By Alice Embree / The Rag Blog / November 6, 2025
Many of us have worked to keep The Rag flag flying since the 2005 reunion. It’s hard to believe that was 20 years ago. We’ve kept Rag history alive with The Rag Blog, Rag Radio, and a 2016 celebratory fiftieth reunion that featured a film and a book, Celebrating The Rag: Austin’s Iconic Underground Newspaper. We’ve also been invited to University of Texas classroom presentations.
It’s great to see a new generation, inspired by the elder Rag, decide to publish a contemporary version.
Some of the Old Guard, met with the creators of a new Rag on August 23, at the home of Richard Croxdale. When Kira Small mentioned that she was majoring in pre-law and theater, and one of the OG Ragsters said, “It’s good to have theater to fall back on.”
The gathering reminded me of what is wonderful about the Rag community of yore. The quick wits were alive and well despite the prevalence of hearing aids and canes. The three University of Texas students had all the audacious energy that gave birth to the first Rag. How could we not embrace their enthusiasm?
Soon, the first issue made its debut in the campus corridors as a zine.
Although the original Rag grew up to tabloid size, it started small. The first 12 issues were on folded newsprint, about the same size as the contemporary version. What makes the new zine version newsworthy is that it so perfectly meets the moment when free speech is on the line at the University of Texas at Austin. And it does so with irreverent humor just like its predecessor. In an age overwhelmed by social media and driven by for-profit algorithms, it is charmingly analog.
Kira Small wrote under this headline in the first issue of the new Rag: “No, Social Media is NOT the New Public Square.”
Trump’s alliance with tech bros is about more than homoerotic Twitter fights and impressing Papa Peter Thiel. It’s about sweeping debate off the streets and onto social media. You can scream as loud as you want, so long as it’s into a void.
The new Rag’s humor and cartoons are reminiscent of its predecessor. A cartoon in the November 2025 issue is titled, “Governor Abbott coming soon to a bathroom near you.” A student is pulling Abbott and his wheelchair down the hall while the governor holds a hall pass and a Texas flag. If a photo is worth a thousand words, cartoons may be word millionaires.
I think the new Rag is meeting the moment with a zine that is provocative. And what it provokes is conversation and laughter. Not more screen time.
I’m sure the new Rag caught the attention of the university “powers that be,” but it garnered some great press as well.
Sasha von Olderhausen at Texas Monthly, wrote “Why UT Students Are Reviving an Underground 1960s Newspaper,” in the October 14, 2025, issue.
For more on the reincarnated Rag, read the October 15th Daily Texan article by Jack Polishook.
The new Ragstaffers say,
In the few days since we began distributing the first issue of the Rag’s revival, we’ve been totally overwhelmed by the support pouring in from around and beyond Austin… Our team is a small, self-funded band of undergrads, and we’re working hard to produce the magazine at the rate of its reception.
You can help. Learn how:
https://substack.com/@txragmag
[Alice Embree, an Austin writer and activist, is the author of Voice Lessons, published in 2021. She is an editor of Celebrating The Rag, published in 2016 and Exploring Space City!, published in 2021. She posts on Substack as well as The Rag Blog.]
Great. Build the staff of the New Old Rag. Take chances. Push buttons. Keep it going! Make mistakes and learn from them. Don’t be afraid to apologize.
Speak to wide constituencies and cast a wide net.
We need you!
The Rag is where we followed the exploits of Freak Bros, Grateful Dead visits and specials at Nothing Strikes Back on the Drag. Onward Through the Fog!
“Dark Star, Jerry!”