A tribe, or a way of being?

Ten years ago, I moved to Austin from the Boston area, partly to escape the cold and partly out of a vague sense that I would benefit from a change of pace. I was moving from a place with a relatively stable population to a place that was rapidly changing. Anchored by the state capital and by the University of Texas at Austin, the UT system's flagship campus, Austin has been experiencing rapid growth since its inception. In 1980, the city had a population of around 350,000. Today, its population is over 900,000 (though some of this growth has come from annexation, rather than migration). The city has often been considered a liberal oasis within a conservative state, and, at the same time, our growth has created some challenges and resulted in some tension. Our local politics features divisions not so much between Democrats vs. Republicans as between people favoring differing approaches regarding the city's growth. I feel that observing local politics leads to some insights into who we are as people.

( Read more... )