One Week In America’s Weirdest City

Remember when Miley Cyrus said, “I hopped off the plane at LAX with my dreams and my cardigan?” That was me last week, only instead of "LAX," it was AUS (Austin-Bergstrom International Airport); instead of “dreams,” it was jeans (Levi’s, to be exact), and instead of a "cardigan," it was Megan’s leather jacket that I would eventually return.

Upon arrival, my Uber driver, who didn’t help me load my suitcases (but it’s fine, feminism, I guess), complained about the traffic, the lack of public transportation, and the rising housing costs, but he never once complained about the number of people. Which, if you know anything about traffic, is usually the reason for congested streets. A quick Google search showed me that Austin is the tenth-most populated city in the US, home to a little under a million people. It’s also rapidly developing. In 2000, the U.S. Census recorded 650,000 residents; in 2020, the number was 975,000. That, my friends, is a lot of new bodies.

But what’s a few more? For over a week in March, Austin is home to SXSW, or in this year’s case, the festival that shan’t be named. The festival brings around 100,000 non-Austinites to the town to watch, listen, talk, drink, smoke, walk, scooter, around the already dense streets. It’s a massive convergence of culture, technology, movies, music, and more. The biggest companies in the world gather with creatives and thinkers to talk shop and ideate. It's also a major catalyst for Austin's growing popularity. In 2022, the festival had an economic impact of $280.7 million. For reference, the 2022 Superbowl, held at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood had an economic impact of $300 million. Banners reading "Keep Austin Weird" hung high over the venues as hundreds of millions of dollars exchanged hands. I was just one small piece in a really strange puzzle.

My piece of the puzzle got a little bigger when Byline, together with our friends at Urban Outfitters, organized a panel about the intersection of music and media. Byline is dedicated to championing individual voices, and giving creators of all avenues a space to thrive. Urban Outfitters, despite the difference in size, shares the same goal. We go hand-in-hand, so it was only natural that we formed a conversation in the midst of Byline's music issue.

In the lead-up to the panel, I did what I do best: run around town, spin stories with strangers, say hello to friends, say hello to lovers, cheer on indie rock boy bands that I'm vaguely friends with. Austin prides itself on being a little weird, and after seven days, I’d have to agree. Here’s what I did and saw.