KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts

KUT and KUTX news and music podcasts for Austin, Texas and beyond

change

Tours from Beyoncé and Taylor Swift are big for local economies

COVID cases in Texas rise by almost 25% in a week as concerns mount over a new variant. Although the vast majority of Texans have given up masks and social distancing, health officials say they’re still important tools as cases pick up and students return to the classroom. Dr. Catherine Troisi of UTHealth Houston joins us with an update.

Young plaintiffs in Montana score a high-profile victory in a fight to force their home state to take climate change more seriously. Could a similar approach work in Texas?

And: Tours from Beyoncé and Taylor Swift are generating huge spending on everything from concert tickets and merch to spillover effects on travel, clothing and more.

Texas Spring

The weather does not always perfectly align with the changes in season. And, in Texas, those seasonal highs and lows are often very dramatic. That was the inspiration for this Typewriter Rodeo poem.

Imagination and Change

Have you ever been in a situation that you just can’t see your way out of? Have you ever been stuck on a path you did not want to follow? In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about how we can practice gaining experiences that can help us imagine different possibilities for a future we never knew we wanted, to get out of a present we’re not happy with.

New NSA recruitment effort underway in San Antonio

Sticker shock at the grocery store. We’ll explore whether and how pandemic disruptions continue to affect the food supply chain. Also the race-motivated mass shooting at an El Paso Walmart in 2019 ruptured a community and captured the world’s attention. But the prosecution of the shooter has languished. What’s happening now? We’ll explore. And Russia’s invasion of Ukraine kicked off a series of events that are now having an impact on the Texas Gulf Coast. We’ll explain. Plus one of San Antonio’s biggest employers is hiring. Now the secretive National Security Agency is sharing a bit about its Texas operation. And the playoff win on the road that broke a decades-long streak for the Cowboys. All of those stories and more today on the Texas Standard.

Making Change Stick

It’s that time of the year when we resolve to drink less, exercise more, save money, etc. It may feel really good to intend to do “better” in the new year, but as Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke discuss in this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, real change takes planning and hard work. Why is that?

It turns out we have no idea why we do most of the things we do on a daily basis. And as long as our behaviors are driven by factors that operate below our conscious awareness, we may not know how to change. As the Two Guys point out, effective change can happen when we start from the outside in. When we look at our environments first we can make space and cultivate relationships that help us become our best selves.

It’s Finally Under 100 Degrees

There’s nothing unusual about long, hot Texas summers — except that this year’s severe drought has made this one feel particularly long and hot. Indeed, we did break some heat records across the state. But, wait, what’s that? Rain? A breeze? That was the inspiration of this Typewriter Rodeo poem.

Texas Standard: October 25, 2021

Two cases challenging Texas’ near total ban on abortions get put on the fast track by the U.S. Supreme Court. What happens next? Not since Bush v Gore has the U.S. Supreme Court moved with such speed as has in two challenges to Texas’s new abortion law, known as SB8. But for now, it remains in force in Texas. We’ll hear what the SCOTUS move means for the future of abortion in Texas and the rest of the nation. Also a plan to link Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio by Amtrak. One with friends in very high places, including 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And the art of ladders and border barriers. Those stories and more today on the Texas Standard:

Texas Standard: August 17, 2021

Here we are once again: the Texas Supreme Court and the governor are telling us one thing in regards to masks, and schools are telling us another. Some school districts believe that even with the supreme court siding with the governor they can still ask children to mask up. We’ll tell you more. And we’ve had a few days to go through thousands of pages on a super comprehensive climate report. What are Texas experts saying about it? Also, a new book explores a new idea- that the Hill Country effectively acted as a borderland within a borderland during the civil war. And when should the constitution be amended? Did you know our own is the longest in the country? That and more today on the Texas Standard:

The Continued Problem With TED Talks

It can be enjoyable, even exciting, and inspiring to watch TED Talks or read self-help books, or even listen to this show. But the truth is, doing these things won’t solve the big problems. Just taking in information cannot feed the world, won’t treat depression, and can’t change behavior; these things take a lot of work and a lot of time.

In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, and Dr. Bob Duke talk about why they won’t help, yet why we still love them.

 

Texas Standard: March 5, 2021

We pretend to be a fly on the wall at the hearings where the failings of the state’s electric grid are being argued, we’ll have details. Also, did you know there’s money available for renters who are struggling? We tell you how to apply and hopefully how to get it. Plus, the good the bad and the ugly on vaccine distribution. And I bet you thought you knew everything there is to know about Selena Quintanilla. But as they say there’s always more to the story. Those stories and more today on the Texas Standard:

Texas Standard: October 17, 2019

A Texas republican takes his stand against president Trump in what may be the biggest bipartisan rebuke of the president yet from Capitol Hill, we’ll have the latest. Also, the longest summer on record in Texas? Certainly the hottest September. A new investigation by the Austin American Statesman suggests Texas heat more and more is becoming a matter of life or death. And holding off on a glass of water with dinner? You’re consuming more water there than you may realize. Plus tech expert Omar Gallaga gets us up to speed on the latest hardware releases. Tis the season already? Those stories and more today on the Texas Standard:

Higher Ed: I’m Content. And Comfortable. And Don’t Want To Change. Learn How To Do It Anyway.

“The only thing constant is change.”

That saying, or some derivation of it, is attributed to the ancience Greek philosopher Heraclitus around 500 BC. But it certainly rings as true now as it did then.

In this episode of KUT’s podcast “Higher Ed,” Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger and KUT’s Jennifer Stayton discuss preparing students to handle life’s big changes.

Earlier this fall, Ed announced that in January of 2020 he will leave his position as President of Southwestern and become President and Chief Executive Officer of the St. David’s Foundation in Austin, Texas. After spending decades in academia, this move represents a big change for Ed.

So, why did he do it?

Ed says his long career in academia was actually one of the factors that propelled him to step into a different arena.

“We should not let our gifts and talents confine us to how we define ourselves and our future,” Ed believes. “If there is something more that we want to do, I don’t think we should use the fact that we are successful at something we’re currently doing as an impediment to not go off; trail blaze; take the risk; effectively fail; and do something else.”

Ed says much of what he has learned going through this process is applicable to students or anyone in a process of learning and discerning.

“How do you open your mind to looking at a future version of yourself that is a dramatic departure from where you are?”

Ed believes that question lies at the heart of launching into a big change. He says several steps are necessary to take a major, new step:

* “Your first have to overcome that inertia that says ‘things are okay now, … or things are great now, so let’s not mess up the apple cart.'”

* “[Don’t] be afraid of the emotional responses you will have to even consider such a move or such a change because they are real. And you have to balance all of that.”

* “One needs to create the space in one’s psyche to embrace this notion of change.”

* “There’s a mourning process. We need to give ourselves the space for us to mourn the loss of the bonds, the friendships, the community that we will be leaving. And then begin to imagine and be excited by a future community and a future life that will come next.”

Listen to the entire episode to hear more about contemplating, navigating and executing a big life change.

Ed promised the newest puzzler would be tougher than recent ones. He did not change his mind about that; be ready for a tough one this week.

This episode was recorded on Sept. 25, 2019.

Texas Standard: November 27, 2018

As visions of gift shopping danced in our heads, a report on climate released by the Feds. What does it tell us about how Texas may have to adjust? Political recriminations over the timing of the mandatory report on the economic impact of climate change. After having had a chance to review it, what’s it telling Texas? We’ll take a closer look. Also, should the U.S. be worried about a collapse in the housing market? The Wall Street journal singles out a Texas city as a worrisome canary in the coalmine. And who were the first Texans? Why Researchers are rethinking their answers with a discovery near Salado. Those stories and a whole lot more today on the Texas Standard:

Texas Standard: July 4, 2017

As Texas goes, so goes the nation? Lawrence Wright makes that argument in a new piece in the New Yorker magazine. He’ll break down his reporting. Also scientists in San Antonio are learning about how the brain’s two halves talk to each other and how that chatter could lead to a better understanding of devastating conditions. And are special needs students the best group to test “private school choice” in Texas? A policy expert weighs in ahead of the start of the special legislative session. Those stories and lots more today on the Texas Standard:

Texas Standard: June 28, 2017

Is it okay for Texas colleges and universities to use race as a factor in deciding who gets in and who doesn’t? We’ll explore a new legal challenge. Also, the opioid crisis is bigger than an addiction problem. In Houston, city officials warn of the arrival of an opioid variant so toxic, incidental contact could be lethal. We’ll have the latest. Plus Texas and other states offer incentives to boost the space business. Caliornia, meanwhile,is taking quite the reverse approach. We’ll hear what’s up. Those stories and a whole lot more today on the Texas Standard:

Texas Standard: June 13, 2017

Spectacle versus substance, episode 2: the attorney general speaks. But after Comey, what are Texans expecting to hear? We’ll explore. Also the governor signs off on a budget, but not all of it. 120 million in cuts by veto pen…we’ll find out what’s left and what isn’t. Plus when a law enforcement officer gets suited up for work, a new report says in some big Texas cities, a major piece of police equipment is getting left behind. We’ll explain. Those stories and a whole lot more today on the Texas Standard:

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