Texas Brave and Strong Podcast

Have some fashion fun as Laurie describes step-by-step all the garments and paraphernalia a well-dressed city woman wore in the 1850s when stepping out for social calls and other daytime activities. For those in small Texas towns and the country, dress was a bit simpler.

BJ Mayo lives in West Texas on a working farm. He talks with Laurie about his new book, Alfie Carter. A story of contrasts, the novel’s two main characters live on two different continents. One is a young girl who has been caught up in the horrific tribal wars in Angola, Africa, but has maintained her sweet spirit. The other is a man whose grief has made him angry and mean. Mayo’s story brings the...

One morning this week I sat with my coffee looking out a window into our backyard as two squirrels raced around and around and around the trunk of a big cedar elm tree. It reminded me of the time I ate squirrel stew. I can almost hear you. “Squirrel stew? Yuck!” Here’s how my culinary adventure came about. As a child I spent lazy Sunday afternoons and some summer days visiting my grandparents in a...

Texans can claim an impressive list of things to brag about—what we call braggin’ rights. Things like the biggest, the first, the only, etc. . . Let’s take a look at six things for which Texans rightly brag. • Brag #1 Texas is the first (and only ) state to be an independent nation before becoming a state. From 1836 until 1846, when the actual transfer of governance took place, Texas was a Republi...

Listen my children and you shall hear of the late night ride of Sophia Suttenfield Auginbaugh Coffee Butt Porter—The woman known as Texas’ female Paul Revere! Her story is a fascinating one, full of truths and lies. The only problem is—we don’t know which are which. As Sophia told it, her father, Colonel William Suttenfield, fought in the War of 1812 and met her mother, after the war, while sailin...

Texas has a strong history of growth since the final boundaries of the state were agreed upon in 1850 and the US Census Bureau began counting Texan’s heads and collecting place of birth information. An in-migration magnet since 1850, Texas now ranks number two in attracting newcomers, number one in population growth in 2019. The first 2020 statistics are just starting to filter in. So let’s look a...

Once upon a time in Texas, camels joined the army… I’ve got to be kidding right? Camels in Texas? Well why not? Think about it. West Texas is part of the great American desert, correct? And what better way to carry men and supplies across dry, rugged desert terrain than the “ships of the desert,” as camels are called. At least that’s what a young Army Lieutenant named George Crossman thought back...

It all began with two 35-ton steam locomotives, a town that existed for just one day, and a railroad promoter with a grandiose idea. The end result became a Texas legend: The Crash at Crush. W.G. Crush, the general passenger agent of the Missouri/Kansas/Texas Railroad (generally referred to as the Katy Railroad) proposed a publicity stunt featuring a huge crash of two steam trains. The goal—to bui...

In the early 1800’s buffalo (also called bison) roamed the American and Canadian West in the tens of millions, and the lives of the Plains Indians centered around the massive beasts. The buffalo provided food as well as skins for clothing, blankets, tents, and other leather items. Their dried manure was used for fuel. Indians followed the herds, taking what they needed and teaching the next genera...

Texas Brave and Strong—Why this podcast? Texas! The very word conjures up images of rugged cowpunchers, Texas Rangers, oil wells, and women dressed by Neiman Marcus. It’s a big, diverse state. The distance from Texarkana on the state’s NE corner to Chicago, Illinois is smaller than the distance from Texarkana to El Paso on the state’s western edge. Which reminds me of a true story. A Dallas city s...

There is a true story in Texas that has taken on the form of a legend—it’s the tale known as “The Man Who Would Not Die.” Josiah Wilbarger was born in the United States in 1801. At age 26 he moved to Mexican Texas from Missouri as part of Stephen F. Austin’s colony. Wilbarger married and in 1830 was granted a league of land. For those of you who don’t measure land in leagues, that’s 4,428 acres. W...