“Keep Austin Weird” is the unofficial slogan of Texas’s capital. I lived there for a year in 2018 and saw the markers of that mantra everywhere. The locals were free-spirited, there was a thriving live music scene, most of the stores were independent and there was none of the prudishness you find elsewhere in the States.
I lived next to a clothing-optional affordable student housing co-op, while everyone sunbathed topless at Barton Springs, the city’s beloved municipal pool. Austin was already gentrifying quickly, but it was still a little rough around the edges.
