Flying Through Austin by LASA Ezine

Austin

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CREDIT: Photos by: Gabriel C. Pérez, DALIA AZIM , The ama group, the university of texas system, chilaquil, mike johnson, and roger ho.

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MEET THE MAIZIE

Hi, my name is Maizie! I did my Ezine project on music in Austin, and I called people who work on the radio about their expertise in being producers. I do art, I play music, and I do a lot of sports. I have been doing music for a long time, so I have been really interested in it. I want to become a producer when I grow up. I don’t know if I want to go to college, but I would like to do something in the music field. Something interesting about me is i’ve been drawing for 8 years and playing music all my life.

SEBASTIAN

SADIE

Hello! My name is Sadie Henderson, and I am 15 years old. One of the things that I enjoy is art, specifically street art and art around Austin, so both my feature story and my ASF is street art related. After I graduate high school, I would like to explore something into engineering, specifically aerospace engineering in college, however I am still undecided. One thing that is interesting about me is that I can not go scuba diving because I am allergic to ocean water and a mixture of sunlight.

Hello my name is Sebastian Cora. I was going to write about venues and hosts, and like festivals and stuff but ended up not working at all. So I’m just talking about recreational things in Austin. My favorite hobbies, always just playing baseball. Also playing video games because they’re just both fun. My dream job is to be an aerospace engineer because I like building stuff. One interesting fact about me is that I have Crohn’s disease.

LYDIA

E EDITORS EMANUEL

Hey, my name is Lydia and for my Ezine project, I chose to write about local museums in Austin. For my feature story, I focused more on the impact Covid has had on these local museums. In my free-time, I like to sleep, play video games, and play the violin. After I graduate, I’d probably become a surgeon, but I don’t really know yet. Something interesting about me is that I’m an only child.

FROM THE EDITORS

Hi! I’m Emanuel! For my group Ezine I decided to focus on hispanic and black owned small businesses in Austin because of the culture surrounding it. Some of my hobbies include playing the flute and reading to chill out. After I graduate, I want to enter the Air Force for around a 5-year period, then I will go to college to get a bachelor’s degree for aerospace engineering. A thing that is interesting about me is that I own a lot of pets, I own five dogs, six cats, and 15 birds in total.

WE JUST WANTED TO THANK YOU FOR READING THIS MAGAZINE WE’VE PUT TOGETHER! WE PUT SO MUCH WORK INTO IT AND HAVE HAD SO MUCH FUN MAKING IT! WE HOPE THIS MAGAZINE WILL HELP BROADEN YOU VEIWS ON AUSTIN. ENJOY!

Gue

Match th

ess The Artist

he fact to the artwork! Austin is known for its street art and the artists who create it, but how well do you know your city?

Photo credit to BombingScience

1) Todd Sandars: Actually found his passion for his main medium today, neon signs, while driving a tiny yellow VW. 2) Nathan Nordstrom: Has been doing street art and supporting the graffiti culture in Austin for over 30 years and grew from a vandal to a professional comission artist. 3) Brad Maxfield: Thinks of his art as a more emotionally connected experience and tries to evoke emotion in viewers. Often he tries using colors and symbols to depict certain feelings and tones. Photo credit to Gino Barasa, 6Street

Key: Photo credit to SprATX

C) Brad Maxfield B) Todd Sandars A) Nathan Nordstrom

Artists Behind The Aura Who Made Austin What It is Today?

By Sadie Henderson A finished mural by Nathan “Sloke” Nordstrom Photo Courtesy of Nordstrom 10

You’re driving through downtown Austin. Live music blares slightly louder than your radio as you brake at a red light. You take this second of equilibrium to look around. The first thing you notice is the mural on the side of the restaurant next to you, or maybe the graffiti on the freight train, or maybe even the glowing signs on buildings a few addresses down. The colors around the city make it pop. Murals jump out from the edges of buildings as you pass by, colorful lights cast tinted shadows on crosswalks, feathered sprayed strokes cut into the fronts of red bricks. To many of the locals here, art is Austin. For that you can thank some of the creators, Nathan (Sloke) Nordstrom, Todd Sanders, and Brad Maxfield. All creators have a different story, but they connect to the same culture. Todd Sanders grew up an artist but ended up majoring in graphic design and going into a neon company and art studio. He worked for a couple years until he finally decided he missed art, so he bought an abandoned corner shop and made it into his studio for sign work in 1997.

kept moving forward and working towards where they are today to earn the respect for the entire art aspect of Austin. Nathan Nordstrom grew up in Austin while he developed a passion for graffiti, his love of skateboarding allowed him to cruise through underpasses and alleys to build his skills until they became marketable in the early 2000’s. “Well, it’s for the public,” Sloke said “I painted for me, and for the culture, for my friends, and other graffiti writers and I always knew that it was a very difficult craft to master and learn, So whenever people would frown upon me for using a spray paint can I would always tell them ‘You try.’ You’d see how difficult it is.” Criticism wasn’t the only challenge to overcome in the community though, the subcultures were struggling too. Many of the local artists claim that their communities were so small that they weren’t even noted at all. A lot of people disregarded art as a waste of time or money, a lot of people questioned why we even needed art, and a lot of creators struggled while trying to prove that art was integral to the city. Even though some people started with conflicts concerning law enforcement, it was sometimes the only way to even get their name out there or practice their passions.

"You really had to earn respect. You really worked for it It was difficult but I did.” - Sloke

“I just love Austin. I love the city. I love the energy,” Sanders said ‘’I love Texas, and it’s the only city in Texas that I can live in.” Even though these artists are successful now, the come up wasn’t easy. Austin hasn’t always been so supportive, especially of street artists and new sub-genres of creation. Many artists claim that their practice was looked down upon by the public, law enforcement, or even early customers themselves. The motivation to push through and prove the importance and meaning in art was slim, but they

“Some of it can be vandalism and destructive. But there’s also an art aspect to it, and also a lot more than just writing your name.” Sloke said. The cultural shift in Austin has changed the overall view of the city and made it a safe and supporting11

Over the time that this community of people has flourished, people recognize the change that has occurred in the city. Sloke, Maxfield, and Sanders all agree that there has been a shift in artistic views since the 1990’s or so. Now, anywhere you turn you’ll find a piece of artwork, most of the time that was created locally. “I mean 30 years ago, I would have said this is a tough place to make art,” Sanders said, “But more and more with the lofts and the people moving here from other parts of the country. It’s becoming more supportive to individual artists. If you can make the costs work for you. It’s a fantastic place to be.” Although the art community is strong right now, we can’t forget about who carries the legacy, future artists. Many students in Austin, even a lot at LASA have looked into, or want to pursue art in their career paths. The foundation for these young artists is strong, but the community is always growing. When asked to give advice to future artists Sloke explains the best way to enter the graffiti community, or any subgenre really, is to know the history and

Todd Sanders works on a neon sign in his studio Roadhouse Nathan Sloke Nordstrom stands in front of a Relics Photo Courtesy of Matthew Johnson, Culture Trip. completed graffti mural in Austin Texas Photo Courtesy of Bill Salans place for artists to flourish. Brad Maxfield grew up

in Texas and ended up a graphic designer until he met his current best friend, Kristin. She helped him connect with his inner street artist and he decided to start doing murals. Maxfield explained, although it might not be easy to make it here, it’s become a lot more frequent to see a street artist or creator on a day to day basis. This community has even brought artists from all over Texas together, which makes for an even stronger foundation. When you mix styles and skill levels together to create something you get more than just a piece of art. “You go and paint for 30 minutes, you get tired, you stand up, stretch, and then you end up having a little dance off or something.” Maxfield said, “It’s just so much more fun to be there with your friends. And I just think life is like that. We’re meant to be community based, social creatures.” 12

Bradford Maxfield paints a mural for the Its Your Town event in Austin Texas Photo Courtesy of Alex Seemefeedmereadme founders behind the style. “We live in a generation where you just Google it,” Sloke said, “There’s plenty of information online. And somebody did invent it, and then somebody added to it and elaborated upon it, and then that style grew. That’s how things survive. You know, so it’s good. It’s good to know what you’re doing.”

“always try new techniques. Don’t be afraid to go outside of your style. That’s one thing that I wish that I tried more.” Overall, Austin artists have built an amazing and supportive community for upcoming creators, and have made art an integral part of the city.

"I enjoy art is because theres so much of it. theres so many different types”

Another way to build upon yourself as a creator is to immerse yourself in your interests surrounding art. Maxfield explains that the best way to find who you are, or where you fit in in the art community is to experiment, and never be afraid to try whatever looks like something you might resonate with. “Just surround yourself in art constantly,” Maxfield said,

The effort and process that went into, and still goes into, the underlying aura of the city was created out of passion and is bound to expand as more and more people show interest in art career paths. The hardships artists have faced in the past have translated into what we see and will see in the future concerning the beautiful works in the city. Austin creates, encourages and houses art. 13

- Maxfield

IT’S

TACo TACo

By: Emanuel Salazar

tuesday

A Closer Look To Austin’s Best Tacos

Breakfast Marcelino’s is a family owned business that has been passed down through three generations. This taco oasis is located close to dowtown Austin. They offer traditional Mexican cuisine while adding a small twist of their own to original recipes, making them incredibly special. Courtesy of Marcelino’s

Lunch Torchy’s is definitely a pioneer in Austin’s food truck industry. It rightfully deserves a place in this list. As for their foods, they have a variety of different tacos with a special option to make them “trashy”, meaning they’ll add nacho cheese on top.

Courtesy of Torchy’s

Dinner El Chillito has become loved by the whole Austin comunnity because of the special touch they add to traditional dishes while keeping the homemade taste. This restaurant also serves various vegetarian and gluten-free options. Courtesy of El Chillito

Small Business Story of Marcelino’s, a family owned business

Great Taste By Emanuel Salazar

alking through the busy streets of Austin Texas, your stomach begins to get hungry. You hear it rumble and start looking for a place to eat. You decide to eat something more affordable than downtown food so you head to smaller neighborhoods. Suddenly your nose picks up the smell of fresh-made fajitas. You turn the corner and find a small neighborhood restaurant that feels just right. As you enter and smell the different dishes you know that you have made the right choice. It all started in the year 1967 when Maria Raquel Alvarez Olvera immigrate to the US. Later on, she met her husband Hernandez Vargas. The Vargas family eventually moved to East Austin ann bought a house on 901 Tillery Street. The family opened a small corner store that offered traditionally Mexican food that was made by Maria in her free time to bring an extra income to the family. Eventually, this became a whole business of its own. 16

In the year 2009,w they changed their name from “Abarrotes Mexicanos” to “Marcelino´s Pan y Vino” but today is most commonly known as “Marcelino´s”. Eventually, this became the on the way of income for the business and now the business has been passed down to three generations. “The goal of our business is to become part of the community,” Luis Perez said, one of the owners of Moreno’s,” We want everyone that comes to Austin to have something familiar to come to. Not just some new fancy restaurant that appeared out of nowhere.” According to Visit Austin,” Austin received more than 27.4 million visitors in the year 2017”. Tourism in Austin has grown drastically over the years creating a major business opportunity for the city. Marcelino’s official logo. Photo courtesy to Marcelio’s

events or citation.”

“We try to help local schools and organizations”, Perez said. “We try to make a difference by providing free food for local for teachers depending on their

Perez stated,” We have a strong feeling about education.” ” When my grandparents traveled to the US they had not had many opportunities due to their lack of education. Now that we have the resources to

The inside of Marcelino’s. Photo courtesy to Marcelino’s

do it we feel like it’s our duty to help anyone who needs it.” Texas has at least 191,000 kids that don’t receive breakfast before school starts.”, According to No Kid Hungry.” This could greatly affect their academic readiness” “We tried to help our community in every way we can.”, Perez said.,” Even if it’s providing free food we feel like we are putting out the grain of salt to make the difference.” Even though this family business affects their community in various positive ways, they are still affected by current events occurring in the world such as the covid-19 pandemic. According to the owner and some employees, their business has been facing one of its toughest

times. They are struggling to pay bills but most importantly to connect with the community. “I feel like we have grown apart as a community,” Perez said. “I miss having customers come inside our restaurant and hear all the stories they told. We used to only be able to serve to-go orders for a long time since our restaurant is fairly small. During those times work felt a lot different. You would lack the stories people told but most importantly the people themselves.” 17

ccording to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 47 percent of small businesses had to be closed for over a month during the pandemic. This affected businesses in a powerful way since they had to let go of some of their workforces. When asked what the hardest part of the pandemic was for the restaurant, Perez said.,” Letting go of employees was the hardest part by far. Our restaurant is family-owned but even though some of our employees are not related to us we still consider them part of our family.” “The part that made it even harder was the fact that 100 percent of our employees were minorities.”, Perez said. ”We try to help minorities around Austin since we were once part of them. You know growing up in Austin, all the way from Elementary school to Highschool, most of my friends were always part of minorities. I feel like Hispanic communities have done everything they could to keep life moving forward although sometimes that’s not enough.”

”Austin

Sence of community is what really makes Austin what it is” 18 - Luis Perez

The U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics collects data for every single state of the U.S to calculate the impact that minorities have on the US economy. According to them, about 37.4% of the Texas workforce is made of Hispanic or Latino individuals. This is not counting the enormous amount of immigrants that are not registered in the system therefore not being able to be represented. “I was born and raised in Austin Texas”, Perez said. “I’ve lived here my entire life so I’ve seen many different changes in our community.” “A great part of Austin is made out of Hispanic and Larin American communities.”, Perez said. ”I feel like together as a community we have always supported the city, and on a national level the Hispanic community has supported the entire country. You know we are usually the ones that do the work that a lot of people don’t want to do and that is extremely important for the US.” “The sad part about a lot of this is that together as a community we are being pushed out of Austin”, Perez said. “This is because the cost of living has increased a lot leading to Gentrification. We feel blessed that we are able to afford to live here in Austin. One of our other goals as a business is to highlight true and authentic Mexican culture to our neighbors.” Gentrification is the process in which smaller businesses and minority communities are pushed out of major cities. This is caused because the cause of living increases in various areas, especially near downtown. According to an article that was published by spectrum news there had been a decline in blackowned businesses in Austin. Around 41 percent of the exiting business closed during that period which

was twice the amount compared to white-owned businesses. “Since our restaurant has been passed down through three generations at this point we feel like we have kept the same taste of our families’ recipes.”, Perez said. “We offer food that has been made this way for many years. This gives our food the homemade taste that we achieve for.”

On Top, graffiity art on dowtown austin. Photo courtesy to visit Austin

“We will always be there for the Austin community.” Perez said. “Because to us they are all family. The closeness feel of community is what makes Austin Austin and that is something that I want to last forever. ” As you leave the store you feel completely satisfied. There is a sense of peace that surrounds you. It feels as if you remembered something that had been long gone. The feeling of being in a place so familiar surrounded by laughter and jokes. Most importantly the food was delicious and your stomach is completely full. You are now ready to take on whatever the day throws at you. The outside of Marcelino’s. Photo courtesy to Marcelino’s

MUST SEE MUSEUMS!

5 traveler picked favorite locations By Lydia Du All graphics by Lydia Du

The contemporary Austin: laguna Gloria 3809 W 35th St, Austin, TX 78703 Ticket Price: $10.00 and under, free on Thursdays Website: https://thecontemporaryaustin.org/ Formerly known as the AMOA-Arthouse at Laguna Gloria, the Contemporary Austin: Laguna Gloria is the site of a 1916 Italianate-style villa on the shores of Lake Austin in Austin, Texas. It has a magnificent sculpture exhibit, including artist Tom Friedman’s 33-foot stainless steel sculpture, Looking Up.

Bullock Texas State history museum 1800 Congress Ave, Austin, Tx 78701 ticket price: $9.00-$13.00 Website: https://thestoryoftexas.com Located a few blocks north of the Texas State Capitol, this museum is dedicated to interpreting the continuing “Story of Texas” and presenting it to a large variety of audience through impactful educational explanations. 20

thinkery children’s Museum 1830 Simond Ave, Austin, TX 78723 ticket price: $12.oo and under website: https://thinkeryaustin.org The well-loved Thinkery museum is Austin’s home for “why” and “how” questions. Founded in 1983, its mission is to educate children about STEAM topics through many interactive exhibits, storytimes, and indoor and outdoor play spaces.

Mexic-Arte Museum 419 Congress Ave, Austin, TX 78701 ticket price: $1.00-$5.00, free on Sundays Website: https://mexic-artemuseum.org/ The Mexic-Arte Museum is a fine arts museum located inside the Frost Bank Tower. Its goal is to educate its visitors through its programs and collections of Mexican, Latino, and Latin American art and culture.

Blanton Museum of Art 200 E Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Austin, TX 78712 ticket price: $12.00 and under website: https://blantonmuseum.org Located at the University of Texas, the Blanton museum is one of the largest university art museums in the U.S. Exhibits include the eye catching “Ellsworth Kelly’s Austin” building. 21

Installation view of Black Is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite, Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, June 27– September 19, 2021. courtesy of Dalia Azim.

useums

from home?

How Austin Museums have responded to the deadly virus that took over the whole world

et camera up, press record, do the assigned science experiment, post to website. Instead of touring a colorful, activity-filled building with excited families, a worldwide pandemic caused your entire job as a museum staff member to be done in the kitchen of your home. Stepping back into the building after months made it feel like it was your first day on the job again. Many museums in Austin were forced to shut down for a period of time to stop the spread of COVID-19 after the virus had appeared in the city in March 2020. In the fall of the same year, the risk was fading, so they reopened. However, because of the long duration in which the museums were only online, many new problems had risen when returning to the buildings.

By Lydia Du The Harry Ransom Center serves as an archive, library and museum, and is located at the University of Texas at Austin. Due to the variety of resources provided, many researchers from around the world have looked to its collections as useful sources. Stephen Enniss has been the Director and Curator of the Ransom Center since 2013 and says that some of the biggest challenges that the Ransom Center has faced were travel-related. “When we first shut down, we had researchers in residence from the UK, South Africa, and France, and travel bans were the first challenge,” Enniss said. “We had collection materials traveling for exhibition in Germany and South Africa, and arranging the safe return of those materials was another immediate challenge. As the closure stretched on, all staff were working remotely

without access to the collections themselves.” Enniss said that due to these challenges, the Ransom Center drew upon digitizing its content and eliminating fees for digital reproductions. The Harry Ransom Center is looking forward to welcoming researchers back. Thinkery is a children’s museum that focuses on providing science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) education through hands-on activities. It shut down in March 2020 and reopened during Labor Day weekend the same year. Its Director of Marketing and Communications, Jeff Dellinger, said that the museum’s largest source of income was absent during the six months they were closed.

Frida Kahlo’s Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, 1940. Courtesy of the Harry Ransom Center.

“Our primary revenue, particularly pre-COVID, came from ticketing revenue,” Dellinger said. “People [were] actually coming to the museum and going through the exhibits and paying to do so. Being closed for six months, much like so many other businesses who suffered during the pandemic, presented a real challenge for us in terms of just being able to stay viable as an organization.” However, since Thinkery is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization, they still received donations and pandemic relief opportunities from the state and federal governments and were able to reopen again in September 2020. The Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin is another well-known locale that also faced financial difficulties. Dalia Azim has been the Special Projects manager of the museum since 2017. She said that having a smaller budget while trying to keep all staff employed at the same time made it an even bigger challenge for them. “We had to prioritize keeping staff employed, but at the same time, we were making less money, because a 24

significant source of the museum’s budget comes from admissions and membership and things that we weren’t able to do for five months,” Azim said. “The way that we were able to balance the budget and keep everybody on staff was essentially to cut programs … We made our nonpermanent exhibitions, the ones that are downstairs galleries, longer … We also cut all public programs for a couple of years and won’t launch them again until 2023, so a lot of things that were costing us money that we weren’t able to provide to the community we basically put on hold.”

and we will resume our popular public exhibitions. But the potential for online delivery is ever-present, and we expect to provide robust online programming alongside our in-person events.”

In order to overcome these obstacles that the pandemic had placed, museums had to come up with new ways in order to continue operating upon their returns to the public.

“We developed a whole vertical of video featurettes called ‘Thinkery at Home’, which still exist on our website,” Dellinger said. “[It’s] where our museum staff are in their houses or apartments, but we’re filming different activities and science experiments that we then posted online so that families could do [them] at home. The idea was that even though we were closed, we were still open for business in terms of helping to educate kids and give parents opportunities to play and learn with their children outside of remote schooling.”

The Ransom Center was lucky, as they were already non-profit pre-pandemic and had funding from the University of Texas and generous friends and members of the museum. This led to them being largely unaffected by the pandemic, and Enniss said that they will be able to go back to their previous functions just fine, but still keep their online programs up to cater to those who are unable to visit in person. “The collections are at the heart of everything we do; therefore we do anticipate resuming the kinds of activities we engaged in pre-pandemic,” Enniss said.

“We will once again welcome researchers into the reading room, we will teach from the collections,

Dellinger said that there were two major changes that Thinkery had to make to their marketing strategies after the museum had gone back in person. Since the museum was unable to provide in-person interactivity, they had to come up with new ways to educate their audience during the six months they weren’t in the building.

After reopening on Labor Day weekend, Thinkery had to come up with a new way to monitor the museum due to the risks of the virus spreading. “We reopened with a modified experience, called ‘Path to Play’,” Dellinger said. “In [previous] times, you would come into the museum, and you could go anywhere you wanted, spend whatever amount of time you wanted to spend. Whatever drew your kids’ attention, you could hang out there for as

Visitors explore “Currents”, the water exhibit, at the Thinkery Children’s Museum. Courtesy of Thinkery.

long as you wanted, and then you could make your way throughout the museum at your own pace and on your own schedule. Because of the limitations of COVID, due to both capacity and social distancing, we had to reimagine the in-person experience.” Dellinger said that Thinkery’s Path to Play model helped control the distance between different groups of visitors in order to minimize the risks of COVID-19. “There was a designated sequence in which guests would move through the museum and they’d have 15 minutes in each exhibit to play or to explore or to do whatever, but you went from [exhibit] A to B to C to D, E, F. We had a couple of different paths. We would start a Path to Play session every half hour, so that way we were able to control how many people were in a given part of the

museum at a given time. The first group goes through, and they’re at station C by the time the next group comes in.” Thinkery’s Path to Play ran until December 2020, when Thinkery had to shut down again. They reopened in early 2021 with their original model and have been consistently open since then. The Blanton Museum created new jobs for its staff during the five months it was closed, as they were determined to not have to let anyone go due to the pandemic. “The biggest shift [was] especially for people whose jobs are essentially all focused on museum operations, like the Gallery Assistants, who are the ones guarding the collection, and the Visitor Services staff, who are the ones welcoming and selling tickets and guiding people through the

museum,” Azim said. “For them– this is something I worked on a lot– we came up with research projects and things that we didn’t normally have time for when we were fully operational, but my boss, the director of the museum, was really committed to keeping everybody employed.” Azim’s work during this period of time was reassigning duties to all of the Blanton Museum’s frontline staff. She and her team are proud that they were able to keep all of their staff even when the museum could only be showcased online. Many museums in Austin as of 2022 have been opened again to the public. Although there are new rules set in place due to COVID-19, they are still ready to be visited and enjoyed again.

WHYIS IsAUSTIN

AUSTINSO

By Sebastian Cora

WEIRD?

a closer look on Austin’s hottest catchphrase Photo Courtesy by ACL

In 1970s, Austin was a hub for struggling artists, and in 1976, Austin City Limits started to air on live television to the world featuring local artists, popularizing Austin even more. Some people like to point at this date at state that this is when Austin’s “Weirdness” started.

1976 Photo Courtesy by KOOP RadioPhoto Then, in 2000, it just took the Austin Community College Liberarian, Red Wassenich, to call the KOOP Radio show to say these iconic words, “I don’t know, to Keep Austin Weird,” after being asked why hes donating to the radio show.

2000 Courtesy by Waterloo Records and the Book People After that, a slogan was born. Small local Austin companies started to use those iconic words to urge locals to buy local. Waterloo Records and BookPeople started to print out bumper stickers to the people of Austin saying, “Keep Austin Weird” along with the tagline “Support Local Buisnesses”

2002 26

Photo Courtesy by Across The Margin Even after more than two decades, the saying “Keep Austin Weird” is one of Austin’s centerpieces. It is still used today like in the graphic above. This graphic is taken from a scene in “Dazed and Confused” with Matthew McConaughey saying the lines, “It would be cooler if you did.”

2015 Photo Courtesy by Sweet Water Living

The popular, “Keep Austin Weird” T-shirt was created! 2003 27

The

Army’s

New

The building in downtown austin where AFC is located Photo Courtesy by The Business Journals and UT

Groove By Sebastian Cora

How the Army’s Research and Development Sectors are so interested in Austin.

AFC’s New Logo Photo Courtesy by the U.S Army

Army Futures Command (AFC) is a research and development sector of the army that was created by four-star general Mike Murray on July 1st of 2018. AFC deals in different technologies that can be implemented in the battlefield and was made to reform the Army’s different research and development sectors. Out of all of the 386 metropolitan areas, Austin was chosen. Mike Smith, a highly qualified expert working directly with General Mike Murray, was one of the people who were in charge of the city picking process, and currently he is the president of Remount Consulting. He further explains what AFC is and what it takes to be in AFC. “The purpose of establishing Army Futures Command was to place all of the elements necessary to modernize the army under a single four Star Command,” Smith said. “Over about the past 40 years, the various elements necessary to modernize force completely, were broken out among two different

four star commands. So army senior leaders decided to establish a single command with a four star general to manage all of those elements.”

Smith further explains what the process was to pick Austin out of all of the 381 available cities that they can use.

When you are in AFC, you must have great knowledge of STEM in order to be part of it because you have to understand lots of future concepts related to technology and science. “In order to have a workforce in the headquarters that can understand the technology and the scientific and technical aspects of the future capabilities.”

“The Secretary of the Army gave us some criteria that they were looking for, which was primarily oriented on locating in a place that has an innovation culture,” Smith said. “That has a workforce that we might want to be able to get some people into the

“

Mike Wong, a Staff Judge Advocate for AFC during their early years, later confirmed that one of the reasons why they chose Austin for AFC is because of the innovative people that are around here. “They had a very tight-knit group of innovative people who are all in one area,” Wong said. “You could walk down the street and there would be people who are innovative and you could just go into a coffee shop and run into people who were being very innovative and coming up with new ideas.”

The attempt with Army Futures Command was that we would have this STEM workforce,

“

n engineer looks up at a building in downtown Austin, he looks at the title of the building itself “The University of Texas Systems” he thinks to himself the road he has been up to this point all they way to being stationed here for the new sector called “Army Futures Command” he then opens the door into the world of technology.

One of the cities that were in the top 5 for AFC, Minneapolis in Minnesota. Photo Courtesy by Getty Images

headquarters itself and not be on a military installation.” Once he got the Secretary of the Army’s permission, they first looked at the business aspects of the various 386 metropolitan areas and to have a location that has easy access for others to access their headquarters. “An MSA is basically a geographic location defined by the Department of Commerce that is organized around all of the business aspects of various locations. So there’s 386, MSA is in the United States, and

made a unilateral decision to just not worry about the top half of them.” Once they eliminated more than half of the cities to 150, then they considered the technological talent that is near their headquarters. “The first thing we did is we said proximity to talent,” Smith said. “We looked at the size of the work pool of technology talent in nine

specific areas, based on criteria from the Department of Labor, or use nine specific job skills, basically, engineers, software, guys, software developers, both hardware, firmware, and then transient software.” They would soon narrow down those 150 cities to 20, and then they checked out the quality of life of the city. That means looking at the housing prices, how much traffic

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“We We started out with the 386 metropolitan statistical areas in the United States,” 30

LTG Eric Wesley talking to Austin Officials Photo Courtesy by the U.S. Army

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“Our last criteria was we took quality of life,” Smith said. “For quality of life, we actually use the AARP livability index, because well, a AARP is nominally for people 50 and older, they actually do an annual liveability index for pretty much all of the United States. And so we’re able to take those 20 STEM areas that we had, and then rank those based on quality of life.” Once they got that data they split the 20 cities to 15, and then they sent a list of things that they would want in a city and they would want a response back in three weeks, then they would make a top 5 from the best responses.

They wanted to put it out there in a city, but also they had a lot of different technology

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there is in the city, etc.

The current Staff Judge Advocate for AFC, Jose Cora, agreed with the decision to be in Austin and was fascinated with all of the “Incubators” that were around the

city in general. “Small businesses, what we call incubators and innovation centers. Kind of like Silicon Valley.” Things are looking up for AFC, and it is awesome to see how much success they had for an organization that didn’t even exist five years ago. Out of all of the cities, Austin was chosen, hopefully, AFC will advance Army technologies and persist on helping the security of the country.

“One of the clean break points was at the top five cities,” Smith said. “MSA had a gap between five and then six. So the decision was made, well, let’s just stick to those five.” The selection team soon went to the last five cities to give an assessment of each individual city. The city itself must have a person from the chamber of commerce to show them around the city and give them a tour. “We traveled around for about two weeks, and spent three days in each of those five locations,” Smith said. “We got briefings from their Chamber of Commerce, whoever their lead was, and did physical reconnaissance of some locations.” Once they had all of the information and data that they received, they sent the findings back to the Secretary of the Army, he soon recommended Austin to be chosen.

Gen. Murray looking at upcoming technology at an AFC Expo. Photo Coutresy by the U.S. Army

Maizie George

mastering musIc music mastering A Musicians Advice Simplified into 6 Quick Steps Have you ever wanted to start playing or composing music? We’ve put together 6 quick steps that can help you develope youself as a musician and/or composer.

Pick Up Up an an Pick Instrument Instrument

One of the best ways to pick up the basics of music is by learning through an instrument. Piano is debatbley the best instrument to learn music through because it haces all the notes, sharps, flats, and a variety of octaves at the touch of a finger

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listening listening to music music to

A great way to improve your compisitions and style, listening to accomplished muscicians is a great way to learn.

online online tools tools

Free online cites are a great way to start composing. Cites like Noteflight and Jummbox are great starters to composing. Youtube is a great place to learn compositions because they show you the process.

regan k. k. zieber zieber regan Zieber is an online muscician on the relatively unknown cite - Noteflight. Zieber has over 1,000 followers making him the third most followed person on the cite. He specializes in Pop and EDM styled music and is known for his extreme sound manipulations he displays throughout the majority of his peices. He’s in his freshman year of college at Shawnee State University in Ohio.

Private classes are great if you’re focused on playing music. They can help you develope style and tone. Joining a music class is a great way to get introduced to the basics. classes like choir, band, orchastra are the places to start.

feedback

While feedback is great when it comes from someone credible, it’s wise to look to people who don’t know anything about music. People like this make up the majority of your audience, so it’s smart to play and compose with their frame of thinking

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practice, practice, practice

Don’t be discouraged when you aren’t seeing the results you want. Skills take time to develope and they develope by constant practicing

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music music classes classes

Don’t be be Don’t discouraged by by listening listening to to your your discouraged old music. music. The The more more you you write, write, old and the better and the better you get get you REGAN K. K. ZIEBER ZIEBER -- REGAN

Until they Carry Me Out on a Stretcher The Music Scene’s Influence on Austin and the People Behind it All

Photo provided by the AMA Group

the By Maizie George Austin Music Scene

he curtains come up. Light showers you yet all you can see is black. Cheers drown out the voices in your head. A microphone rests on your chin. Your breathing is light and shallow. Although you can smell the odor of sweat, it’s overpowered by the clapping, yelling, and screaming. Everyone is shouting your name. You step to the microphone and take a deep breath… Music. An ancient, universal concept, yet so new. In 1991, Austin became known as the Live Music Capital

of the World because of the variety of music venues per person. It holds more music venues than any other city in the United States. It wasn’t always that way. It was all gonna change once Elizabeth McQueen and Rick McNulty came into the Austin music scene. From amateur avid music and radio listeners to radio hosts and music directors, this is their story…

elizabeth mcqueen Huge singer and musical star Elizabeth McQueen didn’t grow up in Austin but began looking for jobs in Austin in her twenties. McQueen’s husband, David Sanger, was the drummer for the notorious group, Asleep at the Wheel, a music group started in 1970 by Ray Benson. They gained a ton of popularity in 2009 when Willie Nel-

son - Grammy winner and international superstar - decided to collaborate with them. Years and years were spent on the road. From the crack of dawn till the sun passed the horizon, they drove, they performed, and they drove. They wouldn’t stop until McQueen felt it best for her daughter to stay in one place.

gave out polls, she mainly focused on covid and some of the ways it has affected the Austin music scene.

McQueen went on to talk about how she joined Asleep at the Wheel. Sanger joked to McQueen about joining the group. Sanger’s boss overheard and took it seriously, later asking McQueen to become their vocalist. McQueen had been singing for years and focused on singing and literature since high school, so she jumped right in.

They always have a lot to say and they’re very intresting to listen to. You can check them out at Radio Station KUTX 98.9

McQueen and Bloxson have recently been talking about the dropping pay in musicians salaries.

After years and years of performing, McQueen decided to settle down, but still wanted to be a big part in the musical community. She took internships at KUT and worked there in the music field.

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Don’t be scared to try new things

elizabeth mcqueen

It’s hard to figure out what to talk about for an extended period of time, so instead of rigorously going through endless ideas, McQueen sends out polls to her listeners to see what they want to hear about. Before she

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McQueen now hosts a radio podcast called Pause/Play. She talks about important topics around Austin and the Austin music scene along with co-host - Miles Bloxson. They take important topics that can be hard to talk about (financial struggles of musicians, African-American activism and its relation to the music scene, etc.)

Rick mcnulty Rick McNulty was six years old when he became interested in music by finding his parents’ music collection. Growing up, McNulty started guitar but didn’t end up sticking with it. Instead, he wrote about music in his school newspaper, growing his interest in literature. The Beatles is his all-time favorite band.

“It [Music] pretty much became my religion.” Currently McNulty is the Music Director for KUTX and has been for 2 and a half years. Mcnulty’s job is split up into three different sections; he listens to music submissions, reading and replying to emails takes up another third, and the final third goes into planning. He holds two other radio shows together, then begins to bolster the music library, and plan for the bi-weekly music meeting where him and the staff decide what music is going to be aired. McNulty listens to hundreds and hundreds of songs, carefully picking the ones he likes and setting them aside. Just filtering and filtering. Every two weeks, he sits down, pares it down to 30 candidates and an additional 10 Austin artists. McNulty doesn’t find his job stressful. Even when the music he chooses is aired to more than 750k listeners per month.

“I am absolutely amazed that we have a large and engaged audience at all. Our mix of genres and eras of music is virtually unheard of in American radio.” Even when McNulty doesn’t like a song or finds it boring, instead of dumping it, he brings it into a music meeting and receives feedback. 36

“We never base anything on what’s popular - our job is to provide music discovery for the music that may become popular down the line.” KUTX hosts a Song of the Day and Artist of the Month. Jack Anderson - a producer at KUTX runs the Song of the Day. When there’s a song that sounds great but isn’t ready to be aired, the staff goes to Anderson. They can all suggest a candidate for Artist of the Month, then goes to Matt Reilly - the Program Director - who makes the final decision. McNulty loves his job and loves Austin and doesn’t want to change it for anything.

“Our music scene has evolved as well, and has in turn, become more diverse and less one-dimensional.”

coming to you live Dim lights illuminate the studio. McNulty slips on the headphones loosely over his ears and plugs it in, hearing the slight feedback as he inserts the jack. Song after song he scrolls through each one, searching for potential with the stress of having to please thousands of people.

Songs on their own take a long time to produce on their own, but we don’t always consider how much work goes into radio. When music comes on, we don’t think about the time it took for just that one song to air and how many people it had to go through to be put in the rotation. Next time you’re skipping through channels, try to stick around a little longer. You never know when you could be listening to the next big international music star c

“I came to Austin in the mid 1990s and have watched it grow from a one-horse town into an international destination.”

Within the same building, McQueen sits down, going over the story as Bloxson comes in and sits next to her. They smile at each other and chat. Bloxson reaches for the microphone and presses the button, “Testing…testing…” You’re driving and reaching for the tuning slide. You search through the channels, until you hit gold. Song after song plays, euphoria hits, yet you skip to the next one.

Provided By IHeartRadio

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