Culture
Poet Alok Vaid-Menon on Protest Art and Immigrant Detention
“So often the way that racism operates is through patriotism. ... I actually think there’s a way to be proud of this country in terms of inclusivity and intersectionality.”
Alok Vaid-Menon has always liked to surprise people with poetry. As a high school student in College Station, they printed out poems and distributed them throug...Read More
Young Texans Keep Spelling Bees Going From Home
When the Scripps National Spelling Bee was canceled in March, two former competitors from The Woodlands stepped up to organize a virtual bee. Now, other bees are following suit.
Holothuriidae. Bonduc. Bembicid. Foeniculum. Shourav Dasari swivels his desk chair to face a computer monitor and begins scanning an enormous Excel spreadsheet,...Read More
Loon Star: Nothing to See Here, Folks
To see more political cartoons from Ben Sargent, visit our Loon Star State section, or find Observer political reporting here. Read more from the Observer:...Read More
The Texotics
As Texas landowners breed exotic animals like kudu and nilgai, they’re running a massive unplanned and unregulated natural experiment.
The Texotics As Texas landowners breed exotic animals like kudu and nilgai, they’re running a massive unplanned and unregulated natural experiment. By Asher E...Read More
What the Black Lives Matter Protests Mean for East Texas
Protests where I grew up–where lynchings and KKK marches have occurred in my lifetime–could signal a shift in the region long plagued by racial terror.
The first time I thought I knew someone famous was when I saw a man we called Byrd on television. I lit up. Byrd, a Black man I recognized as a friend of my dad...Read More
Strangest State: Bear With Us
Weird news from far-flung Texas.
SAN YGNACIO // One May night in Zapata County, a game camera at the SpinTech-Myers Ranch captured the image of a mysterious, four-legged figure. Ranch managers ...Read More
The New Ensemble
Texas’ best high school mariachi bands take the stage.
The New Ensemble Mariachi music is on the rise in Texas high schools. The state festival in Edinburg draws the best of the best. By Robyn Ross June 10, 2020 For...Read More
Texan Drag Queen Shangela Finds Drag Daughters in Small Towns in HBO’s ‘We’re Here’
HBO’s new docuseries We’re Here is a snapshot of how drag can foster queer community in rural areas across the country.
Texas-born drag queen Shangela Laquifa Wadley, also known as DJ Pierce, makes a splash in HBO’s docuseries We’re Here. Along with Bob the Drag Queen and Eur...Read More
Norma McCorvey Took the Money of the Anti-Abortion Movement and Lost Herself. ‘AKA Jane Roe’ Is Her Attempt at Atonement.
In a stunning deathbed confession, the woman who made Roe v. Wade possible tried to erase years of anti-abortion activism. But the damage has already been done.
Norma McCorvey puts on a cannula and adjusts the scarf on her head. “This is my deathbed confession,” she says. McCorvey, the woman better known as Jane Roe...Read More