Spring Meanderings

A candy store on SoCo.

Is it Spring? It’s hard to tell in Texas sometimes. But I say, it is! In honor of the emergence of Spring (and the fact that I hail from a city north of Houston dubbed Spring, TX), I’m going to mention just a few fun things I’ve done / will do this Spring.

I…

went to a reading.
There are a couple of contemporary writers that really excite me, that just make me feel completely starstruck. One of them is Ben Marcus, author of The Flame Alphabet (sweet cover, right?). It was terrific to see him read at BookPeople, “Austin’s leading independent bookstore,” in January. Marcus is actually an Austin native (I did not know that) and his reading is the result of a partnership between BookPeople and the literary magazine, American Short Fiction, I worked for in the Fall. I am really excited for their reading series and future collaborations.

…explored SoCo!
I and a couple of other MPAs went to a chili cook off this past weekend at Jo’s Coffee, located on South Congress (SoCo as the Austinites say). They host an annual chili cook off every year (around January or February) featuring live music, impressive two steppers, and giant vats of chili. I believe the proceeds go towards a different charitable cause every year. We sampled chili for pretty much an entire afternoon. My taste buds have never imagined just how many ways chili can be made.

…will run the LiveStrong half marathon!

This upcoming Sunday, currently, it’s about 99% full, meaning there are going to be approximately 18,000 runners plowing through the streets of Austin. (Note to everyone NOT racing: you may want to rethink driving or eating out without reservations).
Music curation is pretty essential to my running. I’d love to be able to run to silence, but I haven’t been able to master that. I’m actually planning out my running playlist right now. Have you heard Sufjan Steven’s “Impossible Soul”? It’s a 25 minute song, and it’s been a tradition of mine since the Houston, Texas Turkey Trot of 2010 to listen to the song in its entirety as soon as the race begins. I guess we all have our rituals. I’ll be running the half marathon this year and a few other MPAs are participating as well. Not sure what to expect in terms of hills…eek. Wish us luck!

…will attend SXSW.
Something that I wish I’d known earlier is, you can sign up to volunteer for SXSW. It’s a bit of a process. You can find information here so that you won’t miss the registration deadline next year (as I have this year) if it’s something that you want to do.

 

Wanna share your Spring Break Plans? Talk to Tracy Mueller at McCombs Today! Get your stories featured!
email her: tracy dot mueller @utexas.mccombs.edu.

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