Today was the first day Bill and I attended SXSW in-person in four years. As I had remembered from previous years, this first Friday was not too crowded. Out of town attendees were still arriving, and spring break week had already started in Austin. We attended Interactive sessions during the day and headed over to the Zach Scott Theatre for two movies in the evening.
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After four long years, Bill and I are attending SXSW in person again! The cancellation of the March 2020 event was our first clue that the pandemic would be serious. Then we watched the online version of SXSW in 2021 and again in 2022. We enjoyed watching the movies at home, but the Interactive sessions weren’t too exciting.
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First, a confession: this post is one year late. While preparing for SXSW 2023, I realized that I had never posted about last year’s conference. Back then, Bill and I decided to just stay home and watch online because the Omicron variant of Covid was still active. This was convenient, but not as much fun as experiencing SXSW in person. We watched some Interactive sessions and lots of movies—mostly documentaries since studio filming had shut down during the pandemic. We did venture downtown a few times to look around and listen to outdoor concerts. Here’s my notes and photos from SXSW 2022:
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Confusion reigns in the Texas State Capitol in more ways than one: Austin now has three different event venues named “Moody.”
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Flashback to March 2020: SXSW was abruptly cancelled just a few days before the conference was scheduled to begin. This was our first indication that the COVID-19 pandemic was a serious problem. Like most people, Bill and I had no idea how much our lives would change in the coming year.
Fast-forward to March 2021: Austin’s Stage 4 restrictions prohibited large gatherings, so SXSW pivoted to a five-day online event. Bill and I had deferred our 2020 passes to 2022, allowing us to attend this year, too. The online format had some advantages: less exhausting; no long lines; fewer decisions to make; watch on demand (mostly); pause and rewind capabilities. We also liked watching the movies from home. SXSW Film had an excellent selection of documentaries this year.
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An abundance of yard signs have popped up in our neighborhood during this pandemic. In past years, you’d mostly see yard signs around election times (which is still true), but these things are ubiquitous now. I guess everyone’s spending more time at home, plus we seem to have a lot to say.
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Halloween 2020 is certainly a strange one. With COVID counts going up again, there’s no big in-person events happening this weekend. Annual events like the Vida la Vida Fest and Polkapocalypse became live streams. Other popular activities, such as the German-Texas Heritage Society’s Oktoberfest, were simply cancelled. And to top it all off, there’s a full moon tonight.
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With COVID-19 still spreading throughout Texas, Bill and I have been staying close to home. This is the first time that we’ve spent an entire summer in Austin instead of escaping to cooler climates for a few weeks. Perhaps that’s why I’ve been so enchanted by the abundance of wild sunflowers in our neighborhood—I’ve never been around to appreciate them.
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What a crazy spring this has been! Lacking both topics and motivation, I haven’t written any blog entries for a long time. But, this is a diary after all, so documenting our 2020 COVID-19 experiences seems appropriate.
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