Life in Latvia
Not every American who travels abroad visits this tiny capital, much less gets here two summers in a row. Yet having briefly worked for a newspaper in the region — and having friends in...
Tagged: Austin American-Statesman
At least Iceland’s rich in talent
It’s not often that you get a chance to sit down with rock stars from Iceland for a long chat about economics. But at South By Southwest, anything can happen. Iceland’s economy suffered a...
When locals and luck collide
Earlier this month, I was standing at the bar at the Hole in the Wall with JoDee Purkeypile, lead singer/songwriter/lead guitarist of Austin’s quintet the Alice Rose. The band was playing the club near...
Fantasy Films Draw their lifeblood from Austin
For the last year, my husband has spent his Saturdays helping friends build a 9-foot copy of the TARDIS time-traveling spaceship from the BBC’s “Doctor Who” TV series. To the uninitiated, it looks like...
For me, the holidays are just ho-ho-hum
Stopping by a friend’s house the day after Thanksgiving, I was amazed by both her lavishly ornamented tree and her breezy declaration of the Christmas colors she was considering for next year. Despite the...
Patchwork of fond memories keeps us warm
We live in a culture of abundance, a society drowning in stuff. Off-site storage units are a growth industry, while houses keep getting bigger to contain the avalanche of possessions. Magazines such as Real...
If you must eat animals, kill them with kindness
We’re quickly approaching “Turkey Day.” That’s shorthand for Thanksgiving, and it emphasizes the meat-centric-ness of the holiday. These days, the Pilgrims are mere Yankee window-dressing to the “Festival of Turkey.” Thanksgiving is just one...
Which Ghouls rule on Halloween? In Austin, that’s a no-brainer
Zombies are the monster of the moment, at least in Central Texas. While the ’80s and ’90s had sexy bloodsuckers inspired by Anne Rice’s “Vampire Chronicles,” zombies are now the most fashionable undead. Sure,...
As the Stones say, you can make it if you try
It’s a cliché of the interconnectedness of the world that when a butterfly flaps its wings in Wales, it affects the weather in Waco. Yet sometimes global forces really do have very local consequences....
Films offer a glimpse of our global neighbors
Travel is often considered broadening, giving one panache, polish and a proper perspective on world events. Alas, the scandalous price of oil, the expense of mountain-climbing Sherpa guides and yaks, combined with the reality...
