Arts & Culture

How an Austin Museum Worker is Building a Legacy from Loss

byGarrett Bohannan

It was a brisk December morning in East Texas when a curious 9-year-old girl opened a JCPenney catalogue and saw that Cabbage Patch Kids was releasing their first African American doll.  Growing up, Cathy Runnels had only ever played with white dolls — Barbies with blond hair and perfect peach skin that her brothers often […]

Months After ICE Raid, Valley Flea Market Still Largely Deserted

byNatalia Rodriguez

Hallways full of families. Vendors in stalls scrambling to attend to every customer. Dance floors full of laughter and community. For decades, these scenes would play out at the Mercadome Flea Market in the Rio Grande Valley town of Alamo.
Today, those same hallways are empty. Many stalls in the flea market, or “pulga” in Spanish, are closed, and the dance floor is occupied by only a few clinging to maintain the energy that existed before Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided the market last June.
“There’s no one here because everyone is scared,” one vendor said.

For Drag Performers, Court Ruling Brings Fears of Enforcement of Restrictive New Law

byErika González

As Senate Bill 12 takes effect, drag performers and organizers in Austin are adjusting their shows, venues and creative choices amid changes to state law and its implementation.

Austin’s New Initiative Will Produce Murals and Pay the Unhoused Community for Helping to Paint Them

byIsabel Neumann

A new public-art initiative aims to beautify Austin while providing employment for the city’s growing unhoused population.
“The goal is to turn the library garage site into a city-funded program for unhoused people,” said Tiffany Kowalski, director of project and artist management for Raasin in the Sun.

Brazilian Funk, World Music’s New Darling, Hits Austin Clubs

byOisakhose Aghomo

Sometime close to midnight, as the bass to MC Joao’s “Baile de Favela” dropped, a group of people in business casual hurried across the Coconut Club’s dance floor, drinks in hand, to dance — hooked by the electric beat of Brazilian funk.
Brazilian funk is the latest Latin genre breaking out from TikToks and into the clubs – a testament to Americans’ growing interest in global music.
“I’ve been DJ’ing for maybe 12 plus years here on Sixth Street, and man, like 10 years ago, it was nothing but hip-hop and like pop, Top 40,” said Austin DJ Ray “All Day Ray”  Rivera. “You couldn’t play much Latin. You couldn’t do anything like that.”

Bouldin Creek’s Peacocks: Old Austin’s Feathered Locals

byMikhelia Williams

Long before tech bros and $8 matchas, the South Austin neighborhood of Bouldin Creek had wandering peacocks in its front yards. Nearly six decades later, the colorful birds are still strutting through driveways, shrieking at sunrise and sunning themselves on porch railings. 
And in true old-Austin, keep-it-weird fashion, most residents like it that way.
Neighbors slow to a stop on Oltorf and Fifth streets to let the peahens saunter across the street. Some even leave birdseed on their steps just in case one decides to drop by. But not everyone who moved to 78704 understood the culture when they arrived.

Rio Market

byJohn Melendez

Mingling within the aisles of Friendly Rio Market are rows of imported snacks, basic toiletries and everyday groceries essential to the residents of UT Austin’s West Campus.  However, in the center aisle, a rarer commodity can be found: local bands and artists performing live music for all ages, free of charge.  Since 2022, Rio Market […]

As a New Texas Law Clamps Down on School Libraries, ‘Librotraficantes’ Fight Back

byIsabel Neumann

Just two months after a new Texas law expanded parents’ power to challenge school library books, authors gathered at the Texas Book Festival’s Banned Book Bash to read from titles that have been banned or challenged, or which might face future restrictions. The festival’s Librotraficantes: Banned Book Bash, held Saturday at Cheer Up Charlies, brought […]

‘You’re Living in a War Zone Now’: Four Latina Writers on Life in South Texas

byNoemi Castanon

Four authors featured in the new anthology “¡Somos Tejanas!” told the Texas Book Festival Saturday that they will not be silenced in times like these, when many Latinos feel threatened. “The reason that this book was made is because women are under attack in the United States and Latinos in general are being kidnapped,” said […]

Author Shea Serrano Is Changing the Game for Independent Publishing

bySarah Gonzales

There wouldn’t be a Halfway Books if Shea Serrano had never inspected his royalty statement in the mailbox. Serrano, a critically acclaimed writer and journalist from San Antonio, thought he was receiving “free money” when he opened the check for his New York Times best seller “The Rap Yearbook.” But when Serrano sat down and […]

In a Booming City, ‘Making a Place Where We Would Want to Hang Out’ Keeps the Lights On

bySarah Gonzales

When four longtime friends maxed out their credit cards and depleted their savings accounts nine years ago to open a bar, they had no idea who would turn out to see their vision become a reality.
“The goal, the whole time as we were getting things going, is just making a place where we would want to hang out, and I mean that’s still kind of our MO,”  Mike Sanchez said.
Those four friends named the place The Little Darlin’, a South Austin staple off William Cannon Drive — one of a handful of beloved dive bars that define their neighborhoods and manage to hang on as other bars and restaurants come and go.

A Conference on UT Campus for ‘Pro-Natalists’ Draws Ire

byAlex Lamb

In April 2024, state and local police cracked down on University of Texas students protesting Israel’s invasion of Gaza, following calls for intervention by university administrators. As with protests on other college campuses, university and political leaders accused the pro-Palestinian protesters of antisemitism.
Almost a year later, one of the same groups involved in those protests, the Austin Chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, took part in another protest — this time to oppose the presence of alleged neo-Nazis and eugenicists at a conference held on the UT campus. The activists highlighted what they called a disconnect between the treatment of two groups accused of connections to antisemitic views