Deep Eddy-- Iconic Austin

Eddy is a nice word. I don't mean the name. I mean the water term... eddy-- current of water running contrary to the main current. Austin has a much loved swimming pool called Deep Eddy just on the outskirts of downtown. The water is cool. But the phenomenon of "running contrary to the main current" is an apt description of Austin itself. I got here many decades ago, back when Willie Nelson was putting Austin on the map, he was bringing hippies and rednecks together in those days. Willie, now 80 years old, symbolized Austin's unique openness with his quixotic quest.

Austin used to be called an "oasis in the middle of Texas" in those days. I'm talking the Seventies. That sound bite continues to work. Austin, called Idea City, by a famous downtown advertising agency, is a town built on consciousness. The Whole Foods Market, the most famous home-grown business, developed on the notion of healthy eating, a not-so-commonplace notion that grew to a huge multi-national corporation as the rest of the world caught on to the idea of eating for health. Consciousness at work again.

Ideas swirl like currents. Most human beings shy away from new currents, ideas not yet fully embraced and understood. Austin has become an international city based on open-mindedness.  Austin has the SXSW conference for music, film and digital media as its banner event. That's no accident. The city is a magnet for creativity. I flew into Austin just as the film segment opened for 2013 and sat next to a Parisian filmmaker, looking to buy a film for distribution. Another European, a globe-trotting photographer, sat in the next row and seemed to have professional pursuits lined up for the conference. They may have known Willie Nelson and the Whole Foods Market, but I doubt they had ever heard of Deep Eddy swimming pool. You have to move here and stay awhile to experience the swirling currents.