Roberto Ontiveros
Roberto Ontiveros is an artist, fiction writer, and literary critic. Some of his work has appeared in The Threepenny Review, Santa Monica Review, Huizache, and the Believer. His recent collection of stories, The Fight for Space, was published by Stephen F. Austin State University Press.
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From pandemic-inspired poetry to a graphic novel based on a Mayan legend, this holiday season offers titles for every taste. Below is a list of books from local authors to add to your Black Friday shopping cart or wintertime to-read list.
Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline ($28.99, 394 pages)
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg0MzI1NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MDA5NjYyM30.tt5wqQ5fU1ZouvPz4P0N0tsPXueapaSLZolYqGd63pI/img.jpg?width=980" id="b7d2a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f28c58aa15e4f61ee9d01033cb89c0e0" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />(Penguin Random House)
<p>When Austin writer Ernest Cline's <em>Ready Player One</em> emerged in 2011, its Willy Wonka-meets-Tron adventure story was an exhilarating apology for all things escapist. </p><p>Cline's sequel to his wildly popular novel (made into a similarly kitsch-crowded film by Steven Spielberg), can be seen as a kind corrective reset regarding the reality-bashing tendencies of gamers as well as the addictive dangers of hiding in a retro world. </p><p>Still sticky with '80s in-jokes and Easter eggs, Cline deftly manages to address the antisocial issues that are inherent in living a <em>virtual</em> life while playing up the viable kinks of a consumer-based total recall.</p>The Ancestry of Objects by Tatiana Ryckman ($15.95, 144 pages)
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg0MzI1MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NDc5ODk3NX0.HeNuxTvRHAlOgEQqWQXGbL7a9Hc7KZp6lfLK6B5kKUE/img.jpg?width=980" id="43f82" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="533edc96a082b1426efc43dc919b9279" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />(Deep Vellum)
<p>In <em>The Ancestry of Objects</em>, a suicidal young woman enters into some educational masochism by having an affair with a married man, and in doing so harnesses a world of almost Emersonian awareness of the bric-a-brac of her inherited surroundings.</p><p>Ryckman's arresting yet detached style recalls <em>The Story of O</em> by way of an IKEA catalogue.</p><p>The matter-of-fact investigation of purpose will remind some readers of Sartre's <em>Nausea</em>, while the spectral prose recalls Susan Sontag's <em>Death Kit.</em> </p><p>Ryckman is the editor of the Austin-based publisher Awst Press. </p>A Bed for the King's Daughter by Shahla Ujayli, translated by Sawad Hussain ($16, 60 pages)
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg0MzI1My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNjM3Njk3NX0.1cPNekhMGoBa9uHHctJ-ONPTzzrs4Rw5knLC61dtkbU/img.jpg?width=980" id="aa1d0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d8bd26a685be0f02e1fa3164676273bb" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />(University of Texas Press)
<p>Shahla Ujayli's latest collection, <em>A Bed For the King's Daughter,</em> implodes the codes of fairy tales to crack into the underlying apartheid that motivates even the most innocent and innocuous treacle and manages to put Socrates in the same world with Cinderella and Honda Civics.</p><p>An unsettling (yet psyche-soothing) feat of fictive displacement, the twenty-two stories in this collection of instructive surrealism will delight while they indict.</p><p>The University of Texas Press published the book.</p>Rise of the Halfling King by David Bowles, illustrated by Charlene Bowles ($12.95, 64 pages)
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg0MzI0Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NjkxNjEyMn0.te9uzhGedBOoa_z4CUmpW8h5sTTmG4vFfYgOsl2U2zQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="46ce8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c115f7324b36a2fd61d980066eb4700a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />(Cinco Puntos Press)
<p>Hatched from an egg, Sayam, the hero of David Bowles's latest graphic novel, is raised by a witch and possesses a humanitarian itch to help those in need. The boy who would be king marshals his magic to meet every test and even gets to best a netherworld serpent along the way.</p><p>David Bowles, an expert on Mesoamerican literature, has partnered with Charlene Bowles, a comics artist/illustrator, to offer middle school-aged readers an exciting and engaging take on some ancient Mayan lore that features the antics of a brave Elfin-boy, the schemes of a sneaky sorcerer and the loyalty of a spider monkey.</p><p>Both the author and illustrator are based in Texas, with David in South Texas and <a href="https://twitter.com/charlenecbowles" target="_blank">Charlene in Austin</a>.</p>Pandemia & Other Poems by Edward Vidaurre ($16, 88 pages)
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg0MzI0MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNzg1Njc4OX0.EgQ6biOj_C2K9mPYeS1fmmBLaUcrVfjXoDoL9_WyaPg/img.jpg?width=980" id="605d8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3d1bca3952752f147bf92cf8ffa8b6a4" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />(Aztlan Libre Press)
<p>Edward Vidaurre, a border poet currently living in McAllen, Texas, tackles grief and the cosmos with a kind of casual theological bravery, assessing that: "God is an open wound. A kung-fu movie and a celestial sicario."</p><p>The work in<em> Pandemia & Other Poems</em> moves from toilet tissue and water bill worries of sheltering-in-place to classroom epiphanies of the 1986 Challenger explosion.</p><p>Vidaurre's poignant asides on the juvenile joys of cloud-gazing take on an ominous caution in a book where John Coltrane and Covid-19 share a nervous juxtaposition.</p><p>The collection was published by Aztlan Libre Press, which is based in San Antonio.</p>The Nightgown & Other Poems by Taisia Kitaiskaia ($15.95, 75 pages)
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg0MzI1MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NjQ2NTkzNn0.Q7HDaTvjtz8zUBEDtZ6UyZEbZjsuc21IIVbH4n2kE3A/img.jpg?width=980" id="aef96" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="bf0e08e4ad7d69be45a8130372e9b5e5" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />(Deep Vellum)
<p>Austin poet Taisia Kitaiskaia's<em> Nightgown & Other Poems </em>is a nightcap of dream-dowsing assurance, a chthonic tonic that stills the reader into contemplating the agendas of monks, the tenacity of Thumbelina and the dark comforts of an evil twin.</p><p>"Saints are those who do not live amongst the people," the poet notes with the authority of a Brothers Grimm-savvy Simone Weil. </p><p>Earthy yet ethereal, Kitaiskaia's art argues that "shame and rebellion are integral to the angels."</p>American Utopia by David Byrne and Maira Kalman ($24, 160 pages)
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg0MzIzNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MDI0MTE5N30.VoA6WcyXqjkeM_IL3iqqLOvVFTIFnKGY5tf8KMod4Sg/img.jpg?width=980" id="2478e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="92359e02e666f75d5327249590032bb7" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />(Bloomsbury)
<p><em>American Utopia,</em> conceived as a standalone companion to David Byrne's 2019 Broadway show of the same name, is a kind of <em>Goodnight Moon</em> for adults who want to calmly put the social stress and political duress of 2020 to bed.</p><p>Slogans of acceptance and simple understanding such as "we're only tourists in this life" are warmly rendered by Maira Kalman's wry watercolor work.</p><p>The authentic inclusiveness of this picture book project is made obvious with its nods to places like Bullfrog, Utah; Goofy Ridge, Illinois; and Lubbock, Texas.</p><p>Byrne, who has often evoked both the principles and panache of a Dadaist, quotes Hugo Ball's assertion that Dada exists "to remind the world that there are people of independent minds — beyond war and nationalism — who live for different ideals."</p><p><em>American Utopia</em> is the kind of poetic picture book of authentic optimism that we need today.</p><p>It is based on Byrne's stage show of the same name, which he performed in Austin in 2018.</p>From Your Site Articles
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Diaspora by design: How residents of Austin’s historic Black district are trying to hold on
26 November
(Isabella Lopes/Austonia)
Austin's East 11th Street, with its brunch crowds and boutiques, is a slick and shining example of the gentrification that has taken over what was once designated by the city as the old "negro district."
<p>For long term residents of the historically Black neighborhood, the upscale office spaces and vintage apparel shops are little more than blunt reminders that the once familiar streets are no longer theirs.</p>
<p>Brenda Mims Malik, president of the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association, describes the "horrific" effects of gentrification as a total disappearance of community and cohesion.</p>
<p>"We had businesses, Black-owned businesses, up and down 11th Street and now you can maybe count them on one hand, and I don't think you could get to five," says Malik. "And 12th Street is the same way, so, yeah, it has been a very rapid deterioration of Black-owned businesses and homes."</p><p>Malik, who in the late 1970s and early '80s worked as a project manager for the Robertson Hill HUD project, helped bring basic services such as alley trash pick-up, street lighting and sidewalk paving to the area she grew up in. She recalls a world of Black-owned restaurants, clubs, newspapers and theaters. </p><p>She says it all changed in the span of 20 years.</p>
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<img class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="87cb0c02c2c3c2763f6cd4456aabd4f0" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" id="8c99a" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg0MjA3Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2NDgwMjQ0OX0.1qroxGHu3f0sYVpiKpKotJekQTbTjFlMlzmoWv62pT0/img.jpg?width=980"/>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">(Isabella Lopes/Austonia)</small></p>
<p>Prior to this current gentrification, East 11th Street was almost entirely Black and this was no accident. Almost a decade after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled segregation zoning laws were illegal, the city of Austin put into action its "1928 Master Plan" to create a "Negro District" in East Austin. In order to motivate Black residents to move to the area, the city placed the only public schools that Black residents could attend there.<br/></p>
<p>East Austin is now, of course, a highly coveted area for developers to build in and for newcomers to settle into. Between 2011 and 2014 the median home price in East Austin's 78702 ZIP code tripled from $125,000 to $375,000.</p>
<p>"What happens is developers will offer daily incentives for our residents to move out," says Malik.</p>
<p>"It is an aging population," she adds. "What happens is that when they pass on. Instead of having generational wealth, the inheritors, the children of those folks who have passed on are confronted with higher taxes and sometimes higher mortgages that they cannot pay. Some look at the offer and see it as a way to get some money very quickly. So they take that offer and they move out."</p>
<p><strong>The problem with inheritance</strong> </p>
<p>Pat Calhoun, who took over the taxes for the East Austin home her parents built in 1960 (located in the Rogers-Washington-Holy Cross Historic District) when her mother died in 2015, speaks to the difficulty of inheriting property in a historic district that has suddenly become hot property. </p>
<p>Prior to inheriting the home, Calhoun had been assisting her mother, who had benefited from a homestead exemption, with the property taxes for over a decade. </p>
<p>"What I would come to realize is the inequity for heirs," Calhoun explains. "If you inherit a home it is treated as though you purchased the home as a new buyer and that, to me, is not equitable because you're not purchasing the home. You have an inherent tie to the home. "</p>
<p>Calhoun added that this tax pressure can accelerate displacement. </p>
<p>"There are a lot older heirs who are unable to stay in the homes," says Calhoun. "Whilst I helped my mom in her later years, I was paying the taxes and I inherited the home. She passes away and I go ahead and move here permanently and suddenly my taxes are almost three times what I had been paying: from $2,500 to almost $9,000 and that's very difficult to sustain, particularly when you are retired. Consequently I <em>can't </em>retire."</p><p>As a result, many people opt to sell their homes, which may be their only asset. </p>
<p>"And you think of how our parents and relatives endured unequal salaries but they managed, they sacrificed, they built homes, they purchased homes and the next generation to just lose them ... it's just hard to take," Calhoun said.</p>
<p>Raul Alvarez, whose non-profit group East Austin Conservancy seeks to help families with tax relief, calls it a travesty. </p>
<p>"History is repeating itself," he says referring to Austin's 1928 master plan. "The Black and brown people used to live downtown and when the city wanted to redevelop downtown and basically kick Black and brown people out of downtown … it seems like that's what's happening again."</p>
<p><strong>How gentrification happens</strong> </p>
<p>Daniel Llanes, a 71-year-old artist and activist who has lived in Austin since he was 25 describes East Austin as "the classic gentrification take over of a Black area." </p>
<p>"Dear God, there ain't no Black culture left," he says. "The children of the people who grew up here cannot buy houses here."</p>
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<img class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f52103a848c7395610ae36edbb883a5f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" id="f276f" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg0MjA2Mi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMzM1MDEyM30.X7DEpNFiSZrtxPaMBI7Rh2Ixd1NT-Rb6T3uY9Czrpjw/img.jpg?width=980"/>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">(Isabella Lopes/Austonia)</small></p>
<p>As an artist who lived in West Austin for 22 years before moving to East Austin in 1997, Llanes sees even his own move to the area as typical of how gentrification occurs. </p><p>"West-side artists could not afford to live in west-side Austin anymore, so in the late 1990s (and) early 2000s a lot of them started moving to the East side because it was cheaper to rent here. That's the first domino effect of displacement of Black and brown people," says Llanes.<br/></p>
<p>Ricardo Lowe, a research associate for the Institute for Urban Policy Research & Analysis at the University of Texas at Austin, points out that the two main factors that are leading to the diaspora of East Austin are affordability and education.</p>
<p>Between 2000 and 2010 Austin's Black population was the only population in the nation that had declined in a large metropolitan city. Lowe points to r<a href="https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/iupra/_files/pdf/those-who-left-austin.pdf" target="_blank">esearch done by University of Texas' Dr. Eric Tang</a>, who sought to identify the causes behind this Black migration out of East Austin.</p>
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<img class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="40575a183404820e49365e9e93707eba" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" id="f63cf" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg0MjA4NS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyOTU1NTUwMX0.i5afd75P85V2vm2mEBzduHAKlOc78VF-Qc3fcsStI0g/img.png?width=980"/>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit..." spellcheck="false">(Institute for Urban Policy Research and Analysis and Division of Diversity and Community Engagement)</small></p>
<p>The research identifies housing affordability as the leading cause for the migration to East Austin. The second leading cause was for the schools.<br/></p>
<p>As Lowe explains AISD "is incentivizing displacement and gentrification in a way by ensuring that the quality of the schools remains limited and once they do create an alternative, those new facilities are going to be there as a marketing strategy to appeal to those incoming families who are moving to East Austin and are of higher means."</p><p>Lowe is suspicious of Austin's recent plans to close older schools and replace them with new buildings.</p>
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<img class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f0269dba4b0df6572d03948126264aba" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" id="bd4bb" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg0MjA3Mi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0ODQzMjYyMn0.fZeq_dWe6LlbgCzErtINrnXJhwR9jzx9WbEtGHaljOY/img.jpg?width=980"/>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Blackshear Elementary School still stands today. It is unknown when this photo was taken.</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">(Austin History Center)</small></p>
<p>"Who are these schools for? Are these schools for this new population that you are expecting to have in the future or are these schools really for our kids?" he said. "That is the war that is happening right now in East Austin. People making decisions on where they want to live are very tied to local schools."<br/></p><p><strong>What this means for Austin's Black residents</strong> </p>
<p>Lowe views the atmosphere of change in East Austin as absolutely demoralizing to the local Black community.</p>
<p>"Now if you got on 11th street now you're going to see condos, and different things like that that doesn't make East Austin even look the same. You see the graffiti in some of these spaces there, there's a Jamaican restaurant there, there's things there that are set to preserve the cultural significance of Black people in Austin, but the people there— they're not, they're not <em>there</em> anymore, a lot of them are being gentrified out," says Lowe.</p>
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<img class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b9c08e0445e2f7dbdcb0938051dd33b3" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" id="0fd7b" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg0MjA3NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxOTg1NTIwMX0.XQn0cHKAL6Fkzvozexdv8jH0zn2lNNaRe-0cBMaQAgI/img.jpg?width=1200&coordinates=0%2C764%2C0%2C764&height=800"/>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">(Roberto Ontiveros/Austonia)</small></p>
<p>Lowe see's the underlying problem as systemic racism. He says the story of East Austin is not just one of gentrification and displacement, but it is also the story of how institutions continue to persist on making it difficult for people just to remain put. People are being forced to move out of the area when they can't pay for the cost of living.<br/></p>
<p>"It is apparent that Austin is becoming a city that in order for you to live in, you have to contribute to that economy, because Austin wants to become a global economy," says Lowe. "Those who are not able to participate in making the global city more economically profound are finding it increasingly difficult to live there."</p>
<p>Roxanne Evans, member of the East Austin Coalition for Quality Education, says she believes the city is committed to affordable housing which will slow the rate of gentrification, and she hopes families who have left the area will be drawn back to the area.</p>
<p>"Progress is well and good, development is well and good, but not if it pushes people out and changes the whole nature of the community," says Evans.</p>
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(Charlie L. Harper III)
More than eight months into the pandemic, area homeless shelters report fewer beds and volunteers due to social distancing protocols. But their clientele remains in need, so their staff have come up with new solutions, from using QR codes for donations to Thanksgiving sack meals.
With everyone being advised to limit interactions this Thanksgiving, Austonia takes a look at how Austin's shelters are coping with COVID.
<p><strong>Fewer shelter beds and volunteers </strong></p><p>Jason Whaley, communication manager for Austin's Salvation Army, said the pandemic has made their shelter space scarce. </p><p>"We had to reduce our overall shelter capacity just based off CDC guidelines," he said. "You know, we've made beds, separated them into over six feet apart."</p><p>But the changes have been effective. </p><p>"Now fortunately we have not had to deal with a COVID outbreak at any of our shelters so that's a very good thing, and I believe that the protocols had a lot to do with that," he said. <br/></p><p>That said, implementing safety procedures has cut down the number of badly needed volunteers. </p><p>"It certainly reduces the amount of volunteers we can actually have in the warehouse so we are most certainly cutting back in terms of just the amount of people for safety reasons," Whaley said, adding that this year those iconic red Salvation Army donation kettles will include QR codes, "so the people don't actually have to touch cash or touch the kettles."</p><p><strong>A move from downtown </strong></p><p>Monte Osburn, the executive director of The Foundation for the Homeless, said the pandemic has affected every aspect of his organization but especially its Feed My People program, which serves free breakfast every Tuesday and Thursday in downtown Austin.</p><p>"We would serve somewhere between four and six hundred per breakfast before COVID, and now it's down to maybe a hundred, 150, just because the population experiencing homelessness and needing that breakfast have kind of moved away from downtown into some other areas," he said. </p><p>Elaborating on the importance of the socializing aspect of the Feed My People program, Osburn said: "One of the draws for our clients to come in to have these breakfasts, it's not so much of the food, which is one type of sustenance, but they miss that connection with someone that they can speak to and just sit for a while and have a conversation with somebody rather than just surviving." </p><p>Volunteering at the foundation has been curbed significantly as well, as at other local organizations. But Osburn stressed that there are other ways to help beyond volunteering, including donating money and items such as masks and travel-sized personal hygiene products. </p><p>Another option: "Just becoming more knowledgeable about the issue," she said.</p><p><span></span><strong>Seeking warmth</strong></p><p>Amy Price, of Austin's Front Steps, said that another way to help the local homeless population is to donate a blanket through the organization's annual winter drive. </p><p> "Every year as winter arrives, there is a steady demand for blankets," she said. "We distribute blankets to shelter clients, individuals (who are) unsheltered and living in camps and outside places, and through the other nonprofits who work with people experiencing homelessness."</p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f507206fecaac07e6e2f6f40e1ddb4f3"><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/FrontSteps/posts/3316852551722087"></div></div><p>The goal this year is to get 1,300 blankets, and as Price explains, "We really need specific blankets, because the size and what the blankets are made of matters so much."<br/></p><p>After taking some time to talk to clients and staff, Front Steps learned which blankets worked best and what blankets did not work at all. </p><p>"Wool blankets are a no-go, because most people living rough have skin damage and the wool is terribly irritating to wind- (and) sun-burned skin. Cotton blankets are a no-go because they soak up moisture from dew, rain (and) sleet and they become too heavy to carry and there is no way to dry them. Small blankets don't keep out the wind and cold," she said. "Our clients are adult men, and they know those small fleeces won't keep them warm." The blankets to donate to Front Steps should be twin- or full-sized.</p><p><strong>Increased need </strong></p><p>Antwon R. Martin, of the SAFE Alliance, an organization which offers shelter and housing as well as counseling for at risk individuals, says the pandemic has increased the number of people seeking shelter from abuse. "There are more people coming to SAFE for support, but the amount of shelter space we have, as always, is extremely limited," says Martin.</p><p>Due to the pandemic, volunteers are down and even basic fundraising has become a problem for the organization. </p><p>"Because of COVID-19, we couldn't hold our big fundraising events in person this year," Martin said. "Our annual gala raises more than $1 million each year, but we had to convert it to a digital event, which raised about $620,000. So we're doing everything we can to provide a high level of support to survivors of violence and abuse while finding ways to offset the decrease in donations."</p><p>The pandemic, with its shelter-in-place strictures, has made it particularly difficult for individuals who are risking abuse by simply staying at home.</p><p>"For many, home isn't a safe place," says Martin. "When someone is isolating inside a home with a partner or caregiver who uses abuse, the chance to reach out for support may never happen."</p><p><strong>Building community</strong><br/></p><p>Alan Graham, the founder and CEO of Mobile Loaves and Fishes, is used to organizing a big Thanksgiving meal in downtown Austin, but this year things will be different.</p><p>"We're doing it outside, and we'll end up making some simple sack meals that people can come and pick up and take away," he said. "So the intimacy of what we do has got to be postponed for this year and hopefully we'll be back next year."</p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ee3a82aae9565713faa188d4c69dd10f" id="d72bf"><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-version="4" style=" background:#FFF; border:0;
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</div></blockquote></div><p>For Graham, whose organization not only brings out food to people daily but also runs Community First Village in far East Austin, the communal aspect is key to his work.</p><p>"Our belief in what homelessness is is not that you're without a house," he said. "We believe that housing is important, we believe housing is necessary but it is still insufficient as far as what the human person needs. And we have a saying at Mobile Loaves & Fishes that housing will never solve homelessness but community will."</p>
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Long live Dia de los Muertos: Austinites stick to tradition and put up altars despite COVID
29 October
(Chris Caselli)
The Mexic-Arte Museum's Day of the Dead Exhibition last year.
With films like Coco streaming on Disney+ and Day of the Dead Barbies lining Walmart shelves, it is clear that the commercial aspects of Dia de los Muertos are alive and well.
<p>Despite its trending marketability, this ancient Mexican tradition of altars and offerings remains a rite of remembrance. The holiday begins Nov. 1 and ends Nov. 2, with traditional activities starting days in advance.</p><p>Jessica Tovar, an educator and artist who lives in north Austin, sees Dia de los Muertos as a time of "unity between families" which is expressed through an ancestral celebration. </p><p>"I am delighted to remember loved ones who are no longer with us," she says.</p><p>Tovar, who is originally from Tamaulipas, Mexico, recalls how Day of the Dead festivities were a major part of her primary education.</p><p>"At school, every year we made a mega altar in the school theater and we all participated by decorating it, bringing food, flowers, toys, photos, pan de muerto, fruit, etcetera," she says. "Families would gather around the altar to sing, socialize, dance, and would eat the food from the altar. Some came to celebrate dressed as catrinas (an elegantly attired female representation of death) or had their faces painted as calacas (skulls)."</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e180ce86d0aca49abdfa355eb399ba4b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" id="af2fe" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDYzMzk5OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMTY3ODA2OH0.keCUh3tG1le-yQ4bKyqpT-KNMdAt8AD8fLCz874uWxQ/img.jpg?width=980"/>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Painting by Jessica Tovar, inspired by Dia de los Muertos. </small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">(Jessica Tovar)</small></p><p>Tovar, who often employs Day of the Dead imagery in her art, notes that the holiday carries a commitment in Mexico that is, perhaps, lacking in the states.<br/></p><p>She says in Mexico the tradition begins days before with people making altars in their homes and decorating the tomb of their deceased loved ones with their favorite things. And on Nov. 1, the cemeteries are open 24 hours for people to celebrate the tradition day and night.</p><p>"When you walk among the tombs you see people singing together or alone with a big speaker; some bring serenata with a mariachi while others are sharing el pan de muertos, drinking pulque or tequila together. You look at others crying, others smiling, and some telling stories/anecdotes," Tovar says. "The emotions are different among all. This tradition unites family, friends, neighbors, and strangers with all the events around the city."</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9c0a5370d8aec7797075ef59f74b5769" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" id="5fdf2" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDYzMzk1Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzODI1MzIwMX0.U678ydr71LmOgv--mLljus2O9HTVP4qnpbecfYzWXh4/img.jpg?width=980"/>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">A cemetery in Michoacán, Mexico decorated on Nov. 1, 2018.</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">(CC)</small></p><p>While she thinks the tradition in Austin would be beautiful, Tovar has alternatively enjoyed attending the annual downtown Day of the Dead parade—which was canceled this year. The Viva la Vida Festival coincides with the Mexic-Arte Museum's Day of the Dead Exhibition.<br/></p><p>In Austin the Day of the Dead celebrations have—like everything else—been affected by COVID-19, so the corresponding events have had to go online.</p><p>The <a href="https://mexic-artemuseum.org/" target="_blank">Mexic-Arte Museum</a> will hold its 37th annual Day of the Dead Exhibition virtually. The online event, which will run from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2, will exhibit community altars that pay homage to Latino victims of the pandemic, as well as people who have died from AIDS and heroes of the U.S. civil rights movement.</p>
<p>Austin has depended on the Mexic-Arte Museum's guidance regarding Dia de los Muertos since the non-profit opened its doors in 1984, and every year interest in the festival has increased.<br/></p><p>Mario Villanueva, marketing and events associate at the Mexic-Arte Museum, says close to 15,000 people participated in last year's parade.</p><p>Rather than view the virtual exhibition as a limitation, Villanueva says he sees the digital outreach as an opportunity for Mexic-Arte to engage with a wider audience. </p><p>Navigating through the pandemic has called for a <a href="https://mexic-artemuseum.org/exhibitions/" target="_blank">new website</a> featuring a virtual tour of the exhibits, as well as online instructions on altar construction and the creation of sugar skulls.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d7c4e3b3a54eeadb516d221cbd588c10" style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="auto" type="lazy-iframe" scrolling="no" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XqxKlx1crk8?rel=0" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;" width="100%"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Sugar Skull Tutorial by the MACC</small>
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<a href="https://youtu.be/XqxKlx1crk8" target="_blank">youtu.be</a>
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</p><p>"Having everything virtual, making more content online has opened up a new way that we can share the knowledge," says Villaneuva, who considers Day of the Dead a genuine way for communities to cope with and heal from tragedy.<br/></p><p>Last year's Day of the Dead exhibition opened a few weeks after the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/10/10/769013051/el-paso-walmart-shooting-suspect-pleads-not-guilty" target="_blank">El Paso shooting</a>, so the Mexic-Arte Museum made an altar dedicated to the 22 people killed in the racially-motivated domestic terror. Villanueva said the result of the altar was "something that was really, really beautiful."</p><p>Olivia Tamzarian, the culture and arts program supervisor at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center, says this year people are making altars at home and sharing photos during its <a href="https://spark.adobe.com/page/51lWXmvNMgNjo/" target="_blank">virtual program</a>.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="41d2181fafc10376c6cf4d6357b72a39" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" id="f0153" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDYzNDE2OS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMDEwOTU3MH0.9WF7BF8e20NM5G_H4-lrSWPZCyfnlE97EyAzmTTNvYE/img.jpg?width=980"/>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">(Ulises García/Mexican American Cultural Center)</small></p><p>The very tone of this year's Day of the Dead celebration has been affected by the cautions around COVID.<br/></p><p>"You know there is a lot of talk in the Latino community about how Latinos have been <a href="https://austonia.com/covid-19-latino-disparity" target="_blank">disproportionately affected by COVID</a> and that's not something that's lost on us," says Tamzarian. "It's very real when you have a festival to celebrate the deceased and then you are worried about the actual deceased in your community. It becomes not just a celebration but almost like a political movement, to talk about these things in a way that becomes very desensitized when you just hear it on the news."</p><p>Tamzarian, who personally discovered Day of the Dead when she was about 20 years old and living in Mexico, sees the celebration as a form of psychological healing. </p><p>"I think it's healthy because it gives a chance, a place or an excuse for a time of the year to talk about people you were supposed to have forgotten," Tamzarian says.</p><p>Heirlooms on the altars is of great significance, Tamzarian says. One original idea of the Day of the Dead is the creation of an ofrenda, an altar that you put highly personal objects on. Personal items like a deceased family members glasses, gloves, or hat, are put on the altar because there is a belief that those personal items have a spiritual connection to that person."</p><p>"What's so interesting now is how it's being mixed with all sorts of commercial objects as well, so you might take your old grandfather's hat but then you might go to H-E-B and buy a little plastic skull or a candle and put that on the altar too," Tamzarian adds, elaborating on the malleable nature of the ancient Latino celebration.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="319eaa1e4fa3abe377976d8a66fd8902" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" id="eea7e" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDYzNDA5MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNjY1MzAwOH0.DD5kEWAvCOvohc8J1bge1JYOBt9Wq22hAv77b8Yu6Aw/img.jpg?width=980"/>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">A Dia los Muertos alter by Olivia Tamzarian.</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">(Olivia Tamzarian)</small></p><p>Tamzarian recalls witnessing a visiting student being moved to tears at the sight of a particularly powerful altar.<br/></p><p>"We had a girl come in and when she saw the altar she burst out crying and I was worried like 'Oh God, maybe she saw someone she knows' and I was like 'What's going on?' and she was like probably around 11 and she said 'I've never seen … this looks just my grandmother's house' is what she says: 'I've never seen something like this in a museum before.'"</p><p>Tamzarian says, the girl described the altar as a kind of a validation of her culture. </p><p>"The fact that it is something that could be in a museum means that it's an art tradition that has so much value—cultural and historical value," says Tamzarian. <span></span>"That her grandmother had this sort of alter in her home and had candles up and everything, that she was able to see this in a museum just put it into perspective, that it is something to be proud of and that it isn't something that should die."</p>
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDYzNDI2OS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxODIyNzkyOX0.SBlVffj3a7o9JrnlyUkxcjj6tdlPPiLt8RoiMlBS2sA/img.jpg?width=980" id="f1c06" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b74ec99d8d2a05f2117e7dbf0fba0a6e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
(Chris Caselli/Mexic-Arte Museum)
A band marches downtown in the 2019 downtown Vida la Vida festival.
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(Liz McGuire/City of Austin)
This year has been off the rails, and this is especially true for Austin's beloved miniature choo choo the Zilker Zephyr.
<p>Due to storm-related erosion beneath its tracks, the Zilker Zephyr—an emerald green, 72-passenger, propane-powered mini train that ran for 22 years—was forced to shut down in May of 2019. </p><p>The Zephyr, the second train in the park's history, was preceded by the 60-passenger gas-powered Zilker Eagle which ran from 1961-1996.</p><div class="rm-embed embed-media"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="650" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline3/latest/embed/index.html?source=16cAQ6GxC2nxdZqpdvPSw6GHWY4Vz-gcLDtXx9blEwqQ&font=Default&lang=en&initial_zoom=2&height=650" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="100%"></iframe></div><p>Lamenting the temporary closure of the train, the <a href="https://austintexas.gov/news/operation-zilker-zephyr" target="_blank">City of Austin issued a statement</a> on Jan. 29. Due to severe erosion to an embankment supporting part of the train's tracks, the tracks were deemed unsafe and would require an evaluation followed by repairs in order to keep on chugging.<br/></p><p>The damage could not have come at a more inconvenient time as the vendor that owned and operated the train, Texas Special Co., had less than a year left in their contract. </p><p>"Per the contract, the vendor is required to make all repairs; therefore, recouping erosion repairs would have required a period longer than the remaining contract period," the city stated.</p><p>The Austin Parks & Recreation Department said they worked in good faith with the vendor on an agreement to continue operations while preserving future bidding opportunities. Ultimately unable to come to a contract agreement with the vendor, the department thanked Texas Special for their service and moved on with their search for a new vendor.</p><p>At this time, the department is still in the early stages of operations planning, so no new vendor has been decided on.</p><p>Via a Facebook post, Zephyr management explained that they were offered a three year contract and that, due to the projected expenses of the repairs, only a five year contract would make economic sense.</p><div class="rm-embed embed-media"><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="568" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FZilkerZephyr%2Fposts%2F10157604916878301&width=500" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" width="500"></iframe></div><p>The vendor further claimed they were misled by the city about their contractual obligations relating to the track's repair and their future rights regarding the operation of the train. Texas Special insisted that the entire ordeal ended up costing them over $40,000 and countless hours. Therefore, they announced they were taking away their train.<br/></p><p>In February, Texas Special was sued by the city for literally trying to pull up stakes (in the form of bolts) from the Zilker tracks.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ea2c86f9884a02146eab36d446ba67a7" style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="auto" type="lazy-iframe" scrolling="no" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/z3L9RxyPty4?rel=0" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;" width="100%"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">The path of Austin's Zilker train</small>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">
<a href="https://youtu.be/z3L9RxyPty4" target="_blank">youtu.be</a>
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</p><p>However badly the contract negotiations between the city and the Zilker Zephyr went, the Facebook comments relating to the loss of the train revealed that the true victims of the failed negotiations were the children of Austin who would no longer get to enjoy rides through the park.<br/></p><p>Natalia Quiroz, a mother of two, recalls the joy the Zephyr brought to her daughter Mazzy before its closing. </p><p>"She was the one who loved it and always wanted to go again," Quiroz says.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image image-crop-custom">
<img class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="05155cdaf2efca483b166334c5719664" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" id="4d6d2" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDU0NjUzNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2MTYxNDg3NX0.rgwmrnViPehL3QLiSk6bL91W7hIKoeZR_y69PdbsGkA/img.jpg?width=1944&coordinates=0%2C322%2C0%2C322&height=2064"/>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">(Natalia Quiroz)</small></p><p>Local musician <a href="http://www.woodewood.com/" target="_blank">Woode Wood</a>, who had been performing for Zephyr passengers for 12 years, told Austonia he knows the kids are devastated about the train being gone from Zilker. He would put his all into entertaining the excited kids that rode by his usual spot, he says.<br/></p><p>Wood is confident that the kids just want the train back and will be thrilled with any little locomotive they get. </p><p>"Kids will adapt and love the heck out of whatever they put up there as long as it works," he says. "As long as it moves and it goes around on a track, they're going to love it. Because they love being on a train and they don't care how it's powered, you know."</p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b42e0dc4079e07eb5dfbff441a510e8f" id="6d1de"><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-version="4" style=" background:#FFF; border:0;
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</div></blockquote></div><p>Ladye Anne Wofford, the Chief Mission Officer at Austin Parks Foundation, agrees with Wood that the kids are the true priority of the project, and says her whole foundation is enthused about the chance to bring this major source of Austin family fun back to the community.<br/></p><p>"Countless Austinites grew up riding the train and taking their kids to ride the train, and I think keeping the experience alive is a great way to honor a place that made many of us fall in love with Austin in the first place… Zilker Park," Wofford says.</p><p>When the Austin City Council asked the non-profit APF in February to step in and steer the bad train situation to a better station, Wofford saw her organization "as a natural fit to bring the train back and improve it and use it as a way to help generate funds for Zilker park."</p><p>The new train will meld the mid-century nostalgia of a 1940s passenger train with the up-to-date amenities of an electric engine, while focusing on creating an amusement ride experience that is accommodating to every passenger, regardless of age or ability.</p><p> "There are just a lot of ways that we feel that we can improve the business model and the overall experience," Wofford says. </p><p>And fans of the Zilker train appear to be all on board. </p><p>"We have had a lot of interest and great feedback from people from all across the city—people definitely seem excited to get the train back up and running," she says. "Every time we've been at the site for planning meetings, we're always stopped and asked about the progress of the project and when the train is coming back."</p><p>The APF recently held an online contest to name the future train. According to Wofford, 750 Austinites submitted ideas for names. Seven finalists were announced on Sept. 30. <a href="http://austinparks.org/zilker-train" target="_blank">Online voting</a> for the winning name will go on until Nov 6.</p><div class="rm-embed embed-media"><script data-opguid="baa38feb-3ab4-4aa0-ba47-e4676310806b" data-routing="hash" data-ss-embed="promotion" src="https://embed-739598.secondstreetapp.com/Scripts/dist/embed.js">/**/</script></div><p>"I think the Zephyr was a great name but it belongs to the former train," Wofford says. "We thought it was a great opportunity for young people to play a part in what will go down in history, so I am really excited to see what name our community chooses."<br/></p><p>Wofford views the community's input, regarding the name and even the color scheme of the future train, as integral to staying true to the charms of the ever popular Zilker Park experience.</p><p>"Austin is an active and creative city that has seen so much exciting growth and change over the years," she says. "To many, this makes it even more important that we hold on to our favorite traditions and experiences like the Zilker train."</p><p><br/></p><p><strong>More related content:</strong></p>
<h2><a href="https://austonia.com/trail-of-lights-tickets" target="_self">Austin Trail of Lights drive-thru tickets now on sale</a></h2>
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