As I was editing this year’s Best of Austin® issue – our 36th annual awards, the oldest of its kind in town – I was reminded of a story from Kurt Vonnegut’s book of essays, A Man Without a Country. He recalls how an uncle got him in the habit of stopping and taking notice of the good stuff. Vonnegut nudges the reader to do the same: “I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ‘If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.’”
In this issue, we celebrate 230 total winners across 247 Readers Poll and Critics Picks categories, plus another 850+ finalists. The winners run the gamut from storied institutions to spots so new the paint is barely dry on the walls, from cutting-edge talents to folks who have been serving the community for decades. All told, it amounts to 64 full-color pages’ proof of how fortunate we are to live in a city with such riches.
It’s a good reminder, when you’re out and about – taking in art, trying out a new restaurant or revisiting an old favorite, getting sweaty on a hiking trail – to heed Vonnegut’s advice and whisper to yourself: If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what it is.
– Austin Chronicle Editor Kimberley Jones
