03/21/05

Driving in to Austin, Texas, in late 2000 I asked the taxi driver -- a jaunty man originally from New York -- which parts of town to avoid after dark. Don't worry, he advised, Austin is a safe place. After all, 'everyone carries a gun in Texas.' Not quite the answer I'd been looking for, but strangely reassuring. I was fresh in the US and it played exactly to my preconceptions of America as a violent, gun-happy culture. But the matter-of-fact manner of the driver's comment made everything seem normal...

http://tinyurl.com/6gjcz

from The Australian, by Roy Eccleston


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp