When I moved to Austin in 1999, everything looked like this. Any given place was primed for a pair of flip flops, a lounging mutt, a bicycle propped against a fence. I loved that about it, how easily you could slide into a space and inhabit it, how little it mattered what you drove or did for a living. Those places still exist, but they are becoming rarer. Instead, our once-scruffy neighborhood is getting giant houses and neighbors with shiny black SUVs. And then tonight, a fundraising party around the corner brings valets and projectors beaming bright red lights onto the side of the building. The guests stride past our house in suits and dresses. We walk up and witness the action, not quite sure where we live.

February 11, 2015