I-35: A City Divided

Though I have lived in Austin since I was four years old, I was virtually unaware of I-35's effects on the city when I was younger. Growing up in West Austin, I was ignorant about socioeconomic and racial inequities in the city. I first discovered the demographic division caused by I-35 when I was eleven. I had purchased Small Steps by Louis Sachar, and the context he gave for the novel struck me. I was surprised and a little ashamed that I, an Austinite, was unaware of the social dynamic in my own backyard.

"Interstate 35 goes from the Mexican border all the way up to Lake Superior, and some of the heaviest traffic is along the two-hundred-fifty mile stretch between San Antonio and Dallas. The steady flow of cars and trucks divides the city of Austin in half, not just geographically, but also economically, and to some extent, racially."

-Small Steps by Louis Sachar

Small Steps is Austinite Louis Sachar's first young adult novel dealing with the themes of racial and economic oppression on a local, observable level. Small Steps is the contrasting companion of Sachar's book Holes, which depicts a wrongfully sentenced white boy from the "wrong side of the tracks," who eventually makes it out of his desperate situation. Theodore, the black main character of Small Steps, finds that he cannot escape the assumptions people make about him based on his East Austin address, forcing the readers of Holes and Small Steps to acknowledge the racial discrepancy. Sachar admits in an interview that Theodore and Stanley endure equal suffering in Holes, but Theodore creates a more complex character because he does not return home to wealth and a fresh start. Small Steps creates the opportunity to explore life on the other side of Austin's racial barrier, I-35.

Interstate 35, according to the Texas Freeway history website, was originally a two lane highway that was not intended to be incorporated into the interstate system. In the early 1950s, I-35 was known as US-81, and there was no difference between West side and East side. As you can see from the photo, both sides of US-81 featured businesses and houses of similar appearance. 

Soon after the interstate underwent construction in 1959, the city became divided by East and West, and East and West began to imply certain racial heritage and socio-economic status. Today, I-35 physically separates the less affluent East Austin from the booming, bustling scene of West Austin and downtown. The infrastructure, though "building" the city, was destroying it and cutting off its circulation, causing its growth to stunt in East Austin.

I-35 detaching the East side from the lights of downtown.
Source: www.nytimes.com

The inequity between the East and West sides and the division caused by I-35 is an issue in the forefront of most socially-aware Austinites' minds. The Austin blog, Questions of Quantity, has multiple posts discussing quantifiable evidence of the divide and debate over a solution.  When the blogger searched Google Maps for SAT tutors and orthodontists in Austin, she found that all those businesses are located west of I-35, while businesses for trailer home rental are located on the east side. The people of Austin are not only divided by I-35, but they are limited by it. In Austin's case, the roads of the city physically separate its natives from certain places and opportunities. Even the picture above illustrates interesting contrast between the east and west: the West side is the focus of the photo, and it's full of light and life, while the East side is dark and barely in the picture.

 Though the pictures can accurately portray the discrepancy between the east and the west, there is a plethora of quantitative proof as well. According to the US census data the Questions of Quantity blogger found, the average median income for an East Austin household in 2000 was $15,678, while the average was $48,950 for Austin overall, which is almost three and a half times more. 34.1% of households in East Austin are single parent households, which is shocking compared to Austin's overall percentage of single parent households: 8%. Yet another divider, according to the 2000 census, is the gap in education. In East Austin, 54.4% of adults never finished high school, while in Austin overall, only 15.2% of adults lack a high school diploma. 

My personal experience with this astounding education gap began when I began to volunteer with Breakthrough Austin in my sophomore year. Breakthrough helps kids who will be the first in their families to attend college achiever their academic goals. Through the mentoring program St. Stephen's does with Breakthrough, I became more acutely aware of the discrepancies between my Austin experience and the experience of most of the students.

One of the projects I did with my students was a Google Maps project in which we chose locations historically important to East Austin and those locations on the east side that are important to the Breakthrough students. Over the course of three months, we researched, refined our map, and prepared a walking tour. On the day of the tour, I got to see the places my students had researched for so long and watch them present what they had learned with the confidence and certainty of someone much older. That Saturday, I was truly inspired by their hard work and dedication to their academics. I also enjoyed being in a part of Austin I rarely spent any time in. This project not only expanded my world, but it gave me hope that one day, the people of Austin will overcome the physical, racial and economic divisions the city has placed on them.

Sports as a Symbol of their City

May I introduce to you the St. Louis Cardinals, the greatest baseball team in the MLB and the world.

However, it is not only this stellar team that led me to Busch Stadium in St. Louis, but the skyline that Busch proudly accentuates in the background. It provides a view of the Gateway Arch, the Old Courthouse, and buildings such as Met Life, AT&T and Bank of America that create a spectacular night time skyline visible for everyone to enjoy along with a baseball game. All of this is available for a relatively low price (unless you want a seat close up).

But before you understand the importance of the skyline in connection with the stadium, you must first understand why baseball (and all professional sports) became popular. The reason is pretty simple; the games were cheap and entertaining. As the 1800's came to an end the sprawling new cities created new patterns of recreation and leisure. The congestion and disease of city life led many people to seek participation in outdoor recreation. People sought places within the city to escape the tenements, factories and offices, so they turned to parks where others had set up croquet or tennis clubs.

Working poor could not afford to join a croquet club and did not have as much free time as the affluent, but they too wanted recreation, leisure and fellowship. They found this in gymnastics clubs, amusements parks, and spectator sports such as professional BASEBALL!

People from all social classes (mostly men) attended the games, with ethnic immigrants being among the most faithful fans. Cheering for their baseball and other sports teams, the rich upper class and the downtrodden lower working class found a common loyalty which gave a sense of belonging to uprooted people.

In short, the excitement of rooting for the home team united all fans. So not only were they getting inexpensive entertainment (and most of the time free as you can see in the picture above. Man, can you imagine the World Series being a
free game?), an escape from reality and a passion that they could pursue, but more importantly this all took place in an environment where they were equal to the upper class: their bosses -- the Rockefellers, the Mellons and the Carnegies.

When I went to watch the Cardinals, earlier this year, I noticed that outside the stadium tickets were being sold for a relatively good price that dropped as time went by. As we enjoyed the game, we naturally began socializing with the fans sitting around us and discussed our common interest: the Cardinals, hunting, etc. This was especially interesting when I realized that the the
family sitting behind me was an inner-city family and in front of me sat a family from an upper-middle class suburb. After the game, as I walked through the stadium, I ran into a mass of people from all different social standings, ethnicities, and (probably) financial statuses, the perfect example of unintended social integration.

I was with my dad, and it was an extremely exciting and entertaining game. The Cardinals were trailing the entire game by two when the home-town hero, Albert Pujols, stepped up to the plate with two outs and drove in two runs to send the game into extra innings. All this entertainment for only $20!

As sports have grown up they have not only kept this connection with all social classes, but have grown even more intimate and essential to the city and the people, serving as symbols of their respective cities. It became quite clear to me the other night when the announcer of the game stated, "The city of St.Louis can sleep sound tonight," after the Cardinals beat the Phillies to tie the NLDS 2-2. This was just a sign that teams such as the Cardinals are not just economically tied into the life of the city, but emotionally and symbolically tied to it. When someone talks about a team, they always use the name of the city, for example: Tampa Bay beat Boston. The pride that people experience from a team winning is akin to nationalism -- people live and die by

their teams. One Chicago Cubs fan goes into this more deeply, "...to me, and to so many others, they [the Cubs] are more because they symbolize something greater: hope, loyalty, endurance, love, pride, tenacity, the strength to carry-on, the ability to keep a dream alive, and my city...
EVERYTHING that I hold near and dear to my heart, that makes me who I am, that signifies all that I believe in...."

In a recent Chrysler commercial (this link will bring you to YouTube) where they flash various symbols of the Detroit, (at 0:48) they show a man wearing the Detroit Tigers baseball shirt. It is just another example of how sports team are symbols of their cities.

Many stadiums are tied in with the city that they represent. The most recognizable symbol of St. Louis, the Gateway Arch, is emblazoned across the outfield (as seen in the picture to the right). In some cities the stadium is an integral part of downtown. I snapped this picture as our plane curved around downtown St. Louis. As you can see, Busch Stadium is a large part of the downtown with the Rams football stadium, the Edward D. Jones Dome, on the other

side. Similar to this, the Staples Center, home of the Laker, Clippers and Kings, is surrounded by downtown Los Angeles right off one of the main streets. These two stadiums, and many like them, became integral parts of their respective downtown landscapes. Their constant association with the city makes the people
feel that the teams represent the city.

One can see all of this (the social classes coming together and a team symbolizing of the city) in the article A Fan's Perspective: What the New York Yankees Mean to Me. He talks about how during 9/11 he felt as if the city rested on the weight of its sports teams. He remembers seeing the "Mayor of America," Rudy Giuliani sitting with the masses and cheering on his favorite team.

The picture of Busch Stadium, at the top of the post, offers more than just a scenic view. It is the perfect symbol of how a team can symbolize a city, can bring together all social classes and can give them all equal entertainment and common ground -- it is a symbol to the fans of all the city has to offer.

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Now here is a cool
progression of the Cardinals' ballparks through the ages

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Robinson Field in 1907 (1893-1920) (an amusement park used to stand right

outside the park)

Sportsman Park in 1920 (1920-1966)

Busch Stadium in 2005 (1966-2005)

New Stadium can be seen at top of the post.

The Laramie Project

The Laramie Project was written by Moises Kaufman and the members of Tectonic Theatre Project as an investigation of a brutal hate crime in the town of Laramie, Wyoming. This play is taken entirely from interviews of Laramie residents, and the journal entries of the Tectonic Theatre Project, and in this way, it gives a completely genuine and fascinating look at Laramie from the inside and from the outside. The way Tectonic views Laramie changes a lot throughout the course of the play. Beginning with the view of Laramie as your typical town, it morphs to become something just a little out of the ordinary. One of the first things Greg Pierotti notices about Laramie is the welcome sign. It reads: "WYOMING -- LIKE NO PLACE ON EARTH. Instead of WYOMING -- LIKE NO PLACE ELSE ON EARTH," (27). Similarly, Barbara Pitts notices that "in the dark, [they] could be on on any main drag in America -- fast food chains, gas stations. But as [they] drove into the downtown area by the railroad tracks, the buildings still looked like a turn-of-the-century Western town," (28). Greg even swears he "saw a heard of Buffalo," (27). To the Tectonic Theatre Project, Laramie is a tiny rural town that's just a bit off. This view is also shared by Stephen Mead Johnson, a representative of the Unitarian Church who first finds Laramie to consist only of a "tumbleweed" and a "cement factory," (36).

The next scene is an interview with Marge Murray and Allison Marge who really begin to show the depth that Laramie seems to hide. Marge, in particular goes from asking "Well, yeah, honey, why wear clothes," to describing the intricacies of Laramie's view on homophobia (28). Allison and Marge are such a fantastic example of how this play operates -- one second Allison is embarrassed to explain to Greg that "S. O. L." stands for "shit outta luck," and the next Marge quite eloquently sums up Laramie's class problems with the few sentences: "It's about the well educated and the ones that are not. And the educated don't understand why the ones that are not don't get educated," (29). Though both Marge and Allison seem like your typical comical country bumpkins, they both have a lot more to say about Laramie, Wyoming than anyone would expect. Marge ends this scene by frankly telling Greg that she's know more than she's telling him.

At the end of the play, Tectonic leaves the "sparkling lights of Laramie, Wyoming," with a completely different perspective on this tiny town (88).

Kaufman, Moises, and Leigh Fondakowski. The Laramie Project. New York: Dramatists Play Service, 2001. Print.