Community Health Improvement Plan Increases Accessibility to Healthy Foods for Austin Residents

Cindy Kotrady is a 27-year-old Austin resident. She lives in what is known as a “food desert,” and does not have walking access to a healthy food distribution point from her home. Kotrady represents the average Austin resident. For many living in Austin, limited access to healthy food distribution points is simply a harsh reality.

However, new implementations put in place by the Austin/Travis County community health plan will make it easier for all residents to access healthy foods, according to Shannon Jones, the Chair of the Austin/Travis County Community Health Improvement Planning (CHIP) program, at a meeting about the results of the plan’s first year.

2014 Texas Book Festival Highlights

In case you missed it, here is where you can find photos, videos, blog posts and more about this year's Texas Book Festival.

Annual Literary Pub Crawl To Occur Saturday Night

For Texas Book Festival attendees, the literary events need not end with the festival. According to the official Texas Book Festival website, the annual “Lit Crawl” will occur the night of Saturday, Oct. 25.
 
The Lit Crawl is an after-hours event designed to allow both festival goers and other interested parties to interact with many authors featured in the Texas Book Festival. The event is sponsored by the Texas Book Festival and Litquake, a book festival centered in San Francisco. 

The event features such events as interactive trivia, jeopardy and readings from authors at multiple venues in Austin, all for free. The Lit Crawl primarily centers on E 6th Street and the surrounding area and takes place at local bars and restaurants, such as The Volstead and The Liberty. 

Although the Lit Crawl identifies itself as a type of pub crawl, certain events are open to all ages, such as a live reading by authors Adam Gidwitz, Michelle Knudson, and Danya Lorentz, young adult fiction writers, at the Texas State Cemetery. 

The event kicks off at 7:30 p.m. and continues till 10:15 p.m. and serves as an interim between days of the Texas Book Festival.

Read the full story and see other multimedia at the Texas Book Fest reporting blog.

UTPD Issues New Bike Unit To Patrol Campus and West Campus

Any person that has traveled Guadalupe Street during the weekday is undoubtedly familiar with the masses of automobile and pedestrian traffic that clog the street. While this traffic is frustrating for any average work-goer, it also creates a delay in the University of Texas Police Department’s response to crime calls.

To combat this situation, UTPD issued a new bike squad on Sept. 17. The unit intends to reduce the amount of time it takes to arrive at a crime scene and serve as a reassuring police presence for UT students. UT campus is nestled in a heavily populated area of Austin, which makes it difficult for police cars to patrol the area, according to UTPD officer Layne Brewster. On bikes, however, Brewster said the police can patrol more thoroughly and quickly.

Strained Relations Between Texas And Mexico Affect Mexican Independence Day Celebrations

The iconic Texas flag that covers the south side of the Texas State Capitol waved in the gentle breeze Monday evening; below it, in stark contrast, stood a sea of faces painted with the red, white and green of the Mexican flag.

A celebration for Mexican Independence Day occurred Monday, Sept. 15, on the South Steps of the Texas Capitol. Thousands of people, primarily of Hispanic-American descent, in the Austin area came out to commemorate the holiday and celebrate freedom in the United States. Given the recent tension between the Texan and Mexican governments, though, this celebration raised some controversy. Many attendees expressed wariness toward celebrating at the Capitol.

Blanton Museum’s Live Demonstration of Slow Ethnography: A Slow Process

I had the opportunity to attend a live demonstration of the artistic technique of slow ethnography in September. As it turns out, slow ethnography is telling of our culture.

One does not usually witness two women standing stock-still having an apparent staring contest upon walking into the Blanton Museum on a Saturday afternoon. But, that’s exactly what confronted unsuspecting visitors last weekend.

London-based artist and anthropologist Zoe Bray held an open art demonstration on Friday through Sunday to publicly depict her artistic, anthropological creative process. She illustrated the practice of slow ethnography, which is the study of the customs of individual peoples and culture as a whole, through the sketching of a live portrait. A roundtable discussion of the techniques and cultural implications of ethnography took place the following Monday. Bray’s purpose in the demonstration was to emphasize the importance of slow, detail-oriented process.

Welcome!

This is the online portfolio of Kirsten Kumar, where I will be posting projects that I accomplish in Journalism. The Home page displays my latest projects. Please look through the "Photo," "Audio," and "Video" tabs to view all my past work. Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Texas 4000: Riding For A Cause

Texas 4000 is a bicycle tour that stretches from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska over each summer. The goal of the trek is to increase cancer awareness and raise funds for research. Each participant has a goal of how much money to raise and must meet it by a determined deadline. The riders train extensively to prepare their bodies and their minds for the 4,500-mile long atlas ride. We interviewed three participants. One, Brooke Willard, rode in the summer of 2012 and offered us an experienced perspective on the ride. The remaining two, Abz Zeitler and Tatiana Jessen, shared a hopeful outlook on their future journey.

Voices For Venezuela

This audio project involved interviewing two Venezuelan natives, Conchy Robledo and Victor Albornoz, about the effect that the political turmoil of the country has had on them and their families, along with the measures they have taken to cope with this turmoil. The interview was recorded in March 2014 in Austin, Texas.

By Kirsten Kumar and Rebeca Baptista

Local Roller Rink Features "Adult Skate" Nights In Austin

The Austin Roller Rink, located off of Manchaca in South Austin, features an "Adult Night" every Wednesday, during which people from all over Austin come to eat, skate, and enjoy one another's company. The below photos were taken Wednesday, February 19th, 2014.