KUT Austin

Members of the Austin Fire Department (Austin Fire Department) were suited up and dripping sweat before 8 a.m. on Friday.

Wearing heavy suits, air packs and hose bundles, they climbed up and down the Pleasant Valley Drill Tower in East Austin until they reached 1,386 feet — the height of the World Trade Center.

Austin firefighters have made the climb 26 years in a row to mark the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Al-Qaida terrorists hijacked four commercial planes, crashing two of them into the Twin Towers in New York City and one into the Pentagon in Arlington, Va. The fourth plane crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pa. Nearly 3,000 people were killed, including 343 firefighters.

The department made its first climb on Sept. 12, 2001, making it the longest-running event of its kind in the nation, according to AFD.

The climb is made in silence. Almost everyone does it in full firefighter gear, which adds about 50 pounds.

AFD Assistant Chief Andre de la Reza said he was still in training on Sept. 11, 2001. He said it forced him and the rest of his cadet class to consider whether they were willing to put their lives on the line during an emergency.

“It gave us a visceral understanding of the dangers of the job, and it made us make a conscious decision about whether we wanted to do it or not,” he said. “And the answer was resoundingly ‘yes.’”

For de la Reza, the 9/11 attacks solidified his choice to become a first responder. But more and more Austin firefighters don’t have that connection. They are among the millions of Americans that weren’t yet born when 9/11 happened.

But the fire department is trying to make sure no one forgets.

Firefighter Matthew Zwolinski brought his young children to the climb. They helped pass out water bottles and snacks, and made signs that read “Thank You First Responders” and “Never Forget” with drawings of the Twin Towers.

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Video: Patricia Lim (Patricia Lim)

Austin Public Library’s Howson Branch was not exactly a quiet zone on a recent Monday night. People filled every table in the meeting room and spread out to more tables squeezed between bookshelves. They had come for Film Strip Club.

“You don’t have to have any sort of special background or extra training to partake,” said Jennifer Quarles, a regular attendee for nearly a year. “It’s just an hour and a half where everybody just creates together and makes something new.”

The once-a-month, free club offers a chance for members to explore direct animation using 16-millimeter film — a process where film stock is manipulated using techniques like drawing, painting or scratching to create a new image on top of the existing ones.

“I don’t know much about film, and I’ve certainly never just handled film and then purposely messed it up as an art form,” said Megan Rosales, another dedicated clubgoer. “It’s really fun and kinda challenging to not have a plan and just go for it.”

Each session starts with a screening of the previous month’s creations on a 16-millimeter-film projector. Members also receive digital copies of their animations.

Justin Green, the assistant manager at the Howson Branch, runs Film Strip Club in collaboration with staff from the Texas Archive of the Moving Image, or TAMI. A film major in college, he founded the program with TAMI’s digitization lab manager, Victoria Perez, after bonding over a mutual love of direct animation at a friend’s birthday party.

While the library pays for art supplies and some film, TAMI gives the club access to specialty skills and equipment for free. It also digitizes members’ films.

“We wanted to provide a space where people could try out this art form with no barrier to entry, totally free and open to the public,” Green said. “We provide the materials. We have the 16-millimeter projector. Texas Archive has the infrastructure to digitize patrons’ films professionally, which would cost a lot of money elsewhere.”

TAMI’s library was also a source for some of the film people animate over.

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Vi

Austin is known for being a lot of things. A tech bro haven, the capital of “weird,” a blue dot in a red sea, a magnet for Californians — the list goes on. But not everyone agrees that those labels fit. Our staff share their thoughts on the biggest myths about our city.

Have your own opinion? Let us know in the comments.

Video produced by Lola Rodriguez ()

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Porshea Goins (Porshea)
Confucius Jones (Confucius Jones)
Patricia Lim (Patricia Lim)
Valeria Cruz Butron (Valeria Cruz Butrón)
Andrew Weber (𝔸𝕟𝕕𝕣𝕖𝕨 𝕰𝖓𝖌𝖑𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝕎𝕖𝕓𝕖𝕣)
Juan Garcia (Juan Diego Garcia)

Members of Austin’s Filipino community gathered this past weekend for a “Pasko Na!” parol-making event, to kick off the Christmas season as the “ber” months begin — September, October, November and December.

In Filipino culture, Christmas preparation starts as early as this month, making it one of the longest holiday seasons.

, a local community organization, brought the celebration to Austin on Sunday with a “Pasko Na!” parol-making event at Ani’s Day & Night (Ani’s Day & Night). Parol is a traditional star-shaped lantern, symbolizing light and hope during the Christmas season.

Video: Patricia Lim (Patricia Lim)