Birthday

Bring out those fancy dresses, quinceañera season is upon us

Tacos of Texas podcast host Mando Rayo talks about what to expect at one of these celebrations – and, of course, what might be on the menu.

This episode of the Tacos of Texas podcast was originally aired live on the Texas Standard on May 8, 2025.

It’s the time of year for fancy dresses, limo rides, and all the photos. Yes, it’s prom season, but in Texas, that also coincides with another tradition: quinceañera season.

These celebrations of young women are prominent across all parts of Texas and typically include a big party and, of course, lots of food.

Texas Extra: Our favorite Typewriter Rodeo poems

Texas Extras are special and extended content put together just for our podcast listeners!

Texas Standard recently revealed our Top 10 list from April: the Top 10 Typewriter Rodeo poems from the past decade. Each poem is pretty short, usually just about a minute long, but we still didn’t have time to play them in their entirety in our on-air Top 10 – which just felt like a shame. We remedy that for you here, enjoy!

Turning 45

It feels like a milestone birthday. Perhaps fully “over the hill” but not yet to the next decade. This Typewriter Rodeo poem celebrates 45 for what it can be.

Getting Older

Though its effects can feel less than glamorous at times, getting older is a privilege. That was the inspiration of this Typewriter Rodeo poem. The idea came to us via listener request in honor of a father who turned 70 this year.

Texas Standard: June 3, 2021

Lawmakers promised fixes to prevent a recurrence of the statewide power outages of last winter. How much really got done? We’ll explore what really was accomplished amid politician’s promises to prevent more statewide blackouts and to fix the Texas power grid. Also, a look at some of the more closely watches bills that didn’t make it thru the legislation in the regular session. And Galveston oh Galveston: the city took a big hit when the cruise ships stopped coming to port due to COVID-19. Now, plans for their return. And the start of hurricane season. A forecast for Texas and much today on the Texas Standard:

Texas Standard: August 6, 2018

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz is sounding the alarm about his Democratic challenger, Beto O’Rourke. We’ll take a look at why Cruz says the race is “too close for comfort.” Also, steer clear of the Koch Brothers! That’s the message from national Republican leaders after the Koch’s, unhappy with Trump’s trade policies, said they’d back some Democrats. And hot and dry. Weather experts say this year’s drought is bad. But how does it compare with 2011 when Texas farmers lost billions in agriculture? Plus, wind insurance rates are going up, again. We’ll explain why even Texans who live far away from the coast will feel the effects. And we look at how some Houston neighborhoods have changed since Hurricane Harvey. That and more on today’s Texas Standard: