What did your friends, family, acquaintances say when you told them you were moving to Austin?

[Kave64]

Originally Posted by scongress1234

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4.)False.......it is not like madison, wisc....not only is it not the arctic in winter, but it is far more music orientated, far more outdoorsy, and far more southern......Austin is more southern than people think...the food, the lifestyle, the friendliness....Madison folks can be very reserved and non-animated. Not the same in Austin. And it is not more cosmopolitan, as it is mostly anglo-white, hispanic, black, and a bit asian. If you consider cosmopolitan LA, SF, Chicago, and NYC, you would see that Austin is pretty much a white anglo dominated culture. The hispanic presence is largely confined to the east end, and not noticable. The Asians seem to congregate in the North and Northwest, and mostly keep to themselves.
They will call me un-PC for saying that, but thats the reality of it....!

While I think that most of your post was on the money, I have to disagree with your statement regarding Asian isolation and how cosmopolitan the city is. Perhaps it's my profession or where I work, but I am an American born black man who has had an easy time getting to know numerous people of Asian origin throughout my years in Austin. I have friends and associates from Cambodia, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, China, the Phillipines, Indonesia, India (South Asians generally consider themselves a part of the overall asian community here) and probably many other asian countries. One of the cool things about Austin, in my opinion, is the fact that Asians and other ethnic groups aren't segregated into isolated communities that rarely interact with outsiders. I think I've probably learned much more about these cultures than I ever would have had the opportunity to, living in a large segregated city. From the role of the female in southeast asian families to the difference between between South India and North India and the variety of languages spoken there, I have been the beneficiary of many interesting conversations. Because of the more dispersed nature of the the asian population here, Austin doesn't have a Chinatown or Koreatown as found in some larger cities but there are a growing number of burgeoning Asian business centers with numerous restaurants and other businesses catering to people from this region of the world. Percentage-wise, Austin is probably about on par with cities like Washington DC and Philadelphia.

[twange]

Originally Posted by Kave64

While I think that most of your post was on the money, I have to disagree with your statement regarding Asian isolation and how cosmopolitan the city is. Perhaps it's my profession or where I work, but I am an American born black man who has had an easy time getting to know numerous people of Asian origin throughout my years in Austin. I have friends and associates from Cambodia, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, China, the Phillipines, Indonesia, India (South Asians generally consider themselves a part of the overall asian community here) and probably many other asian countries. One of the cool things about Austin, in my opinion, is the fact that Asians and other ethnic groups aren't segregated into isolated communities that rarely interact with outsiders. I think I've probably learned much more about these cultures than I ever would have had the opportunity to, living in a large segregated city. From the role of the female in southeast asian families to the difference between between South India and North India and the variety of languages spoken there, I have been the beneficiary of many interesting conversations. Because of the more dispersed nature of the the asian population here, Austin doesn't have a Chinatown or Koreatown as found in some larger cities but there are a growing number of burgeoning Asian business centers with numerous restaurants and other businesses catering to people from this region of the world. Percentage-wise, Austin is probably about on par with cities like Washington DC and Philadelphia.

Excellent observation. I guess this begs this question: Are we so used to segregation, that when we don't see the usual "_____town", we automatically assume that there is no diversity?

[LCC1968]

I went to school at UT Austin. Although the city itself is very beautiful, I saw some very racist things going on there. The fraternities held "slave days" as a theme for parties and I saw several white boys making racial slurs toward a black lady. No matter what anyone says, UT is still a "white institution" with a lot of backward thinking. I speak from experience. If you stay away from that environment, though, the city itself and the regular people living there are lovely.