Where there is water, there is life. In this casual conversation, we cover the process of researching must-swim spots across Texas, the history of these significant sites, and the importance of being good stewards to our natural swimming holes. We also cover top 5 lists, key etiquette, and the best playlists for a good summer road trip.

University of Texas Press

Julie Wernersbach and Carolyn Tracy: The Swimming Holes of Texas

What made Austin the city we know today? Eddie Wilson saw the Texas capital transform from a sleepy college town into a global purveyor of music culture, all while booking and housing seminal bands of the 1970s, serving Southern cuisine, and shilling a record-breaking amount of Lone Star beer. Hear stories about Jerry Garcia, Frank Zappa, Van Morrison, and so many more 'Keep Austin Weird' moments that helped define Austin's lifestyle, cutlure, and identity. We are joined in this conversation by Jason Mellard, the Assistant Director of the Center for Texas Music History at Texas State University–San Marcos and author of Progressive Country: How the 1970s Transformed the Texan in Popular Culture.

Eddie Wilson and Jesse Sublett: Armadillo World Headquarters

In this fascinating discussion, we explore the significance of a massive, conceptually complex piece of rock art that was painted by hunter gatherers within a week to two week period between 400 BC and 400 AD. We cover the graphic vocabulary that depicts the creation of time and the birth of the sun, how certain revelations came to the research team, and the importance of preserving these endangered murals. As the oldest known artistic expression in North America that portrays core concepts later reinterpreted by the Aztecs, the White Shaman mural is an important work, key to understanding ourselves and where we came from.

Carolyn Boyd and Jessica Lee: The White Shaman Mural

From a base camp darkroom in Vietnam to street photography in San Francisco to the political stage, this interview with Bob McNeely traces his life as a photographer and offers honest insight into Hillary’s personality and career, wrestling with both the promise of her capabilities and the problems of her political history. Hear how McNeely’s access ended abruptly in 1998 amidst scandal and how Hillary’s Senate race in 2000 foreshadowed her ability to be resilient and move on with her life.

Robert McNeely: The Making of Hillary Clinton

A Pure Solar World explores how Sun Ra was a master of jazz composition, a pioneer in electronic music, a major African American poet, and an expansively free-thinking teacher. Author Paul Youngquist talks to us about the philosophy behind Sun Ra's space music, how audiences first responded to his music and his message, and why his work deserves more attention.

Paul Youngquist: A Pure Solar World

Mando Rayo and Jarod Neece drove over 7,000 miles sampling tacos in 10 major Texas taco hubs to build a community of taco lovers. The culmination of their journey is the new indispensable guide, The Tacos of Texas. We talked to them about their road trip and the process of enlisting community leaders, knowledgeable locals, and abuelitas to delve deeper than Yelp reviews and capture authentic taco culture.

Mando Rayo and Jarod Neece: The Tacos of Texas

This enriching conversation unpacks how creating art is like raising a child, how not to suck as a creative person, and how pain should be part of becoming a healer. Hersh honors Vic, sharing her favorite memories from the road and explaining why she finally agreed to write Don’t Suck, Don’t Die. She emits so much wisdom, revealing how she learned to “crawl into” prose writing to add dimension to her music and not let "staying in the heavy" obscure hope. We also delve into the process of writing her nonfiction novel Rat Girl.

Kristin Hersh: Don't Suck, Don't Die

From the draisine to the latest carbon fiber frame, the bicycle has endured boom and bust to make a lasting impact on our lives. We talk with Margaret Guroff about how the bicycle helped to revolutionize urban infrastructure, technology, gender equality, mechanized aircraft, and more. Now that the middle class is returning to car-dominated cities, the bicycle’s future depends on getting populations other than hipsters to choose a bike over a polluting car. And what happens when self-driving cars get on the road?

Margaret Guroff: The Mechanical Horse

Texas is very innovative in a lot of ways but also holds tight to its past and its traditions. Some Texan traditions are obvious, but others took some digging, like drawing on water dousing skills to find water during contemporary droughts. We ask Andrea Valdez what research she conducted to write an authoritative how-to manual on Texas life, how she feels about certain Texas stereotypes, and why engaging in these activities enhanced her sense of self.

Andrea Valdez: How to Be a Texan

Texas women have a uniquely global brand of strength, humor, and grace. We ask non-native Texan Sarah Bird what about the culture of friendly femininity won her over, what her mother taught her, iconic Texas women like Ladybird Johnson and Molly Ivins, and what it means to hunger for the companionship of other women.

Sarah Bird: A Love Letter to Texas Women

This fascinating conversation illuminates the power, purpose, and imagery of Freemason societies in America from their origins in ancient Egyptian mystery schools to the Grand Lodge of Texas sending Buzz Aldrin to claim the moon as Texas Masonic Tranquility Lodge #2000. Adele and Webb talk about how these groups functioned in communities, how they were driven by immigrants seeking to preserve ancient traditions, and how their principles were communicated through ritualistic objects.

Lynne Adele and Bruce Lee Webb: As Above, So Below

This moving conversation wrestles with two centuries of deeply ingrained racial tension born out of Southern plantation kitchens and the journey Toni Tipton-Martin embarked upon when she started one of the world’s largest private collections of African American cookbooks.

Toni Tipton-Martin: The Jemima Code

Ray Benson speaks honestly about utilizing his ADHD in his career, being Jewish in the music world, playing for the Klu Klux Klan, and the reality that becoming a successful musician has always been a hat trick.

Ray Benson: Comin’ Right at Ya

The sociological study at the heart of Invisible in Austin seeks to correct stereotyping in similar studies that reduces people to “the drug dealer,” the single mother,” “the stripper.” The co-authors talk about tackling the politics of collaboration in academia, subjectivity, and intense debates on how to most effectively tell an individual's story.

Javier Auyero and Team: Invisible in Austin

Our conversation with Wendy explores the difficulties, rewards, and impact of translation. She discusses what’s next for the CMES Modern Middle East Literatures in Translation series and how important it is to find cultural commonalities through translated literature.

Editor on Understanding the Middle East through Translated Literature

Enjoy conversations and insights with UT Press authors in our University of Texas Press Podcast Series.

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