I love Austin like no other place. But I hate our very-unofficial city slogan, “Keep Austin Weird”.
Because Austin is not weird. Sure, we have a few enclaves of weirdos who live here—mostly in the 78704 zip code—but they are a tiny, tiny, minority compared to the hundreds of thousands of not-so-weird people who live all over the rest of Austin.
My main gripe with the “Keep Austin Weird” mentality is that Weird is really just slang for Liberal and/or Hippie. As Austin becomes bigger-and-bigger and more-and-more prosperous, Austin is becoming less-and-less Liberal…errr…I mean Weird.
And I’m not the only one who’s not entirely enthralled with Keeping Austin Weird, either. Patrick Beach of the Austin Statesman recently wrote:
Keep Austin Weird.
As a slogan, isn’t it a wee bit desperate, a bleat whose three words translate as, “Please keep Austin weird, by which we mean patronizing indigenous businesses established by old hippies”?
Isn’t the very act of making that a slogan an admission that Austin is, at some unquantifiable pace, as water erodes rock, like sands through the hourglass, even now in the process of becoming “not so weird,” approaching something recognizably borderline normal?
And if we can agree that we’re witnessing some epic battle for Austin’s soul, can it be said for certain that Austin can be kept weird? Will the weirdness change color like twilight? Or will we simply wake up one morning and the lava lamp won’t work anymore?
A perfect example of a commercialized attempt at “keeping Austin weird” can be witnessed every 1st Thursday on South Congress.
Steve at The Armadillo Podcast disagrees in a podcast titled Wildly Austin, Weirdly Austin
Why do we bother ourselves with keeping it weird? It’s not due to simple commerce and it’s not the end of the Austin weird story, despite what was reported in the local paper. Like Mark Twain’s premature obituary, I think the reports of the death our weirdness have been greatly exaggerated.
Steve offers some anecdotes as to why he thinks that Austin is still thriving in its own weirdness. The problem is that almost all of the things that these people think make Austin “weird” aren’t all that unique to Austin. Do you really think Austin is the only city in America with a homeless transvestite? (my old neighborhood in Houston had a gang of ‘em that worked the corner near my house). Having enough 1960’s gray-haired hippies to staff yet another protest on the steps of the Capitol building isn’t something owned by Austin’s aging Professional Protester circuit — go to any big college town in America; our nation’s universities are over-run with them — they’re called Professors.
Eeyore’s Birthday Party? Not so much weird as it is an excuse to smoke dope and drink beer in a public park. Spamarama? Not weird, just gross.
Just ’cause I don’t want to Keep Austin Weird doesn’t necessarily mean that I want to Make Austin Normal, either. Normal—while infinitely better than ‘weird’—is not how I think of Austin. Austin is unique. It’s hip, it’s outdoors-y, it’s smart; there are some great places to eat, great places to drink beer, and some great places to see some amazing local musicians play their songs.
None of these wonderful things make Austin weird. They make Austin a wonderful place to live. Anyone who thinks Austin is weird should try to get out of 78704, Hyde Park, and central Austin.
Austin’s not nearly as weird as their limited exposure to just their weird neighbors:
Austin isn’t keeping itself as weird as it thinks it is.
A new nationwide study of America’s most liberal cities released Thursday ranks Austin 93rd among 237, just two rungs higher than Salt Lake City.
So, I propose that we do away with the equally stupid “Keep Austin Weird” and “Make Austin Normal” campaigns. Neither one of them captures what makes Austin unique, nor do they understand the direction that Austin is growing towards.
that our hope as a culture lies in the little green-haired sons and daughters (even if their hair is only metaphorically green.) My original post spurred on follow up posts from some folks who have a opposing viewpoints which I thought fit to share.Urban Grounds writes: “My main gripe with the ‘Keep Austin Weird’ mentality is that Weird is really just slang for Liberal and/or Hippie. As Austin becomes bigger-and-bigger and more-and-more prosperous, Austin is becoming less-and-less Liberal…err…I mean Weird.
Excellent post and I totally agree with you. I wouldn’t live any other place (well, a nice island near St. Thomas would be nice…) but I don’t think we’re weird. How weird can you be in a town where:
1) you can’t smoke in a bar.
2) you can’t buy a vibrator over the counter.
3) the same homeless guy in the tutu has been there for ten years.
4) the suburbs here look like suburbs anywhere else.
5) it costs $70-plus for Austin City Limits Festival tickets and near $100 for South by Southwest Music Festival armbands.
Austinites (primarily the 78704 crowd) need to wake up and realize they’re arrogant and self-centered individuals who can’t deal with the fact that Slacker is over ten years old and the town is never going to be that way again. The Armadillo, God rest it’s soul, is gone.
I say enjoy the blending of cultures that our town is becoming. Ride the wave and help shape it into something truly unique. Screw weird, just be Austin.
(Man, I gotta blog this… I’m inspired.)
I’d just like to interject, here. I don’t care one way or the other about the slogan itself, but I would like to share how I took it when I first got here just last year.
Coming from DC, Austin actually *is* kind of weird. It’s a smaller city with less sprawl, fewer chain stores and restaurants and a general feeling of acceptence toward people that are not that into the 9-5 status quo.
After moving here, some one said that slogan means support local business instead of national chains. OK. I’m totally into going to BookPeople rather than Barnes and Noble. And I’m into living in a city that encourages that. I will pay more for that new, sought-after hard cover book at BookPeople because in other ways, BookPeople contributes to Austin’s sense of place.
And, also, the very existence of that store (and others like it) promote the sort of capitalism that is actually a good idea. The American Dream style capitalism that is being eclipsed by large corporations more and more as the years go by. Capitalism involves competition – in quality, price and customer service – and big corporations compete by taking over markets. By totally standardizing their products and services. The byproduct of that is the standardization of America.
Austin is trying to remain Austin, not Anywhere, USA where consumers are comforted by sameness. There’s value to avoiding that, for me.
I don’t care if it’s a hippie behind the counter. I care if the guy behind the counter knows my name, and what I like, because we know each other personally. And, I care if knowing him makes me want that guy’s business to succeed, because he’s my neighbor. I care if he cares if I come back again. I care if he’s part of my community. Bottom line: we have stake in how each other’s lives go.
That whole concept gets lost more and more in America. Losing that promotes this every-man-for-himself mentality that just ends up making people feel lonely and afraid. Orphaned.
I moved here because I wanted community. And I got it. And, frankly, it’s weird. It’s not everywhere. Even in the last year, I’ve seen it diminished here as Austin grows.
Maybe the slogan is kind of desperate. I just don’t think it’s desperate for the reasons stated here or elsewhere. I’m not even sure that the people going around saying it all mean the same thing. Or understand what it is they are trying to preserve.
[...] Thanks, Megan. Just thanks. You’re part of the reason that Austin is such a great place to live (not weird, just great). [...]
I agree as well and have blogged on the subject.
[...] Urban Grounds writes:"My main gripe with the ‘Keep Austin Weird’ mentality is that Weird is really just slang for Liberal and/or Hippie. As Austin becomes bigger-and-bigger and more-and-more prosperous, Austin is becoming less-and-less Liberal…err…I mean Weird."The connection between prosperity and conservatism is dubious, as there are vast stretches of dirt-poor, die-hard conservatives all throughout the South. But if liberals under the bed is your boogey man, I suppose it’s possible to see them in just about everything you disagree with. Still, Urban Grounds’ post is worth a read. He cherishes the same things about Austin that me and my ilk like, and the fact that both camps can peacifully co-exist here and want to preserve those things, is well, wonderfully weird. [...]
My family and I just moved to Austin and we have had nothing but dissapointments. People here are so rude and selfish. It’s sad when you call yourself the “Friendship State” I absolutely dislike the
“keep Austin weird” slogan. May I say that weird is not a good thing. We have moved to Round Rock since and we like it a lot better here away from the weirdos. By the way what is the deal with the homeless in every intersection???
Is that part of the weird movement?
Yvonne, welcome to Round Rock. One of my daughters, and her family, moved to Cedar Park, and try to never venture into Austin.
As for the weirdness thing, when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.