KUT News

Activists and many others in Austin believe the city's troubled racial climate will never improve if white people don’t have the necessary, difficult conversations to examine and confront racism. So - how do those conversations get started? As part of KUT’s ongoing coverage of race and racism in Austin, KUT's Jennifer Stayton talked recently with someone trying to spark those conversations. Caroly...

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is remembered as a hero to everyone 50 years after his assassination on April 4, 1968. But the founder of the LBJ School's Center for the Study of Race and Democracy reminds us that he was once criticized by the American press as being too subversive. We spoke to historian Dr. Peniel E. Joseph about King's legacy and how it connects with social and racial justice movemen...

Founded in 2015 by Miami Dolphins owner Stephen M. Ross, the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to harnessing the unifying power of sports to improve race relations and drive social progress. Led by an unprecedented alliance of professional sports leagues, organizations, athletes, educators, media networks and sports professionals, they use sports t...

Carmen Giménez Smith reads her poem Migraine Code Switch and talks with poet and novelist Carrie Fountain about its origin. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/carmen-gimenez-smith http://www.carriefountain.com/ http://www.citylights.com/book/?GCOI=87286100296980

In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the psychology behind both sides of America's ongoing debate about firearms and gun control.

The StoryCorps mobile booth was in Austin in January, and we’re bringing you some of the stories that were recorded there. Locally recorded stories will air Monday and Wednesday mornings during Morning Edition and archived here. Fatoumata Diallo immigrated to America from the West African country of Guinea at age six. She’s now nineteen and a student at the University of Texas. She sat down in the...

For 40 years, Refugee Services of Texas (RST) has proudly been serving refugees, asylees, survivors of human trafficking and other displaced or vulnerable men, women, and children in Texas.

The Athletes in Action/Bart Starr Award was created to honor the NFL player who best exemplifies outstanding character and leadership in the home, on the field and in the community. The Award is named after Bart Starr who, in addition to being in the NFL Hall of Fame, was selected as MVP in Super Bowls I and II.

The second annual Lulu Fest is coming up on April 14 in Austin. It’ll feature concerts in the evening and music workshops during the day, all designed to celebrate the music of female bandleaders. Festival creator Peggy Stern talks about Lulu Fest.

In this special edition of This is Just To Say poet and novelist Carrie Fountain and KUT's Rebecca McInroy share Naomi Shihab Nye's poem "Kindness," and discuss the importance of poetry today. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/naomi-shihab-nye https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/kindness http://www.carriefountain.com/ http://kut.org/people/rebecca-mcinroy

In this special edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Rebecca McInroy talk about the psychology of the current moment in Austin and how to negotiate moving forward following the traumatic events of this month.

Students and young scholars may not have had as much time in the classroom, but that doesn't mean their work lacks insight, value and academic rigor. In this episode of KUT's podcast "Higher Ed," KUT's Jennifer Stayton and Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger discuss the valuable contributions younger learners can make and how society can better regard and embrace their work.

Salvage Vanguard Theater is currently presenting a revival of the play "con flama." This staging is directed by Florinda Bryant, who starred in the original production of con flama eighteen years ago.

Poet and novelist Carrie Fountain talks with poet Victoria Chang talks with about how her poem "Obit" allowed her to process the death of her mother. https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/obit http://www.carriefountain.com/ https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/victoria-chang

It seems that people today carry with them the constant mantra "I'm so busy." It can be tough to juggle work, kids, and life in general, but a lot of that feeling of being overwhelmed may be our own fault. In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markaman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the value of boredom, and how to get the most out of your downtime to feel more in control and less stresse...

Before there was Rosa Parks – there was Elizabeth Jennings. On July 16, 1854 on her way to choir rehearsal Jennings was forcefully removed by the conductor and a nearby police officer when she was refused a seat on a New York city streetcar.

The StoryCorps mobile booth was in Austin this January, and we’re bringing you some of the stories that were recorded there. Locally recorded stories will air Monday and Wednesday mornings during Morning Edition and archived here. Walter Hokenson was recently joined in the StoryCorps mobile booth by his wife Katherine. He shared some memories of his father, Jim, and talked about the long process o...

“Fixing Troilus and Cressida” is the latest of Kirk Lynn’s Shakespeare adaptations, creating an entirely new version of the famed “problem play.” Director Alexandra Shaw and playwright Kirk Lynn talk about the play, which is runs through March 31 at the Nowlin Rehearsal Studio.

Poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil talks with poet and novelist Carrie Fountain about how her poem "Self-Portrait as C-Section Scar" helped her to claim the power, beauty, and wonder of a c-section birth. https://www.kenyonreview.org/kr-online-issue/2014-summer/selections/aimee-nezhukumatathil-763879/ http://aimeenez.net/ http://www.carriefountain.com/

The StoryCorps mobile booth was in Austin this January, and we’re bringing you some of the stories that were recorded there. Gene Rodgers is an outdoor adventure enthusiast and self-described ‘argonaut’ who was paralyzed in an accident forty-five years ago at age seventeen. He was joined in the StoryCorps mobile booth by his longtime friend Dennis Borel, the Executive Director of the Coalition of...

We might think that in order to keep order in our households, workplaces, or classrooms, that it's important to hold people accountable for their negative behavior. However, what that can lead to is a playing field that allows for either nothing to happen or punishment. It is more important to focus on the behaviors we want to see continue, as opposed to giving energy to avoiding the negative. Sti...

Watson is writing a three part series that focus on the man credited with coining the word 'woke' – African American Harlem author William Melvin Kelley, who passed away earlier this year, Erykah Badu’s re-introduction of the phase “Stay Woke,” and the how the word is on a decline.

Poet Tarfia Faizullah talks about how the loss of her sister to a horrific car accident influenced her poem "West Texas Nocturne." http://www.tfaizullah.com/ http://aprweb.org/poems/west-texas-nocturne http://www.carriefountain.com/

The Gulf Coast tourist towns of Port Aransas and Rockport want you to visit, even if they're not quite ready. Plus, a documentary about the violent arrest of an Austin teacher is up for an Oscar. And a review of a Korean BBQ restaurant off I-35. Those stories and more in this edition of KUT Weekend! Subscribe at http://weekend.kut.org

The Academy Awards are this weekend and one of the short documentaries up for an award is about the 2015 arrest of Austin elementary school teacher Breaion King. We spoke with the director of the HBO original documentary, Kate Davis. Watch the documentary here: https://www.hbo.com/documentaries/traffic-stop