THE AUSTIN COLLECTIVE

“My greatest achievement is becoming a father. Raising my two boys is the most challenging and rewarding part of my life. I tell them: Be kind. Listen. Adventure always. Face your fears. Share your love with others. Dream big.”

“I study psychology as an undergraduate student. The further along I have gotten in school the more I have grown to value my education. School feels like both a free place to learn about my specific areas of interest, but also a place to question the subjects I am unsure about. Riding the bus makes me feel like I am paying attention to how large my environmental footprint is, and using the bus allows me to keep that in check.”

“The biggest struggle I have is dealing with death. I have had a lot of people very close to me die unexpectedly, the first being my dad when I was nine. I never thought it shaped who I was until I realized I couldn't handle the idea of my own death. I dropped out of college for four years and have been homeless at multiple points of my life. But, during that time, I discovered a love of teaching. My passion is helping people, especially kids. Now I am a year away from graduating.”

“Riding a bicycle is a feeling like none other. There is this sense of freedom that comes from being on the saddle, and being in complete control of where you and your legs want to take you. Cycling has allowed me to explore endless roads and new places that I would not think to go to by car. It has, and continues to, push me beyond what I think is my limit. It has been there for me during my worst times and best times. Being someone who, once, often struggled with depression and anxiety, I realized, after cycling came into my life, there was a decrease in episodes, and I eventually no longer needed medication.”

“Authors like George Orwell really influenced my view of the world early in life. Seeing the aftermath of a major natural disaster firsthand was another big influencer. I grew up in a suburb of New Orleans and relocated my family to Texas in 2005. I sort of think of my life in terms of ‘before’ and ‘after’ Hurricane Katrina.”

“I’d like to check off all of the continents. Antarctica would be awesome. I’d need some Antarctica money and a coat. I don’t even know where to get a coat for Antarctica.”

“I didn’t come out of the closet until almost 40. I lived a long road of life lessons, where I didn’t feel comfortable being myself. My happiest moment, by far, is my first date with my partner. It was a fairy tale that lasted 10 hours. We both saw fireflies appear at the same moment. It was magical. I’m fortunate to work with amazing people in a welcoming and supportive atmosphere where I don’t feel judged. This is the first job where I have been out, comfortable and able to truly be myself. It is a simple thing, but it’s the first time I have a picture on my desk of my partner, and I look at it every day and smile.”

“Over the summer, I was taking the bus to work five days a week. I had a job at the Paramount Theater helping with the sets. I got the job through the youth employment program in Austin. Every morning my twin brother and I would catch our bus to downtown. The thing about riding the bus that’s so intriguing is seeing all the people around you. When you ride the same route every day at the same time you start seeing the same people and become a bit more familiar with them. You notice things like that one woman who always wore big pearl earrings and that older man who brings his journal with him every morning to write in. You wonder where the mother and her three-year-old son are when one morning they don’t show up. You become invested in others’ lives, you start to care about them. Now, sometimes I wonder if I became an investment for someone else over the summer, and if they wonder where I went when my job came to an end.”

“I grew up in Austin and never really gave public transit a chance until I spent some time in other areas where public transportation was the way to get around — that's when I realized, there's, like, an odd sense of community to it. Like, we're all on this bus or this train together getting where we need to go, doing what we need to do and in doing that, we get these fleeting interactions with strangers that don't mean anything to each other, but also mean a lot just because, I dunno, we're here at the same time.”

“I love producing video projects. Moving out to Leander gave me the space I needed in my garage to build a set for my latest series, a late-night hosted movie show that I hope to launch on TV stations next year. It revolves around a weirdo who lives below a shuttered video rental store with his collection of unwanted VHS tapes. Without having some sort of creative project to work on, I’d go out of my mind.”

“What I love most about teaching and working with young children are the possibilities. They come to school with an excitement to learn, and it’s inspiring. Their love for learning makes me want to be a better teacher and help grow that excitement and joy. In 10 years, I hope to own a school, possibly with my own little one in attendance.”

“I love making things: small things, large things, important structures or silly doodads. I have worked with a variety of mediums, but woodworking is, by far, my favorite. It's very challenging to sculpt and change something that has been growing wild in nature for over half a century. Although woodworking can be difficult sometimes, I respect the fact that these materials have lived far longer on this earth than I have. When I come out with a final product that I feel is a compromising combination of my own design and nature's composition, I feel like it's quite the accomplishment, and to me that is the biggest reward this craft can offer.”

“The interesting thing about working with kids is children can be an absolute terror and then turn around and brighten your day with an oddball observation here or a syntactical inversion there. It's the unpredictability of things that makes it fun. I started riding the bus as a child, both as an exercise in exploring public resources and as a way to get around downtown. My mom was a big proponent of green living and exploring new places, and riding the bus was a way to bring the two together.”

“Right now, I teach English as a second language through my church. Seeing my students learn and thrive gives me a great feeling of satisfaction and makes me happy. When they get jobs and begin to feel self-sufficient, that brings me even more happiness. I ride the bus when I am volunteering for Refugee Services of Texas. I help refugee families learn how to ride the bus to the office, to school and other places they may need to go.”

“My biggest influence is Jesus. He inspires me every day to be a better person.” Timothy rides the bus to work every day. “I love that I get to meet so many new people on the bus.”

“When I was little, I told my mom I wanted to grow up and live in the television. I still feel that way. I've been a professional actress and comedian for years. People keep telling me to move to New York or L.A., but I just so happen to be madly in love with my city. I have a habit of living across the street from bus stops. It hasn't been intentionally, but awfully convenient.”

“I grew up a Navy brat. After college, I went to UT Austin for law school, but dropped out after the first year and joined the Army as a paratrooper scout. After a tour in Afghanistan, I got out of the Army, finished law school and then worked for a judge. Now I spend all my time working on startups and programming. Learning how to start businesses when you don't know if any of them will work has been a long road, but I think this will be the year I make it.”