TOM ZIGAL | ART | Carlos Lowry’s portrait gallery for our time

Posted on August 8, 2023 by Thorne Dreyer

La Peña Presents:

Rastros Inolvidables / Unforgettable Traces
Paintings by Carlos Lowry, August 13-September 11, 2023

Opening Reception:
Sunday, August 13, 2023 from 5 to 7 p.m.
Live Music by Trio Tiburón
La Peña is located at 237 Congress Avenue, Austin, Texas 78701

By Tom Zigal | The Rag Blog | August 8, 2023

I’ve known Carlos Lowry as a friend and co-conspirator for 45 years, and he continues to surprise me, inspire me, and challenge me to explore the amazing, complex warren of his passions and fascinations. Mostly politics, music, and film, but I’ve also seen him cheering ringside in a crowd of millennials at a pro wrestling match. Trying to keep up with his intellectual and artistic pursuits is like trying to grasp a common thread that stitches together all the incredible images in Rastros Inolvidables/Unforgettable Traces. You’re gonna need to Google.

In this new exhibition, Carlos is not only paying tribute to the revolutionaries, pop stars, and legendary figures who intrigue him, he’s inviting us to educate ourselves and embrace the fullness of history and share his personal admiration for Emma and the pecan shellers, the daring New Wave filmmakers, and even an old cowboy named Top Hat you won’t find on Wikipedia or a Facebook page. Each colorful image is a world unto itself that beckons us to activate our courage, to defy brutality and despotism, and yet to enjoy the catharsis and uplifting wonders of art and music. This is a portrait gallery for our time. Not a preening procession of chancellors and kings, but the heroines and heroes and forgotten ones who intrigue Carlos Lowry and inhabit his fertile imagination. And now they are our icons as well.

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ALICE EMBREE | VERSE | The brutality of August

Posted on August 1, 2023 by Thorne Dreyer

The clock was stopped at 11:48 a.m. I took this photo the day they dedicated the memorial.

On August 1, many of us remember the 1966 University of Texas tower shooting.  Fifty years later, in 2016, the University of Texas in Austin finally honored the victims of that mass shooting with a ceremony.  The clock was paused.  A bagpipe player led a solemn march from the main mall of the campus to the site where a memorial plaque was dedicated.  Keith Maitland’s movie Tower honored the heroism shown by many that day.  This poem, written in 2012, refers to Claire Wilson James, a survivor of the shooting.

The brutality of August

I try to fill the birdbath each day
One day missed and it becomes bone dry
Birds perch on its lip and leave
Dismayed

The rosemary needs water
Her leaves begin to close,
The tips of fronds turn down
As though they have given up.

Not as bad as last year, we say.

But in July I begin to dread August
To fear the searing heat
That leeches moisture from my skin
Turns ground cover into dust.

And I think of August 1, 1966
Forty-six years ago.

Claire hit by Whitman’s bullet
Her partner lying dead beside
Her baby stilled inside her

On the university mall
Beneath the tower still raining bullets
With its slogan “ye shall know the truth”

We were so innocent before that day
Before we learned to fear August.

Alice Embree
Austin, Texas

This poem first appeared in Looking Glass, a collection of poems by Alice Embree, published in 2018, by the New Journalism Project.

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LAMAR HANKINS | EDUCATION & DIVERSITY | SCOTUS majority misunderstands benefits of college in its recent affirmative action decision.

Posted on July 27, 2023 by Thorne Dreyer
United States Supreme Court Building. Original image from Carol M. Highsmith, Library of Congress Collection / raw pixel / Creative Commons.

By Lamar Hankins | The Rag Blog | July 27, 2023

Listen to Thorne Dreyer‘s interview with Lamar Hankins on Rag Radio at 2 p.m., Friday, July 28, 2023, on KOOP 91.7 in Austin or stream at KOOP.org.

Six members of the Supreme Court clearly demonstrated their lack of understanding of the purposes of higher education in their recent decision about affirmative action in colleges and universities, specifically at Harvard and the University of North Carolina.  (See Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina, two cases decided together.)

While it is shameful that Harvard, the intellectual prototype for university education, discriminated against Jews, African-Americans, and now Asians (an offensively broad and unspecific category) in admission, doing nothing about such discrimination should not be acceptable to anyone.  Yet the Supreme Court majority leaves little room for remedies.  Indeed, the Court majority has no interest in such matters, ignoring that the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted to end discrimination against slaves and their progeny by prohibiting the states from depriving any person of “life, liberty, or property, without due process of law” and from denying anyone within a state equal protection under the law

Many universities have followed practices that create the opposite of fairness and equality. 

But many universities have followed practices that create the opposite of fairness and equality.  So long as universities and other institutions practice legacy admissions, we will have discrimination in favor of whites.  So long as athletic skill is placed above academic achievement in awarding admission to a university, the lie of academic excellence will be exposed.  Further, there are preferences for the children of high-dollar donors and faculty.  Perhaps, as some have suggested, diversity can be achieved by using the demographic data of income, family wealth, and neighborhood impoverishment, along with academic competence.  If so, this remedy has yet to be demonstrated.

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BRUCE MELTON | CLIMATE | It’s not the heat… The difference today with climate change is duration.

Posted on July 20, 2023 by Thorne Dreyer

Is it time to rent out Texas?

By Bruce Melton | The Rag Blog | July 21, 2023

Listen to Thorne Dreyer’s interview with Bruce Melton on Rag Radio at 2 p.m., Friday, July 21, 2023, on KOOP 91.7 in Austin or stream at KOOP.org.

It’s not the heat, it’s the warming beyond evolutionary boundaries.

There’s a quote that has been around forever, variously worded and attributed to many. The origin of the story seems to be General Philip Sheridan in San Antonio after the Civil War: “If I owned Texas and all Hell, I would rent out Texas and live in Hell.”

It’s always been blisteringly hot in Texas. In Austin, we have not set a new all-time temperature record since 2012 at 112 degrees, which was a tie from 2003. We hit 2009 a half dozen times (+/-) in the 20th century, including 2017, 2019, 1923, and 1925
(+/-).

The difference today with climate change is duration. In the 20th century we had on average about 10-to-11 days at 100 or above every year. In 2019 the five-year average was 40 days and since 2022 the five-year average has been 47 days. In 2011 of course we endured 90 days at 100 or above, so there is a lot of natural variability. In 2021 we only had 12 days above.

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RICHARD CROXDALE | TEXAS HISTORY | The battle of Waller Creek: The felling of the Erwin Drum

Posted on June 20, 2023 by Thorne Dreyer

In the Movement Folk Tales, Frank Erwin plays the role of the evil stepmother.

Frank Erwin Monument

Frank Erwin monument by Jim Franklin, The Rag, October 28, 1969.

By Richard Croxdale | The Rag Blog | June 20, 2023

The Rag Blog is cross-posting a piece of history published by People’s History in Texas (PHIT). 

Frank Erwin currently has a huge basketball and performing arts stadium named in his honor — The Frank Erwin Center.  The University of Texas is going to blow it up in 2024.

Some older political activists are gleeful.  They might even go down to the Texas State Cemetery and have a seance over his grave.  They may even dance a jig of victory.

In the Movement Folk Tales, Frank Erwin plays the role of the evil stepmother, the wicked witch, the troll under the bridge. Rather than having a stadium named after him, some might say that a more appropriate statue of him would be a troll under the Waller Street Bridge.  Since the stadium it is going to be blown up, and Waller Creek has been cleaned up, maybe there still is hope for the Erwin troll statue.

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ALLEN YOUNG | TELEVISION | In defense of drag queens

Posted on June 2, 2023 by Thorne Dreyer

A review of ‘AJ and the Queen’ and a lot more.

Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

By Allen Young | The Rag Blog | June 2, 2023

Drag queens have recently become the target of right-wing politicians in several Republican-dominated states, and while I’ve never been a drag queen and have seen only a few drag shows, I feel moved to write something on this topic.

I’m a gay men with decades of experience in the gay community and a strong feminist consciousness, and I also like to think I have a  healthy sense of humor and the ability to avoid stifling dogma.

Full disclosure: I have put on women’s dresses a few times myself.

Full disclosure: I have put on women’s dresses a few times myself to participate in a party or because a friend coaxed me into it to prove I’m not “up tight.” Back in the 1970s, when bearded men like me wore dresses, it was called “genderfuck.” I also tried my mother’s lipstick once —   it tasted bad and that was the end of that.

Before further commenting on drag queens in the news of the day, I want to call your attention to AJ and the Queen, a relevant and entertaining TV show. While searching on Netflix for something to watch, my partner and I came upon a series starring RuPaul, certainly America’s best-known drag queen.

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ALLEN YOUNG | HISTORY | Mixing the tequila of Cinco de Mayo with the blood of Kent State: A quirky history essay

Posted on May 17, 2023 by Thorne Dreyer

We look back at two days in May.

National Guard at Kent State University. Image from Zinn Education Project.

By Allen Young | The Rag Blog | May 17, 2023

Sí, mis amigos, Cinco de Mayo is a well-known date (that’s May 5 in English), and of course it’s a time for margaritas (made with tequila), cerveza (that’s beer in Spanish) and your favorite enchiladas. This article is about May 5 and also about May 4, a date that is probably not as familiar to Rag Blog readers. 

More about May 4 in the second half of this blog entry, but so you won’t be scratching your head or going to Google, I’ll tell you right now that on May 4, 1970, four anti-war protesters at Kent State University in Ohio were killed by National Guard soldiers.

“Ah, yes, Kent State! I remember that!” you might be saying. But first, please read on about Cinco de Mayo.

It’s now the middle of May, and there’s a good chance earlier in the month that you were aware of Cinco de Mayo, and perhaps you celebrated with Mexican food and drinks. Many people did, in both the USA and in Mexico. I found references on the internet to the amount of tequila and beer consumed, as follows:

According to the Washington DC-based Beer Institute, Cinco de Mayo is one of the biggest American holidays for beer sales, especially at restaurants and bars. In 2022, volume sales were eight percent higher the week of Cinco de Mayo compared to an average week throughout the year. A 2013 Nielsen study of beer consumption found that more beer was consumed during Cinco de Mayo than during the Super Bowl.

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CLIFF WILKIE | MEMOIR | In a little cafe just the other side of the border

Posted on May 1, 2023 by Thorne Dreyer

It all happened in Ciudad Acuna, Mexico, on March 30, 1969.

La Raza Unida Chicano Rights March, Del Rio, Texas, March 30, 1969. Photo by Cliff Wilkie.

By Cliff Wilkie | The Rag Blog | April 30, 2023

It was just like in the Marty Robbins song, “in a little cafe just the other side of the border.”  We were drunk.  Three college kids in our early twenties, from the University of Texas at Austin, sitting in a ratty bar in Ciudad Acuna on the Mexican side of the border across from Del Rio, Texas.  Despite all appearances, we actually were there for a cause.  We were young, passionately idealistic, and there for the cause of “La Raza Unida!”  The next day there was to be a huge civil rights march to protest the beatings of several Chicanos by the Texas Rangers and the unjust firings of several Vista volunteers.  Along with many others, we had come a long ways to be a part of it.  We were fired up… as well as drunk.

My two friends, Antonio and Mario, were Chicanos.  U.S. citizens, born and raised in Texas, children whose parents were born and raised in Mexico.  Their parents had somehow made it across the border  to grab a piece of the American Dream.  They had surely raised their sons to believe they could somehow be whatever they dreamed, limited only by the scope of their dreams and their willingness to work hard to make them come true.  I was the only gringo in the bunch.  We three had become good friends through our common idealism and sharing rent and expenses in an old Victorian house on a street lined with stately pecan trees near the University.

We studied different things, but we all shared a common passion for justice. 

We studied different things, but we all shared a common passion for justice for descendants of Latin Americans who found themselves living under the somewhat rent and tattered aegis of America’s claim of Freedom for All, especially the so-called tired and hungry masses of the immigrants who had crossed the border into the United States in search of a better life for themselves and their families.  But it was 1969, and many of us in this country now clearly realized that the dream was pretty much a sham.  Maybe not completely, in fact we were pretty sure we could fix things, make it live up to its promise, but we knew there was a lot to do, and that, at least for now, the shelter of Freedom was a torn and tattered umbrella that leaked an awful lot of cold rain onto those below, especially those who hadn’t been blessed to have been born a gringo.  

I fancied myself a photographer.  Actually, I more than fancied myself a photographer.  I was strongly committed to photojournalism.  I envisioned myself as a gringo who would be able to show the world the plight of Mexican-Americans in my country, expose the lies, show all the other white folks what it was really like to be Chicano.  I spoke Spanish very well by then, and I had known many Mexicans as well as Chicanos.  My heart was with them.  I felt I could do something, and I was headed that way. 

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ALLEN YOUNG | BOOKS | ‘To Tell the Truth: My Life as a Foreign Correspondent’ by Lewis M. Simons

Posted on April 21, 2023 by Thorne Dreyer

Valuable insights into journalism offer a very enjoyable read.

By Allen Young | The Rag Blog | April 21, 2023

Reading this book has provided me with a unique experience that is both intellectual and emotional, and I think it could be the same for others. I recommend this newspaper reporter’s memoir with considerable enthusiasm, and this review will explain why.

On an intellectual level, I learned a lot of interesting facts and history from the pages of this book. On an emotional level, I became truly excited and even shocked as I read about the author’s work covering the horrors of war and poverty in numerous Asian nations over several decades. 

The author’s writing style makes both aspects truly enjoyable — I was neither bored nor disgusted. I confess to being horrified at times, as I was confronting reality, that is,  the “truth” in the book’s title.

For most of the last half of the twentieth century, Simons (usually accompanied by his wife and children) lived in various Asian countries and covered events there for newspaper readers everywhere. It was his job, and given his devotion to the profession and to his talent, it’s worthy of respect for its high quality — and especially the very intentional honesty.

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ALICE EMBREE | BOOKS | ‘The Ad Hoc Livers’ by Jim Simons

Posted on April 17, 2023 by Thorne Dreyer

Simons’ book is a great trip down memory lane with a few name changes to protect the not-so-innocent.

By Alice Embree | The Rag Blog | April 17, 2023

Jim Simons’ novel, Ad Hoc Livers, is now available on Amazon in paperback or on Kindle. The fictional protagonist, Roy Coobie, is an Austin lawyer with a struggling solo practice.  Coobie, on the verge of eviction from his office for non-payment of rent, can’t help but ponder his career path.

Coobie’s favorite pondering places are beer halls, lounges, and Mexican restaurants.  Simons’ book is a great trip down memory lane with a few name changes to protect the not-so-innocent.  It is set in the years before Austin became the 11th largest city in the country.  In Simons first book of fiction, he provides a moveable feast of remembrance.

Coobie spends a lot of evenings drinking with other lawyers and malcontents at the 1866, a German beer hall that resembles Austin’s Scholz Beer Garten.  He usually starts his days with huevos rancheros at his favorite Mexican restaurant.  He also enjoys Southern cuisine at an East Austin Grill and skinny-dips with two women in Barton Springs.  One of the women is a former client, sometimes-secretary, and occasional lover.  And he worries about how to keep his office afloat with poor clients who can’t pay the bills and the occasional personal injury case against insurance companies that can pay the bills.

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LAMAR HANKINS | POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY | ‘Woke’ attacks promote inequality and injustice

Posted on April 13, 2023 by Thorne Dreyer

Not to be ‘woke’ is to willfully ignore reality.

Rip Van Winkle by Phil Venditti / Flickr / Creative Commons.

By Lamar Hankins | The Rag Blog | April 13, 2023

Right-wingers, the emotionally damaged, and “lazy ideologues” who hurl being “woke,” like an epithet studded with sharp spikes to wound the object of their disdain, appear not to appreciate the word’s context or meaning.

The writer Bijan C. Bayne recently wrote in a WAPO essay that “wokeness” was originally used to explain an awareness that developed among “U.S. Blacks who had been mentally conditioned into philosophical slumber by centuries of oppression, intimidation, miseducation and social frustration.”  He cited 1930s usage of the concept by the Nation of Islam and Marcus Garvey, followed by Huddie Ledbetter (Black people “best stay woke, keep their eyes open”–1938), Malcolm X, and others later, including by Martin Luther King, Jr., in a 1965 commencement address at Oberlin College in which he said: “There is nothing more tragic than to sleep through a revolution… The great challenge facing every individual graduating today is to remain awake.”

NYT columnist David Brooks, in 2017, applied the term broadly, out of its original context, with an unjustified mischaracterization: “To be woke is to be radically aware and justifiably paranoid. It is to be cognizant of the rot pervading the power structures.”  

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The Orange Show Presents ‘Old Weird Houston’

Posted on March 17, 2023 by Thorne Dreyer

Events include presentation by ‘Rag Blog’ editor Thorne Dreyer.

By Pete Gershon | The Rag Blog | March 17, 2023

HOUSTON — Houston at mid-century was a place where anything seemed possible, from an air-conditioned domed stadium to a monument to the orange to a trip to the moon.

On Saturday, April 1, 2023, organized in collaboration with Archivists of the Houston Area (AHA!), the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art presents a local history fair, Old Weird Houston, spotlighting oddball ephemera from collections both public and private. The Orange Show is located at 2401 Munger Street, Houston, Texas 77023.

Throughout the day area archives and individuals from across the Southeast Texas region will showcase the oldest, weirdest curiosities from their collections. Vendors will offer Houston Proud swag, bites, and beverages.

A speaking program explores the writings of hardboiled newspaper columnist Sig Byrd with Robert Kimberley; the rise and fall of counterculture rag Space City News (Space City!) featuring Thorne Dreyer; the rescue and conservation of the Hyde Park Miniature Museum (Pete Gershon); the original story of the Art Car Parade (Rachel Hecker, Susan Theis, and Pete Gershon); and a panel discussion about the Orange Show’s history and the landmark restoration effort that lies ahead (Ty and Ginny Eckley, William Martin, Susanne Theis, Pete Gershon, and Cody Ledvina).

The afternoon concludes with a set by mydolls, their first performance in several years. Take a stroll with us down some of the less-well-traveled alleys and footpaths that branch off from Houston’s memory lane. 

Learn more about architect Jeff McKissack and the Orange show here.

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