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What the Austin housing market could look like in 2017. The challenge of being sober in booze-friendly Austin. We discuss PolitiFact’s Lie of the Year: fake news. Those stories and more in this edition of KUT Weekend!
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Well, the year is finally coming to a close, and it’s time to celebrate a new trip around the sun. There were bad times, and… good times…?
But 2016 is over and that’s all there is to say.
The number of U-S police officers who died in the line of duty at a five-year high. Texas by far lost the most. How that’s affecting those still serving. Also, a price surge, long lines and shortages: the gas crisis going on just south of the border. And extending our quality of life with the help of robots. How artificial intelligence can help the aging. And a look back at Texas’s role in the civil rights movement and what community organizers can learn from it. Plus, sweet or unsweet? It’s a question Texans are used to, we’ll explore the history. And how an NBA rookie broke barriers with the Houston Rockets this week. Those stories and a whole lot more on today’s Texas Standard:
We might think that when we hear or read something we learn it, but that assumption would be incorrect. As Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke point out in this edition of Two Guys on Your Head we have to work to produce ideas in order to really understand them.
Corruption on the border. We all know it’s there, but are you aware just how much it’s happening on this side of the Rio Grande? Also Texas lawmakers will spend a lot of time talking about education funding in the next few months. School districts and tax payers will want to pay attention. And some environmentalists worry renewables won’t get the same attention under Trump. The conservative case for solar. Also: Dilley, Texas is known these days for its family detention center. How it’s shaped the south Texas city. If Texas were made up of just 100 people, can you guess how many would live east of I-35? Plus, a look back at the top tech stories of 2016 and more on todays Texas Standard:
I’m not an expert on many things, but when it comes to judging the quality of Texas literature, or Texana as it is called, I am as confident as a bronc rider still upright at seven seconds. That last second of the eight is reserved for humility. Chance needs scant time to have one spittin’ up dirt.
So I decided I would take my chances and prepare a list of good Texas books you might want to tackle in the coming year. Each book is tied to the month that will perhaps enhance your reading of it.
January – “The Tacos of Texas”
This has been a best-seller in Texas (and beyond) this past year. By January 3 your New Year’s resolutions will be somewhat less resolute. When that time comes, you will want tacos. And the tacos will give you strength for a fine year of reading ahead.
February – “The Son”
To my mind, this is the best Texas novel since Lonesome Dove. It was first runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize in 2014 and the miniseries will air on AMC in 2017 – starring Pierce Brosnan. So binge read it first so you can binge watch it later. And you will have the advantage of saying, somewhat snobbishly, “I read the book and the book is way better.”
March – “Miles and Miles of Texas”
Just in time for your Spring Break trip is this magnificent book on the history of Texas roads and how they got built. The original mission of the Texas Highway Department was to “get the farmer out of the mud.” Obviously, they went far beyond that goal to succeed in building a state of superhighways. Let’s not talk about I-35.
April – “Lonesome Dove”
Cattle drives in Texas typically began in the spring. So this is a good time to read or re-read Lonesome Dove. This is the Iliad of Texas. If you haven’t read this Pulitzer Prize winning literary treasure, it’s time. Gus and Call are waiting for you. Let’s “head ‘em up and move ‘em out.”
May – “Texas Ranger: The Epic Life of Frank Hamer, the Man Who Killed Bonnie and Clyde”
He killed them in May actually. Hollywood made Hamer out to be the bad guy, but as is often the case, they were seduced by myth and got it wrong. I like what the Dallas Morning News says about this book: “Frank Hamer’s is perhaps the last great story of the American West to be told… Well, Hollywood? Now you have the book, so go make the movie.”
June -“Issac’s Storm”
For the start of Hurricane season, read Isaac’s Storm, the best-selling history of the killer hurricane that devastated Galveston in 1906. The Washington Post says that Erik Larson’s book is, “Gripping … the Jaws of hurricane yarns.”
July – “Empire of the Summer Moon”
This book tells the story of the last years of the Comanche Nation and how Quanah Parker and his warriors were never militarily defeated. The New York Times says it “will leave blood and dust on your jeans.”
August – “The Time it Never Rained”
The story of the West Texas rancher, Charlie Flagg, who survived the greatest drought in modern Texas history.
September – “Friday Night Lights”
For the beginning of football season, read the book that launched the popular series. And if you have read it already, go for “The Last Picture Show” instead, which is also anchored in Texas football culture.
October – “All the Pretty Horses”
Once you’re in, go ahead and read the whole border trilogy.
November – “Lone Star: A History of Texas and the Texans”
As the days shorten and the nights lengthen, sit by the fire and read T.R. Fehrenbach’s take on Texas history.
December – “The Big Rich”
As you begin worrying about presents and money, it is an ideal time to read the rags to riches stories of Texas oil men like H.L. Hunt and Roy Cullen. These were men who were, for their time, among the absolute richest in the world. They knew how to spend money and to play on a scale few have ever known. It will inspire your Christmas shopping, make you want to play poker for oil leases, buy sprawling ranches, and purchase your own Texas island.
There’s not a lot of romance in these books. There is a lot of tough love, though. And that’s good. If you don’t get tough love early in life it’s hard to find lasting love later.
So there you go. Print this out and put it on the fridge. Happy reading.
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.
Social media is getting the blame for a rash of fights at malls across the country, including Texas. How’s that possible? We’ll ask on today’s Texas Standard. Also, predicting the global dynamics of 2017. What’s next for the European Union? For oil? For the U.S. under Trump? Plus the business of space travel in Midland, and turning a greenhouse gas into a commodity. And book recommendations for each month of the year, chock full of lessons tailor-made for Texans. Also how the desegregation of Texas sports is connected to the Harlem Globetrotters and so much more, its Texas Standard time!:
Another Texan could be headed to Washington. Why it looks like the next Secretary of Agriculture could be from the Lone Star State. Plus there may be more locally-acquired Zika cases in Texas than have been reported so far. What we’re learning about the spread of the virus. And tis the season for returning gifts. Why taking items back is more common than ever. And it used to take a quarter to call someone who cares… but do you even know what it costs to use a payphone anymore? A look at one place in Texas where their use is as strong as ever. Plus the long and forgotten history of the Texas Mutualista… and why West Texas is getting kind of a bad wrap from Hollywood… that and more on today’s Texas Standard:
Texas has a great number of Texas brands:
Southwest Airlines.
Texas Instruments.
Lone Star Beer.
Dell Computer.
Imperial Sugar.
The King Ranch.
Now, The King Ranch is a brand that came, quite literally, from a brand. King Ranch even has its own brand of Ford Pickup.
The King Ranch also helped launch another old Texas brand, Falfurrias Butter.
It is a little circuitous, but this is how it all came about. Richard King’s partner, Mifflin Kenedy, sold 7,000 cows to Ed Lasater, who then created the dairy that launched Falfurrias butter. Thirty-five years later, the King Ranch bought Lasater’s land, along with many head of cattle, to create the Encino division of the King Ranch.
But that’s not the story I’m here to tell. I’m here to talk about a great old brand of Texas butter.
Falfurrias butter was first made in Falfurrias, of course, in 1909. People have wondered whether the butter is named for the town or the town for the butter, but they were actually both named after Lasater’s ranch, which was named for a grove of trees called La Mota de Falfurrias. Lasater said that that unique word, Falfurrias, came from the Lipan Apache language and, loosely translated, means “Land of Heart’s Delight.”
The butter was certainly the town’s best known export in those early days, and likely remains so today. Even the school mascot, the Jerseys, was named after the butter’s real creators – the Jersey cows. At one point Falfurrias was home to the largest Jersey cattle herd in the world.
And so that gave special meaning to the once popular bumper sticker there: “Watch Your Step – You’re in Jersey Country.” I’m not sure the author of that intended the double meaning, but it certainly provided a good deal of local levity until it was recalled.
Falfurrias butter remains a popular niche brand of butter. In Texas, it’s sold at all the major grocery stores, and some smaller ones, too. It has been quite popular in northern Mexico for generations.
A friend tells me that as a child in Saltillo he remembers his mother bringing back the mantequilla dulce de Falfurrias as a special treat for the kids anytime she traveled to Texas.
A Texas Marine in WWII recalled that as he was wading ashore in the battle for Okinawa, a Falfurrias Butter crate bumped up against his leg in the surf. He found it comforting, an assurance from home that all would be well. And so it was.
Falfurrias Butter outgrew Falfurrias. It became so popular that it was eventually bought by the Dairy Farmers of America, but rest assured it is still made in Texas.
It is made by Keller’s Creamery in Winnsboro, Texas, and has grown at a Texas-sized pace of 40 percent over the last few years. That’s a lot of biscuits and baked potatoes, y’all.
When you drive through Falfurrias today, on state Highway 285, you can still see the vintage Falfurrias Butter sign on the side of the old Creamery Building. The town newspaper, Falfurrias Facts, occupies the building today.
In the interest of full disclosure ethical transparency, I have to reveal that I am also an export of Falfurrias, and even though I know on which side my bread is buttered, so to speak, I assure you that it does not affect the veracity of this commentary.
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.
This story originally aired on June 15, 2016.
What were the top stories of 2016? This hour, we’re revisiting the people and events making news across the lone star state. Plus in 2014 people called it the surge. This year, as the numbers of Central American families crossing the border broke new records, what was being done to keep them from coming in illegally? We’ll take a look. Plus what used to be a US monopoly, we’ll revisit the national helium reserve as it runs out of gas. And a cure for what plagues central Texas? We’ll meet the man who sends in the hawks. And playing possum – the backstory of a legendary musician…all that and much more today on the Standard:
Imani Perry is a Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University. In this conversation with University of Texas Sociology Professor Ben Carrington, Perry discusses Hall’s work as foundational for her own intellectual trajectory as a cultural theorist.
Likewise, Perry addresses Hall’s relevance for understanding a U.S. context by noting that the questions Hall asks around political economy, the rise of neoliberalism, race, class, and culture are important for making sense of what is happening in the United States because “we are all grappling with legacies of empire and capitalism and racialization.”
Perry argues that although we see different iterations of these issues as they move around the world, Hall’s theorizing is prescient for making sense of questions of globalization. The conversation also addresses Hall as a model for being a public intellectual who neither postures nor self-aggrandizes but rather is about conversation and engagement with and a responsibility to different public.
Carrington and Perry discuss how Hall’s work is useful for understanding not only Brexit, but also the rise of Donald Trump in the U.S. Perry explains that she understands these issues as part of an “anxiety about the growth of precarity, globalization, and neoliberalism, and the kind of vulnerability that [these issues] produce for whiteness,” as well as an appeal for a return to conventional imperial relations. Hall’s work, which addresses the intersection of historical forces that produce these anxieties, helps us to think about these issues, although he does not necessarily give us the answers. Hall provides a model for how to read the world around us ethically.
-Maggie Tate
When we are born we know very little about the world and need to learn in order to survive, hence the propensity for curiosity. However some people are just more curious than others, so why is this? In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the psychology of curiosity.
In Black America producer and host John L. Hanson, Jr. speaks with legendary Gospel recording artist Bishop Rance Allen, celebrating The Rance Allen Group’s 40th year in the Gospel music industry and the release of their 25th album.
Texas moves to cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood. Why do grackles gather in grocery store parking lots? Some restaurants offer special menus for New Year’s Eve. Those stories and more in this edition of KUT Weekend!
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Twas the weekend of Christmas and all thru the state, the challenge of homelessness would not abate. Pregnant and homeless… how much room for compassion, with resources already stretched thin. Also one year ago a twisters ripped thru North Texas. Today, a return to ground zero to re-explore the ongoing efforts to rebuild a sense of community. And a few years ago, he wrote a song that said a little too much about holiday gatherings…and to his surprise it became a Texas classic. A conversation with Robert Earle Keene about christmas with the fam-o-leee. All that and a whole lot more today on the Texas Standard:
Some people do their holiday shopping all year long, others wait until the last minute. With online shopping and fast delivery, it’s easier than ever to take care of everyone on your list without leaving your couch. But a brave few are determined to make gifts, with their DIY skills and eye for detail.
(But online shopping is a nice backup for those of us who can’t draw a straight line.)
A foreign government cyberattacks the election. The US president pushes back. But is the response big enough to satisfy Texas? We’ll explore. Scores of Texas hospitals on a list for federal cuts and why in this case the injuries might be self-inflicted. Also: the doctor sees the symptoms, but what about the whole person? We’ll hear about a culture shift underway in medicine. Plus, a quiet revolution in how Texans are getting their energy. And worried you waited too long for holiday decorations, our tech guru tells us what you might need is laser like focus….or maybe not. All that and a whole lot more…turn it up, its Texas Standard time:
Texas officials fulfill a promise: no more Medicaid money to Planned Parenthood. The implications and what comes next. Plus a multi million dollar emergency infusion for child protective services. The plan: hire new caseworkers and give raises to keep others from leaving. But there’s a hitch, just in time for the holidays. We’ll hear about it. Also she was a full throated communist, cast as a a working class hero and a villain. And then her story was almost lost to history. A revival of interest in the lady called ‘the passionate one from Texas’. And veterans signing on to wage a new kind of war…in cyberspace. All of that and lots more today on the Texas Standard:
From The New Deal until the present moment the architecture of The United States formed around some basic principles of public policy; principles that will no longer apply under a Trump administration. With all the questions that are on the table when it comes to this transition, Dr. James K. Galbraith asks: “Is the study of public policy still useful? And can it serve as the basis of a rewarding and productive life?”
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Dr. James K. Galbraith holds the Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. Chair in Government/Business Relations and a professorship of government at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. He holds degrees from Harvard University and Yale University. He studied as a Marshall scholar at King’s College, Cambridge in 1974-1975 and then served in several positions on the staff of the U.S. Congress. He directed the LBJ School’s Ph.D. program in public policy from 1995 to 1997. He directs the University of Texas Inequality Project, an informal research group based at the LBJ School. Galbraith’s most recent book is “Inequality and Instability: A Study of the World Economy Just Before the Great Crisis” (Oxford University Press, 2012). Previous books include “The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too” (Free Press, 2008), “Created Unequal: The Crisis in American Pay (Free Press, 1998) and “Balancing Acts: Technology, Finance and the American Future” (Basic Books, 1989). “Inequality and Industrial Change: A Global View” (Cambridge University Press, 2001) is co-edited with Maureen Berner. He has co-authored two textbooks, “The Economic Problem” with Robert L. Heilbroner and “Macroeconomics” with William Darity Jr. He is a managing editor of Structural Change and Economic Dynamics.
Stephen Bruner aka Thundercat describes how Stanley Clarke’s “School Days” and Jaco Pastorius‘ self titled album expanded his view of what it means to play bass.
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Listen to Songs from Episode 63 of This Song