Kitaro Newsletter II
Communitas:
Neighborhoods... houses... people. Everyone has a neighborhood, whether you live in a house, apartment complex, condo, or some sort of gigantic country manor. Your neighbors might be on the other side of paper thin walls, or miles away, but the way you interact with them should be the same. I grew up in the suburbs, and the thought of neighbors usually meant that ass who would yell whenever we played music "too loud," or people who refused to wave back or hang out in front of their house. Since most of my friends have moved to East Austin, I've seen a whole different type of neighbor... and it's awesome.
When I ride my bike down Prock, people wave back at me; if I say "Hi," I get a returned greeting. When the yards are unkempt, someone cuts it, and crazier than that, it's usually someone who lives down the street who is just being neighborly. People invite my friends over for dinner, they share stories of the old days of Austin. Tejano blares through the streets, and people party hard. If my suburban past was dead, East Austin is vibrant and alive. Some people might say it's "unsafe," but then so is driving down the highway.
Sure, there are some problems in the neighborhood, and a few break-ins and wrecks... but even in those instances, people go out of their way to help their neighbors out. One friend's car was hit while parked, and someone across the street chased the other car on a bike until they could get a police officer to pull him over and get insurance information. That kind of thing just blows my mind.
While real estate agents may balk at white or asian people trying to live in these amazing places (even going so far as to suggest neighborhoods that are "98% white" as a "safe alternative"), I can't think of any better place in Austin. Heck, I don't even live there, and I find myself drawn east of 35 over and over during the week. The bike lanes are wide, the people care, and our love for the area grows and grows. Every dinner, every late night sitting in the back of a van moving furniture, every midnight bike ride; East Austin has changed from a place my parents cautioned against venturing into, to a warm spot in my heart.
God willing, every neighborhood that Vox is part of will change us for the better. All we have to do is listen, learn, and love.
- Brook Shelley
