Author Archives: Susan
Welcome!
For more than two decades, we—Susan and Rob Burneson—have gathered, shared, and preserved stories of neighbors creating community through our project Voices of the Violet Crown. VVC grew out of community and history exhibits we created as we coordinated the Community Tent during the early years of the Violet Crown Festival. The festival, first held May 17, 2003, in Austin’s Brentwood Park, was a collaborative volunteer effort between Brentwood and Crestview neighbors. THE LATEST—2026 UPDATES … Read more
Neighbors-in-History, Part 2
Updated March 28, 2025 Copyright 2012-2025 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Please talk with us before reproducing any website content. The second in a three-part series, in which we introduce a some neighbors-in-history. (See links for more information.) A number of Black families lived in our area in the 1800s and early 1900s. A 1928 city plan established a “Negro district” in East Austin, and many, but not all, Blacks moved there. Segregation throughout Austin … Read more
The Gift Must Always Move, 2025
With November, we begin a potent season—giving, receiving, remaining open to mystery. I’m wrapping up 2025 a little early to share some of the people, events, and projects that inspire me to care and to act this season and throughout the year—all in the spirit of mutual aid, where we give and receive as equals. “If, when we work, we can look once a day upon the face of mystery, then our labor satisfies. We … Read more
Blooming Where We’re Planted, 2024
Copyright 2024 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Please talk with us before reproducing any website content. (More neighborhood history beginning here.) Hope you enjoy this look back at 2024 and earlier—with a few of my own stories thrown in for good measure—a riff on my 2012 blog posts about neighbors blooming where they are planted, in their own community. — Susan JANUARY 21 • Original Brentwood neighbor Ben Petmecky’s oral history interview was published on … Read more
WABAC Machine, Part 12
Copyright 2024 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any website content. (What’s a WABAC Machine? Find out here.) 2023 • A FEW HIGHLIGHTS JANUARY 7 • Former Brentwood neighbor Kay Nell Swenson Ramsey, below, died. Kay’s parents, Gladstone and Erna Swenson, built one of the first houses on Ruth Avenue in the late 1940s. Sixty years later, Kay contributed family photos and stories to our neighborhood’s mosaic wall and oral history … Read more
WABAC Machine, Part 11
Copyright 2022 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any website content. (What’s a WABAC Machine? Find out here.) 2022 • HISTORY OF BRENTWOOD, CRESTVIEW, AND MORE . . . JANUARY January 29 • A unique Brentwood/Crestview map (left) was given to a neighbor, its fourth owner, through Crestview’s Buy Nothing group. Ryan Eberly made the map and gave it to a neighbor. It’s been passed on twice through the group. MARCH … Read more
WABAC Machine, Part 10
Copyright 2022 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any website content. (What’s a WABAC Machine? Find out here.) 2021 • COVID, URI . . . AND SO MUCH MORE, OCTOBER–DECEMBER OCTOBER October 2 • Neighbors in the Southern Oaks neighborhood of Austin celebrated the completion of a 140-foot mosaic mural—the latest in a long line of extraordinary community art projects in Austin, including our own mosaic Wall of Welcome (below), completed … Read more
WABAC Machine, Part 9
Copyright 2022 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any website content. (What’s a WABAC Machine? Find out here.) 2021 • COVID, URI . . . AND SO MUCH MORE, JUNE–SEPTEMBER JUNE June 2 • The McCallum High School community honored its seniors at the March of the Knights Senior Parade and Celebration Party. Details were featured on the McCallum High School website at the time. JULY July 5 • Tenth … Read more
WABAC Machine, Part 8
Copyright 2022 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any website content. (What’s a WABAC Machine? Find out here.) 2021 • COVID, URI . . . AND SO MUCH MORE, JANUARY–MAY The COVID-19 pandemic continued into its second year. As the year went on, vaccinations and boosters became available and the number of cases began dropping, and the world began to feel more open and hopeful. Then, around Thanksgiving, news of the … Read more
WABAC Machine, Part 7
Copyright 2020 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved. Kindly talk with us before reproducing any website content. (What’s a WABAC Machine? Find out here.) 2020 • A YEAR LIKE NO OTHER Below is a snapshot of 2020 in the Brentwood/Crestview area of Austin. Treasured neighbors passed away and are fondly remembered; a few of them are mentioned below. By March, everyone’s lives were upended by the COVID-19 pandemic, with hope on the horizon by the end of … Read more