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Japanese fan ($12.50) from Southwest Gallery, Austin.
Until a few years ago, we Texans thought we had it made in the shade. The marvel of central air conditioning in our homes, our cars, our offices, our stores, even our tractors was the final answer to ninety-degree-heat and ninety per cent humidity: Then came the energy crisis.
Today we are warmer, but we are also wiser. Now that many of us can no longer afford central air conditioners, indeed even room air conditioners, we are coming to realize that spending a summer in a totally air-conditioned city is like spending five months in a meat locker. This decade calls for a different solution to the problem of heat. Not surprisingly, the answer has been, around a long time, possibly since the end of the first Ice Age. The solution to our dilemma is in a word, the fan.