This time it seems it’s for real: the Energy secretary caught up in an impeachment inquiry, is coming home to Texas. We’ll have the latest on the return of Rick Perry. Other stories were tracking: Fort Worth is the biggest city in Texas without a police oversight board. After last weekend’s police shooting of a resident lawfully in her own home, people are asking if greater oversight would it have made a difference. Plus the week that was in politics with the Texas tribune and much more today on the Texas Standard:
Review
Texas Standard: February 13, 2019
A year after Parkland, what if anything is changing to make Texas schools safer? Five things you need to know about what happens next. Also: The end of El Chapo’s career, but not his cartel. After years of work to win convictions against the drug kingpin, what changes? We’ll take a look. And as many New Yorkers rethink the three billion dollar price tag to land Amazons second headquarters, a researcher says New York could learn a thing or two from the Texas experience. Those stories and so much more today on the Texas Standard:
Texas Standard: April 7, 2017
After US cruise missile attacks on Syria, whose move is it next? A one time event, or the start of something bigger? We’ll explore. Also, after a 15 hour budget battle royal, a 218 billion dollar spending plan for Texas, paid for in part by tapping the rainy day fund. We’ll tally the winners and losers. And depressing numbers on new jobs today, and yet in Texas, the construction industry says there aren’t enough workers to meet demand. What’s going on here? All that and much more turn it up, its Texas Standard:
Texas Standard: March 21, 2017
Were they targeting the Texas capitol after all? Sworn testimony claims immigration officials wanted retribution, we’ll explore. Also after grilling the FBI director on Russian ties to Donald Trump, congressman Joaquin Castro tells us whether he sees evidence of collusion. Also …She might be the youngest unofficial lobbyist in Texas: her mission: convincing lawmakers to change a law she believes, sends innocent people to death row. We’ll hear her story. And this month’s reading recommendation from the editor in chief of Kirkus: a book the author doesn’t doesn’t want you to love. Those stories and lots more today on the Texas Standard:
Texas Standard: February 14, 2017
Stormy weather across much of Texas today. Maybe a good time to tap the state’s rainy day fund? Lawmakers are talking about it, and so are we. Plus, what’s in a label? Or on it, to be more precise. We’ll tell you why some of the state’s wineries are pushing a bill to be pickier about what ‘Texas-made’ really means. And the fight against fake news could start in the school library. We talk to a Texan on the front lines. Plus the Texas French connection? A journalist from across the Atlantic tells us what he sees reporting from the lone star state. All that and more, coming up on the Texas Standard:
Texas Standard: January 2, 2017
A federal judge in Texas issues a nationwide injunction seen as another blow to transgender rights and the Obama administration, we’ll explore today. Also, we’ve heard the warnings from the mayor himself: Dallas could be forced into bankruptcy because of a pension fund meltdown. Now, the mayor’s asking the Texas Rangers to step in. Plus, it’s black Monday for pro football. Why this matters to you, even if you’ve never so much as touched a pigskin. And what do you call a fish found all across Texas that doesn’t swim? Our resident expert calls it a pest. What you can do if you find yourself on the hook. All that and much more coming up on today’s Texas Standard:
Texas Standard: October 14, 2016
A blessing for Balmorhea? Not exactly…but it is an unlikely partnership and a potential model for fracking in Texas. We’ll explore. Also it’s hard enough to say who and who isn’t a real Texan…but what makes an American? We’ll explore an underlying question in our election season of discontent. Also honor flights for American heroes…but why so few women warriors on board? That’s changing with a takeoff from Texas. And remember San Angeles the fictional megalopolis from film? According to a demographers writing for Forbes: fasten your seat belts, Texas America’s next megalopolis is in the making as we speak…all that and then some today on the Texas Standard:
Doug Dorst
Doug Dorst is a wonder at words and worlds. He’s a master of bringing the known and unknown, the mundane and the strange, into immediate proximity to one another is such a way that the line begins to fade. Whether it’s insecure police officers encountering restless ghosts romping through northern California in his debut novel Alive in Necropolis, or the dark inner lives of surf gurus and cake sculptors in his short story collection The Surf Guru, or the wild labyrinth voices, artifacts, and nightmarish locales of S., Dorst mingles nightmares and fantastical visions with earthy, recognizable emotions.
It’s an absolute pleasure to chat books and writing with Doug Dorst on this edition of The Write Up.
In 2009, Alive in Necropolis was awarded the Emperor Norton Award, and was a runner up for the Shirley Jackson Award, the IAFA/Crawford Award, and the PEN/Hemingway Award. It made the Editor’s Choice list in The New York Times Book Review and was named one of the year’s best books by Amazon. The book was also chosen as San Francisco’s 2009 One City One Book selection.
He followed up his success with the beautiful and haunting story collection The Surf Guru, which also landed on the Editor’s Choice list in The New York Times Book Review and was a Rumpus Book Club pick.
Not long after, director and producer J.J. Abrams picked him out to pen a novel in which the story would be found in the margins. Dorst crafted S., a complex but highly accessible book filled with handwritten notes in the text, loose napkins and postcards between the pages, and mysteries that stretch beyond the final chapter. The book is a marvel – a thrill for any lover of the printed word and fan of puzzles.
Dorst is an accomplished playwright, essayist, and, believe it or not, a three-time Jeopardy champion.
In our conversation we talk through his approach to writing, including writing habits, struggles, and how he finds his way into a story. We talk about the pressure of deadlines and joy of the blank page.
Doug Dorst is a celebrated teacher of creative writing who helps run the Texas State MFA program in San Marcos. He talks enthusiastically about his students and the feel of the workshop.
It is a thrill to have Doug Dorst on The Write Up. He is a pleasure to talk with – or just to listen to. The depth of his voice is matched only by the depth of his soul. So please join us as Doug Dorst, with charming humility, shares his passion for craft, teaching, and above all, storytelling
Mojo Nixon // Kat Edmonson // Aaron Behrens
This Song — Mojo Nixon, Kat Edmonson, Aaron Behrens
Welcome to the first ever “This Song” podcast! This week we have three amazing artists!
Mojo Nixon: The rock musician, DJ, lover of Elvis and natural born iconoclast talks about why “Sweet Soul Music” by Arthur Conley is the song that still makes him feel like an exuberant 10-year-old.
Kat Edmonson: Fresh off the release of her new record “The Big Picture,” the former Austinite talks about how Henry Mancini’s “Peter Gunn” inspired her recording of “Rainy Day Woman.”
Aaron Behrens: The former Ghostland Observatory singer has struck out his own with Aaron Behrens and the Midnight Stroll He talks about how when he was a kid, Curtis Mayfield’s “We People Darker Than Blue” from the Dead Presidents Volume 2 soundtrack opened his eyes to the possibilities of music.
Our intro and outro music is “Mahout” from the local Austin band Hardproof Afrobeat.
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