The Roxy Letters

by Mary Pauline Lowry

Charlize Theron’s

Why did I name Roxy's cat after Charlize Theron, you ask? Well, Theron's an amazing actor, of course. But she also experienced great difficulties at a young age. And instead of crumbling under the weight of tragedy and trauma, she used those experiences to inform both her choice of roles and her acting. She transformed the dark things that had happened to her into amazing art! Her work has made my life better and more interesting. I am grateful to her. She is a beautiful and resilient goddess!

Every local Austin artist who goes into PharmaTrial convinces himself he’s going to be Robert Rodriguez #2.

When I was in my late teens and early twenties, many of my friends and boyfriends participated in Pharmaco drug trial studies as a way to make extra money. And several thought that, like Robert Rodriguez, they would emerge with a great work of art that would launch their careers! The stories they shared when they emerged from their drug trials were alarming and often darkly comic.

Spider House

Spider House is a very funky coffee shop (that now serves food and alcohol!) in Austin, just north of the University of Texas campus. When I was in high school and college, I spent countless hours reading on the Spider House patio. The ambiance is amazing, but the coffee is only medium. For awhile they even rented a space in their parking lot to an EXCELLENT coffee cart so customers could get really great coffee before going inside for a snack and a study session. A coffee shop that knows its coffee is so mediocre that it rents a spot outside to a great coffee cart? That's weird slacker Austin at it's best! Long live Spider House, a true institution! Important note: I have not had a coffee from Spider House in over a year, and in that time it may have improved exponentially. And I can confirm their food, milkshakes, and beer are all divine!

Springs.”

Barton Springs is a natural spring fed pool in Zilker Park, right near downtown Austin. It's 900 feet long and covers over 3 acres! The water is 68 degrees all year round. My family has been swimming there for five generations! I lifeguarded there in high school and college and it's li-ter-ally one of my favorite places on earth! If you make it to Austin, please go swim there! xo

bologna

I first heard about bologna vandalism from my dear friend Ariel Delgado Dixon, who is from Trenton, New Jersey. After I shared this fact in an Instagram "takeover," the bookstagrammer @biblioreviews reached out to me and said she is also from a town near Trenton and that when she was in school the "bad kids" on her bus would throw bologna out of the bus windows to try to hit windshields. So perhaps New Jersey is home of all SORTS of bologna inspired pranks and aggressions?