As part of our West Texas Wonders journalism initiative, we're asking you to tell us how you and your loved ones have been affected by the pandemic.  One of the first people to respond to our callout was Lawrence Rivera, a hairstylist in Marfa. Marfa Public Radio's Diana Nguyen talked to Rivera about how his work has been impacted by the coronavirus and the changes he's considering as the pandemic wears on. Marfa hairstylist Lawrence Rivera (Courtesy of) This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. Listen to the complete interview by pressing play on the above audio player. Diana Nguyen: Lawrence, whenever the pandemic kind of was in full swing, and we were... Hosted by for KRTS

West Texas Wonders

‘The Bills Aren’t Stopping’: Marfa Hairstylist Describes Struggle To Make Ends Meet

By Sally Beauvais As we approach the end of monsoon season in West Texas, now's a good time to step outside and take a moment to appreciate the dramatic summer storm clouds that bring the majority of our region's annual rainfall, from May through September. But no matter the time of year, the cloud show is always pretty spectacular out here in Big Bend country. A cumulonimbus cloud towers over Marfa. (Ross Cashiola / West Texas Cloud Appreciation Society) Former Marfa resident Adele Powers certainly thinks so. But for her, simply looking at clouds without understanding more about them is not enough. So, as a part of her broader quest to learn more stuff about the natural ... Hosted by for KRTS

West Texas Cloud Appreciation: How Do Clouds Form, And What Are Some Identification Tips?

By Mitch Borden If you're in West Texas and have turned on your TV over the last few decades you have probably seen this on your screen: Boots flying at a spry middle-aged man, who is catching them, all while telling you the location of Pee Wee Dalton’s Boots, and trying to get you to buy a pair. Jack Mousa has been running Pee Wee Dalton's Boots for over 30 years. (Mitch Borden / Marfa Public Radio) These ads, for Pee Wee Dalton’s Boots, are quick. Thirty seconds — practically on the dot. Pee Wee Dalton, the man in the commercial, talks quickly (sometimes in English and other times in Spanish). It's obvious he's putting a lot of energy into his sales pitch and that he w... Hosted by for KRTS

With A Good Gimmick And Catchphrase, One Man Made A Name For Himself In The West Texas Boot Game

By Sally Beauvais If you've spent any time waiting for the train to arrive at the Amtrak station in Alpine, you may have noticed it, too: a telephone pole, sticking clear through the pitched roof of a warehouse on the other side of the tracks -- as if it just grew there, like a tree. The former Big Bend Wool and Mohair warehouse is now owned by True Value, a local hardware store. (Sally Beauvais / Marfa Public Radio) The pole doesn't appear to be connected to any kind of system, and there aren't any other poles in the immediate area that resemble it. Alpine resident Mike Green asked West Texas Wonders what it's doing there. This photo from 1945 -- the year the warehouse ... Hosted by for KRTS

Why Is There A Telephone Pole Sprouting Through The Roof Of A Building In Alpine?

By Sally Beauvais Deana Haggag -- who visited Marfa from Chicago with a group of friends late last year -- has almost always lived in big cities. And the night sky in West Texas left a big impression on her. "I remember that I had never seen stars like that in my life," she said. Haggag and her friends went to a Star Party at McDonald Observatory -- where they ended up staying late and spending some one-on-one time with the guides. As they looked up into the Milky Way from the Davis Mountains, staff told the group about galaxies billions of light years away. "And that's where my brain kept being like, 'Oh my goodness, if this is the universe you're in, and this is how you think about... Hosted by for KRTS

Does Looking At Distant Galaxies Give Astronomers A More Chill Perspective On Life?

By Sally Beauvais You may know the iconic species of cactus by its towering physical stature -- its crooked arms, many ribs, and spiny flesh. Or, you may be more intimately familiar with its cartoonish likeness, appearing on countless postcards, motel signs, murals, Tex-Mex menus (and, yes, even radio station logos) associated with Texas and the American West. The saguaro cactus. The problem? The sagauro is native only to the Sonoran Desert, which does not include Texas. That's why Kendall Gerdes, a professor at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, asked West Texas Wonders: Why do Texans use saguaro cacti as a symbol of all things Texas when they don't grow here? Gerdes is... Hosted by for KRTS

Why Do Texans Put Saguaro Cacti On Everything When They Don’t Grow Here?

If you do much highway driving in Texas, it's a familiar sight: old, rusted trucks packed to the gills with toys, motor oil, textiles, and building materials traveling down the interstate. Sometimes, they're hauling an additional truck -- "IN TOW" spelled out in painter's tape on the rear window. Where do the trucks come from, and where are they headed? Are the drivers scrapping them, selling them or something else? That's what a listener from Alpine asked West Texas Wonders recently. Conveniently, former Marfa Public Radio reporter Lorne Matalon looked into this very question back in 2015, after he met a group of Guatemalan men on a stop along their journey back to Central Amer... Hosted by for KRTS

What’s The Deal With All The “In Tow” Junk Cars On The Interstate In Texas?

Listener Josh Knight asked West Texas Wonders whether the meteor crater in Odessa was actually produced by a crash, and, if so, what ecological impact that collision might have had. Marfa Public Radio looked to Nature Notes for the answer. The reporting led to unexpected places – and as far as the asteroid belt. Thanks to Knight for submitting this question. Five miles west of Odessa, a 600-foot-wide circular hole marks the West Texas landscape. It's shallow  – just 15 feet deep. The Odessa Meteor Crater is a subtle feature, but it tells an explosive story – with truly cosmic implications. “Trying not to appear in the least excited before these cow-men is a job, to say ... Hosted by for KRTS

The Odessa Meteor Crater: A Subtle Feature Tells a Cosmic Story

The Rambling Boy teams up with Marfa Public Radio's Sally Beauvais in an attempt to answer some of the tough history questions that have been submitted to West Texas Wonders. Susan Kirr of Marfa is curious why several of the old houses on Sacramento Street have two front doors. Austin Fay of Marfa wants to know when the last bighorn sheep was seen in the Big Bend. David A. Dunn of Oakland, Mississippi asks how the Toe Nail Trail, which runs from Christoval to Fort McKavett, got its name. Trisha Runyan of Presidio says she grew up with stories of buried treasure dropped from wagons carrying gold and supplies between San Antonio and Chihuahua, and she and her friends used to... Hosted by for KRTS

Front Doors, Bighorn Sheep, Buried Treasure And The Toe Nail Trail With The Rambling Boy

By Mitch Borden It doesn’t take much to see the Permian Basin’s economy is doing pretty well right now. Just look at Midland and Odessa, the two cities’ unemployment rate is around two percent, wages are high and property values are rising. It won’t be a surprise to anyone the reason for this is oil, and if you’re working in the industry you may be doing pretty well. But all of this led one listener to submit this question to our West Texas Wonders series: “If you don’t work in the oil field in Odessa, how screwed are you?” Before launching into this question, Marfa Public Radio asked around to see whether people agreed and the short answer: it depends. T... Hosted by for KRTS

“How Screwed Are You” If You Don’t Work In Oil In The Permian Basin? It Depends.

Rachel Maxwell of Alpine wants to know what the highest level of education the Burro Lady achieved was. Harry Hudson of Dallas wants to know how Mrs. Kerr of Fort Stockton's marriage proposal related to rainfall. Gretchen Coles of Marfa wonders what route Old Ft. Davis Road followed from Marfa to Fort Davis when it was built -- according to her plat map, it included the street she lives on. Phoenix Navidson of Marfa is curious about why there are so many old gas stations in town. On this episode of The Rambling Boy, Lonn teams up with Marfa Public Radio's Sally Beauvais to answer some more of our listeners questions about esoteric regional history. These questions came to us via West... Hosted by for KRTS

The Burro Lady, Rainfall and Marriage, Old Roads And Gas Stations With The Rambling Boy

Listeners Linda Beranek, Guadalupe Espinoza, and Josh Knight are among many Marfa Public Radio listeners who have submitted questions about esoteric local history to West Texas Wonders. So we turned to resident historian Lonn Taylor, also known as The Rambling Boy, to answer their questions about: the story behind the Sierra Madera Astrobleme signs between Fort Stockton and Marathon, whether the Davis Mountains State Park Indian Lodge is haunted, and how true it could be that Hotel Settles in Big Spring was once home to a brothel. Hosted by for KRTS

An Astrobleme, And Hotel History With The Rambling Boy

Listener Ken Richards has always noticed the unique fragments and features of the Big Bend. "I assume some of that, a lot of that, moved around by earthquake,” says Richards. “But I'm wondering if it's seismically active now.” West Texas Wonders teamed up with Nature Notes to find the answer. We don't think “Texas” and “earthquakes.” But the answer to Richards' question is yes: tectonic forces that shaped the mountainous Trans-Pecos landscape are still at work. And now there's another factor: hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is leading to small quakes from Monahans to the edges of the Davis and Guadalupe mountains. Scientists say these tectonic and human-made force... Hosted by for KRTS

Faulting and Fracking: Exploring the History of Earthquakes in West Texas

By Mitch Borden Today we’re diving into a question from our West Texas Wonders series and this one is taking us to the Permian Basin. Sarah Ross Kelliher, a librarian at the Midland Centennial Library, asked us to get to the bottom of the saying, “For every bar in Odessa there’s a church in Midland.” This phrase is pretty significant for Ross Kelliher because it's the reason her family originally moved to Midland instead of Odessa in the ‘90s. So we dispatched Marfa Public Radio’s Mitch Borden to find out if there’s any truth to the local saying or is it just talk. So, let’s cut to the chase. How accurate is the saying, “for every bar in Odessa there’s ... Hosted by for KRTS

How Accurate Is The Saying, “For Every Bar In Odessa There’s A Church In Midland?”

By Sally Beauvais More than a fifth of the people who call the vast Big Bend region of West Texas home are 65 or older, according to census data from 2016. And many of them, at one point or another, will have to leave to seek healthcare. Marfa resident Suzanne Dungan says as she loses more and more friends and relatives in the area, it makes her sad to realize that many aren't getting the help they need at the end of their lives.  Dungan lost her husband in January of 2018, after a battle with dementia and prostate cancer. And they traveled almost 500 miles away to give him a comfortable end of life. "We have 3 counties and an aging population," says Dungan. "And you would think tha... Hosted by for KRTS

Without Hospice, Who Gets To Die In The Big Bend?

West Texas Wonders is a podcast driven by YOUR questions. Here's how it works: you, our listeners, tell us what you're curious about in West Texas -- silly or serious, big or small, from our people to our geography to our oddities and entities -- and with your help, Marfa Public Radio embarks on a journey to investigate and answer. Come along for the ride! Submit your question online at marfapublicradio.org/curious.

hubhopper

West Texas Wonders

hubhopper