Back in March I decided to take the day off and drive up to Austin on the Friday of SXSW, and again that Saturday.
Friday I went to see Matt Ward play at La Zona Rosa, but Saturday I had no idea who I was going to see. So after getting a drink with a friend of mine at the Omni hotel bar, I wandered around Austin looking for places that looked like they might have a good show.
I wound up at Stubb's waiting in line to buy tickets to a show in 90 degree heat at 5:00 pm. I didn't know who was playing there.
My sister Anna has written a paper about the conflict in Darfur for one of her classes at university. It's a good read and makes a couple of excellent points -- like how people are using the Internet in several different ways to try to help the Darfuris, and how this sort of broad support from otherwise non-grouped individuals is unprecedented with respect to these kinds of ongoing atrocities.