Tolly Moseley has brought us the Austin Eavesdropper since 2007. The newly minted 30-year-old describes herself as a book publicist by day, blogger by night, and aerial silks dancer in between. She talked to the Austin Post about her love for Austin’s creative scene, the inspiration behind her blog, and how to find your own community as a new Austinite.
Austin Post:
No one is from Austin. How did you get here?
Tolly Moseley:
Actually, I lived here as a kid until I was six years old. Then my family moved to San Antonio, then I moved back to Austin for college. I went to grad school in California, then after that I moved back to Austin.
AP:
What brought you back to Austin?
TM:
I went to college in Georgetown, and when I moved to Austin for a year after college I was just enchanted, it was just ridiculously cool. I’d never been in a city with such a vibrant creative scene where artists seemed to be all around. The city is just populated with artists and creative people.
I remember driving down Guadalupe between 24th and 54th street and just being taken with all the signage. I know that sounds crazy, but I’d never seen signs like that before. I felt like this was so creative, and these were my people. I was just sort of converted.
When I got to grad school in California, I became a loud and proud Texan, so when I moved back to Texas, this was my city. I think Austin picks people. It plucks them out of the aether and says you, you’re one of us, you belong here. One of the greatest things about living here is that people chose this place. People aren’t [only] here for their jobs or because they were born here. They’re here because they chose to be here and they’re proud of this city.
AP:
What made you decide to start the Austin Eavesdropper?
TM:
This is my 3rd blog. My first two were horrible. Maybe my mom and dad read them. They were both on LiveJournal, back before the content of blogs had solidified, when a blog was more like a diary you kept.
I started Austin Eavesdropper as soon as I moved back to Austin. I think I made my first post in 2007. I didn’t really get going on it until 2008. Honestly, I think that’s one of the biggest reasons I have a readership. I just stuck with it. Even when people weren't reading, I just kept on going. That’s why it’s a thing now.
I did a lot of freelance writing at the time. Doing that made me want something kind of personal that wasn’t on assignment. But really, I was so so excited to be back here. Austin’s changed a lot the last decade. I was enchanted by everything. My small town hippie city was becoming a thing, a destination.
AP:
I know it’s almost politically incorrect to say this, but coming from outside, Austin isn’t anywhere near as weird as I expected. How do you think it developed such a weird national reputation?
TM:
Austin is weird in context of the rest of Texas. If you grew up in Texas, you know how refreshing this is to us. It’s not weird compared to Tokyo, but it’s really weird compared to Plano.
AP:
Do you think the rise of local tech culture had an impact on the decline of local hippie culture?
TM:
No, not really. There are a lot of cities with that same combination. Seattle, San Francisco, places with a big tech community and a big arts community. I think those tech and arts communities go hand in hand. Experimenters are attracted to places like this. It’s all about people who are willing to try different things and go out on a limb. Even for weird hobbies, you find the early adopters here.
There’s a deep love of art here in Austin. The city council votes for measures to fund public arts projects. We’re the first city in Texas to back marriage equality, and the city legally supports these things. We have an infrastructure here that supports more than just creating a brand or catchy slogan. The city creates spaces where people can be creative and the city puts dollars behind having creative people here.
AP:
If you’re new to Austin and want to jump head first into that creative culture, what can people do in addition to religiously reading the Austin Eavesdropper?
TM:
They can do the same things I did when I moved back. I think people should just go to coffeeshops and make a regular study of bulletin boards. It was how I found out about shows, and so much cool stuff. I’d got there every day to blog and people watch and check out the bulletin board to see what was going on.
One day I saw a flyer for a trash fashion show where the models were literally dressed in garbage. Historically, coffee shops are a place for intellectual exchange and Austin is no different. Going to coffee shops is the easiest thing people can do to get immediately connected.
It’s also important to find things to participate in. A year and a half ago I started aerial silks and it changed my life. You can take yoga classes, cooking classes, join a meetup, whatever appeals to you, and that will let you plug in right away and meet people. A social scene will form around your interests. Instead of going to a show randomly and that’s that, you enter a community of like minded individuals.
When I moved here I got involved in some random things just because they were there. I started blogging and met up with bloggers, I hung out at coffee shops, I joined a group that helps elderly people go grocery shopping on weekends. Find something that sticks and it’ll become part of your community.
AP:
Your blog posts are mostly random things you like about Austin. What do you think makes that such inspirational reading for people?
TM:
It’s hard for me to be objective about that. I think I try to share myself in the blog, so the things I highlight on there aren’t just things a publicist pitched me and I got free stuff for it. It’s all stuff I’m genuinely into. I’ve somehow attracted a cult following of people who are also into the same things. It isn’t for everybody, but for that small devoted corner, I think it’s a combination of what’s interesting and creative and cool and what’s Tolly’s take on it. I’m a lot funnier writing than I am in person. I’m only mildly funny in real life, but in writing, I can be more so.
The enticing thing about blogs is that voyeurism. Some blogs can act like a strip tease giving you a hint of someone’s personality. What is it like to turn 30? What’s it like to have a friend who is an alcoholic? What is it like to have a fraught relationship with your dad?
AP: Your posts are so photo intensive. It seems like you’re trying to tell a visual story along with your writing. Did that visual emphasis inspire you to branch out into webisodes with Eavesdropper TV?
TM: Totally. When I first started blogging I didn't have a good camera. About a year and a half ago, I broke down and actually got a nice camera. Ever since that happened, it’s added this whole new dimension and allowed me to get more expressive and tell people a story that shows people what I’ve seen more accurately, and gives them some of the magic I saw.
The TV came about because I was having dinner with my husband one night and summer 2011. I started crying in public and he asked what was the matter. I told him I don’t know what I’m meant to do in this world. These are really 20-year-old questions. I was about to turn 30 and I knew I was never going to be a savant, never going to be a prodigy, I wasn’t going to be someone who made it when they were young.
So he asked, if there’s one thing I could do in the world, what would it be? I said my dream was to have a little show about Austin where I show the people here off and have fun with them and give them the space to be their quirky fun selves. And he said why don’t you call our friend Carlos, who is a film maker and just ask him. So I called Carlos, and he said okay, I’ll help you, and the first person I interviewed was an opera singing pie baker. From there, the show took on a life of its own.
AP: A lot of good blogs languish in obscurity, but you’ve managed to get attention from places like Geeks Are Sexy and Mental Floss. What do you do to promote the blog?
TM: That was just luck. Those two came to me. I featured Whole Foods in one of my cooking show episodes, and they retweeted and shared the video on their massive Facebook page. It wasn’t intentional marketing, but a hometown business with a massive national following suddenly spread the word.
These days, I don’t do a ton of marketing. I love blogging, but I don’t want it too be my job. I’d like it to be a way for me to enrich the community. My goal isn’t to make money off it as a full time job. I want to have a blog just popular enough online to support offline professional endeavors.
