What do you all mean when you are referencing the culture of Austin?

[tongpa-nyi]

Originally Posted by Jennibc

I am not sure what you mean by this. Could it also be that there has always been a "good-neighbor" culture that you were unaware of in your youth? When I was 18 and living in Seattle I found it to me a much better place than when I was 35 and living in Seattle. I don't know if it had to do with the area changing or my being introduced to more sides of it because of aging and increasing responsibilities. There are still 20 somethigs there that swear it is the greatest place on earth but I was ready to leave come hell or high water when I hit forty.

I guess we're not understanding each other... You didn't get what I meant by "the subcultures have multiplied and diluted the old Austin vibe" and I didn't get how your remarks about "good-neighbor culture that I wasn't aware of in my youth" pertained to what I said.

My guess is that the disconnect happened with reference to the linkage between "sense of community" and "liberal pockets" that someone else posted. I was not endorsing that comment. I've always been well aware that a sense of community is not determined by politics or religious preference or socio-economic status. It's determined by more subtle factors. My comments were aimed at the notion that Austin's overall vibe (which is referenced constantly on this forum by many people) used to be something fairly identifiable and it was generally quite liberal and laid-back to the point where Linklater's "Slacker" was a virtual documentary of the city.

Now, that old Austin culture has been substantially diluted and marginalized. This has no direct impact on the sense of community that one might find in a particular neighborhood. The strongest sense of community I've experienced in Austin was in a predominantly Black neighborhood on the east side and it had nothing to do with being progressive or Texan or anything else. I just lucked out in having a lot of extremely friendly decent neighbors who all socialized with each other and looked out for one another.

My best guess about why a place like Circle C would have a good community vibe is that it attracts people who are looking for that, and it brings people from many different locations who are eager to make connections locally so they reach out to neighbors instead of hiding from them. Possible?

[Jennibc]

Originally Posted by tongpa-nyi

I guess we're not understanding each other... You didn't get what I meant by "the subcultures have multiplied and diluted the old Austin vibe" and I didn't get how your remarks about "good-neighbor culture that I wasn't aware of in my youth" pertained to what I said.

My guess is that the disconnect happened with reference to the linkage between "sense of community" and "liberal pockets" that someone else posted. I was not endorsing that comment. I've always been well aware that a sense of community is not determined by politics or religious preference or socio-economic status. It's determined by more subtle factors. My comments were aimed at the notion that Austin's overall vibe (which is referenced constantly on this forum by many people) used to be something fairly identifiable and it was generally quite liberal and laid-back to the point where Linklater's "Slacker" was a virtual documentary of the city.

Now, that old Austin culture has been substantially diluted and marginalized. This has no direct impact on the sense of community that one might find in a particular neighborhood. The strongest sense of community I've experienced in Austin was in a predominantly Black neighborhood on the east side and it had nothing to do with being progressive or Texan or anything else. I just lucked out in having a lot of extremely friendly decent neighbors who all socialized with each other and looked out for one another.

My best guess about why a place like Circle C would have a good community vibe is that it attracts people who are looking for that, and it brings people from many different locations who are eager to make connections locally so they reach out to neighbors instead of hiding from them. Possible?

I guess what I am saying (or asking really) is that it could be that the type of culture portrayed in Slacker has always been just one of the many subcultures here and that many of the folks lamenting how much Austin has changed over the years have just aged out of that culture and into a different one. For instance, it may have been there were always type 'x' people in Austin, but in one's youth, one might have only associated with type 'y' people so assumed 'y' was all there was. He or she was immersed in the 'y' vibe. As a person widens his social network as that is what happens when we age and have children, that person is now thrust into more interactions with 'x' people and assumes that the culture is changing, when in fact, it's not changing all that drastically.