About this time each election cycle, we hear of voter burnout. But This year, the issue may not be apathy, but antipathy, we’ll explore. Also there’s no firm data on the number of Americans who claim dual citizenship, but in 2016, dual citizenship could be a game changer for the US. We’ll hear why. Also, one of the major big box chains is testing a strategy, one that could affect homeowner tax bills across the state. Plus it was, and in some ways remains a point of controversy in the Alamo city. But three years after the adoption of a non-discrimination ordinance, has it had much of an impact? Those stories and lots more today on the Texas Standard:
Archives for September 2016
TSI Live: Feeding Austin’s Hungry
In this special edition of Views & Brews, KUT’s Rebecca McInroy joins the hosts of The Secret Ingredient, Raj Patel and Tom Philpott, as they talk with guests Edwin Marty, the Food Policy Manager for the City of Austin, and Erin Lentz, from the LBJ School of Public Affairs, to ask: Why are people starving in one of the foodie capitals of the world? And what can be done about it? It’s a look at Feeding Austin’s Hungry.
Texas Standard: September 13, 2016
Reading writing and, racism? Public outrage today over a textbook which claims to teach Mexican American history. We’ll explore. Plus, sick of traffic? Science to the rescue. Texas A&M has a plan to move cargo off the road so cars can go…could be huge for cities like Houston, we’ll have details. Also a Texas metropolis nipping at the heels of the nation’s top 10 export cities. Any guesses? We were surprised, perhaps you will be too. And officially it calls itself the Live Music Capitol of the World but city leaders worry about an unhealthy exodus of musicians. Too late for a turnaround? Those stories and so much more today on the Texas Standard:
V&B – Feeding Austin’s Hungry
In this special edition of Views & Brews, KUT’s Rebecca McInroy joins the hosts of The Secret Ingredient, Raj Patel and Tom Philpott, as they talk with guests Edwin Marty, the Food Policy Manager for the City of Austin, and Erin Lentz, from the LBJ School of Public Affairs, to ask: Why are people starving in one of the foodie capitals of the world? And what can be done about it? It’s a look at Feeding Austin’s Hungry.
Texas Standard: September 12, 2016
Kids with special educational needs: in Texas, the numbers are far below the national average. But a new report suggests its a numbers game, we’ll explore. Also in 2016 there have been as many stays of execution in Texas as there have been actual executions, and some experts think we may be looking at a sea change in attitudes over the death penalty, we’ll explain. Plus vive la frack: the French discover deals in the almost abandoned Barnett Shale. Do they know something us companies don’t? And it’s one of the fastest growing careers in Texas. The challenge? Training workers quickly. We’ll hear about what’s behind the rise of the Promotoras. Those stories and lots more today on the Texas Standard:
Shante Bacon (Ep. 40, 2016)
In Black America producer and host John L. Hanson, Jr. speaks with Shante Bacon, founder and CEO of One-Thirty-Fifth Street Agency, a strategic communications and experiential marketing firm that specializes in campaigns targeting the youth consumer and business professional.
Undecided Voters
With 59 days left to the 2016 Presidential Election, most people have had their decision made for several months. But there are hold-outs – some are still researching issues and exploring their options. This poem is for the ones who dare to wait.
KUT Weekend – September 9, 2016
People who live near 12th and Chicon turning the page on the intersection’s past reputation. A new poll shows Hillary Clinton ahead of Donald Trump in Texas. How a historically African-American church in East Austin is responding to the neighborhood’s demographic changes. Those stories and more in this edition of KUT Weekend!
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Texas Standard: September 9, 2016
Texas is a hotbed for human trafficking but there may be something that makes it unique: the cantina connection. We’ll explore. Also more questions than answers in the aftermath of a school shooting in west Texas. What we know and what it means for life in a normally tranquil small desert town. And lessons from the disaster that struck the coast of Texas this time 8 years ago. Also, swapping woodwinds and strings from picket signs: a celebrated symphony goes on strike and high schools soon may blow the whistle on Friday night kickoffs. Plus the week in Texas politics and we’re just getting started. All that and more today on the Texas Standard:
Bias and Behavior
It’s no secret that this political season is a display of some interesting human behavior, and we’ve had a lot of listener questions about how biases form, the psychological impact of heated rhetoric, and what is going on “under the surface” of the American public?
In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about how psychology can inform our discussions and debates as we try to swim through the murky waters of the modern American political campaign 2016.
Texas Standard: September 8, 2016
After 9/11 she left New York for Galveston. Her mission today: to get permission to sue the Saudis for the death of her husband, we’ll explore. Also voter ID restrictions in Texas. You thought they’d been overturned? Now the state’s back in court over the issue. What it means as election day fast approaches. And there’s oil near them there hills: a surprise find in far west Texas and an 8 Billion dollar would-be windfall that’s got the world talking. Plus nursing homes in Texas: reports of violations on the rise. An embarrassment to be sure, so why’s the industry almost trumpeting the bad news? Those stories and lots more today on the Texas Standard:
This Song: Mike Olson of Lake Street Dive // Jane Ellen Bryant
It’s hard enough for a musician to live a life on the road but when there is a new love at home, things get really complicated. Lake Street Dive’s Mike Olson found that Willie Nelson and Leon Russell helped him deal with these complexities and helped his art along the way. Also, Austin newcomer Jane Ellen Bryant heard Shawn Colvin as a kid, but years later the veteran’s “I Want It Back” was, to the rookie, a perfect example of how to write, arrange and produce a song.
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Listen to Lake Street Dive’s Studio 1A Performance
Listen to Jane Ellen Bryant’s Studio 1A Performance
Watch Jane Ellen Bryant’s video for “Twenties”
Texas Standard: September 7, 2016
Clinton over Trump in red states, Trump ahead of Clinton nationwide. Do you have confidence in these polls? Number crunching today on the Texas Standard. Also one of the most influential editorial boards in the Lone Star state announces its presidential endorsement and makes national headlines of its own. We’ll talk with the editorial chief at the Dallas Morning News about its historic announcement. Plus, a Hawk resigns in north Texas, as hawks take flight in Waco. We’ll explain. And when it comes to organizing labor, what’s fair and what isn’t? A multi-million dollar verdict in Houston with big implications. And the wall that wasn’t…did environmental concerns play a role. Those stories and more today on the Texas Standard:
Homesick for Texas: Songs & Tributes to the Lone Star State
To my mind, the signature song about longing for Texas is this one:
I wanna go home with the Armadillo;
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene;
The friendliest people and the prettiest women you’ve ever seen.
That’s “London Homesick Blues” sung by Jerry Jeff Walker and written by Gary P. Nunn.
But there are dozens of songs that make Texpatriates (Texans forced to live outside of Texas a
while) a little misty eyed. Like “Amarillo By Morning” by George Strait:
Amarillo by morning, up from San Antone.
Everything that I’ve got is just what I’ve got on.
When that sun is high in that Texas sky
I’ll be bucking it to county fair.
Amarillo by morning, Amarillo I’ll be there.
And what Texan isn’t moved by these immortal words?
Let’s go to Luckenbach Texas
With Waylon and Willie and the boys
The theme of Texas homesickness is a common theme in our music, our folklore, and our literature.
Did you ever hear the story about the Montana cowboy who died and went to heaven? St. Peter was giving him a tour when the Montanan looked up to see a bunch of cowboys in jail, struggling to get out. The Montanan said to St. Peter: “I’m a little surprised to see a jail in heaven!”
St. Peter said, “Oh that’s not a jail. That’s the Texas Detention Center.”
Montanan said, “Oh I understand. I did some drovin’ with those ole boys. When they get to a new town they can do some damage.”
“That’s not the problem,” said St. Peter. “The problem is they get so homesick they keep tryin’ to sneak out the Pearly Gates to go back to Texas. So we have to keep ‘em locked up a while till they learn to like it here.”
We find the theme in Larry McMurtry’s work, too. In his little masterpiece of a novel, “All My Friends Are Going To Be Strangers,” the central character, Danny Deck, is leaving Texas for the first time in his life. He is driving just west of El Paso and about to cross the border when he says:
“It was strange, leaving Texas… It was all behind me, north to south, not lying there exactly, but more like looming there over the car… some genie, some god, towering over the road. I really felt it… I had left without asking permission or earning my freedom. Texas let me go, ominously quiet. It hadn’t gone away. It was there behind me.”
When he returned to Texas after several months, Danny realized what many a traveler has realized – that there is no place like home. He says:
“It was the sky that was Texas, the sky that welcomed me back… The sky was what I had been missing, and seeing it again in its morning brightness made me realize suddenly why I hadn’t been myself for many months. It had such depth and such spaciousness and such incredible compass, it took so much in and circled one with such a tremendous generous space that it was impossible not to feel more intensely with it above you.”
Reminds me of what my brother Redneck Dave once told me. He said, “I reckon everybody everywhere misses their home, but if there was a way to measure the mightiness of missin’, I’d betcha big that Texans would come out pretty much on top.”
I can’t argue with that.
W.F. Strong is a Fulbright Scholar and professor of Culture and Communication at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. At Public Radio 88 FM in Harlingen, Texas, he’s the resident expert on Texas literature, Texas legends, Blue Bell ice cream, Whataburger (with cheese) and mesquite smoked brisket.
Whiteness: Breeze Harper (Ep. 18)
“America was built on a white supremacist caste system which centers whiteness as the norm…”-Dr. A. Breeze Harper
On this edition of the Secret Ingredient the secret ingredient is whiteness. Join Raj Patel, Tom Philpott, and Rebecca McInroy as they sit down with Dr. Amie Breeze Harper, author of Scars: A Black Lesbian Experience in Rural White New England, as well as the creator of the Sistah Vegan project and blog, www.sistahvegan.com, as they discuss what it really means to be vegan, how “whiteness has been a part of every movement in this country”, and how Harper is combating the inter-sectional racism that occurs even in the most ethically driven of foodscapes such as veganism.
Texas Standard: September 6, 2016
Wags have wondered when Texas politics might finally turn purple. Fresh signs we might be closing in on grape season, we’ll have the details. Plus talk about guns on campus but is anyone listening anymore? Plus health officials say many early deaths in Texas are preventable, or would be if not for a major missing link: the data. What needs to be done to fill in the blanks. And the president tries to reassure pacific leaders on a controversial trade deal, but how reassured do you feel? Plus summer, the joke’s on you: now’s the season for serious readers. All that and then some today on the Texas Standard:
Texas Standard: September 5, 2016
The earth shook this weekend rattling people out of bed all across the midwest. Why Texas oil producers are likely watching Oklahoma’s response. Plus thousands of pieces of criminal evidence destroyed: now the Texas law enforcement office involved is under investigation itself. And do you know what you need to take with you to the poll this November election? Do you really? We’ll ID the facts. Plus two Texas cities are leading the national charge against ending youth homelessness. We’ll have the details. Those stories and lots more today on the Texas Standard:
The Ticket: Trump’s Immigration Speech
Waiting-For-Autumn Blues
While many Texans firmly believe seasons do not exist in our great state, we all look forward to the few weeks of cool weather in the fall. It’s the perfect time for cardigans, sweaters, and a cup of hot chocolate. The hard part is waiting for the blissful respite from the heat.
KUT Weekend – September 2, 2016
Texas doesn’t keep track of deaths very well, and it’s affecting public policy. Dual credit courses may equalize the path to college, but some people question the academic standards. The use of electric vehicles is growing in Austin. Those stories and more in this edition of KUT Weekend!
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