They are going to build a fucking Wal-Mart in my neighborhood. For those not of the Austin persuasion, the mall in which they plan to build this behemouth is practically across the street from my house. I would probably be able to see this thing from my back yard. Well, not quite, but almost. Seriously, it would be like four or five blocks away. And they don't just want to put a run of the mill Wal-Mart in, either. Plans are for a two-story, 24-hour megacenter, the biggest in the county. In my neighborhood, which is an older, established neighborhood with full grown trees and houses that have seen at least two generations grow up.

Fuck that, I say.

Due to the entire city being covered in ice, Austin is pretty much shut down today. And was yesterday as well. With Monday being a holiday, that makes this a five day weekend for me. I could get into that. Five day weekends and two day work weeks sounds just about right...

The Austin city council has passed an anti-chaining ordinance! Basically, it states that it will be illegal as of October 1 to chain or tether your dog and leave him/her. It further states that dogs who live in outdoor pens or kennels must have at least 150 square feet of space per adult dog. These are both big advances in humane pet ownership and I'm thrilled that the city council has taken this stand. Now I am crossing my fingers for actual enforcement.

My very favorite Austin event takes place yesterday and today. It's called Art from the Streets. The city homeless shelter has a large art program, and once a year they have a show where their clients sell their art pieces. It is the shelter's major funding source for the year, pulling in $80K in 2005, the first year I went, all by selling pieces priced from $20 to $300.

When I first attended, I was completely blown away by the size and quality of the show. In my excitement, I bought not one or two but five art pieces (which was about four more than I could afford). All of them are displayed in my house.

So tomorrow is Election Day. A lot of people don't bother to vote in elections that don't have national level implications, and that's too bad--in many ways, local level elections, like the one held tomorrow, are more important, or at least have more direct impact on our lives. However, voting in these types of elections is generally a lot harder, as information about them isn't as prevalent. It takes actual effort to find out about the candidates and ballot measures presented to us, rather than having had them shoved done our throats for several months beforehand. I don't know if this is a good thing, though it's certainly less irritating, since most people just don't want to spend the effort to show up at their polling places, much less educate themselves beforehand.

So...in the spirit of helping out my community (not that I think many Austinites actually read this blog, but you never know), I present a brief guide to tomorrow's election. I make no claims about being unbiased.

Local election results are here, but to summarize, everything passed, and voter turn-out was something like 8.5% overall.

On my travels through the Internets today, I came upon something I didn't know about: the website for the I Live Here, I Give Here campaign. Basically, the deal is that Austin is ranked 48th of the 50 largest cities in the country when it comes to charitable giving (though, interestingly third in volunteerism), and this campaign is striving to increase charitable giving by Austin residents by educating them about community needs and the organizations that are in place to meet those needs.

The goal of the campaign is to get Austin residents donating 3% of their incomes, while working towards 5%. Giving that church-based tithing is generally 10%, that seems doable. Right now, the average American household gives 3.2% of its (post-tax, I think) income to charity.

I think the campaign has the right idea--people would give more if they knew how and where their money could be best used. As for myself, their goals and the use of their handy giving calculator (under "How do you compare?") have once again opened my eyes to how much more I should be doing. I'm giving less than 2% of my take-home right now. Given my fairly low financial responsibilities (no kids), I ought to be doing better. And I am hoping this campaign will help me to find ways to do that. I'll definitely be re-checking their site when I decide on December's blog-highlighted charities.

Today is World Food Day. All over, there are events to raise money to feed those who need feeding and remind those of us who are lucky enough to have constantly full bellies that we live in great privilege. One of my favorite of these projects is the Empty Bowls Project. In an Empty Bowls Project, participants make clay bowls and serve soup in them to guests, who pay a suggested donation (usually $10-$20) for the soup and then keep the bowls, to remind them there are empty bowls all over the world. The donations fund projects working towards ending hunger.

Here in Austin, there is an Empty Bowl Project at Clayworks Studio on Burnet every Sunday before Thanksgiving. That's this Sunday, November 18, from 11am-3pm, at 5442 Burnet Rd. The suggested donation is $15 per bowl. Local restaurants provide soup and there is live music. Get there early, because last year I came late and there was a line around the block.

If you aren't local, you can go here and see if there is an Empty Bowls Event in your neck of the woods.

I've been buying a lot of handmade stuff recently, but haven't been able to share descriptions or pictures of it here, because most of it is intended as gifts for people who may be reading this blog. Yesterday, however, I attended the Wheatsville Arts Festival, one of my favorite annual Austin events, and bought a boatload of stuff just for me. Which means I can share!

(The photo shows two stacks of homemade soap, two sets of hand-thrown pottery bowls, one blue and one green, and three brightly colored handmade headbands.)

Since I have had not one but several emails over the past few days inquiring as to whether or not I am OK (one of which said that the writer had "sensed a disturbance in the Force," which I am just geeky enough to love), I thought maybe I'd better make an announcement.

I'm just fine. The past couple of weeks (since I got back from Norway, really) have been very tough, but not for anything but the most mundane reason: it's high cedar season in here in lovely Austin, Texas and my allergies have been kicking. my. ass. Basically, I am irritable, stupid, and at about 5% breathing capacity. Also, I snore. So I am a total joy to live with. But it's nothing insurmountable, and in fact I think (knock wood) that the worst of it may have past.

As always, I am astounded and humbled that folks notice, just from online presence or lack thereof, that something is up with me. Truly, I am blessed.

In November, I posted about I Live Here, I Give Here, which is an Austin campaign to make people aware of local charitable organization and non-profits and increase giving. As one of my giving goals for 2008 was to increase local-level giving, it's a great resource for me. In honor of NaBloPoMo: The List Edition, here is a list of some places I'd like to give to this year, many of which I discovered through I Live Here, I Give Here:

Local and handmade, what could be better? Here are a few Austin-local Etsy favorites I've run across:

Katinka Pinka makes wonderful, unusual jewelry and beautiful wrap skirts. She charges sales tax to us locals, but S&H is always free. My favorite of her stuff is this green Secret Bumble wrap skirt. It's $59, which is maybe a bit high, but it is really lovely and looks well-made. My only real complaint is that according to the description, it only fits up to a size 12.