Tenure

Might be too long, but I’ll try to keep it short. Almost 20 years ago, there was an article in a magazine, while it wasn’t a then-ubiquitous in-flight magazine, it was very close to that.

I was, at the time, part of the vanguard of migrant creative Texans who kept congregating in then-Austin. When Austin was wild, wooly, and deserved it’s tag line, “Keep Austin Weird.” We earned that.

Sometimes referred to as “The good, old days.” Think: “Back in my time, child…

My weekly horoscopes weren’t much more than a few years old, and I was — eventually — located in a trailer park in South Austin. Remember: South Austin was sketchy, at best, at one time.

The article itself surfaced some time in the during the early double aughts as I was transitioning from print to solely digital. A client handed me an old copy of the magazine.

Tenure

At a few years old, it was one of those back page puff pieces about astrology on the internet. There were three to five addresses listed, and I was the final one, at astrofish.net.

Double-dipping.

What was fun, at first, I was listed as the only non-big media outlet astrology column, as an example, and the other places listed were all backed by big publishing corporations.

Must’ve been pre-Y2K, because my old AOL affiliation was listed, as were at least two other large media conglomerates with featured horoscopes.

And then, there was me.

Double-dipping because the AOL site carried my weekly, and then I was listed as a solo act, as well.

It was being listed as a solo act that I liked best. Noticed, noted, saluted, and mentioned along side the big guns with PR departments and advertising shills, plus all the other cogs that makes the wheels of commerce turn round and round.

I liked it.

Tenure

At close to twenty years back, that echoed through recently. I can’t locate a paper copy of the article itself, although, I’m sure I had one at one time. Or even a digital image of the magazine.

At close to the 20 years back, this less like tenure and more like twenty year. However, the idea remains.

I’m still a solo act, an independent person carving a strange little slice out of the heavens for myself.

Since then, two or three of the big media outlets have failed.

I’m still here.

#Austin