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How Austin’s homeless are voting in this election. What a mock election at local schools tells us about the local electorate. Learning all about Barton Springs Pool. Those stories and more in this edition of KUT Weekend!
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Whether you need to read a book for school or for book club, you can likely find it online as an ebook, audiobook, or have the real book shipped in a matter of hours. But before you head straight to the internet, remember that there’s a magic place you can look first. A place with people who would love to help you find what you need – all without relying on a wifi connection.
It’s being described as the biggest ever voter fraud investigation in Texas. And in what may be the unlikeliest of counties, we’ll explore. Also paddling against the stream: as a majority of states turn away from corporal punishment in public schools, why new research in Texas could lead to a rethink here as well. Plus why industrial development in Southwest Texas is setting off a political dustup over dust. Also Texas teams up with an unlikely ally to target modern day slavery, allegedly online. Plus our weekly round of the week in politics with the Texas Tribune and much more, today on the Texas Standard:
We humans are interesting animals. We may take for granted the card we swipe at the grocery store when we buy food. We might look at our bank balance and not even think of how unique it is that we can translate those little numbers into experiences and things. It’s merely one of the benefits of having big brains.
In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the psychology of how our brains determine value.
Did he really say that about women and Mexicans? Why is it even a question? The history of the big lie and how it works. Also as hurricane Matthew bears down on the east coast, how well prepared are we to weather a storm of such scale? A Texas lawmaker tells us after years of debate, there may actually be action for a coastal barrier. Also development in Texas’ biggest cities now squeezing out something else; parking. We’ll explore the implications. Plus a mystery involving guns, a landing strip, a training camp and a famous Texas lawman. Investigators at the pentagon trying to put the pieces together. All that and more today on the Standard:
It is being called the largest humanitarian event since the earthquake of 2010. A hurricane strikes Haiti, we’ll explore the implications. Also are police tracking who attends gun shows? A report that cops are making lists of license plate numbers triggers alarm bells over civil liberties. Plus to be undecided in Texas: with voting in the presidential race just a month away, what could tip the balance? And remembering the biggest state in the continental US as it used to be: which is to say, much bigger. Those stories and so much more today on the Texas Standard:
Texans have a kind of proverb that goes like this:
“Driving across Texas isn’t a trip; it’s a damn career.”
Texas is big, no doubt about that. But it used to be a lot bigger – about a fourth bigger. When Texas joined the United States in 1845, Texas’ borders (and shape) were quite different.
The northern boundary of Texas in those days stretched all the way up into what is today southern Wyoming. It´s true. In those days, the northernmost town in Texas was not Dalhart, it was Rawlins. You think it’s a long way from Brownsville to Dalhart now – at 860 miles – try 1,400 miles to Rawlins. In 1845 a trip like that would have been measured in seasons, not days. We’ll leave in early spring and get there before winter sets in.
Texas used to have a panhandle for the panhandle. It stretched north of the present day border and passed through prime Colorado Rockies real estate (including Vail) into Wyoming. They called that the stovepipe because that is what it looked like – a long skinny stovepipe, snaking northward. You can still find vestiges of Texas up there in that part of Wyoming. For instance, there is a creek up there named Texas Creek.
Texas used to include what is today the panhandle of Oklahoma. That territory is comprised of three counties. One of them is still named Texas County. So some Oklahomans still live in Texas. Well, Texas County, anyway.
The southwestern tip of Kansas was claimed by Texas. Dodge City was in Texas. Glad to know that. “Gunsmoke” always seemed like a Texas series. We know that Marshal Matt Dillon was born in San Antonio. His father was a Texas Ranger. It’s all coming together.
New Mexico used to be about half its current size because Santa Fe and Taos and all the eastern part of the state was Texas. Texas was so big in 1845 that if you had put a hinge on the northernmost part and flipped it northward, Brownsville would have been in Northern Canada next to Hudson Bay. Don’t think those Brownsvillians would have liked trading the tropics for the tundra, but that would be the result.
If you had flipped Texas southward, the people of Rawlins would have been in Peru. The East-West boundaries would have been about the same as they are today. Still, flip Texas eastward and you will have the El Pasoans trading their margaritas for mint juleps in Georgia. Flip it westward and the Beaumantians will be hanging ten with California surfer dudes.
So what happened to all our land? The U.S. government bought it in 1850. For $10 million they bought our claims to our Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas, and Oklahoma – it came to 6.7 cents an acre. Seems like we sold out cheap, but we desperately needed the money then. And remember that $10 million in 1850 is $300 million in today’s dollars, which is almost enough to buy a nice vacation home in Vail.
But, as I said, we really needed the money. We had a state to build and the only true assets we had in those days were land – and a tough, hardened people made of unbreakable spirits. So we sold the land and paid off debts and got a much more appealing shape to the state, a shape that fits nicely on t-shirts.
So even though we sold off our lands, we are nonetheless no slouch of a state, especially when we drive it. We still measure distance in time. We still feel like we are crossing an enormous frontier when driving I-10 through West Texas or I-69 to the southern border. And this old Texas saying is still valid:
“The sun has riz; the sun has set; and here I is in Texas yet.”
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.
In this special Views & Brews collaboration with The Warfield Center for African and African American Studies, KUT’s Rebecca McInroy joins artists Angelbert Metoyer and Saul Williams as they share their stories, and discuss art and activism, time, memory, politics, poetry, and much more.
In this special Views & Brews collaboration with The Warfield Center for African and African American Studies, KUT’s Rebecca McInroy joins artists Angelbert Metoyer and Saul Williams as they share their stories, and discuss art and activism, time, memory, politics, poetry, and much more.
Amid the spectacle of 2016, little serious policy discussion. Or is there room for serious debate? We’ll explore. Also lost in the drone of nasty exchanges over Trump’s taxes and Clinton’s stamina, one of the most serious humanitarian and foreign policy challenges since the Cold War, unfolding right now, yet all but ignored in the US. A top Texas analyst tells us it’s time to start paying attention. Plus: come and take it…with reservations. The people of Gonzales love their iconic flag, but have misgivings over how its being used. And isn’t it rich? Police and school districts on lockdown over clowns. Making sense of the sightings. All that and much more today on the Texas Standard:
Across Texas, people are talking about taxes, and not necessarily those of a certain presidential candidate. We’ll explore the details. Also the face of immigration is changing, literally. Detentions along the southern border show an unexpected rise in the numbers of people neither from Mexico or Central America. We’ll hear who they are, and what’s driving the change. Also, you’ve heard of working yourself to death? That became all too real for a for a Texas twenty something, who’s now urging other go-getters to check their ambitions. Plus: is a key piece of safety equipment a threat to high school football? Those stories and lots more today on the Texas Standard:
In Black America producer and host John L. Hanson, Jr. presents interviews with the late George E. Curry, recorded in 2001 and 2003. An author and syndicated columnist, George Curry was a past Editor-in-Chief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service and Emerge Magazine. He died August 20, 2016.
This 2016 election season has a lot of people talking about leadership: what qualities do we want in a leader, and what kind of experiences can prepare someone to lead? In this episode of KUT’s podcast Higher Ed, KUT’s Jennifer Stayton and Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger talk about whether leadership can be taught and learned, or if someone people are just “born leaders.” Listen on for Ed and Jen’s discussion about the role education can play in preparing someone to be a leader. You’ll also get the newest puzzler. Bonus this week: it’s in 3D (but no glasses needed!).
This episode was recorded on August 10, 2016.