Austin Has Already Changed

Dear Editor,
    “Support Local Business” is a concept both noble and vital, but how did the slogan “Keep Austin Weird” get co-opted to this purpose? If people really think that's what it means, we've already lost it. For the record, here's what it meant before it became meaningless:
    Half the time we didn't bother to lock up our houses at night or roll up our car windows – and didn't need to.
    Whole families, from Mom and Dad to the toddler, skinny-dipped in any cove any day. Women and men, skinny or fat, got naked and didn't give a rat's ass what any thought of their figures.
    I could walk to my favorite bar (Spellman's) with an open longneck, carry it into the club, and carry my last one out for the walk home.
    This letter I'm writing in longhand on lined paper wouldn't have raised an eyebrow in the letters' department.
    Our city, and we ourselves, were still so far from being corporate-owned that most of us seldom gave a thought to the threat.
    And that's where we went wrong. Now, supporting local business is the pitiful last ditch left to us.