Austin Way Magazine - GreenGale Publishing - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/692367
photography by Laura CraddiCk (Studio512), ben porter (Smart) Within a five-mile radius in Austin reside 16-plus years of memories, from the first duplex I rented (my former backyard is now the South Congress Hotel) to where I got married (the French Legation) and where my son was born (St. David's). Although we all love Austin for some of the same reasons, it's a different city for each of us. Our life stories are layered on top of landmarks, restaurants, stores, streets, and parks. Look at the Capitol, and what do you see? I picture my son as a toddler gleefully rolling in the grass, the first Texas Book Festival my now-hus- band and I attended together after dating for a few weeks, and the hundreds of women in orange T-shirts chanting in the rotunda during Sen. Wendy Davis's 11-plus-hour filibuster that hot June night in 2013 (find out what Davis is doing now on page 58). This fascination with place was one of the reasons I was drawn to local artist Jennifer Chenoweth's XYZ Atlas project, whose Hedonic Map of Austin graces our cover. Chenoweth based her project on surveys that asked 500 Austinites where they experienced love, anger, embarrassment, and pure joy. The questions prompted me to delve deeper into my own associations. When I think of my happy places, there are the obvious: the hike-and-bike trail, Deep Eddy Pool, the Umlauf Sculpture Garden. Austin wouldn't be my Austin without BookPeople, Justine's Brasserie, the Paramount Theatre, Violet Crown, or any of the Alamo Drafthouses. My favorite rainy escapes are to the Blanton Museum of Art and the LBJ Presidential Library. Working on this issue cemented my strong affection for two other places: the world renowned Lake Austin Spa Resort (page 74), which truly is my idea of heaven, and Canopy in East Austin, an inspiring collection of artist studios and galleries as well as the sublime Sa-Tén café (page 112). Nothing spurs creativity and restoration quite like a location change, which is why summer vacations are so essential, but sometimes simply rediscovering an old favorite can do the trick. I hope this annual Art of the City issue reconnects you to those places that make up your Austin. . from left: During my monthly segment on KXAN's Studio512, I sat down with Rianna Alberty of Rimix Cosmetics (left), who was featured in our Late Spring issue, and fashionable host Amanda Tatom; Maya Payne Smart, writer and wife of UT Basketball Coach Shaka Smart, was my guest at our Women of Power dinner at the Umlauf. k athy blackwell 20 AUSTINWAY.com LETTER From THE EDITor-IN-CHIEF