Category: Board Members

Since I was born!  I did live in Washington, DC for four years after college, but I’ve been back in Austin for three years and I’m glad to be back.

To help keep this beautiful natural resource in the best condition possible for the whole community to enjoy.

I work at the state bike advocacy and education group, BikeTexas.

It is one of the best assets Austin has to offer.  Growing up in Zilker, I have always thought of Barton Springs as my neighborhood pool.

I love to go dancing on Thursdays at the Broken Spoke, when Jesse Dayton plays.

Family?
My parents live about a mile away from me in Zilker, in the house where I grew up.  I also have a cat, Mr. Biscuits.

Our Earth Day pool cleaning – we had such a great turnout, and it was fun to watch how much fun all the volunteers were having!  Least favorite moment is

Any hidden talents?
Cooking good food from produce I grew in my garden… I’m also surprisingly good at skeeball.

I don’t remember, because I have been going there since I was very young.  I do remember the simultaneous excitement and apprehension of jumping off the diving board as a kid!  Other fond childhood memories are swimming across the pool with friends and paying for our concession stand burritos with wet dollar bills, chasing minnows in the shallow end and lying on my towel under the cottonwood trees with the cotton fluffs floating in the air.

Since March 2010.

South Austin!  Specifically, Polvo’s and the Barton Springs Saloon.

Favorite author?
For fiction, I love Jane Austen.  For nonfiction, I like to read Michael Pollan’s books about our food system.

Favorite quote?
I am never any good at remembering things like this!

Collegiate days?

I went to UT, and graduated in 2001 with a BA in History and Spanish.

Beer of choice?
512 Wit – local and delicious.

How long have you been in Austin?
Since 2003 when I began attending the University of Texas.

Why did you join the Friends of Barton Springs Pool?
To make a positive contribution to a sacred natural treasure.

What do you do during the day?
I work to help mentally ill defendants find treatment and stay out of jail as a member of Travis County’s first Felony Mental Health Team at the District Attorney’s Office.

What does Barton Springs Pool mean to you?
It represents a spiritual place that my Native American ancestors once enjoyed many years ago.

Favorite local band or artist?
My husband’s band, Hard Proof Afrobeat

Family?
I live on Lake Travis with my husband, Gerardo, Jude (deaf American Bulldog), Bonham and Leu (los gatos)

Favorite moment volunteering for FBSP?
Having every Austin City Council member attend last year’s Council Cleans the Pool Day along with State Rep. Donna Howard and County Commissioner Karen Huber while giving a speech about the true mission behind FBSP.

Any hidden talents?
I live with a musician… I am required to at least play a little guitar. Other than that, I was a collegiate debater.

Describe your first experience at Barton Springs Pool…
My first week in Austin was in the middle of August. I was walking around campus all day long trying to find my classes when I overheard a group of students talking about Barton Springs Pool. The next week, I skipped my first collegiate class to experience the cool, clean waters at Barton Springs Pool. I was convinced that I had found my home.

How long have you been a member of FBSP?
Since September of 2006.
Continue reading “Get to know Board Member… Chasity Keen Larios, Communications”

By Maria Ines Weber, FBSP Treasurer

How long have you been in Austin?
Since I was a wee little tadpole and most of the city pools still had diving boards.  Some even had high dives.

Why did you join the Friends of Barton Springs Pool?
To clean up the pool!

What do you do during the day?
I try to stay as busy as possible.  Idle hands are the devil’s playground, which is how I ended up helping to clean the pool on a nice sunny Thursday afternoon with nothing to do.

What does Barton Springs Pool mean to you?
I have been working on a theory for about twenty years that I tell people who ask me about Austin when I am not in Austin: The universe is an odd elliptical shape and one of its foci is located within a twenty or thirty foot radius of the diving board at Barton Springs.  That’s pretty precise if you consider how big the universe is.

Favorite local band or artist?
Whoever is playing a full moon party down at the pool.
Continue reading “Get to know board member Jonathan Beall, service chairman”

FBSP has adopted new board members for 2010-2011.

Karl Detjen, Membership Chair
Jonathan Beall, Service Chair
Mary Yarrington, Secretary

A couple of board members have changed positions.

Mike Cannatti, Fundraising Chair (previously Secretary)
Clarke Hammond, Fun Chair (previously Fundraising Chair)

Great thanks and appreciation goes out to our exiting board members, Annie Walker and Pat Bobeck. Their dedication and hardwork has helped our organization and the Pool tremendously.

How long have you been in Austin?
49 years.  I moved here with my family in 1960, when I was 8 years old.  The Capitol building and the U.T. tower were the only “tall buildings”, and you could see them from just about anywhere around Austin.  Highway 183, going North from Burnet road, was pitch dark at night, because there was nothing there!

Why did you join the Friends of Barton Springs Pool?
I was snorkeling a lot there in 2007, and picking up all kinds of junk (beer cans, bottles, shoes) from the bottom; the frequent floods were washing trash from the Barton Creek Green Belt into the pool, and the pool staff couldn’t keep up with it all.  When I heard there was an organization that was “hands-on” about  helping the pool staff clean and maintain the pool, I was ready!
Continue reading “Board Member Profile: Karl Detjen, Membership”