry’s is living proof of that. It’s a great burger, Austin-style. It has several locations around the Austin area, so you can find many places to enjoy this variation on the classic burger.
P. Terry’s has six locations around Austin, their original location being drive-thru only.
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Go BATTY For Bats Everything you need to know about bats
By: Pablo Villafuerte Every year from the months of March to April thousands of bats from Mexico immigrate to the north to give birth, they stay under the Congress bridge through the spring, summer and early fall. Every evening during the fall thousands of bats ascend to the sky from the crevices of bridge and begin their journey back to the south forming a black cloud. Many people visit the bridge around that time to experience that magnificent view making it into an annual event.
HISTORY Photo Credit: (C) Karen Marks, Bat Conservation International, www.batcon.org
When engineers first reconstructed the Congress Avenue Bridge in 1980, they never imagined that under the new construction a massive number of bats would grow. At first, the Austin community was scared and petitioned to have the bat colony eradicated. Now, it’s estimated that more than 100,000 people visit the bridge to witness the bat flight, generating $10,000,000 dollars in tourism revenue annually.
This is a typical day at Austin during the fall when people come together to watch the bats ascend to the sky.
Photo by: Joel Sartore
FACTS •
Free-tail bats immigrate from Mexico to Austin to give birth. Most of the population are females.
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At birth the babies weigh one-third as much as their mothers (the equivalent of a human giving birth to a 40-pound newborn baby).
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Female bats give birth around the months of June and July and head back to Mexico around Oct.
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Full grown bats are 2-5 inches long, weigh about one ounce and have 10 inches of wingspan.
This is a picture of bats flying together on their way back to the bridge crevices around sunset.
POPULATION Congress Bridge is home to about 1.5 million bats and the number increases annually.
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DIET Photos by Adam_BT from Flickr.com
Throughout the whole season the bats stay in Austin, they consume about 10,000 to 30,000 pounds of insects. Type of Insects bats eat. • • • • •
Corn ear-worm moths Codling moths June beetles Ants Dragonflies Above are some of the insects that free tail bats consume. On the left is a butterfly and a june beetle on the right. Bats pick up their prey and fly away carring thousands of insects in a period of about seven months.
BAT SCULPTURE Photo taken by Bizer from flickr.com
Many people consider bats as one of their least favorite animals. Here in Austin bats have become loved by the community. The Austin bat sculpture known as “night wing” was revealed on June 12, 1998. It is located on the interception of Congress Avenue and Barton Springs Road. This sculpture is an important symbol to Austin’s culture.
The “night wing” sculpture is 18ft tall and 20ft wide. It is made of purplish aluminum. Dale Whistler desinged the sculpture in 1998.
BAT TOURS Live Love Paddle is specialized in Austin Congress Bridge bat tours. Check out the bat’s nightly departure on a kayak. Photo by livelovepaddle.com
Tour Details • Trip Length: 2-2.5 hours • Minimum Weight: 30lbs • Price: $45 Per Person Extra information Kayaks, paddles, PFDs, and drinking water are provided on every trip! This is a picture of a tour taking place Lady Birth Lake. People take a tour around sunset when bats beging their trip back to Mexico.
For more information about tours and tickets visit the website www.livelovepaddle.com
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Can’t keep a
BookWoman down
Story and Photos By: Hannah Marks
Susan Post, owner of Bookwoman, talks with one of her 5 employees about different aspects of her business. All of her employees are dedicated to the store and Post’s work with the feminsim and LGBTQ communities.
M
usic plays softly in the background and the musty, homey smell of books lingers in the air. The door opens, and a small bell chimes overhead. Customers mill around languidly, a sense of urgency blissfully absent. A greeting floats out from behind the counter as Susan Post walks around to greet the customer who has just arrived at BookWoman, Post’s feminist bookstore.
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“I consider myself kind of stubborn,” Post said. “So it’s maintained but with a lot of help from the community and from my partner.” Feminist bookstores began around the late 1960s to the early 1970s. According to the Women’s Studies on Feminist Bookstores, in the 1970s, there were 77 feminist bookstores just getting started. By the 1990s, the number had increased to 124. Today, there are around 15 feminist bookstores left in the U.S. As the voracious nature of the feminist movement loses steam, it seems that feminist bookstores all over the U.S. are closing their doors. BookWoman is the only feminist bookstore left in the state of Texas. “We’ve been the only one in Texas for quite a while,” Post said. “We were one of the first and we’re still going.” Post wasn’t the original driving force behind the opening of BookWoman, but that doesn’t mean that she’s not dedicated to the store now. Though, she was involved at the beginning of
Post supports World Book Night, an event to raise interest in reading among the public. Books are donated then handed out for free.
BookWoman has a very unique front to their store making it hard to miss when you dirve by. Bright and vividly colored, their windows are adorned with many different knick-knacks, such as an LGBTQ flag, posters relalted to feminsm, and strings of lights.
the journey to open the store. “I started volunteering three hours a week,” Post said. “And almost 40 years later, I’m working 60
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in Austin,” Post said. “They wanted to get word out to have a meeting to create a collective that would start a feminist bookstore in
I was a very shy person and just finding this feminist community.
hours a week.” A friend of Post’s was the proprietor of BookWoman, or as it was originally known The Common Woman Bookstore. The idea for a feminist store in Texas unearthed itself when Post’s friend and another woman went on a road trip through the U.S. visiting feminist bookstores. “They came back very keen on creating one
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Austin, Texas. And other feminist bookstores, they were popping up like mushrooms, everywhere.” Post’s friend wanted Post to help with the store and order books for the store, because Post, at the time, had a job working at the UT library. Post didn’t know how to order books, and wasn’t originally eager to help out. “I was a very shy person and just finding this
feminist community and had a lot of obligations at home,” Post said. “I just wasn’t sure I wanted to do it.” Post’s friend didn’t relent. She asked Post to come to the meetings they were hosting, to lay down the schematics of the store. Post turned the offer down. Her friend asked her again, every week. Post came after being asked for the third time. While she couldn’t order books, she decided to volunteer to help them out in any other way she could supply them. “I told them I didn’t know how to order books but I was willing to do other things,” Post said. “Actually, we were donated a space that had been firebombed on the Drag, at 21st and Guadalupe [Streets]. The woman’s house where we went to [for
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Fun Facts: •
Started around 1973
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Is around 40 years old
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Located at 5501 North Lamar, between North Loop and Koenig
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Considered a “feminist” bookstore because they promote feminism and feminist literature.
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Sells books, T-shirts, jewelry, cards, bookmarks, LGBTQ support memorabilia
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Is the last feminist bookstore in Texas
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One of the last 15 feminist bookstores in the U.S
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Has moved store locations more than 5 times!
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Feminism is promoted to males and females
meetings] was learning to be a carpenter. She volunteered to remodel the store and I didn’t really have any expertise even though I worked in the library, so I was just her gopher.” The store since then has moved to almost five different locations around Austin. They are now housed at 5501 North Lamar, between North Loop and Koenig. Post said they have faced their challenges while trying to survive in Austin as a small feminist bookstore, especially
ready for one of the early moves, she looked at the 6th Street area. “I answered an ad,” Post said. “There was a vacant space owned by a bar owner. I was told that he didn’t want to rent to ‘a bunch of common women’ in a very derogative manner. So, he said ‘Absolutely not, no way, I don’t have to.’” Post didn’t let this stop her though. She scoured the classifieds. She even started to work with a real
at a time when women were seen as inferior to men. Post faced her fair share of sexism when trying to move her store. When getting
estate agent. “A real estate agent picked me up from my home and drove me downtown to show me the space,” Post said. “He stopped right at the exact same spot.” Post explained to the agent that this landlord had refused to rent the space to her. Stuart, the agent, suggested he talk to the potential landlord. This was around 1977. Stuart said his young wife had trouble getting credit in her own name. He decided to stand up for Post. “He came back,” Post said, “and he said ‘I had a man-to-man talk with him. I told him, ‘This is so offensive. You can’t be prejudice. You have to let them in.’ So the lease was signed, but the man had to work in our behalf. I ran into him [years later], like at Whole Foods, and he ended up apologizing.” Post gained a small victory that day, though the bar owner required that
Post never stops helping out the Austin feminist community through her work at BookWoman. She allots a great portion of her time every day to this store and its community.
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Post change the name. Thus, BookWoman was reborn. Since then the store has moved at least three different times for different reasons. It continues to live on, though, no matter the location. The store has five employees, including Post. Sarah Bading, an employee of BookWoman, says she loves her job, and not just because she is selling books. “I think what I love most about working here is that I’m serving in a positive way,” Bading said. “I find personally it’s nice to work for organizations that do good in the world and I believe that Susan has done so much good.” BookWoman doesn’t just sell books to help raise awareness of the lesbian community and the feminist movement. BookWoman also hosts many events, ranging from concerts to poetry readings to author visits with book signings. Ari Tolany, a teenage customer who regularly visits BookWoman, has attended many events, and she says she enjoys the eclectic book selection. “I went to this poetry reading there,” Tolany said. “It was just really interesting to hear all of this stuff people had written. After a while, people ran out of poetry, and started performing.” E l i z a b e t h
Kasprowicz, another customer, has been visiting BookWoman for almost 30 years. She, too, was drawn in by the unique feminist aspect. “I read books from a lot of different sections there,” Kasprowicz said. “But they would be from women from different ethnicities and different cultures and different places around the world, either facing challenges or talking about success that
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movement as women gain more rights and the advancements in “e-reading” technology, BookWoman is working hard to stay afloat and to compete for business. “I guess it is sad sometimes to see people not care about books,” Bading said. “It’s challenging because people don’t buy books as much as they used to. It’s hard to just keep it going, to come up with new ideas because
I’m such an American girl. I’m so Americanized. I’m so lucky, I forget what it’s like to be a woman in other parts of the world.
they have had in their lifetime because I’m such an American girl. I’m so Americanized. I’m so lucky, I forget what it’s like to be a woman in other parts of the world.” Kasprowicz also has a more personal connection with the store. “My mom has a couple of poetry books there,” Kasprowicz said. “I think she actually read at BookWoman as well.” While BookWoman is still alive and kicking, unlike most feminist bookstore today, they do still face their fair share of troubles. With the fading of the feminist
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it’s been the way technology is pushing us to the digital word.” BookWoman approaches its 40th anniversary this year. A
milestone for the small, privately owned bookstore and the community is one of the biggest reason that BookWoman has been able to survive in this rapidly changing society. “We are coming on to our 40th anniversary,” Post said. “So, I am beginning to think about having a celebration/benefit to really commemorate 40 years for BookWoman, which is pretty amazing.” BookWoman has a mission: to better inform the community, both women and men, on the issues of feminism. “We’re there to serve women, so we have to have the books that they want,” Post said. “And men. Feminism wants to elevate everyone. So, as a feminist bookstore, we want to promote books by/about/for women and make it comfortable place for women to gather and to gather information. But also, women will never be equal unless men are equal, too.”
BookWoman sells more than just books., but also tee shirts and jewlery, as well as cards and novelty items. It is a way for BookWoman to increase business revenue while keeping to their feminist aspect.
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