Page Two

We're sitting around a table talking, planning, not here at the Chronicle but somewhere else. Laughingly, a friend points out how weird it is that we have hit the year 2000. How during the course of her life she had always thought about just how old she would be in 2000, and here it is. She is only in her mid-30s, which doesn't seem old to me at all any longer. With a start I realized how widespread was this form of dating against the turn of the century. I knew it was true of me, that I thought about how old I would be, wondering if I would even be alive, in 2000. There was a period when I was pretty sure I wouldn't be. I hadn't stopped to think how inclusive this coding must be; almost everyone, young and old, has probably gauged much of his or her life against this turning of the century.

The oddest part of the next week or so is not how much will happen but how very little really will. Waking on Friday, a week hence, the world will be no different than it is now. I think some of the Y2K hysteria is a sense of relief that even in this most modern of worlds there is a chance of almost mystical cataclysm, this one rooted in science. Most of us, besides the overly superstitious, get that this turning of centuries is a way of marking time rather than achieving epiphany. Here, though, is a legitimate scenario giving us to wonder about the ending of the world. It remains to be seen how much Y2K will amount to, but I suspect not that much. Then we continue the journey of days, neither wiser nor dumber, richer nor poorer -- as unenlightened or enlightened as we are right now.

On this note, though the Chronicle (through the reporting of Andy Langer) has taken an appropriately questioning stance toward this city's A2K festivities, now that the event approaches, we tip the old Chronicle hat, wishing all well and hoping this is one hell of a great party -- a musical salute to this century and the next century hosted by our mayor and his wife, Kirk and Liz Watson. What more Austin way to welcome the next 1,000 years than with Lyle Lovett playing downtown?

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This issue offers the first appearance of the Austin Music Poll 2000 ballot. Included for this turn of the decade is the special Austin Music 1990-2000 Awards ballot. This is your chance to decide. The critics shut up and the pundits are ignored as the audience takes over. The poll is where we hear from you, the people, so VOTE!

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The Austin Chronicle office is closed this week. On the morning of January 3, 2000, doors will open at 9am for regular business hours and a new year of production.

The Chronicle staff and family wishes you the happiest of New Year's Eves and a great 2000.