Austin Archives - Kit O'Connell: Approximately 8,000 Words

The storefront for Bookwoman in Austin, Texas shows an angel with a halo of curly brown hair, reading a book, her wings outstretched and wearing a golden dress with white stars. She's flanked on either side by female symbols which are in flames or silver electricity.

Bookwoman in Austin, Texas is one of just a handful of feminist bookstores left in America. (Kit O'Connell)

November 28, 2022

A Tour of Texas Bookshops

Posted in Austin, Journalism, and The Texas Observer

Big-city traffic and a resolution on New Year’s Eve of 2020 led Pflugerville resident Kelsey Black to become a bookseller.

An avid reader, she disliked the hour round trip required to get from her suburb of 65,000 to downtown Austin to browse a bookstore. “OK,” she told herself, “I think it’s just going to be easier for me to … start my own bookstore.”

Turned out, it wasn’t easy at all, “but it’s OK because I have now found my calling,” Black said. The Book Burrow began as a pop-up and online business and finally, on August 6, opened as a brick-and-mortar store. She said the 200-square-foot space has become a haven for those who don’t feel like they fit in elsewhere, drawn by the store’s motto: “Embrace your weird.” For her, the phrase means cultivating love for whatever makes you unique: “Embrace your gender identity; embrace your sexual identity; embrace your racial background; embrace your spiritual path.”

Austin Marches Over End of Roe

Activists sit in the streets of downtown Austin, holding up their middle fingers towards the Texas Capitol, under a bright summer sun.

Austin took the streets to protest the end of Roe v. Wade. (Kit O'Connell)

June 25, 2022

Kit

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Austin Marches Over End of Roe

Posted in Austin, Journalism, and The Texas Observer

More than 1,000 people marched through downtown Austin on Friday, June 25 to express their anger and sadness over the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Roe V. Wade and the impending, widespread erosion of abortion access as a result.

Organized coalitions like Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights and others called for protesters to gather at the federal courthouse and in the surrounding Republic Square Park on the night after the Supreme Court decision came down. Word spread rapidly via social networks and posters affixed to lampposts throughout the city.

Austin Chronicle: Low-Income Austin Renters Negotiate For Better Deal

A photo of the Austin downtown city skyline. Added text: "Public domain image by Jeremy Banks via Unsplash"

As high rents cause displacement, one group of renters negotiates. (Unsplash / Jeremy Banks)

June 10, 2022

Kit

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Austin Chronicle: Low-Income Austin Renters Negotiate For Better Deal

Posted in Austin, Austin Chronicle, and Journalism

Low-income residents of a North Austin apartment complex are putting pressure on a developer intent on demolishing their homes, and they’re having some success in getting concessions. The Old Homestead, located on Clayton Lane near the intersection with Cameron Road, is set to be rezoned for vertical mixed use – meaning developers JCI Residential, an affiliate of the Journeyman Group, will be allowed more height and building size in exchange for affordable units. While the new property will have more units than the current 16-unit complex, residents say they’ll struggle to find apartments as affordable – or with a community so closely knit – amid Austin’s surging rental prices.

We’re Not Ready: Protecting Events From Fascists & Media Trolls

A bald man with a red beard in a black tee gestures, phone in one hand, megaphone in the other, outside the Texas Governor's Mansion. His face has been mosaic blurred.

A media troll at a trans rights rally outside the Texas Governor's Mansion, March 2022. (Photo: Kit O'Connell)

April 30, 2022

Kit

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We’re Not Ready: Protecting Events From Fascists & Media Trolls

Posted in Austin, Creative Commons, and Journalism

One thing that keeps me up at night is the thought of how unprepared the Left is to defend itself. I worry we’re simply not ready for what’s coming.

What I want to focus on in this short article is the idea that groups, from smaller collectives to larger nonprofits, need to be prepared for disruptive, even violent attacks from right-wing operatives. The actors can vary … white supremacists like Patriot Front or street brawling brownshirts like the Proud Boys, even media trolls like Infowars reporters.

At a recent rally for the rights of trans kids in downtown Austin, I watched as right wing trolls (yelling horrid things about pedophilia, groomers and imaginary surgery involving childrens’ genitals) attempted to storm the makeshift stage area where a series of speakers were holding space. The crowd were mostly queer-friendly Austin residents including many families. The organizers looked stunned. State Troopers eventually intervened, but only after regular, everyday people put their bodies in between the fascist trolls and the speakers. And it could have gone much worse. We’re just not ready.

Update: St. Johns Camp Moved Into Temporary Housing

An activist talks to a journalist outside Austin City Hall, standing near a banner which reads "We Are Dying Out Here Housing Now".

A protest for Austin's unhoused residents, March 2022. (Photo: Kit O'Connell)

April 8, 2022

Kit

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Update: St. Johns Camp Moved Into Temporary Housing

Posted in Austin, Austin Chronicle, and Journalism

On March 25, city personnel moved 31 people living in a controversial encampment at St. Johns and I-35 into transitional housing at the Northbridge and Southbridge shelters, as part of the city’s HEAL (Homeless Encampment Assistance Link) initiative, adopted in the wake of last year’s local and state reinstatement of a ban on public camping.

For months, the encampment in and around St. John Neighborhood Park had generated concern among neighbors. On March 6, police shot and killed 28-year-old Miguel Ruiz Rivera, who lived periodically at the camp, after he had apparently been spotted firing a gun near one of the tents. At the same time, an outpouring of generosity from locals seeking to help unhoused neighbors inspired multiple fundraising campaigns and sustained volunteer efforts to feed, assist and, ultimately, house the campers before the city stepped in.

Austin Chronicle: Why Is Fox Celebrating This Nazi?

Activists hold an Antifascist Action flag at a rally in France. (Flickr / doubichlou14, CC ND, NC license)

March 17, 2022

Kit

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Austin Chronicle: Why Is Fox Celebrating This Nazi?

Posted in Austin, Austin Chronicle, and Journalism

Paul Gray, a white supremacist originally from Tyler and active in Austin during the Trump presidency, is being lauded by Fox News after volunteering to fight Russian invaders in Ukraine. During a March 1 appearance in a segment titled “Former American paratrooper joins fight in Ukraine,” Fox reporters praised Gray as a veteran volunteering to fight on behalf of Ukraine but neglected to mention his violent history.

Despite Fox protecting Gray’s identity by using only his first name, he was easily recognizable to extremism researchers like Michael Edison Hayden, senior investigative reporter and spokesperson for the Southern Poverty Law Center. “They elect not to report his full name and don’t even stop to ask why he might already be in Ukraine,” Hayden told the Chronicle. “They just hope that the audience doesn’t ask any questions because then Fox will be forced to dig deeper into an uncomfortable story about our problems with radicalization here at home.” Reports published by KETK, Tyler’s Fox affiliate, did use Gray’s full name and further identified him as an American citizen who’s owned a gymnasium and reportedly “been an influence on the Ukrainian community.”