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News
Pence Says GOP Needs to Rediscover Its Conscience
On the evening of June 10, in front of an audience of hundreds at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library, former Vice President Mike Pence said that he believes the Grand Old Party needs to rediscover its conscience. There’s been a culture shift within the Republican Party and “the populist right” over Donald Trump and…
City Council Considers a November Bond Election
Mayor Kirk Watson definitely does not want a bond election this November. It looks like it might happen anyway. In one of its last votes before heading out on summer break, Austin City Council approved a measure on May 28 that changes city policy to make an election on a new bond possible. Council also…
UT Fires KUT’s Debbie Hiott After Festival Disputes
Shockwaves have been felt through the media ecosystem of Texas with the announcement that Debbie Hiott, general manager of Austin NPR stations KUT and KUTX, had been fired with no notice by the University of Texas. The announcement was made to staff on June 15 via an email sent by Anita Vangelisti, interim dean of…
The Week’s Biggest News in Brief: June 11-17
Elon Becomes First Trillionaire Ever: Your ultrarich, right-wing neighbor known for owning big tech companies and providing perplexing perspectives that dominate global headlines became the world’s first trillionaire last week. Yes, we are talking about Elon Musk. He took his company, SpaceX, public, setting the record for the largest initial public offering ever at $150…
Learning to Fly in Just Two Hours
Thirty-five feet above the Long Center in Downtown Austin, Greg Stoll was flying. Manning a 432-pound, carbon-fiber drone, Stoll took to the skies for the first time, to the awe of ogling pedestrians below. It was his 48th birthday, and instead of cake and candles, Stoll was experiencing the possible future of aviation at his…
Music
You Can Color Outside the Lines: The Promise of the Big Boys Comes to the Big Screen
Big Boys had an enduring catchphrase: “Now go start your own band!” Scrawled on posters and records, repeated at show after show, the DIY imperative was a way of life for the Austin act and, though their time together as a band was relatively short-lived and Texas-bound, the message spread. The proof has finally made…
Music Notes
Monaleo Thursday 18, Moody Center Houston rapper Monaleo was originally set to perform at Emo’s earlier this year, but unexpectedly had to cancel that show and other sold-out dates on her headlining tour due to an emergency surgery. Her solid sophomore effort, Who Did the Body, touches on a variety of topics and features an…
Arts + Culture
Earth 7 Is Deb Olin Unferth’s Science-Fiction Ode to Resilient Life
The sci-fi worlds of high school curricula and the late-century film canon are alive and well in our present tense. Their once-foreign vocabularies – driverless cars, artificial intelligence – have become household references, and their dilemmas are the subject of news headlines. Deb Olin Unferth plunges into this moment, and the many that will follow it,…
Screens
Leviticus Review: Nowhere to Run in a Small Town
Many queer awakening films seem to end where Leviticus begins, with the nerdy and awkward kid finally getting the rough-and-tumble object of their affections to accept their love and their own desires. In Adrian Chiarella’s Australian religious horror, it’s the first real interaction between trembling Niam (Joe Bird, Talk to Me) and tousle-haired tough kid…
The Death of Robin Hood Review: The Weight of Being a Legend
In the 1980s British television series Robin of Sherwood, audiences were shocked when Robin Hood was struck down by the crossbow bolts of Norman invaders. Yet he was quickly replaced by a new archer under the hood, fighting to protect the downtrodden. The purpose of the change was a practical one, as the old star…
Black Auteur Film Festival Builds on Community
A comb tugs a little too hard through a young girl’s curly hair as her eyes begin to water. It’s a small moment most viewers can understand, but one that carries a familiar sting for those who’ve experienced it themselves. That sense of audience recognition is part of what sets the Black Auteur Film Festival…
The Currents Review: Drowning in Life
What causes award-winning designer Lina (Isabel Aimé González-Sola) to calmly drop into the freezing waters of the Rhône with the clear intention of killing herself? In The Currents (Las corrientes), the new psychological study by Milagros Mumenthaler, even Lina can’t really say. After all, she has everything: a loving husband (Esteban Bigliardi) who is passionate…
Girls Like Girls Review: Endless Summer
In 2015, singer-songwriter Hayley Kiyoko released the song “Girls Like Girls.” Now, after 11 years, the song has gone through several transformations: first into a viral music video, then a novel adaptation penned by Kiyoko herself, and now her debut feature film. Girls Like Girls is a warm, melancholy, sapphic coming-of-age story that doesn’t offer…
Columns
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Taylor Swift takes the supplement L-theanine for stress and anxiety. It’s an amino acid found naturally in green, black, and white tea. In 1819, the first bicycles were introduced in the U.S. They didn’t have pedals and were called swift walkers, velocipedes, and dandy horses. The Chiko Roll is an Australian snack resembling a big…
Qmmunity: Lights, Camera, Sapphic Cinema!
Lights, camera, sapphic cinema! Two of Austin’s leaders in the lesbians-having-fun scene are combining their powers this Friday for a Juneteenth/Pride screening at Hyperreal Film Club. Carabiner Club, the sapphic cinema arm of HFC helmed by Louise Ho, and event organizers TribRelations present nightlife doc Shakedown (2018), a look back at Los Angeles’ Black lesbian…
The Luv Doc: Dog Poop Vigil
Dear Luv Doc, My wife and I had a disagreement after I caught one of our neighbors letting her dog poop on our lawn. This has been going on for a while because whenever I mow the front lawn I have to dodge dog poop in one particular corner. Until a few days ago, I…
Day Trips: City Meat Market, Giddings
City Meat Market in Giddings is about as “old school” as a Texas barbecue joint can get. You enter through the screen door on the side of the brick building. To the left is the old butcher shop which closed several years ago. Go right and you enter a small dining room that leads to…
Feedback: June 19, 2026
Falling Apart Dear Editor, Hello! I noticed that y’all have stopped using metal staples. Now, when I toss it in my car as I go from place to place, the paper goes all over and out of order! I would love it if y’all brought back metal staples. Even just one to hold it all…
United States Makes Early World Cup Statement
The first week of the 2026 World Cup delivered just about everything you could want from a tournament’s opening stanza. FIFA’s “supersize me” World Cup has already treated us hypnotized viewers with a gluttonous feast of stunning results, star-making (and star-affirming) performances, and enough narrative threads to weave a small blanket. Of the 40 (out…
Fun + Games
Free Will Astrology
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Eastern monarch butterflies migrate annually from the American Midwest to central Mexico. The individuals who start the journey from Nebraska or Wisconsin die long before they reach the oyamel fir trees of Mexico. So do their children and their grandchildren. Their great-grandchildren finish the trip, though they have never been to…
