Ballet East
the ballet east dance company (modern) fall performance was quite the treat for a saturday evening. i was surprised at the venue chosen, though. austin is a town which celebrates artistic expression (at least relative to the state in which it sits), and ballet east chose to perform in the dougherty arts center (with a theatre that seats maybe 150 at most). of course, the place was fully sold out, with several people turned away at the door. and of course, this was the second of 3 showtimes of the same production. but i can't help to think that all 3 will be sold out, and that ballet east underestimated austin's turnout. furthermore - are there no adequate venues in east austin? the east side has received the bad end of the stick for so many decades, what with the legal segregation, then the physical separation when east avenue became the corridor for the interstate, and now to top it off, gentrification, turf wars, and culture clash. speaking of gentrification, i refuse to call the lower east side the "east end." that's stupid. it's not the end to anything. the naming of that portion "east end" is purely commercial, and results only from the fact that it is the epicenter of the yuppy condo boom east of the freeway, and the people who are moving there will eventually be connected seamlessly to downtown by metrorail - so they won't have to interact with all the poor brown people who surround them and whom they kicked out in order to get a "cheap" loft close to their workplace. increased density is a wonderful thing, but not at the expense of a long-standing community. plus, some of the new mid-rises planned or being constructed around east 12th have units looking straight into the freeway deck (they call that a "downtown view"). it would sure be nice to open up my window and die instantly of carbon monoxide poisoning, what with the traffic in a dead stop most of the time, just running their motors waiting for rush hour traffic to be different than it was the day before. i will be happy as soon as i can live in a place without needing a car. here in the states, that narrows down my choices now, doesn't it. the car culture killed our communities. oh well. on the topic of driving, however, i have realized something about fast drivers. if you are driving in a city, or anywhere for that matter, and you're new to the town and the streets, and you see someone come up behind you, tail you for a few seconds, then speed around you - don't think bad thoughts like "punk" or "asshole" - they probably live in that area of the city and are tired of people like you, driving slow and clogging up the road. seems simple, but often not realized. i'm usually that 'asshole' - but i'm usually calling the other person the 'asshole' for wheeling around in their giant excursion/suburban/hummer/whatever and not having any brain capacity to look where they need to go WHILE paying attention to those of us who actually live here and know where we're going like it's second nature. it's a good thing we do know, though, because it takes a good amount of focus to steer away from the idiot in the excursion when he or she (usually a fat white republican on the cell phone with NO ONE ELSE in the vehicle) decides it's time to move into your lane while you're there. meanwhile you're probably carrying/carpooling 3 or 4 of your friends/coworkers, and when the bitch in the needlessly huge tankmobile notices something's happened and you're in her way, she automatically thinks you're in the wrong and gives you the condescending "wtf" look. she doesn't realize nor care that she almost could have killed 5 people if it weren't for your driving skills. okay, that's enough ranting for now.
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