Into thick air

Austin has been dry all summer and what grass is left on the ground at Zilker Park is brown and hard and shatters into asbestos-style particles under the weight of 180,000 feet. We first noticed the grit when we rested cross-legged late on Saturday – on standing I discovered a film of dirt on my glasses and shirt. We woke up coughing that night. By late in the final day the haze rose ten or fifteen feet in the air and folks began tying bandannas or shirts or *cough* hotel towels around their faces to spare their abused lungs.