Latest / Austin Signal / New homeless navigation center coming to North Austin

Transcript

New homeless navigation center coming to North Austin · Austin Signal

• 0:08
  For Austinites experiencing
• 0:09
  homelessness in the northern half of
• 0:11
  the city, accessing food or even
• 0:13
  a shower can mean taking the bus to
• 0:15
  downtown or even South Austin.
• 0:17
  But a new center opening this summer
• 0:18
  will bring those services closer to
• 0:20
  many folks.
• 0:22
  And people in Austin's Breiker Woods
• 0:24
  neighborhood have lodged concerns
• 0:25
  about a dilapidated home that's
• 0:27
  attracted rodents of all shapes and
• 0:29
  sizes.
• 0:29
  The owner hasn't lived there in
• 0:30
  years but says the home still holds
• 0:32
  sentimental value.
• 0:34
  The battle to address problems that
• 0:36
  go beyond eyesores that's coming
• 0:38
  up on today's show.
• 0:39
  The Austin Signal is a production
• 0:41
  of KUT News, hosted by
• 0:43
  Jerry Quijano.
• 0:44
  And after emerging from years spent
• 0:46
  as a caregiver, one woman wanted to
• 0:48
  process the experience by swimming
• 0:49
  in 50 bodies of water.
• 0:52
  That includes Barton Springs Pool.
• 0:53
  We're gonna have more about her
• 0:55
  journey up next on Austin
• 0:57
  Signal.
• 1:07
  Howdy out there.
• 1:08
  This is Austin Signal.
• 1:10
  I'm your host Jerry Kikano.
• 1:11
  Thank you for tuning in.
• 1:13
  It is Wednesday, July 8th.
• 1:15
  This community-powered public
• 1:17
  radio, KUT News.
• 1:20
  Right now, unhoused people in North
• 1:22
  Austin often have to take a bus
• 1:23
  across town to access resources
• 1:26
  like food and shelter.
• 1:28
  A new center that's set to open this
• 1:29
  summer is looking to change that.
• 1:32
  KUT's Luz Moreno Lozano reports
• 1:34
  on the project and the organization
• 1:36
  behind it.
• 1:40
  On a recent afternoon, things were
• 1:42
  quiet outside the unassuming
• 1:43
  two-story building at 611
• 1:45
  Carpenter Avenue in North Austin,
• 1:48
  but soon it's expected to be buzzing
• 1:50
  with hundreds of people,
• 1:51
  mainly those who are experiencing
• 1:53
  homelessness or on the verge of
• 1:54
  becoming homeless.
• 1:56
  Antony Jackson says the building
• 1:57
  will open as a homeless navigation
• 1:59
  center.
• 2:00
  A true testament to like the
• 2:01
  power of God if you ask me and
• 2:04
  so like to be able to get a
• 2:06
  piece of real estate in the city
• 2:07
  that you grew up in
• 2:09
  homeless and and be able to
• 2:11
  you know provide services for people
• 2:13
  in that that that
• 2:15
  same circumstance like
• 2:17
  what
• 2:18
  Jackson is a founder and CEO
• 2:20
  of We Can Now.
• 2:21
  The organization focuses on helping
• 2:23
  people experiencing homelessness.
• 2:25
  It's a situation he knows well after
• 2:27
  spending much of his youth in and
• 2:29
  out of shelters and living in his
• 2:30
  car.
• 2:31
  And so like in my life, I've just
• 2:33
  experienced many
• 2:35
  experiences
• 2:37
  of homelessness.
• 2:38
  And I always was like, man, once I
• 2:40
  get out of this circumstance, I want
• 2:41
  to do something for the people
• 2:43
  who are in the circumstance
• 2:45
  in the city. Because when I went
• 2:46
  through it, there wasn't
• 2:48
  any resources or organizations like
• 2:50
  this that existed.
• 2:51
  He means groups that offer a
• 2:52
  one-stop shop for help, including
• 2:54
  access to showers, meals,
• 2:56
  medical and mental health services,
• 2:58
  and a place to sleep.
• 3:00
  Jackson says the new center will
• 3:01
  serve a long unmet need for
• 3:03
  people in North Austin.
• 3:04
  While we're doing street outreach,
• 3:06
  building relationships with the
• 3:07
  people that we serve that are
• 3:08
  homeless and out there on the
• 3:10
  streets, we're asking them, like,
• 3:11
  who else comes out here?
• 3:12
  Where else do you get resources
• 3:13
  from?
• 3:14
  He quickly learned that for many
• 3:15
  people, one of the only options was
• 3:17
  to ride a bus downtown to get the
• 3:19
  help they need.
• 3:20
  That's already an added barrier to
• 3:22
  homelessness.
• 3:23
  You gotta have money, you gotta have
• 3:24
  bus passes, you gotta know where
• 3:25
  you're going, you gotta be in the
• 3:26
  right state of mind, you gotta
• 3:27
  mental health.
• 3:29
  And so out here in this area,
• 3:30
  there's a lot of people who are just
• 3:31
  kinda out here on the streets, just
• 3:33
  kinda hopeless.
• 3:34
  After finding his footing, Jackson
• 3:36
  launched We Can Now in March 2020,
• 3:38
  focusing on street outreach in East
• 3:40
  Austin.
• 3:41
  Each Sunday morning, a group of
• 3:43
  volunteers sets up at the corner of
• 3:44
  San Marcos and East Cesar Chavez
• 3:46
  streets, serving anywhere between 50
• 3:48
  and 75 people.
• 3:50
  Volunteers set out a variety of
• 3:52
  food, drinks and other supplies,
• 3:54
  like hygiene products and clothes
• 3:55
  and shoes.
• 3:56
  Nathan Jones has been volunteering
• 3:58
  with the organization for years.
• 4:00
  The work is so impactful,
• 4:02
  both ways.
• 4:03
  It's not just us to them, it's these
• 4:05
  people are impacting us.
• 4:08
  And so it's a gift, it is a
• 4:10
  privilege really to be out here.
• 4:12
  Before getting in line for a plate
• 4:13
  of food and a sack of supplies, the
• 4:15
  group says a prayer.
• 4:16
  They pray for comfort, they pray for
• 4:18
  help, and they pray each other.
• 4:20
  In our fellowship today as
• 4:22
  we fellowship with you together.
• 4:24
  In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
• 4:29
  Among the dozens of people in line
• 4:30
  for food was Joanne Cozzi.
• 4:32
  She's been living in her truck with
• 4:33
  her dog for quite some time.
• 4:35
  Her mission each day is to find
• 4:36
  herself and her dog food in a
• 4:38
  shower.
• 4:40
  On Sundays, when weekend now sets
• 4:41
  up, she fills up her plate and
• 4:43
  stocks up on supplies.
• 4:45
  But finding a place to rinse off
• 4:46
  within walking distance of where her
• 4:48
  truck is parked is a tougher
• 4:49
  challenge.
• 4:49
  I'll just go to like an abandoned
• 4:51
  house with a spigot, just hose off,
• 4:53
  or go down to the lake.
• 4:54
  They got a spick in the bathroom, I
• 4:55
  got a hose in my truck.
• 4:56
  I don't drive my truck as much as I
• 4:57
  can help it.
• 4:58
  She says a navigation center in
• 5:00
  another part of Austin that could
• 5:01
  provide food, showers, and other
• 5:03
  resources would go a long way.
• 5:05
  Because you can see this is like the
• 5:06
  rut. There's nothing that way and
• 5:08
  nothing that way.
• 5:09
  But yeah, absolutely.
• 5:10
  There's no way to do it without
• 5:11
  help.
• 5:11
  Given night, there are nearly 5,000
• 5:14
  people experiencing homelessness in
• 5:15
  Travis County.
• 5:16
  That's according to the latest data
• 5:18
  from the Ending Community
• 5:19
  Homelessness Coalition, or ECHO.
• 5:21
  Matt Molika, the executive director
• 5:23
  for ECH O, says more help is needed,
• 5:26
  especially in areas outside of
• 5:27
  downtown.
• 5:28
  It's really critical to get a lot of
• 5:30
  these different services set
• 5:32
  up geographically. We have a lot to
• 5:33
  do on that. As you know, our West
• 5:35
  Austin and sort of
• 5:37
  West Central Austin is still
• 5:39
  kind of a desert for folks who are
• 5:41
  experiencing homelessness in our
• 5:42
  community.
• 5:42
  We Can Now plans to open its new
• 5:44
  center by the end of July.
• 5:47
  I'm Luz Moreno Lozano in Austin.
• 5:56
  A group of activists gathered
• 5:58
  outside the Travis County
• 5:59
  Administrative Building this morning
• 6:01
  to protest U.S.
• 6:02
  Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
• 6:05
  As KUT's Katie McAfee reports,
• 6:07
  community members say ICE activity
• 6:08
  has ramped up in recent weeks.
• 6:12
  Austin Sanctuary Network runs a
• 6:13
  hotline where people can report ICE
• 6:14
  activity, like arrests or raids,
• 6:17
  happening in the area.
• 6:18
  Peggy Morton with the group says in
• 6:19
  recent weeks, they've seen an uptick
• 6:21
  in calls.
• 6:22
  She's also seeing more demand for
• 6:23
  the group's accompaniment program,
• 6:25
  which provides immigrants with rides
• 6:26
  to mandatory check-in appointments
• 6:28
  at the ICE office in San Antonio.
• 6:30
  I used to give rides, I mean I'd
• 6:32
  gotten to where I was given maybe
• 6:33
  two a month or three a month.
• 6:35
  Now it's like four a week
• 6:37
  and San Antonio is a long
• 6:39
  way off.
• 6:40
  Protests came a day after an ICE
• 6:42
  agent fatally shot a Mexican man
• 6:43
  without legal status in Houston
• 6:45
  during what the agency called a,
• 6:47
  quote, targeted enforcement
• 6:48
  operation.
• 6:50
  Morton says activists in Austin are
• 6:51
  particularly concerned with how and
• 6:53
  where ICE agents are making arrests.
• 6:56
  The group's hotline received a call
• 6:57
  last week about a woman named Asalia
• 6:59
  Martinez, who is originally from
• 7:00
  Mexico.
• 7:01
  Morton said Martinez was detained in
• 7:03
  the parking lot of a community care
• 7:04
  health clinic, and she's since been
• 7:06
  deported to an unfamiliar city in
• 7:08
  Mexico.
• 7:09
  Alejandro Caseras with the Austin
• 7:11
  Sanctuary Network says Travis County
• 7:12
  leaders should do more to protect
• 7:14
  residents from ICE while they're
• 7:15
  seeking medical care.
• 7:16
  Isalia was detained at Community
• 7:18
  Care, that is a
• 7:20
  county funded clinic.
• 7:22
  We have been coming to the same
• 7:23
  court for about two years now
• 7:25
  telling Andy Brown, hey, this is
• 7:26
  happening in your community, this is
• 7:28
  happening Austin, this happening in
• 7:29
  the streets and it has felt that
• 7:31
  we've been speaking to OWA this
• 7:32
  whole time.
• 7:32
  It's unclear exactly how the county
• 7:34
  could intervene with ICE
• 7:35
  enforcement.
• 7:36
  Counties in Texas are required to
• 7:38
  follow all federal and state laws,
• 7:40
  and they don't have the power to
• 7:41
  pass ordinances like cities do.
• 7:43
  Casera says the group still plans to
• 7:45
  formally ask the county to look into
• 7:46
  how it can protect the immigrant
• 7:48
  community at its next Commissioner's
• 7:49
  Court meeting on Tuesday.
• 7:51
  I'm Katie McAfee in Austin.
• 8:01
  Chances are you've seen a home in
• 8:02
  your neighborhood or possibly passed
• 8:04
  by one on your commute that's seen
• 8:06
  better days.
• 8:07
  It might be an eyesore at first
• 8:09
  glance, but when you look longer,
• 8:11
  hazards might start to appear that
• 8:12
  make you thankful that you don't
• 8:14
  live right next door.
• 8:15
  But for the folks living next to
• 8:17
  them, it's more than just
• 8:19
  appearance. For them, it's a safety
• 8:20
  issue.
• 8:21
  One way to address this, code
• 8:23
  enforcement.
• 8:24
  It's how, after years of red tape,
• 8:25
  neighbors in the Bricker Woods area
• 8:27
  were able to get the city to vote to
• 8:29
  demolish a vacant house on their
• 8:30
  street. But the owner of the house
• 8:32
  says the city didn't try hard enough
• 8:34
  to contact her.
• 8:35
  For more about that, we are talking
• 8:36
  with Andrea Ball, Growth Development
• 8:38
  Reporter at Austin Current.
• 8:39
  Hi, Andrea. Hello.
• 8:41
  So first, I want to hear about the
• 8:42
  neighbors in the area who originally
• 8:43
  brought up the problem with the
• 8:45
  city. What were they seeing and how
• 8:46
  long had they been seeing it?
• 8:48
  So one of the neighbors told
• 8:51
  me that when
• 8:53
  she had bought her property about
• 8:54
  19 years ago, she went
• 8:56
  to the house to look at
• 8:58
  stuff and talk to her contractor and
• 9:00
  she parked in front of this rundown
• 9:02
  house. And when she did,
• 9:04
  a big rat ran from that yard
• 9:06
  to like across the street.
• 9:08
  That was one bold rat because it was
• 9:11
  flat out daylight.
• 9:13
  Okay, and what
• 9:15
  do we know about the owner of the
• 9:16
  house?
• 9:17
  Her name is Polly Nance.
• 9:19
  She's owned the home since the
• 9:21
  70s. She lives six hours
• 9:23
  away in West Texas.
• 9:25
  She's living in a family home right
• 9:27
  now because she had gone back to
• 9:29
  that area to care for a family
• 9:31
  member and just stayed there.
• 9:33
  She's in her late 70s
• 9:35
  and says she has a disability.
• 9:37
  When I spoke to her, she said that
• 9:39
  she moved out of the home around
• 9:42
  2008 or so,
• 9:43
  and her son
• 9:45
  lived there for a while.
• 9:47
  And she also said that she paid
• 9:49
  people to take care of the
• 9:51
  property, you know, in terms of like
• 9:53
  mowing the lawn and stuff like that.
• 9:54
  Okay, so the city reached out to the
• 9:56
  owner, what were those communications
• 9:57
  like?
• 9:58
  So I read a
• 10:00
  very, very big file on
• 10:02
  this that had documented
• 10:04
  basically monthly
• 10:06
  visits over four years
• 10:08
  from the city code
• 10:10
  compliance folks.
• 10:12
  And there were many
• 10:14
  documented attempts
• 10:16
  to call, to email,
• 10:19
  they sent certified letters
• 10:21
  that would be returned and executed.
• 10:23
  I think at some point they didn't
• 10:25
  know exactly where her
• 10:27
  address was.
• 10:28
  There were conversations between
• 10:30
  them that were documented and that
• 10:32
  Ms.
• 10:34
  Nance said they did speak but
• 10:36
  she felt like she had questions
• 10:38
  that she said were not answered and
• 10:40
  that she couldn't make repairs until
• 10:42
  she had more information and
• 10:45
  that the city didn't reach out and
• 10:47
  that she says I wasn't hiding from
• 10:48
  anybody the records tell
• 10:50
  a different story you know it
• 10:52
  was Very different.
• 10:53
  And from what you found in your
• 10:55
  reporting, what all was going on
• 10:56
  with Ms. Nance?
• 10:58
  So because the home
• 11:00
  had not been lived in
• 11:02
  for a while, she was living
• 11:04
  elsewhere, it
• 11:06
  was not
• 11:08
  taken care of.
• 11:09
  And inside the home were,
• 11:11
  it essentially looked like a
• 11:13
  hoarding situation.
• 11:15
  And so during the
• 11:18
  conversations with the city,
• 11:19
  she would express dismay.
• 11:21
  I can't believe it's that way,
• 11:24
  but there would be
• 11:26
  conversations.
• 11:27
  With her and then they would be
• 11:29
  silenced. And then they couldn't
• 11:30
  get, they did not get in touch.
• 11:32
  So she said she hasn't been to
• 11:34
  the property in at least 10
• 11:36
  years.
• 11:37
  Is there a reason that-
• 11:38
  And she hasn't sold it?
• 11:39
  She says it has sentimental value.
• 11:42
  And you know what? I do want to say
• 11:43
  this, Jerry.
• 11:44
  The city has lots of pictures of
• 11:46
  the home in its just terrible
• 11:48
  state of disrepair boxes like
• 11:50
  very close to the ceiling and
• 11:53
  animal waste and,
• 11:56
  you know, ceiling degraded.
• 11:58
  But when they took all that stuff
• 12:00
  out, you could see signs
• 12:02
  of a home.
• 12:03
  It doesn't start out this
• 12:05
  way.
• 12:06
  And it gives you a different
• 12:07
  perspective. It's not just, ew,
• 12:08
  ugly, awful house where rats
• 12:10
  and, you know, raccoons and possum
• 12:12
  come from.
• 12:14
  That was someone's life.
• 12:16
  I know from your reporting that Mrs.
• 12:17
  Nance is elderly and disabled.
• 12:19
  She still says she has plans for the
• 12:21
  house. Does the city have a
• 12:22
  responsibility to make sure that she
• 12:24
  is able to understand the entire
• 12:25
  process before that home is leveled?
• 12:27
  I believe that they, the
• 12:29
  process is they contact
• 12:31
  Mrs. Nance, I believe she
• 12:33
  said they did, and tell her you
• 12:35
  have time to
• 12:37
  contest this.
• 12:39
  And the city says that she has
• 12:41
  not officially contested
• 12:43
  it.
• 12:44
  She said that she had some medical
• 12:46
  problems that kept her from doing
• 12:47
  that on time.
• 12:49
  So she didn't want to speak publicly
• 12:51
  about her plans, but
• 12:53
  she has an interest in the
• 12:55
  home.
• 12:56
  Okay, sounds like this comes down to
• 12:58
  property rights versus neighborhood
• 12:59
  safety. The neighbors that you've
• 13:01
  spoken with ultimately view this as
• 13:03
  a win, but they still have to wait
• 13:04
  months for anything to happen.
• 13:07
  What is the condition of the
• 13:08
  property currently and what have the
• 13:09
  neighbors had to say about this?
• 13:10
  Their biggest concern was
• 13:13
  they felt like the home had
• 13:15
  become a hotspot
• 13:17
  for animals.
• 13:19
  And so they're concerned, that's
• 13:21
  mostly what they talked about,
• 13:22
  honestly, was that.
• 13:24
  Now, like, we're in Austin and
• 13:26
  there are critters around, right?
• 13:27
  That's always going to happen,
• 13:29
  and, you know, I had a
• 13:31
  rat in my barbecue one
• 13:33
  time, and I was like, what?
• 13:34
  And a house had been like leveled
• 13:37
  and so he came to visit.
• 13:39
  Um, so things happen, right?
• 13:41
  But to them, it's like, they say
• 13:42
  it's never ending.
• 13:44
  So yeah, there's a longer process
• 13:46
  that needs to play out here.
• 13:48
  There are other steps they
• 13:50
  have to jump through, you know, in
• 13:52
  terms of, um, getting permits
• 13:54
  and getting the budget,
• 13:56
  you know, there are a lot of things
• 13:58
  that people in the city have
• 14:00
  to demolish or take care of and
• 14:01
  exactly. They got to basically get
• 14:03
  online, you know, In terms of who's
• 14:05
  next in it.
• 14:06
  The neighbors were very happy with
• 14:08
  the decision.
• 14:10
  To demolish it.
• 14:11
  In fact, the city staffers
• 14:13
  had not recommended demolition.
• 14:15
  They had come forth saying, we
• 14:18
  can recommend repair.
• 14:21
  And the neighbors were like,
• 14:23
  we have been doing this for many,
• 14:24
  many years now.
• 14:25
  We're just going to come back and
• 14:27
  keep doing this.
• 14:28
  So they were very, they being the
• 14:30
  neighbors, were very excited,
• 14:32
  but they also know, okay, Well, it's
• 14:34
  not happening tomorrow, but we'll
• 14:35
  stay on top of it.
• 14:37
  Okay, we've been speaking with
• 14:38
  Andrea Ball.
• 14:39
  She is the growth development
• 14:40
  reporter at Austin Current.
• 14:41
  We're gonna have a link to her
• 14:42
  reporting in today's show notes.
• 14:43
  Thank you, Andrea.
• 14:44
  Thank you and I would like to note
• 14:45
  we did not barbecue the rat.
• 14:48
  Good to know, a very important
• 14:49
  detail.
• 14:50
  Only stuff you can get right here on
• 14:52
  Austin Signal.
• 14:53
  We got more of that right after this
• 14:55
  break.
• 15:00
  This is Austin Signal, welcome back.
• 15:02
  Here are a few headlines for
• 15:04
  your Wednesday.
• 15:05
  The Austin Community College Board
• 15:07
  of Trustees has approved the
• 15:08
  system's $583 million
• 15:10
  budget for the next fiscal year.
• 15:12
  Tuition will remain the same for the
• 15:14
  13th year in a row and
• 15:16
  the college will continue its free
• 15:18
  tuition pilot program.
• 15:20
  And two former Travis County Tax
• 15:22
  Office employees have been indicted
• 15:24
  on charges of engaging in organized
• 15:25
  criminal activity.
• 15:27
  The Travis County DA's office
• 15:28
  announced this week that the
• 15:29
  indictments stem from an alleged
• 15:31
  fraudulent vehicle registration
• 15:33
  scheme carried out late last
• 15:35
  year.
• 15:38
  This is Austin Signal, welcome back.
• 15:40
  Here are a few headlines for
• 15:42
  your Wednesday.
• 15:43
  The Austin Community College Board
• 15:45
  of Trustees has approved the
• 15:46
  system's $583 million
• 15:48
  budget for the next fiscal year.
• 15:51
  Tuition will remain the same for the
• 15:53
  13th year in a row, and
• 15:54
  the college will continue its free
• 15:56
  tuition pilot program.
• 15:59
  And two former Travis County Tax
• 16:00
  Office employees have been indicted
• 16:02
  on charges of engaging in organized
• 16:04
  criminal activity.
• 16:05
  The Travis County DA's office
• 16:06
  announced this week that the
• 16:08
  indictments stem from an alleged
• 16:09
  fraudulent vehicle registration
• 16:11
  scheme carried out late last
• 16:13
  year.
• 16:14
  When Kate Washington emerged from
• 16:16
  years spent as a full-time
• 16:17
  caregiver, she found herself
• 16:19
  changed.
• 16:20
  She was a woman in middle age,
• 16:22
  processing grief and fatigue,
• 16:23
  and looking for herself in a
• 16:25
  world that had been about fulfilling
• 16:27
  the needs of others for most of her
• 16:29
  adult life. 2021 marked
• 16:31
  the beginning of a project
• 16:32
  Washington intended as
• 16:34
  a renewal in her life.
• 16:35
  In almost literal cleansing.
• 16:37
  Her goal was to accomplish 50
• 16:39
  swims before her 50th birthday,
• 16:42
  and one of these was in Austin's
• 16:43
  beloved swimming hole, Barton
• 16:44
  Springs Pool.
• 16:46
  Washington spoke with Texas
• 16:47
  standards David Brown about how that
• 16:49
  swim, along with the 49 others,
• 16:52
  reshaped her life.
• 16:54
  Tell us a little bit more about your
• 16:55
  life and caregiving journey.
• 16:57
  What happened?
• 16:58
  Sure. Well, my husband at
• 17:00
  the time was diagnosed with a very
• 17:02
  aggressive, very rare form of
• 17:04
  lymphoma in 2015
• 17:06
  and progressed through
• 17:08
  an extremely difficult
• 17:10
  stem cell transplant.
• 17:11
  He almost died, was in the hospital
• 17:13
  for four and a half months, came
• 17:14
  home blind, immune compromised.
• 17:17
  It was really a miracle that he
• 17:18
  survived and we had two young
• 17:19
  children at the same time.
• 17:21
  And so I was stretched really thin,
• 17:24
  caring for his needs, caring for
• 17:25
  their needs and.
• 17:27
  You know, fortunately he did recover
• 17:29
  enough to be able to live
• 17:31
  independently. He recovered his
• 17:32
  vision, but it really sapped
• 17:34
  the marriage.
• 17:36
  It changed us both in so many ways
• 17:37
  due to lots of different kinds of
• 17:39
  trauma.
• 17:40
  And by 2021,
• 17:42
  as you mentioned, our marriage was
• 17:44
  struggling. He was doing better, but
• 17:45
  we'd also been affected by the
• 17:47
  pandemic.
• 17:48
  And I found myself looking around,
• 17:50
  thinking, what have I done?
• 17:52
  I was 48 turning 49 and was
• 17:54
  like. Who am I and where
• 17:56
  have I come to in my life?
• 17:57
  In my life. Right, right.
• 17:59
  So what did you decide to do
• 18:01
  and why?
• 18:03
  Well, I'm from Northern California.
• 18:05
  I've always loved the water and our
• 18:07
  wild spaces here, our rivers.
• 18:09
  I grew up in a town with a lot of
• 18:11
  swimming holes and actually a
• 18:13
  public swimming pool that's
• 18:16
  a dammed creek that looks strangely
• 18:18
  like a mini version of Barton
• 18:19
  Springs.
• 18:20
  And I've loved getting in the
• 18:22
  water, especially natural bodies of
• 18:24
  water. And I thought, what can I do
• 18:25
  that would actually be fun and
• 18:27
  something for me?
• 18:27
  And I decided to
• 18:30
  almost on a whim, tried
• 18:32
  to make a project out of
• 18:34
  getting into 50 different natural
• 18:36
  bodies of water.
• 18:36
  As long as I could submerge hot
• 18:38
  springs, the ocean,
• 18:41
  most of them were in Northern
• 18:42
  California, but whenever I traveled
• 18:43
  and had an opportunity to jump in
• 18:45
  somewhere, as I was lucky to do one
• 18:47
  time in Texas, that's what I
• 18:49
  did.
• 18:49
  Let me ask you about one of those
• 18:51
  moments.
• 18:52
  It's listed in your book as dunk
• 18:54
  number 20, I believe.
• 18:56
  Barton Springs in Austin.
• 18:59
  Now that's a swim.
• 19:01
  Pretty cold.
• 19:02
  68 degrees year round and
• 19:04
  I gather you just plunged
• 19:06
  straight in. What was that like?
• 19:08
  Yeah, I was in Austin to
• 19:10
  give a talk about caregiving,
• 19:12
  actually, in November,
• 19:15
  and a longtime friend lives in
• 19:17
  Austin.
• 19:18
  And so we met up, I stayed on a
• 19:20
  couple of extra days, and she
• 19:22
  took me to Barton Springs.
• 19:23
  And to be honest with you, you say
• 19:24
  it's cold year round, but
• 19:26
  if you've ever been to the Sierra
• 19:28
  Nevada in California,
• 19:30
  that's not cold for the water that
• 19:32
  I'm used to out here.
• 19:33
  But...
• 19:35
  It was absolutely beautiful.
• 19:36
  And my friend said, no, I'm
• 19:38
  not sure I'll go in.
• 19:39
  It's too cold. And then I jumped
• 19:41
  in and she was like, okay, I'll do
• 19:43
  it. And it was actually a warm
• 19:44
  November day.
• 19:45
  There were quite a number of people
• 19:47
  out, but it wasn't crowded like it
• 19:49
  is in a summertime.
• 19:50
  And it just a great
• 19:52
  swim. We took selfies and
• 19:54
  had a really fun time.
• 19:56
  And actually that same friend
• 19:58
  recently got
• 19:59
  married.
• 20:00
  And I came out to her wedding and
• 20:02
  went to Barton Springs again with a
• 20:04
  group of girlfriends and took them
• 20:06
  all. So it was fun.
• 20:07
  Reunion swim was there anything
• 20:09
  else that you personally took away
• 20:11
  from Barton Springs, or was it
• 20:12
  pretty much just a fun outing
• 20:14
  with with friend?
• 20:16
  You know, it was a fun outing with a
• 20:17
  friend, but she had had a
• 20:20
  difficult first marriage and was
• 20:22
  really remaking her life at
• 20:24
  the time that we went to that swim
• 20:25
  together.
• 20:26
  And we had such a happy, wonderful
• 20:28
  time. And I really admired how
• 20:31
  she'd rebuilt her
• 20:33
  life and found a lot of joy,
• 20:36
  eventually new partnership.
• 20:37
  But that moment and seeing her and
• 20:39
  connecting with her around
• 20:41
  the swim and around this kind of
• 20:42
  joyful, fun experience.
• 20:45
  Gave me some inspiration.
• 20:47
  Along the way, was there a
• 20:49
  swim or two that comes to mind
• 20:51
  when you think about, wow, that was
• 20:53
  memorable, that's something that
• 20:54
  will stay with me for a lifetime?
• 20:57
  Any special swims, I suppose I
• 20:59
  should ask?
• 21:00
  I took a solo trip to
• 21:02
  France toward the end of
• 21:04
  the whole project and
• 21:06
  there was a very memorable one
• 21:08
  underneath a 2,000
• 21:10
  year old Roman structure that
• 21:12
  crossed the river and that was
• 21:14
  incredibly memorable to
• 21:16
  see. It was also a place that my
• 21:17
  grandparents had taken me when I was
• 21:19
  a young girl and so returning
• 21:21
  to that spot kind of
• 21:23
  brought some things full circle.
• 21:24
  And there was one just in
• 21:26
  a tiny little, very
• 21:28
  cold...
• 21:29
  Whole in a creek that runs
• 21:31
  through my hometown, but this spot
• 21:33
  was up in the mountains.
• 21:34
  And I was with my older daughter and
• 21:36
  she was hesitating to go in because
• 21:38
  it was so cold.
• 21:39
  And she looked at me and she said,
• 21:40
  I've never seen you come out of the
• 21:42
  water without a smile on your face.
• 21:44
  And the fact that she saw that
• 21:46
  and kind of knew me
• 21:49
  as a person and not just
• 21:51
  as mom.
• 21:52
  And then she jumped in as soon as
• 21:54
  she said that.
• 21:55
  Really made me feel like,
• 21:57
  okay, I'm modeling something
• 21:59
  besides duty and obligation
• 22:01
  to my daughters.
• 22:02
  For sure.
• 22:04
  Yeah, I guess you had an idea that
• 22:06
  these 50 swims would would help
• 22:08
  you Heal, but
• 22:10
  were there things that you
• 22:11
  discovered about yourself that
• 22:13
  you didn't expect to
• 22:15
  Oh, absolutely.
• 22:16
  And it really helped me break
• 22:18
  out of some creative blocks.
• 22:20
  I wrote about every one of these
• 22:22
  swims and kept a little blog that I
• 22:23
  didn't really publicize.
• 22:24
  And so just the
• 22:27
  joy of writing about something that
• 22:28
  was just for me and that I enjoyed
• 22:30
  and then having a few people connect
• 22:32
  with it was a
• 22:34
  wonderful way to
• 22:36
  reopen my creative
• 22:38
  self.
• 22:40
  And just taking that time
• 22:42
  and really learning to be in
• 22:44
  the moment for myself.
• 22:46
  So, you know, I had kind of pursued
• 22:47
  a more intellectual path
• 22:49
  through college and graduate school
• 22:51
  and had kind pushed aside
• 22:53
  some of the physicality that I
• 22:55
  enjoyed as a little girl.
• 22:57
  And to return to that really
• 22:59
  helped me feel like I was
• 23:01
  reintegrating a self that
• 23:03
  I had lost
• 23:05
  leading into midlife.
• 23:07
  Let me ask you a sort of an odd
• 23:08
  question because I know I've talked
• 23:10
  to people who
• 23:12
  have set out to do something and
• 23:15
  write about it memorialize it in
• 23:16
  a book and sometimes I'm
• 23:18
  tempted to ask well what do you hope
• 23:20
  that listeners will take
• 23:22
  away from from what you've written
• 23:24
  and over the years I realized
• 23:26
  that sometimes it's not about what
• 23:28
  the reader will will take way and
• 23:30
  I'm wondering what what that was
• 23:31
  like for you were you thinking
• 23:32
  ultimately about the reader or were
• 23:34
  you were very much sort of thinking
• 23:36
  about This is going
• 23:38
  to help me get to that next
• 23:40
  step.
• 23:41
  You know, I do really hope that the
• 23:43
  reader will kind of take away not
• 23:45
  necessarily an idea that they
• 23:46
  themselves have to go jump
• 23:48
  in cold water, but that
• 23:51
  everyone has some equivalent
• 23:53
  to this. There's something that
• 23:55
  would bring you joy that would be
• 23:56
  for yourself, and that if you feel
• 23:58
  burnt out, tapped out through
• 24:00
  family obligations or
• 24:02
  work obligations,
• 24:04
  or simply having gotten caught
• 24:06
  up in.
• 24:08
  You know, all of the stressors
• 24:10
  of daily life, there's something out
• 24:12
  there that can give you that
• 24:14
  same feeling, that rush that I got,
• 24:16
  you know jumping off a rock into
• 24:18
  a deep swimming hole.
• 24:20
  And it's worth it to take the
• 24:22
  time to go and find it.
• 24:24
  That was Kate Washington speaking
• 24:26
  with Texas Standard's David Brown
• 24:27
  about her new book, Midstream,
• 24:30
  A Life Remade in 50 Swims.
• 24:33
  That's it for us today on Austin's
• 24:34
  Signal, we're going to have more
• 24:35
  about the stories we shared with you
• 24:37
  in the podcast show notes,
• 24:39
  and there's always more from us at
• 24:40
  KUT.org slash
• 24:42
  Signal.
• 24:43
  Today's team is Rayna Sevilla,
• 24:45
  Alexandra Hart, Kristin Cabrera,
• 24:47
  and I'm your host Jerry Quijano.
• 24:49
  Austin's signal will be back at the
• 24:50
  same time tomorrow, we'll talk to
• 24:52
  you then.