You might have detected recently a certain grumpiness on my part. This is common during the 3-pronged festival known here as South by Southwest.
This SXSW, for short, generates an intense amount of hand-wringing among the trendy here. A kind of neurosis in which people wonder whether they are cool enough to be hipsters or smug enough to be even more hip than hipsters.
And, oh yeah, the town is pretty much invaded by people who are even more foreign than what we deal with on a daily basis.
You might recall, we discussed hipsters last year.
If you know me, you know I've pretty much purposely chosen a non-trendy lifestyle.
I eat red meat in small-town establishments. I enjoy remote places. I listen to old music, sometimes on vinyl records (but always in a non-ironic way). I work on my own house, in my own yard (not as often as I should). I don't watch reality TV. I fail to see the usefulness of Twitter. I don't keep up with technology. I drink beer that is so common that one thinks it would not bear any discussion (seriously, if you like craft beer, then that's really great. Drink it, enjoy it, talk about it but shut the fuck up about my beer.)
Suffice to say, I don't really care about high culture, tech culture, or whatnot.
Now I've long since realized that Austin is not the hippie enclave with a reverence for its past that I thought it was when I moved here. I've come to accept that all that still passes for traditional around here will ultimately change to accommodate the bigger dollar of the tech-or-hip-or-fashionably inclined.
So I keep to myself on the outskirts of Manchaca, mostly.
But when I read that "Esquire" magazine is now an authority on Kreuz Market's barbecue; or that you can sleep in a $350-a-night room in Terlingua that offers espresso and brunch; or that, Jesus, men's work clothes are now supposed to be "fashionable" …
Well, I don't much care for the intrusion.
C'mon, you good people of the Internet Age. I've ceded Austin to you. Drink its craft beer. Enjoy its fine restaurants. Party in its clubs. Twitter your tweets and appreciate your apps. Do your thing.
Just … sigh … get off my lawn.
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