Yet another reason why I love Austin:

Last night, we're walking back to the car at about 2 in the morning. Walking in the same direction on the other side of the street is a group of about four. One of the dudes in this group starts to yell at us. But this is Austin, not any other city in America. He's not yelling bad things at us. He's not threatening us, or talking shit, or asking why one of us had been looking at his girlfriend.

He just wanted a hug.

"HEY! HEY! I love you guys!" he screamed. "Can I get a hug!"

This is a normal, apolitical looking guy, mind you. No tattoos, no piercings. Not wearing a shirt with the word "hope" or "change" on it. Nothing to indicate he'd ever held up a peace sign with his fingers, that he was a vegetarian, or that he gave rat's ass about global warming. He was just a guy living in Austin who wanted a hug.

I saw no harm in this.

Yelling back that I loved him, too, we both stepped off the curb and began walking towards each other. The dude, his girlfriend, and the three people I was with then engaged in a series of mini group hugs, in the middle of the street at 2 a.m. Then he went back to where the other people in his posse were standing, and we got in my car and drove away.

The end.