Dec. 21, 2018

Photo by John Anderson

Volume 38, Number 17

ON THE COVER:
features

Your Guide to Giving

How to donate to local nonprofits
news

A Tangled Web at Spider House

A culture of heavy drinking and late nights, alleged sexual misconduct, and a lawsuit all pull on the threads of a poisonous time at the campus-area cafe

BY SARAH MARLOFF

Austin at Large: Let’s Get Connected Again

What we can do now to prepare for the mobility future

BY MIKE CLARK-MADISON

Headlines

Quote of the Week

Civics 101

NAKED CITY

City and Precourt Sign Agreement to Bring Soccer to Town

Not whether, but when for Austin FC

BY AUSTIN SANDERS

KUT’s News Director Departs

Embattled newsroom leader Emily Donahue out after 17 years

BY MARY TUMA

Broken Glass Shuts Down Bowie High School

Vandals leave $200,000 in damage on Southwest Austin campus

BY AUSTIN SANDERS

ACC Teaches Without Textbooks

Open-source resources help keep education affordable

BY AUSTIN SANDERS

Apple Takes a $1 Billion Bite of Robinson Ranch

Tech giant heads just up the road to double its Austin footprint

BY MIKE CLARK-MADISON

Farewell and “Gracias” to Gus Garcia, Austin Trailblazer

Hispanic activist, former trustee, council member, mayor died Monday, at 84

BY MICHAEL KING

Council Says Goodbye to 2018

After tackling one last mammoth agenda, members take a powder

BY NINA HERNANDEZ

Southwest Key Faces Student Walkout

East Austin College Prep youth challenge embattled nonprofit

BY MARY TUMA

Budget Cuts, Name Changes at AISD

Union urges wait-and-see stance on funding at board meeting

BY AUSTIN SANDERS

Lawsuits Challenge Pro-Israel Loyalty Oaths

Pflugerville speech therapist challenges anti-boycott requirement in Texas law

BY MARY TUMA

food

Cooking the Whole Pig at Banger's

Move over beef, there's a new barbecue meat in town

BY DAN GENTILE

Cookbook Bar & Cafe

Downtown Central Library’s restaurant offers a mixed bag

BY MELANIE HAUPT

Food Events

music

You Can’t Judge a Book by Its Cover

Last-minute stocking stuffers on Kindle and off

Playback: My Top 100 Austin Records of 2018

Kevin Curtin picks his favorite local sounds of the year

BY KEVIN CURTIN

screens

The True Story of the Somewhat Lost Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Matthew McConaughey and Renée Zellweger star in this largely forgotten sequel

BY MARC SAVLOV

Dial Code Santa Claus Is This Year's Christmas Surprise

You better watch out for this Pere Noël

BY RICHARD WHITTAKER

What’cha Watchin’?

Editorial intern Shalavé Cawley goes over the garden wall

Film Reviews

Aquaman

The underwater superhero brings long-awaited color to DC's films

Ben Is Back

The opioid crisis invades a family Christmas in this timely drama

Bumblebee

Transformers spin-off is (checks notes) wait ... good?

If Beale Street Could Talk

Moonlight director Barry Jenkins adapts Baldwin's tale of love and racism

Mary Poppins Returns

The perfect nanny returns, the same as last time

The Mule

Clint Eastwood enters the drug war in an unexpected role

Vice

Unsubtle Dick Cheney bio-pic is the political bludgeon we deserve

Welcome to Marwen

Outsider artist's harrowing true story gets a misguided Hollywood sheen
arts & culture

ArtStartArt Helps Students Get Their First Sales

This Austin-based company helps university students break into the art market and gives art lovers a new source for original work

BY ROBERT FAIRES

Snapshot: Blue Genie Art Bazaar

Support local artisans with these last-minute gift buys

BY DAVID BRENDAN HALL

Arts Reviews

Zach Theatre's The Santaland Diaries

A new creative team energizes a Zach Theatre holiday tradition

Permanent Record's White

In James Ijames' satirical portrait of the artist as a privileged white guy, a black woman provides the most vivid and interesting shades

"Suchitra Mattai: Landfall" at grayDUCK Gallery

The artist's channeled chaos vividly explores relationships between the natural and human worlds
columns

Qmmunity

Have the merriest of merrys

BY SARAH MARLOFF

Day Trips: The Stagecoach Inn, Salado

Sam Houston slept here and so can you

BY GERALD E. MCLEOD

Luv Doc: Dog-Sitting

This gig could go south in a really ugly way

BY THE LUV DOC

Mr. Smarty Pants Knows

BY MR. SMARTY PANTS

Feedback

Letters to the editor, published daily
sports

Soccer Watch

BY NICK BARBARO

comics

This Modern World

BY TOM TOMORROW

Jen Sorensen Comics

BY JEN SORENSEN

Eyebeam

BY SAM HURT

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