Cover Story
Laura Lit’s Abstract Creatures Take Over the Contemporary
When Laura Lit squeezes her eyes shut, a familiar yet whimsically strange world springs out of darkness. With a squiggle or a pop, her colorful abstractions hatch into existence – first in the artist’s head, and eventually in her East Austin studio. Some take wavy forms dotted with smooth bumps; others twist into optical illusions…
News
City Council Punts Contract Debate While OK’ing Widely Approved Investments
Last week’s Sept. 10 City Council meeting was not polarizing, depressing, perplexing, or even that interesting. For a brief moment, it was like Austin was a normal city. That sense of normalcy was made possible by the exclusion of the only item on the agenda that might have engendered dissension – a proposal to approve…
Riding the Texas Eagle Between Austin and San Antonio
On a Sunday night, nearly 50 passengers, carting luggage, briefcases, and bicycles, stood in line to board the Texas Eagle, Amtrak’s train running from Chicago to San Antonio. The rail makes just one round trip a day from Austin to San Antonio, leaving San Antonio early in the morning and returning late at night. On…
Future of Texans’ Access to Abortion Pills Uncertain
The 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals heard a lawsuit last Wednesday, Sept. 9, that threatens patient access to mifepristone, a pill widely used to treat miscarriages and in medication abortions in combination with misoprostol, in Texas and every state in the country. Louisiana’s attorney, Jorge Aguiñaga, argued on behalf of the state against the…
The Week’s Biggest News in Brief: Sept. 10-16
Pardon His (Racist) French: After Texas Longhorn football’s thrilling come-from-behind win over Ohio State on Saturday, Republican railroad commissioner candidate Bo French launched a flagrantly racist attack on University of Texas students. “I heard UT graduation this year looked like this,” French wrote in response to an image of students of South Asian descent celebrating…
Location and Income Remain a Factor for Measles Vaccination Rates in Austin Area Schools
In late August, Pennsylvania confirmed the deaths of two children in measles-associated cases, the first deaths linked to the disease in that state in 35 years. Texans know that scenario well. Last year, two children died during a measles outbreak in Texas that included hundreds of cases and dozens of hospitalizations. Now, measles has reached…
Music
Music Notes
Chief Keef Friday 18, Rivière In 2012, Chief Keef sent shockwaves throughout hip-hop when he burst into the national spotlight as a 16-year-old. With breakout songs “I Don’t Like” and “Love Sosa,” the influential Chicagoan’s direct, bold lyrics over dark, trap-esque production helped popularize the drill subgenre of rap that later spawned a Brooklyn spinoff.…
Arts + Culture
A Pandora’s Box of a Recipe Box
The front porch is basically the symbol of Southern hospitality, the ideal locale to socialize on warm Louisiana nights. In The Recipe Box, it’s all that and more. For Austin Rainbow Theatre’s regional premiere of Del Shores’ latest work, scenic designer Kevin Brown has crafted an absolute dream of a front porch at Ground Floor…
Setting Sail for New Adventures With Treasure Island Reimagined
If any two artists sum up Austin’s theatrical wild streak, it would be writer/director/actor Jason Neulander and sound effects foley artist Buzz Moran, and the two have become inseparable. “We’re 30 years and one month into our working relationship,” Neulander said. They’re celebrating that history of collaboration with the debut of their newest show together,…
Steve Sarkisian, Arch Manning Spoil UT Victory With Disrespectful Behavior Toward Female Reporter
The University of Texas football team captured one of the biggest and most dramatic regular season wins in program history Saturday night, coming back from down 23-3 in the fourth quarter to defeat the then-No. 1-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes, 24-23, at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium. Unfortunately, in the aftermath of what should have been an eminently…
Screens
Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger Review: It’s Not Just Rock & Roll
Fathers and sons united in song. Girlfriends hugging and crying. A lone lad standing post-show, red-faced and awestruck, as a stadium of 80,000 begins to clear out. In a sea of Adidas bucket hats and pints of Guinness, these are the images memorialized, with dramatic flair and vibrant color, in Oasis: Don’t Look Back in…
Columns
The Luv Doc: A Treacherous Allegation
Dear Luv Doc, Been seeing a new guy for the last few months after a long (15-year) marriage that ended in divorce. This guy is an ex too. We have similar stories with similar outcomes. Now that we have been dating awhile, I have become more attached than I thought I might be, but he…
Day Trips: Matt Tumlinson’s Murals, Rankin
The murals of Rankin should be seen on the way to somewhere else. As interesting and fun as the wall-sized paintings are, there’s nothing else to see in the windblown town in the depths of West Texas. By the time you get to Rankin, the horizon is a featureless line in the distance and the…
Feedback: September 18, 2026
Book Ban Conversation Continues Dear Editor, I’m grateful to Ben Hartman for taking the time to read and respond to my Aug. 27 op-ed (“Radicalization of Household Pets,” Feedback, Sept. 11). In answer to his pointed questions, my initial exposure to Mein Kampf came roughly at age 9 in Hebrew School, where I also viewed Triumph…
The Unheralded Veteran Keeping Austin FC’s Season Alive
It took Austin FC nearly half a calendar year from the start of the 2026 MLS regular season on February 21 to finally win its first road game in Seattle on August 19. Apparently, the Verde and Black were just waiting patiently for their chance to pillage in the Pacific Northwest, because the club has…
Qmmunity: Not So Fairest In the Land
Last week, Senate candidate James Talarico said on Fox News he opposed trans athletes playing in girls’ sports “if it risks safety or fairness.” This phrasing is, of course, completely asinine; being that sports are based entirely around physical advantages and disadvantages, how do trans bodies “risk fairness” any more than particularly tall or strong…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
In military terms, a klick (also spelled “click”) is one kilometer. Elmer Fudd had a speech impediment called rhotacism. He pronounced the letters “R” and “L” as “W.” In ancient times, purple dye was hard to come by, which is why purple clothing was often associated with royalty. The Phoenicians discovered a method to make…
Finding the Cosmic Groove
They say you should never mix business and family. Brothers Chris and Brian Gilbert soundly ignored this advice when they founded Cosmic Cowboy Smoke Shop. From the outside, the shop evokes the Southwestern Pueblo architecture you might find in New Mexico. “We didn’t want to look like a smoke shop from the outside,” Chris told…
Fun + Games
Free Will Astrology
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): If I were writing this horoscope for the Gun Lovers’ Gambling Porn website, I might counsel my Virgo readers to maintain strict control over their wickedness, debauchery, and decadence. Why? Because now is a time when vices and sins are even more likely than usual to sow chaos and spawn big…
