And now some lighthearted reading: An essay I wrote for “Austin Monthly”
December 21, 2007
I’ve learned a plethora of things since I’ve moved to Austin. I’ve learned that my heart can actually ache for home when I’m out on the road. I’ve learned people will return your wallet if you lose it. I’ve learned what “H.E.B.” stands for.
So, here’s a list I’ve compiled to help anyone new to Austin understand what’s worth fighting for, talking about, standing up on behalf of, speaking out about and singing over, why signing petitions is important, how lighting candles can bring people together, and how to walk the walk while you herald the talk. Think of this as a top ten list...only I just couldn’t stop at ten.
SARA HICKMAN’S LIST ON AUSTIN
(Feel free to cut this out and add on)
AH, NATURE!
Visit the Greenbelt, although be aware it can have intense cotton mouth or it can be swollen with raging waters.
Make sure you hike it when it is neither.
(Unless you’re one of those uber muscular folks with the rock riding bikes or a kayak.)
Where else but Austin can you have a raccoon use your doggie door to come in for a snack?
Cheap thrills: For $6, you can canoe on Town Lake, where you can reach into the water, catch the turtles, and take them for a ride.
WARNING: they will pee on you. Also, the swans will glide right over, almost resting their delicate heads in your hands.
For best man-made internal caves to crawl around in with your kids: go to the Austin Nature Center or Book People (second floor).
Our ZIlker Park "Trail of Lights" is a gorgeous wonderland, right across from the infamous Zilker Christmas tree, both which go up only in December.
Zilker Park also has a miniature train running right through it, but it seems to be hibernating during the coldest time of the year.
So check that out in the spring. It is also inexpensive and relaxing!
I hear there is a place where people can get naked. It is called Hippie Hollow. You will never see me there, but it might be just the thing for you.
IN THE MOOD FOR FOOD?
Austin is worldly. You have Momoko on 24th for Japanese Bubble tea with sushi (they also have cool hand made stationary, funny cuddly toys and tiny tee-shirts). There’s Veggie Heaven for veggie Thai food; Pho for Vietnamese; Taco Express for Maria’s one of a kind Chimichuri salsa complete with a giant 20 foot tall statue of her likeness (dressed according to her mood); French, Italian, Ethiopian, Soul Food...you name it. We’re food central. Especially with Whole Foods and Central Market providing the makings for your own homemade schmorgasbords.
Taco Deli (hidden back on Spyglass). A delicious, creative Tex-Mex + All Good Looking Men All the Time= Mmm good! In my book, they make the best
guacamole jalapeno salsa. Unbelievably creamy and spicy.
Flipnotics: UPSTAIRS: start off your day with the best coffee in town
DOWNSTAIRS: pick out a one of a kind outfit for lunch, then march back upstairs for quiche and salad, march back downstairs for evening attire,
return to the top for live music. All for under $75. What a deal!
I learned that a true donut store will be open twenty-four hours. We call it Ken’s Rock-n-Roll donuts. Go there immediately. Rick Perry will pick up your tab.
Did you know that if you have three sips of a margarita from Baby Acupulco
you can not pitch a softball game afterwards? (see following category for more
info.)
I’ ve learned my neighborhood has a lot of moms who bake casseroles or homemade cookies in honor of newborns, birthdays, even divorce.
There are also lots of kids with lemonade stands. I’m a big fan of Little Jimmy Hightower, who down the street, come rain or shine, has a stand for
Justice Juice: his concoction consists of two parts satire to every four parts truth. Very tasty! They also carry it in the Austin Chronicle. Get some today!
I’M NOT INTO SPORTS BUT HERE’S SOME FEEDBACK ON IT:
If you want to listen to sports, you have Jeff Ward and Ed Clements on KLBJ/AM. I don’t even like sports radio,
but these two have me actually tuning in to find out why NASCAR men can behave like Neanderthals
stuck in a cerebral tar pit. Their banter is hilarious. I would like to start an
I LOVE JEFF & ED fan club, just for the ladies. I think the two would approve.
Especially Ed.
Speaking of someone who should stay away from any NASCAR event, Leslie can stand on a corner in a thong, high heels
and a glittery top while talking with a group of business men in ties about politics. If you don’t know of whom I speak, you
are probably imagining a lovely girl who has escaped the grips of Hooters. No. I am talking about a man. A local lo-cal skinny man.
Anyway, I find it puzzling and charming at the same time. It doesn’t really have to do with sports, but it was a nice segueway. Plus,
it will prepare you for the next time you are stuck in rush hour traffic at the corner of 11th and Congress.
When you go to a UT game, you better be utilizing burnt orange underwear, eye shadow, breath mints, and cow bells. There is no fooling
around. You are BURNT ORANGE, my friend, or you better be sitting on the far side. Like in Jersey. I stopped in at the official UT Salon on my way
into my first game (UT vs. New Mexico State, 2003---no, you shut up!) and had my hair dyed a lovely shade of UT (permanent, of course!) just so
I’d fit in and feel part of the gang in those extra large, comfy stadium stands. (This is where the breath mints come in to play.)
Did I mention I can’t pitch a softball game after a margarita? But I did play on the Flames one year, and you can, too! The city has lots of intramural
softball and soccer teams. Austin cares about your health!
There are people in this town who have tennis racquets pierced into their ear lobes. Huge netted dream catcher like things. I never saw these before
I moved to Austin. I don’t have anything against them, but I have to control my urge to yell, “ Deuce!” whenever I see them. I worry about these guys'
lobes when they hit 80. Will their lobes need slings?
NO IMMUNITY FROM OUR COMMUNITY!
People care about each other in Austin---from Hands on Housing to Any Baby Can, folks get out in the community and try
to make life better for one another. And we grieve, too. Once a year you can come to the House the Homeless Sunrise Service on Town Lake
(November 18, sunrise) where we read the names of those who have passed away on the street.
I’ve protested against the death penalty and spoken out against the war.
Both by candlelight. Both with large groups of people swaying, singing and praying. My children were always with me, and I never felt afraid.
I felt like I had the right to voice my concern and I wasn’t treated like an idiot. Even while in front of the governor’s mansion. I love that about Austin.
People can speak out about racism, homelessness, joblessness, Barton Springs, developers... You name it. Sometimes action is slow, or a result is not
what I would prefer it to be, but it feels like democracy in action. There’s something to be said about the freedoms we still have in this country
and how the people of this city will not sit idly by and let freedom be chewed up and spat into the sewer.
If you want to understand local flavor, read John Kelso or watch Jim Swift.
I have the feeling they actually founded Austin because they always know
that the “small “ stories are the biggest.
I’ve learned they are shutting down the South Mary post office. Yvonne , Dieter and Jamie will be moved to the Congress location.
Let me just say: please visit these folks before they move. Walking into this post office is like visiting
a small hometown memory. And it is a mico-cosmic overview of Austin’s most interesting characters.
Did you know this fact: Austin has more readers than any other city in the United States. I learned that from Half Price Books
while drinking some of their free tea. I go there at least once a week with my seven year old for tea and reading. Or, as she might say, ”Read and teaing.”
For kids, Austin is a slice of heaven. Did you know we have over 62, 031 moms groups, 2700 lactation consultants, and more childrens musicians
than any where else in the world? Even the bats can’t compete in number! We have Carl Anderson, the best Santa, and the Austin Children’s Museum;
a quaint zoo (check out the tigers during feeding at 10 a.m. any day! If you like watching someone really enjoy their food, go tomorrow morning), great public
and private schools, stay-at-home dads, more parks than sticks, and if you stand in the middle of the star in our state’s capital and sing “My Favorite Things”
with twenty four children, no one complains! They find it charming. Even when legislation is in session. Which isn’t very often, so go! Sing! Sing LOUD.
MUSIC, MUSIC EVERYWHERE
I like a town where everyone knows the musicians by their first names:
Eliza, Jimmie, Joe, Ray, Charlie, Shawn, Bob, Ruthie, Terri, Matt (he’s an electrician, too)... It’s so homey, homey!
Austin City Limits. I learned that those stars aren’t real, but who’s really looking at the stars in the sky? And the ACL Fest is
the best festival in the U.S., hands down. Get your tickets now because it’s just going to get crazier. Or you can get in with
me and my possee next year. We’ll form a choir!
Todd Wolfson has taken every local (and international) musician’s photograph at least once over the last twenty years. And he still decided to stay.
What other city has local musicians singing about cars, mobile homes, parks,
and perched precariously on a gazebo? Austin uses it’s musical resources
locally and nationally.
Say...I didn’t even get a chance to talk about our film makers, authors, illustrators, SXSW, Amy’s Ice Cream, Waterloo, Uncommon Objects,
our great public and private schools, the diversity of religions and thought...or my highest bowling score. Poop. Next time.
Well, you know, since it closed, I’ve heard people talk about Les Amis as if they’ve just paid the bill. I’ve also enjoyed the roar of an
Armadillo World Headquarters crowd from the stage, even though I never had the opportunity to be on it. My friend, Pauline, lives over by Matthews Elementary
and tells how she used to stand on the hill of an empty field and holler with friends to her momma from across the tracks. Legend has it LBJ and Ann Richards both
went to my church, First United Methodist, across from the capital. To sum it up , these are the things I love about Austin: the passion for history and storytelling,
the love for community, and the drive to preserve our authenticity and small town feel.
posted by Sara Hickman at 07:15 am
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What you give, not what you get
December 20, 2007
the time you get.
What a different world this would be.
Instead of kids writing lists to Santa that said, "I need a bike. I need a doll,"
kids would learn to write,
"Dear Santa:
This year I am going with mom and dad to the shelter. We are going to sing
Christmas songs and take thermal underwear to all those we meet.
Could you please bring some thermal underwear so we'll have plenty to take?
Love,
Erin"
It became cool to be involved in your community, to be aware of social justice,
to have kids growing up realising they have the power to change the world!
And office parties...all the food and drink would be taken to the shelters when folks were finished
at the parties, and served with love to those who don't have Christmas parties.
And people would visit retirement homes and recognize the need for the elderly to
have year round visits, so it wasn't just once a year.
And you know what is great about this idea? Is that it is an idea that is already ALIVE with many people!!
That Christmas isn't about getting, it is about giving. That action DOES create change.
Giving hope.
Giving love.
Giving TIME.
Giving expertise.
Giving voice on behalf of those who can't speak out for themselves.
Because Christmas isn't a time of year, it is a way of living. It isn't a a day where gifts are given,
it is a way of gifts being lived.
Ok, just thinking about all this and wondering how to sway the tide of consumerism into a tidal wave
of consciousness about the moments we have to be on this earth, and how we will use our time here
to benefit one another and those in need.
posted by Sara Hickman at 09:14 am
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The Service of Christmas
STORY # 1 ---I NEED IT
Walgreens is right up the street from us. I like having a neighborhood pharmacy, where I know
all the people who work in the store, people who are a sort of extended family to us because you learn to
trust these folks over the years, you can learn some of who they are...
and I can grab some toothpaste or get some lotion for mosquito bites.
Last week, I ran in to get some moisturizer, and as I was walking down an aisle, I heard a tiny little voice say,
"Mommy, I need this!"
I rounded the corner and there was a two year old girl, short blonde, curly hair, wandering over towards something
at the end of a display case. The mother was following behind, responding with,
"Show me what you need, honey..."
The little girl pointed at something and answered,
"This. I need this."
The mom looked at whatever it was and said,
"Oh, you don't need that. Let's find something else you need."
Well, my heart just about broke in half. I was tempted to start a conversation with the woman about how
the little girl didn't "need" that thing, she "wanted" that thing.
But I kept it to myself and decided to ponder on the difference. I could put a list of "needs" and "wants" here, but
I think you can see what I mean. Maybe this will make you consider the differences, as well.
STORY # 2 ---THE BUS STOP
This morning, I was headed toward ARCH (Austin Resource Center for the Homeless) with some donations, when I spied a young man
sitting outside on the ground, crosslegged, rocking himself back and forth in front of a bus stop.
I kept driving my van, but that eternal voice came to me, "Go back." I drove another block until the voice was
so strong, I followed it by turning around and heading back.
I parked in Peter Pan Putt-Putt's parking lot, walked to the back of the van and grabbed some oranges, poured a glass of
apple juice, gathered some brownies. I headed over to the young man. He was drooling quite heavily.
"Hello, " I said. "I brought you something."
"No thank you, " he rocked.
"Are you thirsty?" I sat down on my heels near by and looked him in the eyes, with a calm, laid back demeanor. I've always find
if you are approaching a stranger, it is best not to act like a stranger yourself.
"No, no thank you," he looked me in the eye, and I could see he was calm, too. He had something else in those eyes, though. It
looked like "forgotten". He was covered in age old filth, but his clothes were relatively clean.
"Do you need blankets...?"
"No, thank you," was how he replied, again.
"I will be thinking of you, " I said respectfully.
He nodded, and I walked back to the car, and headed towards the ARCH.
STORY #3----THIS MORNING
On the way to the ARCH, I saw another long line of homeless down the street, and decided to deliver the food to St. David's,
instead.
Parking on the side of the building, I was just trying to figure out how to carry all the goods, which came from the school
Christmas party* yesterday, when a fellow in camouflage came running around the wall,
"Miss, I can help you miss!"
I don't even know HOW he knew I needed to carry all these supplies, he couldn't have seen me unloading, so I decided he
was my morning's angel!
He carried a giant chocolate sheet cake while I carried cookies, apples, oranges, grapes, jugs of juice, cups and a serving knife and plates.
We were feeling quite jolly!
He started to take it inside the building, but I stopped him.
"Let's serve it outside, where all the people are..."
He smiled, "Oh, certainly!"
Immediately, there was a buzz through the line of about sixty people, and we were swarmed
with expectation.
"What's in the bag?"
"I want cake! Give me some cake!"
"Can I get some for my husband, too?"
Immediately, I was sitting on the sidewalk with the young man and we put together our makeshift
serving line... putting plates together of grapes, cookies, oranges, apple slices, and I was rapidly cutting the chocolate cake
and plopping the slices onto plates appearing around my face from people hunched over, ready to eat, worried
they wouldn't get some of the food. You could feel the worry in the air.
Amazingly, there was enough cake for everyone, and a request for more oranges and tangerines.
I promised to bring more by.
One man said, "You know what they say about chocolate! It just makes me happy! Thanks for all the chocolate!"
My angel started to gather trash and I reached over to take it all to the car, but he insisted on carrying it for me.
"Did you get some cake? I saved a piece for you," I said.
"No, thank you. I have a little bag of cookies, " he smiled back at me.
I handed the last plate of cake to the chocolate man.
Everyone was so grateful, "thank you for coming!" and "Thank you for thinking of us!" and "Bless you!" and I was hugging people,
touching arms, smiling at everyone.
We got to the car, the angel and me, and I asked him his name.
"Michael, ma'am. Michael Gonzales."
I told him he was my angel for the day, and I hugged him goodbye and got in my car.
My hands were covered in chocolate frosting, sticky. I found a bottle of water under a seat,
and leaning out the driver's door, I poured water across my hands, as the man who loves chocolate
walked by.
"MMmmm, remember what they say about chocolate!"
"I'll just have to bring you some more," I laughed. He laughed, too.
posted by Sara Hickman at 08:41 am
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I am Spreading the Word. Can you?
December 19, 2007
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuBo4E77ZXo
Sara
posted by Sara Hickman at 08:42 am
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Dan Fogelberg’s Legacy
December 17, 2007
I practiced learning every song on that album, alone in my room,
dreaming that someday I, too, would be a leader of a band, or tour, or make records.
I never got to meet Dan on the tours with him. He had other people do his soundchecks, and he always arrived right after I had finished my set.
He'd come dashing in from the car, go straight to his dressing room (if there was time), and then straight to the stage. Usually it was straight to the stage, where he would sit down at the piano and start to play.
Trust me, I wanted to meet Dan. I wanted to say "Thank you" for his encouraging me to become a singer/songwriter, even though he had no idea how he had done so. I wanted to tell him what an honor it was to sing before him night after night, for him to share his listening audience with me, for all the love I felt as I sang along in the audience to every word of every one of his songs.
I don't feel bad that we didn't ever meet. There are forces bigger at play here then me meeting a childhood idol. In his heart, surely he must have known that there were thousands of kids like me who grew up to make music because of him? Or, if not, then he certainly knew that his music was loved and revered, and I didn't need to be one more
voice reminding him. He seemed to be very private, and I respected that.
So, I will say it out loud now, at my computer, for his spirit to hear:
Thank you, Dan. Thank you for giving me the gift of a dream, one that is being carried on, now, through my daughters' love of song, too.
Songwriters/singers/musicians like you are the storytellers of our lives, and you capture those moments that we wish to reclaim, anytime we choose, simply by putting
your music on the stereo... instantly we are transported to those times of laughter or tears.
Should old acquaintance be forgot....and never brought to mind...
I think not, Dan. You'll never be forgotten.
posted by Sara Hickman at 06:16 am
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