words & dreams

Austin Kleon is technically a writer but I think I would consider him an artist as well. He lives in Austin and last summer I went to the Hotel San Jose for a film screening/artist talk and he happened to be part of the event. I had not heard of him, but I definitely know the Hotel San Jose.

This beautiful oasis was literally the first place I ever went in Austin, if only for a second.


After a 20 hour drive from Minneapolis to our first ever SXSW we parked on Congress Avenue to get lunch at Guerro's. As we walked up the street Jenn and I peaked in through this gate. We walked in to a Secret Garden.

I've since learned you are allowed to walk through that gate and make your way back to the lovely courtyard. If you do make it back there do yourself a favor and grab a seat at the big wooden table in the back and ask for a michelada. I prefer the wooden table in the back as it makes for great people watching, and if you don't have a large group it's a lovely way to meet interesting people. I prefer the micheladas because they are delicious.

I stumbled across Austin Kleon's website while looking for images of sxsw for a work proposal. I found his post titled "SXSW Horoscopes" and I've been transported back to a lovely evening from last summer, where I sat in the outodoor courtyard of the Hotel San Jose in the heat and drank Micheladas with sweat pouring off the glass. Crystal and Tomasz along with an assortment of other characters played with newspapers and markers and attempted to create our own stories.

These are my favorite of his SXSW Horoscopes. How charming!

If you've never tried this approach at writing a poem I highly encourage it. Choose an article, grab a sharpie and give it a try - it's harder than you might imagine.