Austin Journal: Two-Stepping

photograph by Hallie Cohen

Here is a saying placed above the counter at a very good Austin gelato place, Dolce Neve: "We do it in front of everyone." And here is another one decorating the porch of a charming gingerbread sized house in the parking lot in back of the Veracruz All Natural Food Truck which has great tacos: "No zealots allowed." It's not that there are city ordinances regarding the content of homilies but both reflect a liberal spirit that can be almost edgy at times. After all Austin is the home of SXSW and The University of Texas and the writing as they say is on the wall in terms of a burgeoning sensibility in which both ideas and maxims are tested. New York, LA and Boston are all liberal albeit larger university towns but there's something about Austin that places old verities in new  contexts, stretching and shifting paradigms along the way. Oh and on Saturday night if you want to do some good ole fashioned two-stepping to a live honky tonk band, hit the The White Horse in East Austin.