AustinCharm

Check out the Top 5 organic food spots here in Austin and what they have to offer!

Eat Me! I’m Organic!

How it went from a simple backyard garden to a huge 70 acre farm in 5 years!

Find out what’s up with the smoking problem on South Congress!

Smokers Led Ashtray

Johnson’s Backyard Farm

An insight into volunteering at the Town Lake Animal Shelter!

Saving Austin’s Animals

Austin Charm

Summer Issue June 2011

AustinCharm

Table Of contentsTrailer Foods

The Heart Of Our Community: Don’t Break It

Austin Personality

Firing Our Future: Teachers in Trouble

Oh, What A Wonderful City

Smokers Led Ashtray on South Congress

The Youth Have Power

Eat Me! I’m Organic!

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Fashionably Austin

Art You Worried?

Saving Austin’s Animals

Backyard Garden

Wild Thang

So Co Specialties

Come Back Soon

For a Hot Summer’s Day

Biographies

Letter from the Editors

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Maddi. I think she’s seriously convinced I hate her. But I really don’t. She’s pretty

fabuloutastic. Too cool for words, so I made my own, yeah? She’s a nifty ninja (Cool cat is SO yeasterday) and loves Austin. All of her articles are cool and fresh and definitly worth checking out. She’s also good at com-ing up with little catch phrases. She can be a bit cheesy at times, but that’s all part of the charm, yeah? I think so. :) I’m gonna go as far to say that she’s a bro’s bro’s bro’s bro, if you get my drift. She’s got blond hair and I guess that makes her blondie numero uno in this group,. She also has glasses, and they’re pretty cool. They’ve got cool designs on them. She’s a great designer and had loads of cool pages. She’s also one of the ones to get me back on task when I get a wee bit distracted. She really likes Ezine, and brings lots of cool, new ideas to the group. I, for one, think she’s the most chill thing since sliced bread, but that’s just one really cool awesome person’s opinion. This is Katie, signing out. Adios bro.

Agathe, she’s blonde. She’s french. She’s taller than I thought. Which is rather un-

fortunate. Because when I picture her in my mind, I imagine this person who’s about the same size as me, then I walk up to her and I’m like “Woah, bro. I have to look up.” Despite that, she’s pretty fantabulous. She’s also fun-ny. When I take the time to pay attention to something for more than 5 seconds at a time. She fell out of her chair once. It was pretty in-tense. Kinda funny too, but don’t tell her I said that, yeah? Her name is Agathe, pronoune a-gat. Not Agatha. Not a-got or AH-get or Ah-gethhhh. And it’s Denis like Duh-nee (if we’re being all ghetto and accentuatin’ our sounds ‘n’ stuff.) Agathe is so cool that she can do stuff that lots of cool people can’t do. I’ll bet she can even stand on her head, or something fabulous like that. She makes up one part of the three blondies in the group, and prob-ably proves that blonds aren’t super retarded and stuff. I might be though, you never know. Anyways, she’s a cool cat. Katie out.

Agathe D.

Maddi K.

Austin’s Most

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Leah, she doesn’t get me. It’s sad. She thinks it’s a bit weird when i mess with her head.

Like physically. Not that mind stuff. Just bop-pin’ her on the head occasionally. Just a quick chin grab. Stuff like that. It bothers her and I just can’t seem to understand why. Poor Leah. She just isn’t as cultured as the wonderful Ka-tie G. :’( She swims. And everyone likes her ezine design pages. It’s rather annoying actu-ally. The rest of the group works so hard, and all we get are critiques. And then she goes up there and everyone’s like “OH MY GOSH, BRO. IT’S PERFECT IN EVERY WAY SHAPE AND FORM. IT’S LIKE JESUS IN PAGE FORM.” Kind of unfair, yeah? Thought so. Anyways. She’s pretty awesome, despite her strange dislike of chin grabbing. Which she’s gonna have to get over, having me sit-ting right next to her. Anyways. I guess she makes the ever-exclusive list of “Katie’s Bros.” It’s pretty hard to get on that list. But good job Leah, you’re pretty cool. You go Glen Coco.

Now, we’ve saved the best for last. And when I say “we” and “best” I mean Katie

and Katie, respectively. Katie is pretty chill, except when she talks about her family. She really likes to annoy her sister., and I like to annoy mine too, so we’re pretty even in that department. Katie likes playing Mario and having fun when Ms. Richey isn’t looking. (Ms. Richey never really looks over here.) Katie also really likes Skins. Katie likes big earings. “If they’re not bigger than my ears, they’re not good enough.” Or at least, that’s what she always says. Anywho, Katie is an epic person that is the next Michael Pelphs, except in woman form. Which means if you haven’t guessed, she is a pretty amazing swim-mer. Katie also has two special hidden talents, which are, her super sad face with which she can change Ms. Richey’s mind, also she is su-per funny. Another cool, Katie thing is her awesome hair, she can flick her hair with so much skill even Justin Bieber would be jeal-ous. Also is also part of the three blonds in the group, and she is probably the most funny of them all.

Leah B.

Katie G.

Austin’s Most Charming

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"Dear Readers

“The more you read, the more you will know. The more you learn the more places you'll go.“

We hope that this magazine will help you understand the complexities of Austin culture.

Austin is filled with ADVENTURES and CHARMING people that we look forward to showing you.

“ ”Dr. Seuss, “I Can Read With My Eyes Shut”

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"

In this magazine you’ll read about real lIfe issues, and we’ll also show you cool places and tell you about awesome events coming this summer.

Thanks for reading and we can’t wait to find out what you think. Drop us a line at: ossumpossum12.blogspot.com.

The Designers of Austin Charm

Once you learn to read you, will be forever free.“ ” Frederick Douglass

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TRAILER FOODS1.

5.

4.

3.

2.

By: Agathe D.Cazamance90 Rainey street, 78701The outside is very nice with long wooden tables, candles, and flowers. The food is also delicious with West African food cooked in a trailer. One inconvenience is that they take cash only.

Hey Cupcake!1603 South Congress Ave. This trailer had a live band, a nice trailer, and friendly staff. The cupcakes were not especilally good, and were very sugary. It was a litlle disaponting, because it was well presented so more was expected.

G’RAj Mahal91 Red RiverThis trailer food had a live band playing, gauzy tents full of small tables to sit at. The food was delicious but had a hour long wait, so make sure you don’t go on a Satur-day night. It has a very loud but enjoyable atmosphere.

Coat and Thai1603 South Congress Ave. This tariler is in the South Congress trailer food court, has long picnick tables to sit at. The food was delicious especially the dumplings, which were quite small but come in six per serving. An inconvenience was by 9:30 most of the food was gone.

El Naranjo81 Rainey street, 78701El Naranjo is a mexican trailer food res-taurant, with a really nice trailer. There are picnick tables to sit at, with large umbrel-las to protect from the sun. The food was a little salty but still very good, especially the pineapple rice.

AustinCharm

TRAILER FOODS

1,3&4

2&5

AustinCharm

Barton Hills Elememtary billboard.

The Heart of the Community

By: Leah B.AISD should not close elementary schools, no matter what the budget deficit is.

Photography By: Leah Berndt

The clouds moved in as the bright sunny day turned to gloom. A father of three hammers a sign stating “Hands off Barton Hills” into his front yard, fighting to keep his son’s elementary school from closing. Hundreds of kid’s educations will be

put in jeopardy if Austin Independent School District follows through with the closure of neighborhood schools, AISD should not close el-ementary schools, no matter what the budget deficit is. AISD’s reasoning for clos-ing two of the ten eligible elementa-ry schools, Barton Hills Elementary and Zilker Elementary is that they are under capacity. In February of this year, The Austin Chronicle stated that in actuality both schools are over capacity and turning down transfers every year. I asked the Princi-pal at Barton Hills Elementary, Kati Achtermann, the number of trans-fers and neighborhood students enrolled each year. She told me that in the past 5 years, the average number of neighborhood enrollments was 190 students, and the average number of transfer students was 174, this is the same as 4 transfers for every 5 neighborhood enrollments. Yes, about half of the students are transfers, but the students that are transfer-ring are coming to Barton Hills for a better education. Closing schools will not change the bud-get deficits significantly because the number of students is not going to change. I was told by Achtermann that an-nually, it costs around $2 million to run the school, which includes operating costs and staff salaries. I understand how combining schools can be somewhat ben-eficial, seeing as there are less buildings to take care of, but there must be oth-er options to consider. In March 2009, Meria Carstarphen told KXAN News, “We cannot and will not be

afraid to change to better serve the interests of our children.” Elementary school is the foundation of a student’s entire education and if they don’t get a good education in elementary school then the rest of their school career will be a struggle. Carstarphen took on the difficult job of being the Superintendent of AISD, but when you have such an important role,

you must do everything you can to make the right decisions. As published by KXAN news in March of 2009, our Superintendent Carstarphen has an annual salary of $275,000 and an annual performance bonus of $25,000. According to a January 2011 edition of the Austin Ameri-

can Statesman, Carstarphen also has a district provided home, and re-ceives pay for any unused vacation days. Taking bonuses and a home from the district is not necessary and this excess money could be put towards fixing the budget. Personally, I don’t think accepting a home and bonuses from AISD is in the best interest for elementary schools that are close to closure. While Carstarphen does try her best to run the school dis-trict, she does not always live up to the expectations of AISD attendees. Statesman.com and AISD have said that she often works 12-15 hour

days, brainstorming ways to boost per-formance in Eastside Schools and make fair, helpful decisions about cutting the budget. The school district has also made over 100 cuts of Cen-tral Office Positions, is moving towards en-forcing self insurance among employees, and establishing en-ergy saving measures into schools. That be-ing said, I think that she has done a good job so far, but needs to explore other ways of cutting the budget

We cannot and will not be afraid to change to better serve the interests of our children.“

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Don’t Break it.

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AustinCharmPhotography By: Leah Berndt

Hands off Barton Hills Elementary

than closing elementary schools. The PTA president at Edward L. Blackshear Elementary School, Nora Guerrero told Austin Your News Now that members of Blackshear’s PTA are concerned about how their students will get to school. She also added that most of the students attending Blackshear Elementary School, are in walking distance of the school and she is not sure how they will get to their new school. AISD has looked into HUB busing where they will pick all students up at local elementary schools and not make any other stops. They are also considering implement-ing a monthly fee to cover the bus drivers wages and gas. AISD needs to make sure that all ideas are made in the best interest of families and students, but the families need to realize that something must be done to get out of this budget crisis. Closing elementary schools will be detrimental to the stu-dents, parents, and Austin’s future. So before making any executive

decisions, the school board needs to look into other ways of saving the district money, whether it be requiring the superintendent to pay for her own home, or a lower salary for the members of the school board. There needs to be a feasible compromise made, and taking elementary schools away from these kids and their families, is not one.Don’t Break it.

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Fashionably Austin

The soft silk fl ows elegantly with the wind as she walks. Another woman, wearing leather, struts, feeling like a bad-ass. A man with dreadlocks and a tie-dye shirt swaggers as he walks to an organic

coff ee shop. Th ese are just a few types of the diverse styles in Austin. “Th ere’s a lot of variety in style in Austin, which I love,” said Gina, president of the LASA fashion club. How-ever, many people see it as just a hippie city, a town stuck in the 60s and 70s. Aurora Bell, a model that walked in New York fashion week, as well as did walking presentations for Jeremy Laing and Katie Gallagher, loves her careers in Austin and New York, that “New Yorkers are not aware of Austin’s true fashion. Th ey (New Yorkers) would consider it 70s.” Although this model knows af-ter being raised in Austin, that is not the case. “I’ve found Austin to be very accepting of diverse styles.” Th ese various styles can be found throughout the city. A couple of these include the new retro trend, as well as active wear. Retro trends are really hitting home in Austin, most like-ly due to the expansive amounts of vintage shops on South Congress, Guadalupe, and elsewhere around town. “I love Feathers, an amazing vin-tage store on South Congress. Th ey have a won-derful, hand-picked selection of clothes from

the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and even 90s that range from cute and simple to totally outrageous,” said Gina, who fi nds herself loving the trend too. Active wear is also becoming a trend in Austin. “I would describe Austin fashion as fairly relaxed,” said Au-

rora who knows of the hot Texas climate, also saying “I’m sure the weather is one the main reasons for this.” With the high temperatures, health conscious Austinites, and

the abundance and variety of places to exercise, such as Lady Bird Johnson Lake and the hike and bike trails in the center of the city, the city becomes an environment that supports advancements in the fashion world of exercise. “Nike shorts have become a classic in everyday wear,” said Aurora. “Austin is the perfect breeding ground for new fashions,” said fashion president Gina, who knows, just like Aurora, that Austin is ex-tremely fashion forward and always evolving. “It’s a fun environment here, with lots of fash-

ion-forward people who are just really friendly,” said Gina. Now it seems that Austinites are not all hip-pies, and that the range of types of style here is as-tounding, and with your style being added to the various others in the city, it can only become even

more varied. Th ere is only one thing left to say: “What are you going to wear?”

By: Madeline K.

Photography accompianed by Modcloth.com

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Austin Personality

Bored on a Saturday afternoon? Take this quiz to find out what fun activities you can do in Austin to occupy your time!

1. Its a Sunday afternoon, you have no homework, and are extremely bored. You,

a) go to your neighborhood poolb) hang out at the mall c) stay inside and play video games

2. You have had a really long day at school, when the day is over, to take a break you,

a) go for a run to release some stressb) go over to a friends housec) go on facebook once you get home

3. It snowed! School is off! You,

a) go have a snow ball fight with your siblingsb) walk to the local coffee shop and watch the snowc) stay in your room and watch the snow from your window

4. You are planning a get-together for your friend who moved out of Austin a year ago, you?

a) go hang out with them down townb) catch up with a movie and sleepover at your housec) watch t.v. with them all afternoon

5. You invite your friend to lunch, you?

a) have a picnic b) you go to your favorite restaurantc) you eat lunch at your house

6. During History class you wish you were,

a) playing fetch with your dog at your local parkb) bowling with some friends!c) ... in history class

Mostly A’s

Mostly B’s

Mostly C’s

Outdoorsy, You love the out doors, and lucky for you, on a nice day here in austin there are tons of places for you to go! First try Barton Springs, on a hot summer day the cold 68 de-gree water is super refreshing. If you feel like getting some excercise go down to the Hike and Bike Trail, you should find a really nice view of Town Lake. And lastly, you can’t go wrong with Zilker Park, all the open space is perfect for those rowdy pets.

Inbetween, You love everything about Aus-tin, but you would rather see it from inside a comfortable place where you can relax, that is fine too! Definitley try Flipnotics Cafe on Barton Springs Road, you can sit outside and enjoy a coffee and a cinnamon roll. You might also enjoy South Congress Avenue with the many shops and trailer foods. Try and get out more, Austin is just as beautiful when you are outdoors as from indoors.

Insider, You don’t really get out much do you? That’s ok if you want to but I would suggest go-ing out and experiencing some of the weird-ness here in Austin. If you want something to catch your attention, go to the Cathedral of Junk, it is a huge tower that you can walk into made out of, well, junk. Another fun day would be to go stand up paddle boarding on Town Lake. Just get out and have fun!

By: Leah B.

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Every student in the United States de-serves a quality education, right? Well this may not be possible if AISD goes through with their plan to leave 485

Austin teachers jobless at the start of the 2011-2012 school year. Recent budget cuts have left the Austin Independent School District one-hundred and thirteen million dollars in budget deficit. Forced to cut millions out of the chil-dren’s education, the Texas Board of Education decided to cut hundreds of teachers’ jobs in the 2011-2012 school year. Teachers are being fired when really, we should be trying to save them. If we cut teachers from schools, the most obvious change would be that class sizes will dramatically increase. Four years ago, the information collected at Small Planet Guide listed the average student to teacher ratio in the Austin Independent School District was around 20:1. Now, the number has jumped up to the le-gal average which, according to KXAN Austin News, is 22 students per teacher. After cutting 485 teachers, the number is expected to jump by another 2-5 students, an increase to 24-27 stu-dents per teacher. With that many students per class, teachers will have more trouble keeping the class under control and students’ learning will be affected. If the teacher cannot quiet the class down enough to focus on the topic they are trying to teach, then the students will not learn the topic as well, if at all. Cutting teachers will not only increase class size, but it will also decrease the personal relationship that teachers make with their stu-dents. It’s commonly known that students re-spect and look up to their teachers, but few people actually understand the depth of the teacher-stu-dent relationship. Teach-ers affect student’s career and education choices, as well as sometimes acting as parental guidance for students without great parents. These things can only occur if there are enough teachers so that each student gets enough face to face time to feel a connection

with the teacher. If we decrease the amount of teachers, there will be more students clamor-ing for the attention of their teachers, leading to some of the more quiet students getting little to no attention, therefore not building personal relationships with their teachers. In October of 2009, Suzanne Collins, a fourth year Spanish major at West Chester University, said that she believes teachers don’t realize how much of an impact they have on stu-dents. Young students look to their teachers for guidance and examples of how to live life well. Collins says, “students want to feel as though they are respected by and important to their teachers.Teachers may face a large number of students but cannot lose sight of making every student feel as though they are important to them.” You might be thinking, if we don’t get rid of teachers, how else are we going to get rid of the $113 million dollar budget deficit? KXAN news said on January 24th of this year

that, by removing 485 teachers we can save ourselves $27.1 million dol-lars. But, in March of 2009, the Austin Chronicle stated that our AISD su-perintendent, Meria Carstarphen makes $275,000 a year with a $25,000 maximum

annual performance bonus, $15,000 annuity and a $1000 yearly car allowance. She can also sell her vacation days back to the district, which

is a privilege that no teacher is given. This is a crazy amount of money. When you think of how much teachers are paid compared to this, you can understand how this would seem a little un-fair. Why should teachers, who work long hours with rowdy, restless children get the short end of the stick? An average teacher makes about $40,000 dollars in a year, and Carstarphen makes that same amount in bonuses alone. Seem a bit unfair to you? Why are the people who we are asking to educate the next generation are payed such a low amount? This is still less than or on par with the superintendents of the other “big 8” school districts in Texas, which include Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston, among others. These people work hard, just like teachers, but get some benefits that seem unfair. If we would cut their budgets by even $10,000 dollars per year, we might be able to save many good teachers, and keep Austin smart and proud.

By Katie G.

Teachers don’t realize how much of an impact they have on students

Photography by: Troops for Texas

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Teachers work hard to teach all students in the class

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Firing our Future:TEACHERS IN TROUBLE

AustinCharmPhotography accompianed by Freefoto.com 14

Wild Sunflower Indian Paintbrush Blue Bonnet

Indian BlanketTexas Plume Purple Plume (Black Forest)

Foxglove Buttercup Aster

Wild Life In Texas

By: Madeline K.

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Barely seven years ago Johnson’s Backyard Garden was literally--a backyard garden. Brent Johnson,was still working for the government as an engineer, and had started growing crops in his backyard as a hobby, but soon his garden was overflowing in the front, back and sides of the house. In February of 2005, Brent and his family went to the farmer’s market to sell their vegetables under the name of Brent and Beth’s Backyard Garden, they sold about eighty dollars worth of vegetables that day. Now in April of 2011, the farm has 70 acres spread out in two different lots, and over 1,000 members.

By: Agathe D.From Yard to Farm

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When Brent Johnson grew up in southeast Alabama he had thought that “farming was kind of something you could do if you couldn’t get any other job.”, but that opinion was about to change. Brent was then working on a master in engineering when suddenly he decided that he wanted to do “something that was positive and good for the environment and a job that was truly needed” so he switched to agricultural engineering. Even then being a farmer was not what he was thinking of for a job, he wasn’t sure what he was going to do yet. When Brent graduated he went to his grandmother and asked her if she knew anywhere where he could intern for organic farming and her response was “Why don’t you get a real job? You’re an engineer!”. So when Brent was working as engineer for the government Johnson’s Backyard garden began.

The change from a backyard vegetable patch to a 70 acres farm is not easy, in fact it is a leap most farmers cannot make. Unlike what most people think knowing how to grow plants is not the most important thing in farming, “knowing how to run a business is the most important thing to be able to be a farmer and keep being a farmer. Because if you cant manage a small business and manage your finances, then you are not going to stay in business for very long.” said Brent Johnson.

And the secret to to Brent’s success is his parents. Both his father and his grandfather worked in the same firm making loans to farmers, so they were able to help Brent along the way “I think that having both my grandfather to talk to about his experience and my dad its been like a consultant to me to advise me on important business decision, on how to get financing on how to deal with predators and build relationships, it’s been extremely important to us,” said Brent “that’s been one reason we’ve been able to grow our business. Because I have technical ability to grow the plants and to manage the customers, but then you also have to have the capitol to be able to expand your business because it takes millions of dollars to run the farm now because of the scale that we’re at and I don’t have millions of dollars because I started this farm from scratch.”. Texas, does not seem like an ideal place to farm, with the little amount of rain it gets and the hard dry earth,

yet Brent still manages to make plants crack the surface of the earth and

never fails to have a box full of vegetables every week for all of his 1,000 plus subscribers.

How does he do this? Experience helps a lot, and Brent has quite a bit of that “ I guess that since I’ve been farming I’ve always grown in Austin so it seems pretty natural to me. I hear from some farmers that it’s a little bit a hard place to grow [crops] (...) like in February record lows that were in the teens and single digits and a few weeks later we were up into the nineties and It makes that difficult to grow crops.” said Brent.

There is though, a little more than just experience that makes the vegetables grow in such a organized and abundant

way. Brent and his brotherworked together to develop a software program that plans all the crops they

have to plant for each week in the greenhouse, and in the field. That way they have everything planned,

and depending on whether or not it rains, or if the equip-ment breaks down they adapt the plan, and the program edits the schedule for the rest of the year.

Johnson’s Back yard garden is one of the growing num-ber of farms that are CSA, or community supported agriculture based. This means that instead of just selling their produces at the farmers market or sending it to a grocery store, they package their produces of the day into boxes and the members can get their boxes the same day in a location near them. The advantage of this is that the people get vegetable that were pried out of the ground or plucked off their stalks the very same day. Members can pay

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Lake Views

17 Photography by: Agathe Denis

their subscription per box on their website, participate in large seasonalopen farm potlucks to see the where the vegetables grow and can meet the people that cared for them.

Though there are several people who work there every day and are official paid employees of the farm most of the people are volunteers. The volunteers call 48 hours in advance, and usually only come on Tuesdays, Wednesday, Thursdays, and Fridays from 8 am to one pm in exchange of a box full of veg-etables. These volunteers hand pick the vegetables, wash them and pack them, and also sometimes plant them.

Each time a box is opened there will always be a mix of familiar and completely unfamiliar vegetables, so to aid the members in finding different ways of cooking the vegetables on the website there is a photo of each weeks produces and a label for each of the vegetables, as well as a tab with 27 pages full of recipes. Johnson’s Backyard Garden has given to it’s subscribers a opportunity to receive fresh vegetables that they would never have dared to buy or taste before. There vegetables come fresher than from a grocery store, with more nutrients, and they can be sure that absolutely none

had used pesticides.The subscribers can learn about growing and taking care of their own vegetables and come and help take care of the source for their next weeks dinner. With JBG the people of Austin support local agriculture. With the help of Austinites, Johnson’s BackyardGarden grew from a small yard overflowing with vegetables selling 80 dollars worth of vegetables at the farmers market, to selling 1.2 million dollars worth of vegetables six years later. Hopefully it will continue thriving as it has in the past six years.

Brent still manages to make plants crack the surface of the earth and never fails to have a box full of vegetables every week for all of his

1,000 plus subscribers.

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AustinCharm

Oh What A Wonderful City

Some of the Best Sights of AustinBy: Madeline K.

Photo acompianed by FreeFoto.com

Austin is an amazing city that actually has a descent skyline. This skyline is amazing when viewed from the lake at night. People can get this amazing view by renting a row boat or canoe from the local shops on the lake. After renting your baot you will be enchanted with the view. When the suns sets it will give the water an iredesant glow. Looking at this site, you can be sure that this is one of the best ways to end your day. The view is spectacular and will make any sour puss feel warm again. This site is so beauti-ful that some couples will make rowing on the lake a date. Over the years Austinites can only hope that this heart warming view doesn’t get miraculously blocked. Although this might not be your only worry, new rowers and canoers sometimes get stuck in the trees. So a warning to those going to the lake, make sure you don’t get too caught up in the views, or you make crash. A way to avoid this is by stopping near the shore to take a peak at this amazing scene .

A great place to hang out and watch the views of nature in Austin is in Zilker Park. This gaint park is a wonderful place to watch the leaves change color during the Fall, or flowers bloom during the Spring.

Another wonderful place to relax and watch the time go by is down town on the bridges of Lady Bird Lake. Even though you can go here to watch the time you may also be seeing bats!

Mt. Bonnell is one of the best places in Austin that allows you to see nature while still staying in city limits. Mt. Bon-nell is a great tourist attraction, since it has spectacular views, making it a romantic and special get away. Mt. Bonnell is the natural tallest point in the city, towering 785 feet. Mt, Bonnell is located off FM 2222 on the West side of Mopac.

Zilker ParkBats of Austin

Mt. Bonnell

Lake Views

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AustinCharm

Smokers Led Ashtray on South Congress

A thick haze of grey smoke engulfs the smokers on the side walk. A little girl in a bright pink dress coughs as she walks

through the cloud of murky smoke. The thick cloud smothers her, making the girl’s eyes slightly water. A breeze finally releases her from the smoke’s strong grasp. The little girl will never smoke a cigarette in her life, but she will still have a risk for lung cancer, for the strangers on the street chose her fate. This might seem extreme, but this little girl is not alone. Every day strangers are slowly, absent-mindedly, putting people at risk on the streets of Austin. South Congress, a place filled with small urban shops and restaurants, a place many people enjoy visiting, is currently ex-periencing a large annoyance of hazardous secondhand smoke, although Austin and its community aren’t the only ones with the same problem. According to an organization called State of the USA, in September of 2010, 88 million nonsmokers are exposed to secondhand smoke in the U.S. This means that 88 million people are being subjected to breathing in harmful smoke each day. Even though it’s true that people won’t always have clean air (due to car emissions and other pollution), it is also true that the health risks of smoking and secondhand smoke should be taken seri-ously. In September of 2010, the CDC reported that smoking increases the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke up to as much as 4 times. In February 2011, the CDC reported that tobacco is the num-ber one killer in the United States, causing 443,000 deaths

each year from smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke. With these rates, it seems reasonable that an estimated 90% of all deaths from chronic obstructive lung dis-ease are caused by smoking and secondhand smoke (as reported by the CDC).

The World Health Organization reported in December of 2009 that if the rates of smoking aren’t lowered, a projected 8 mil-lion people will die each year by 2030. In order to lower these rates, the public needs to get rid of the smoking in areas that are

effecting people the most. The public needs to enforce and stop the plague of

smoke that occurs on the sidewalks of cities. And what better place to en-force this different kind of law, than enforce it in a different kind of town, Austin. It is time for people to not only keep Austin weird, but keep it healthy as well. Many citizens in Austin often try to keep their bodies and minds healthy, but with the ongoing sec-ondhand smoke, their efforts don’t always allow them to reach their goals. In fact, many citizens in Austin run marathons to keep fit. Roughly 1,700 people did the annual Turkey Trot marathon in Austin last year. A large number of athletes can often find it hard to run over the years, for one of the terrible effects of secondhand smoke are weak lungs. When a person smokes for a long length of time they slowly de-stroy their lungs with horrendous chemicals which affect their oxygen intake. When a person is an athlete they need a larger amount of oxygen to perform activities and be healthy. The person’s body won’t be able to handle it if they smoke as well as par-ticipate in sports. Numerous people will no longer be

By: Madeline K.

88 million nonsmokers are exposed to secondhand smoke in the U.S. “ ”

Photo acompianed by FreeFoto.com

Secondhand smoke increases the chance of getting some diseases as much as 4 times.

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AustinCharmPhoto acompianed by FreeFoto.com

able to run the Turkey Trot or any other marathons if they regularly breathe in the hazardous haze that engulfs our side walks. Austin’s sidewalks, our sidewalks, are public, and public places need to be protected from bothersome secondhand smoke. It would display a great enforcement of health and even law, if Aus-tinites were to show the state its take on smoking in public places. The word enforcement is used due to the fact that Texas already has several laws set up to ban smoking in public areas, as reported in Sep-tember of 2010 by the American Lung Association. With several laws in place it seems that arguments against not being allowed to smoke

are just silly, since the decision has already been made. In fact the arguments of smokers saying that their rights are being taken away were ridiculous, since they were taking away other people’s right to live. These smokers must have forgotten how many lives (not just their own) that they threaten each day. When smokers are killing themselves, they need to remem-ber the people around them. They need to remember that they’re annoying the hundreds of people that they walk by. If smokers don’t realize the risk that they are causing, then everyone will end up like that little girl in the pink dress, inhaling hazardous smoke.

Photograph accompanied by FreeFoto.com

The annoying and hazerdous smoke blows in the wind.

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build and renovate the UT campus to purchase pieces of art. Even that now, could be too much. The Landmarks program has been in action since 2008, bringing 24 amazing sculptures to the UT campus. In 2008, the New York Times, said that because of the Landmarks program “the University, is poised to become a destination from modern sculpture”. UT is unsurprisingly, facing budget cuts, which may result in the firing of teachers, or eliminating some programs that are not essential to the University. The Landmarks program is included in that last category, and because it spends money, people have been wanting to close it down. The closing of the Landmarks program would affect the learning experience of the students because Landmarks brings unique educational experiences to the students, and helps to fill the empty spaces in the cam-pus. Not only are the sculptures illuminating the campus, but they are also used for educational purposes.This programs helps, the art majors, and minors, learn more about the trade they would like to pursue. They are allowed, to take place in the installation of these modern sculptures, a job that demands a lot of training, and skill. UT students who are interested, guide and explain the art as the public tours them, they join the docents guild, and come for 2 to 3 hours a week to tour the art pieces. The Land-marks program has also created a Preservation guild where students will intern as a conservator and after two semesters get a certificate of comple-

I n 2007, the University of Texas’s campus was bare, and boring, the art program was average and didn’t have much to offer. Now the UT campus is full of valuable sculptures of world famous artists, and the art students of UT have much more

to aspire to. Because of the new Landmarks program, modern art sculptures have been loaned for free, to UT, from the Met-ropolitan Museum of Art, in New York, says the New York Times. But now, because the budget cuts planned by the school, the Landmarks pro-gram is on the brink of clo-sure. This program though is too valuable to the school to be shut down without a ma-jor effect on the Austin com-munity, and those who live in and near the UT campus.

The program uses 1-2% of the money used to

ABy: Agathe D.

youworried?

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By: Agathe D.

Recycled modern art sculpture.

tion. The members of the preservation guild come for 2 to 3 hours a week and wax, wash, and observe the changes in the pieces of art. Both pro-grams count as internships and are experiences unique to UT. The Land-marks program has given UT an unparalleled collection of modern art sculptures, no other school has a collection so large, and worth so much. The Landmarks program gets some of it money form UT and some from philanthropists and architectural compa-nies. This shows the support that people have for the program, meaning that they care and appreciate it. Also the money is used only for the transportation and setting up of the works of art, because the pieces are loaned for free to UT. According to the Austin American Statesman, this is the first time the University has used a

comprehensive insurance on the public art. So, in any case if any damage were to be done, it would not cost the University any money. Also once the Landmarks program is done, all the sculptures will be gone and the loans they paid for would be for nothing. It would be a waste to close down this marvelous program, and deprive upcoming students of a occasion to learn

skills they could not in any other school.The Landmarks program makes UT unique, and gives a unique ex-perience both to the students and the public. To take away this pro-

gram would not only hurt UT but also the people of Austin Texas.

Even now, it could be too much“ ”

youworried?

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SoCoBy: Leah B.

Coat and Thai

1600 S Congress

y&i1113 S Congress Ave

Monkey See Monkey Do

1712 S Congress Ave

Goodie Too Shoes1111 S Congress Ave

Mighty Cone

1600 S. Congress Ave.

Hey Cupcake1600 Block of S. Congress

Specialties

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Big Top Candy Shop

1706 S Congress Ave Lucy in Disgu

ise

1506 South C

ongress Ave

Zen1303 South Congress AveHome Slice

1415 South C

ongress Ave.

Parts and Labour

1117 South Congress AveAmy’s Ic

e Cream

1301 South Congress

Ave

AustinCharm

It’s a hot summer day, the sun is shining down on you and there is a small breeze, the only thing missing is: a) a cool bottle of Izze b) a cool bottle of Hibiscus tea

The correct answer is B, the hibiscus tea! This drink is easy to make and very cheap to make compared to an Izze, not to mention tastier and healthier! When a single bottle of Izze costs about 2.59 dollars for an individ-ual bottle, a same sized bottle of hibiscus tea costs about 41 cents to make!so enjoy this deliciously tasty drink which can be served cold in the summer and hot in the winter!

Summer Hibiscus Juice

2 1/2 quarts water

1/2 cup turbinado sugar

1 cup dried hibiscus flowers

3 tablespoons lime juice

In a medium pot, bring 2 quart water to a boil add the hibiscus and wait until the color changes to dark red, then add the sugar and mix untill it disolves. Reduce the heat, wait about five minutes.

Turn off heat. Let it cool completely, and strain the juice into a pitcher, keeping the hibiscus flowers aside. Add re-maining 1/2 quart of cold water, as well a lime juice, and add a couple strained hibiscus flowers. Chill completely.

Photography By: Agathe D.25

AustinCharmPhotography By: Agathe D. 26

By: Agathe D.

AustinCharm

by Katie G.

The group of 52 girls sit in the room, reading over grants. They make good time, getting though 6 or 7 grants in an hour. Putting away the last of them, they get up, say their

goodbyes, and drive off to finish the rest of their day. They repeat this again, every other Sunday from 2-4, starting in October and finally finishing up in April. Their job: to pick on grant from the group, and give $5200 to the nonprofit organiza-tion that they feel deserves the money the most. Organizations like this one are popping up more and more all over Austin. “Any age can affect a change in our community,” says Austin philanthropist Dina Ma-vridis “it’s no longer just adults that can give and make these changes, it’s [kids] such as your-selves that can collectively give money and interview executives and get these programs done that wouldn’t be done without you.” Teenage volunteerism has become a huge part of the Austin community, and taken part in shaping the young population.

Dina Mavridis is an active member of Impact Austin, a philanthropic organization based in Austin, Texas. Each member gives $1000 dollars at the beginning of the year, and end up giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to nonprofit

volunteer organizations ever year. “This really appealed to me, because I could give a thousand dollars,” says Dina, “and it wouldn’t just be a thousand dollars, it would

be a hundred thousand dollars [when I joined] and now it’s half a million dollars.” After joining, Dina immediately grew to love community ser-vice. “If I could do that full time, and not do the for profit stuff, I would love it.” She says. Dina’s been volunteering for as long as

she can remember. “My grandmother was big into the Ju-nior League,” tells Dina, “and she kind of raised me and she taught me that volunteering was a big deal then so I learned it early on.” When she

was in high school, she volunteered with many organizations like Junior Achievement. “I went on national level with Junior Achievement for a while, learning how to work for a business,” recalls Dina, “so I was actually getting instead of giving at the time.” Teenage volunteering can serve many purposes. Adults’ lives are sometimes too busy to incorporate community service. “Before, kids weren’t looked at for [their ability to serve the community] and now they are, and the youth have money. Money and time and energy.” admits Dina, when questioned about her thoughts on teenage philanthropy. Raised by her grandmother, Dina grew up on community service and believe that without that upbringing, “I probably wouldn’t have a good idea on my commu-nity.” Not only does it help the community, but it also helps the kids themselves. Young teenge philanthropists are getting into col-

It’s no longer just adults that can give and make these changes, it’s [kids] such as yourselves that can collectively

give money and interview executives and get these programs done that

wouldn’t be done without you.

“

”Girls Giving Grants, a teenage volunteer program in Austin, Texas.

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The Youth Have Power

Photography By: Volonteer organizations in Alabama and Austin, Texas

AustinCharm

”“

and getting scholarships and even starting their own programs because of the influence commu-nity service has had on their lives. “One of the girls who recently gradu-ated from college,” says Dina, “she, instead of be-coming a business major, changed it to nonprofit business management.” Many teenagers start volunteering to fulfill their required amount of community service before heading off to college. People have started to volunteer with local organizations such as the Town Lake Animal Shelter, and Mobile Loaves and Fishes, which are both pretty well known organizations in town. Even small organizations like Little Helping Hands, which is an organization that helps families and their young children start vol-unteering, are becoming more and more popu-lar. People who volunteer regularly have started branching out and exploring new orga-nizations.

“I found Mobile Loaves and Fishes through Impact Austin,” remarks Dina, “so what I’ve found is I’ve started giving time and money to different organizations that I’ve found

through Girls Giving Grants and Impact Aus-tin.” The story is the same for many others too. “Sometimes I volunteer at the Trail of Lights near Christmas and I also volunteer Laguna Gloria to help teach kids art.” says LASA student Madeline Kurka “I pick up trash at Dick Nichols Park sometimes as well. I just enjoy doing lots of volunteer work here and there.” There is a huge need for young volun-

teers in the community. “Everything keeps get-ting cut in high schools,” admits Dina, “so there’s a huge push in the nonprofit community to get your help so that you can make it a better place

for other people.” Mentoring pro-grams are great ways to volunteer in your community and are popular ways that high school students get in-volved. A lot of students don’t know how to get involved with an orga-nization program. “Your first step is to go talk to your

high school counselor,” remarks Dina. Every high school has one and they’re great for recom-mending organizations to volunteer at and for recommending you to organizations. She en-courages high school volunteering in any way possible and believes mentoring is a great way to get started. Whether you do it for the required hours, or just for fun, volunteering is a great way to get involved in your community.

Students work together with adults to help clean up a park

There’s a huge push in the nonprofit community to get your

help so that you can make it a better place for other people.

28Photography By: Volonteer organizations in Alabama and Austin, Texas

AustinCharm

Saving Austin’s AnimalsBy: Leah B.

A 3-month-old puppy sits at the front of its cage, pressing its nose against the gate, begging for attention, wanting love, and waiting for someone to come over and give him a treat. He jumps up and balances himself on the gate, squeezing

out a small, high pitched bark. As he catches a visitor’s attention, he starts to wag his tail. There are many animals just like this one at the Town Lake Animal Shelter, which does its best to save these animals, find them a home, and take care of them during their stay. Volunteers make up a huge portion of the shelter by feeding, watering, and exercising the ani-mals. An average day for W. Peers, a freshman at LASA high school who volunteers every week at the Town Lake Animal Shelter, begins at 5 o’clock every Friday evening and lasts for two hours. She starts by mixing lysine powder into the cat’s wet food to help fight off diseases, then she replaces all the dry food and water. After that, she cleans out the cages and the litter boxes of the cats. “Basically make sure that the cats are being loved,” said Peers. “The Animal Control officers patrol the streets to educate the community about being responsible pet owners and enforce laws when necessary,” said Joanna Johnson the Certified Volunteer Adminis-trator at the Town Lake Animals Shelter, “We edu-cate the public about being responsible pet own-ers.” These are just a few of the many jobs that are required to take care of these animals. Along with tending to the animals, volun-teers also help to answer any questions asked by the shelters visitors. “Usually there will be someone

off talking to customers, and someone taking care of the cats.” said Peers as she begins to laugh, “Basically you get people coming in all the time just, ‘How large of snakes would you guys take?’, and it’s like, why do you have these things?” The Town Lake Animal Shelter is not only home to cats, but also takes dogs, chickens, roosters, chicks, and rabbits. There are often birds and sometimes types of snakes. “In the adoption building there is room for something like 70 [cats], but you really shouldn’t have that many, comfortable capacity is 40,” said Peers before adding that during kitten season it can get up to 8 kittens per cage. The number of animals brought to the shelter each day is growing, leaving them with less living space. Peers said that a new shelter has been built, which has more space and land for the animals to live in. The new shelter is located on 7201 Levander Loop and had the grand opening on April 22, 2011. At the new shelter there is a private trail to walk the dogs on, enough space and volunteers to improve the number of live-outcomes of pets, and an overall more efficient work space.

The Town Lake Animal Shelter does its best to take care of the many sorts of animals it has. They are able to perform 20 spay and neu-ter surgeries every day to put the animals up for adoption. When the shelter isn’t able to take in an animal the reason is usually that the pet is too aggressive or deathly ill. Johnson says that they are able to take care of most sick animals and only euthanize 10% of the animals they take in. This keeps the Shelter on track to reach their 100% live-outcome goal. The Animal Shelter relies on people to adopt pets to keep the shelter running. Only 20% of people in Austin who buy pets get them from the animal shelter, the other 80% getting them from friends or pet stores instead said Peers. “I think it’s better to get them

from the animal shelter, be-cause I don’t really believe in

animal breeding, and so I think it’s better in that

sense because we just take what-

ever we can.” said Peers.

Al- though buy-ing ani- mals from the Town Lake Animal Shel-ter benefits the shelter,

it has around 80 partners in the Austin Area that help

them deal with pets and give Many young puppies are adopted each and every day.

A dog takes a break after a long day of play.

Photography By: Flickr29

AustinCharm

Saving Austin’s Animals

“”

A curious cat peeks through its cage at a visitor.

Cats and dogs are not designed to live on their own without humans, they are evolved to live with humans, and basically we are just making sure that that happens.

Photography By: Flickr 30

some of their animals to the shelter. Because they deal with very few wild cats and dogs volunteers can begin working at the Town Lake Animal Shelter when they turn 13, unlike at other shelters. “Volunteers are es-sential to the overall services we can provide to the community and to the animals,” said Johnson. The volunteers help to provide medical treatment to all animals, and the behavior of the dogs has greatly improved ever since volunteers were able to take them on walks and get them exercise. “It [volunteering at the Town Lake Animal Shelter] kind of exposes you to what kind of things people do

to their pets and how much really needs to be done to help these animals.” said Peers. She says that volunteering has really helped her improve as a person. The Town Lake Animal Shelter has a goal to keep all animals that come in to the shelter alive, healthy, and happy and could use all outside help, whether it be volunteering or adopting a pet. “Cats and dogs are not designed to live on their own with-out humans, they are evolved to live with humans, and basically we are just making sure that that happens,” said Peers.

AustinCharm

By Katie G.

EAt Me! I’m ORganic!

1.

2.

Central MarketCentral Market is an all-around great place to go. Not only is it a grocery store with lots of fresh pro-duce and lots of free food samples, but it’s also a restaurant with live music most of the time. You can go buy lots of fresh produce then stay for dinner and a show. There’s even a playground for the younger audi-ences!

The Top Five Organic Food Places in Austin

P. Terry’s Burger Stand Little-known-fact: P. Terry’s serves organic burgers. And not only are they organic, but they’re delicious too. A cool hang-out place for col-lege students on the UT campus, as well as high school students all over town, P. Terry’s tends to attract a younger crowd. You’ll see many young families there too, it’s just that good.

The Central Market Grocery Entrance

You can’t miss the giant P. Terry’s sign

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3.

4.

5.

Whole Foods MarketWhole foods is another organic gro-cer in Austin. They sell lots of fresh produce, and bake desserts fresh daily. They’ve also got a great selec-tion of multivitamins and things for everyday use. They have a Jamba Juice located in the front of the store, and benches out front so you can stop and enjoy a smoothie and relax.

Elevation BurgerA great new burger joint that popped up in North Austin, Eleva-tion Burger has a laid-back feel to it. It’s a small shop with tinted windows and little tables, perfect for a family to sit down and eat, or for a couple of friends to stop by for a quick bite.With all different kinds of organic burgers, and great shakes, it’s defi-nitely a must see.

Mighty Fine BurgersMighty Fine. It’s one of the most popular burger joints in Austin, and for good reason. Not only are their burgers mouth-wateringly deli-cious, but they also serve chilli dogs, amazing shakes, and great fries. The best part is the open window into the kitchen, so you can watch them make the food while you eat yours.

A cheeseburger and fries from Elevation Burger

The Mighty Fine logo

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Come Back Soon!Just a Few of the Events Coming to Austin This Summer

1.Katy Perry’s California Dreams TourSaturday June 30 at 7:30 PMWith many hit singles, including Teenage Dream, California Gurls, and Hot and Cold, Katy Perry is an international sensation. Her California Dreams Tour starts on June 7, and stops by Austin on the 30th. It’s a must-see for any Perry fans.

2.Keep Austin Weird 5KSaturday June 25 at 7:00 PMKnown as the “slowest 5K you’ll ever run,” everyone who enters this run gets free entry to the Keep Austin Weird food festival which will include local music and food. You don’t wanna miss it!

3.The Fellowship of the Rings Tuesday June 14 at 7:00 PMThis event basically explains itself. Any Lord of the Rings fan should make plans to be here at 7 sharp if they want good seats! Go Mister Frodo, Go!

4.Matthew Morrison in ConcertSunday July 17 at 7:30 PMGleeks from all over town will be there to see Matthew Morrison (who plays Mr. Shuester on Glee) in concert. He’ll be singing songs from his new album as well as some Glee favorites. Be there!

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By: Katie G.

AustinCharm

A Few Words From the Wise

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A mistake is simply another way of doing things.

A person’s a person, no matter how small.

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.

I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.

-Katherine Graham

-Dr. Seuss

-Dr. Seuss

-Fred Allen

By: Katie G.

AustinCharm

Thanks For Reading

Prepared by MagCloud for LASA EZINE. Get more at lasaezine.magcloud.com.