Stories from Texas
W.F. Strong
October 20, 2021
This is the time of year that Peregrine falcons make their incredible journey from Greenland to Argentina and Chile, a distance of over eight thousand miles. One of the most popular migration stopovers for Peregrines is Padre Island. There, they rest and eat for a few days. Texas Standard commentator WF Strong says it’s like […]
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October 6, 2021
The Young Lieutenant Who Crossed the Wild Horse Desert
American history sometimes snuggles up close with what might be better termed American mythology. Take that story about a young George Washington chopping down a cherry tree. But other bits of history based quite a bit more in fact are less well known — though just as extraordinary. Texas Standard commentator WF Strong offers up […]
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September 22, 2021
Texas And The Art Of Understatement
Yes, everything may be bigger in Texas. And Texans are used to being pegged as exaggerators — the tellers of tall tales like Pecos Bill who roped tornadoes and shot stars from the sky. But Texas Standard commentator W.F. Strong says a characteristic of Texas conversation that doesn’t get nearly the attention it deserves is […]
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September 8, 2021
I showed a friend of mine a picture of me sitting at the edge of a thin ridge jutting out, about 300 feet above the Pecos River. He said, “I can’t look at that, it gives me the willies.” Oh, yes, the willies, goosebumps and shiverings triggered by our phobias. As an amateur linguist, I’m […]
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August 12, 2021
The Olympics — as we were all just reminded — are a fantastic display of athleticism of all sorts. For many of us, watching the games is a reminder of just how we could never do that thing that we’re watching other people do. But watching got commentator W-F Strong thinking there’s quite a lot […]
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July 14, 2021
One way I know a book is special is if I keep thinking about it years after I first read it. Miles and Miles of Texas, 100 years of the Texas Highway Department, by Carol Dawson and Roger Allen Polson, is such a book. I first read it several years ago, and even recommended it […]
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June 30, 2021
Long Before Elon Musk, A Different Man Had A Plan To Develop Boca Chica
One hundred years ago, Col. Sam Robertson stood on the same Boca Chica Beach in South Texas that Elon Musk owns today and dreamed a different dream. Instead of Musk’s spaceport, Robertson dreamed of seaports and an oceanside highway. Robertson owned 800 acres at Boca Chica, about 20 miles northeast of Brownsville and it was […]
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June 16, 2021
There’s Something About A Person Named Tex
Tex is an incredibly popular nickname. It is so fitting for some… that it pushes their given first name entirely out of use. I thought it would be interesting to look at a few famous folks known mostly as just Tex. Tex Ritter is probably the most famous person named Tex. I doubt more than […]
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About
“Stories from Texas” are written and recorded by W.F. Strong for the Texas Standard radio program. They are edited for broadcast by Texas Standard producers.
W.F. Strong
W.F. Strong is a professor of culture and communication at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He is a Fulbright scholar and author of the book “Stories From Texas: Some Of Them Are True.”
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