| If anyone wants to join me, this is where I expect to be most of today: The Austin City Council and Austin Parks and Recreation Department invite the public to Austin's Annual Free Swim Day at Barton Springs Pool on Saturday, July 11, 2009. The Austin City Council has directed the City Manager to implement an annual free swim day at Barton Springs Pool on the second Saturday in July, and waive the pool entry fee for people visiting Barton Springs Pool on that day. Barton Springs Pool will be open from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, July 11. There is a $3 entrance fee to Zilker Park from Barton Springs Road. However, parking is free on the south Barton Springs Pool entrance parking lot off Robert E Lee Road.
On July 1, my girlfriend and I -- having completed our respective graduate school programs at Tufts and Harvard -- moved back to Austin. Specifically, we moved into an apartment that is just a 7-minute walk to the spot at Barton Springs pool where we always jump in. I can't really articulate what Barton Springs pool means to me. I've grown up in Austin my entire life (save those two years for grad school). I've been trained over the years -- through school and through experience -- to learn how to work with large groups of people who have differing opinions, and how to seek compromise in a way that doesn't sell out my own belief systems. In other words -- I've been conditioned to cope with disappointment. But Barton Springs never disappoints. Barton Springs is like hearing your favorite musician play your favorite song in your own living room. Barton Springs is Townes Van Zandt and cooking the perfect meal for your family. Its watching a live baseball game and holding a newborn in your arms. Barton Springs is a home. Tomorrow will be crowded, it will be unberably hot, and for those of you who can't just walk there, you will be faced with nightmare parking scenarios to try and get to the water. But once you jump, you connect with a sense of place and history and community that is stronger and more fulfilling than I can describe. Yes, the road to get there is difficult. But once you're there, and you decide to take the plunge, it is absolutely worth it. |
