The Jeff Friedman Story: A First Glance

The Jeff Friedman Story: A First Glance

By Sarah Pike   Today, Austin faces a myriad of problems including rampant water issues, gentrification, and overcrowding; and like the population, these issues are only growing. However, in an alternative world, Austin might have been a different city.  It might have been a city that saw its imminent future as a booming metropolis, and instead of ignoring it’s looming […]

How Hope Blooms: A Story of Rabbi Nancy Epstein 

How Hope Blooms: A Story of Rabbi Nancy Epstein 

by Blake Herrera Imagine this: It’s Valentine’s Day. You walk into any supermarket in the state of Texas (be it H-E-B, Whole Foods, or Kroger) looking for a bouquet to give to your special someone. But wait — there is no cut flowers section! Valentine’s Day is a wash.  If you have ever bought a bunch of flowers at a […]

Black Farmers in Texas Part III

Black Farmers in Texas Part III

by Benjamin Brown Black land loss ranked among the most pressing civil rights issues of the late 20th century, and yet it remained largely unaddressed in the sphere of public policy.  Andy Welch described the Hightower Texas Department as the coming of a bright new day. “The Hightower election and administration was a big wake up. … The Texas Department […]

The Beginning of Southwest Cuisine and the Farm to Table Movement

The Beginning of Southwest Cuisine and the Farm to Table Movement

By Shereena Mathew Before the 80’s, Southwestern cuisine didn’t really have a name or a presence even in the cooking field. It was through the hard work of the Gang of Five alongside the TDA that Southwest cuisine became known nationwide. The Gang of Five, consisting of cookbook writer Anne Lindsay Greer, and chefs Stephan Pyles, Dean Fearing, Avner Samuel, […]

Black Farmers in Texas Part II

Black Farmers in Texas Part II

by Benjamin Brown When the guns of the American Civil War fell silent in May of 1865, a precarious peace settled over the United States. Ruined plantations littered the South. Millions of emancipated slaves were suddenly under federal protection. Abraham Lincoln’s party took the White House under a philosophy which celebrated the sanctity of free, dignified labor, and the forceful […]

Black Farmers in Texas

Black Farmers in Texas

by Benjamin Brown Part 1 In 1973, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz rendered clear his approach to farm policy: “get big or get out.”  It marked the latest episode in a century-long feud between Wall Street and the Main Street of agrarian America. In the wake of the Civil War, the federal government pursued a series of measures designed […]