22 Sides

Robin & Alexis
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Arts

22 Sides is a podcast that will let you get to know some fascinating people and keep up with many things that are happening in and around the Houston area.

  1. 3d ago

    Probate without Panic vote Judge Jason Cox of Harris County Probate Court No. 3

    Let us know what you think by clicking here to send us a text. We sit down with Judge Jason Cox of Harris County Probate Court No. 3 to pull back the curtain on what a Texas probate court actually does and why it matters even if you think you “don’t have an estate.” We get specific about wills, trusts, estates, guardianships, and the real-world probate litigation issues that show up when families disagree or paperwork is missing. We also dig into the part of the job most people never connect to probate court: civil mental health commitment hearings in Harris County. Judge Cox explains why mental health law is so deadline-driven, how the court balances due process with safety, and what “attorney ad litem” and “guardian ad litem” mean when someone’s rights and liberty are on the line. Then we talk solutions, including Assisted Outpatient Treatment, an approach that supports people in the community with treatment plans, social worker teams, housing help, and fewer repeat inpatient hospitalizations. On the planning side, we break down what actually helps you avoid unnecessary probate: payable on death and transfer on death designations for accounts and benefits, when a transfer on death deed can work for real property, and why getting your documents done before a hospital stay can protect your intent, especially for LGBTQ families. We close with the practical reality that courts run on people and budgets, which is why voting down-ballot matters. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs a clear probate roadmap, and leave a review with the biggest myth you want us to tackle next. Please get an Early Voting plan and check for other resources here: https://cclerk.hctx.net/ Support the show We hope you will listen often. For more information, visit our website 22sides.com

  2. 6d ago

    We Can Fix Texas By Showing Up To Vote with Josh Wallenstein

    Let us know what you think by clicking here to send us a text. Josh Wallenstein decides to run for Texas House District 133 We go from international law and ethics to Texas elections and the day-to-day consequences of who holds power. We unpack culture-war distractions and get real about why voting feels scary for some people and how to make it doable.  • the mismatch between what is legal and what is ethical, and how that gap gets exploited  • how dehumanization and us-versus-them rhetoric spreads, from Rwanda to modern US politics  • why Josh Wallenstein decides to run for Texas House District 133, rooted in public school experience and HISD instability  • priorities in Austin, including fully funding public schools, restoring librarians, and curbing campaign finance abuses  • the Ten Commandments fight as a culture-war tactic while costs like rent, insurance, and the grid keep rising  • practical ways to help friends vote, reduce fear, and navigate long Texas ballots  • the case for using available federal dollars to expand coverage and lower health care costs in Texas  you’ve got to get out and vote, period  Support the show We hope you will listen often. For more information, visit our website 22sides.com

  3. Sep 27

    Winning Texas Starts Before Early Voting

    Let us know what you think by clicking here to send us a text. Click play and jump into a spicy Texas politics roundtable with Alexis Melvin, Jack Valinski, Hayden Cohen, Maria Gonzalez, and Robin Mack as we talk through what’s happening on the ground in Texas and Harris County as early voting approaches. We trade real-world voting tips, call out the down-ballot races that quietly control daily life, and push each other to turn frustration into a plan. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the Harris County ballot, this is your reminder that a plan beats panic. Texas elections aren’t decided by hot takes; they’re decided by field work, turnout math, and whether people finish the ballot. We weigh real chances for Democrats statewide, why name recognition and campaign infrastructure matter so much in a state this big, and how a few points in the right places can change the story.    We also dig into the races many voters barely notice but live with every day: Railroad Commission and the electric grid, the lieutenant governor’s power in the Texas Senate, State Board of Education fights that shape curriculum, and courts that decide what rights survive when the legislature fails. Along the way, we discuss candidates and offices that come up in local organizing conversations, including Gina Hinojosa, Vikki Goodwin, Jon Rosenthal, Clayton Tucker, Teneshia Hudspeth, and Abbie Kamin, plus the strategy of building wins from the top of the ballot down. • We assess Democratic chances in statewide Texas races and why this cycle feels different;  • We compare campaign infrastructure in Texas and why early voting is the real deadline;  • We break down turnout targets in big cities and the risk of down-ballot drop-off  • We spotlight how using tools like HarrisVotes.com to find locations and sample ballots can help you make a voting plan. Then we get practical. We break down early voting strategy, mail ballot complications, provisional ballot risks, the voter registration “suspense list,” and how Texas voter ID rules work in real life, including name change issues and what trans voters should watch for.     If this helped, subscribe, share it with one friend who needs a voting plan, and leave a review so more Texans can find it. What’s your exact day and place to vote? And whatever you do, please go out and vote the entire ticket from top to bottom… All the way down the ballot.     Josh Wallenstein for Texas House District 133 Support the show We hope you will listen often. For more information, visit our website 22sides.com

  4. Aug 17

    A New Jane Eyre Adaptation Makes The Classic Feel Alive

    Let us know what you think by clicking here to send us a text. Shakespeare on Zoom sounded like a stopgap. It turned into a doorway. We sit down with actor, director, and Zoom Shakespeare Productions artistic director Rebecca Bernstein to talk about how a pandemic-era experiment grew into a real community for artists and audiences, including people who could finally participate from home across time zones, disabilities, and limited access to traditional theater spaces.  From there we jump into what’s next on stage in Houston: Thornfield Cohen, a story of Jane Eyre, an abstract Jane Eyre adaptation that keeps Charlotte Bronte’s words while making the story feel immediate, accessible, and emotionally raw. We dig into the creative choices, including projections of Jane’s drawings and a dancer who embodies Jane’s artistic self, and why this version leans into the queerness that many readers have always felt in the love story.  We also get direct about inclusive casting in classical theater, why “the classics” have been withheld from people of color and LGBTQ+ performers, and how experimental productions can honor the intent of old texts better than rigid “traditional” staging. Then we widen the lens to accessibility, fandom support, and the real-world barriers that still show up at venues, right down to parking and mobility issues.  If you care about queer theater, inclusive Shakespeare, Houston arts, and making performance more accessible, hit play, subscribe, and share this with a friend, then leave us a review telling us what classic story you want reclaimed next. Where to buy tickets to Jane Eyre show https://matchouston.org/events/2026/thornfield-story-jane-eyre Zoom Shakespeare Productions FB page https://www.facebook.com/share/1EhemCNQ4A/?mibextid=wwXIfr The Black Freighter Theatre Co. (online theater plays that my brother runs) https://www.facebook.com/share/g/17qpizfFVE/?mibextid=wwXIfr The movie that local actress Andrea Pister has a bit part in, The Rivals of Amziah King https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27706593/?ref_=nm_flmg_job_1_accord_2_cdt_t_2 Josh Wallenstein for Texas House District 133 Support the show We hope you will listen often. For more information, visit our website 22sides.com

  5. Aug 17

    Camp Miasma Deconstructed

    Let us know what you think by clicking here to send us a text. A slasher that’s obsessed with orgasms, a killer called Ventman, and a theater full of people laughing at totally different moments set us up for one of our most revealing roundtables yet. We’re coming at Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma from different generations and different relationships to horror, and that gap becomes the story: when a movie is built out of references, meta jokes, and genre tropes, who feels invited in and who feels left behind?  We talk through the film’s camp horror DNA, its maximalist symbolism, and the way fandom shapes how you “read” what’s on screen. Then we get into the uncomfortable center: sex, consent, fear, dissociation, and the idea that intimacy can feel like danger, especially for trauma survivors or anyone navigating gray-ace feelings. We also ask why cartoonish gore can feel safer than realistic harm, and how body horror can be both repulsive and strangely empowering when it pushes back on narrow beauty standards.  The hardest turn is representation. Horror has a long history of turning trans and intersex bodies into the twist, the threat, or the punchline, and we unpack what happens when a modern film tries to critique that history while still borrowing its shape. We connect the on-screen choices to real-world dehumanization in media, and we wrestle with the ethics of showing violence without feeding the thrill of it.  If you love queer horror, meta horror, film criticism, and the messy truth of watching together, hit play. After you listen, subscribe, share with a friend who argues about movies, and leave a review. What’s one horror trope you wish would finally die? Josh Wallenstein for Texas House District 133 Support the show We hope you will listen often. For more information, visit our website 22sides.com

  6. Jun 25

    Colin James Sturdevant on igniting expression through poetry

    Let us know what you think by clicking here to send us a text. We catch up with Colin on building Pass the Salt Presse. He shares on how  connecting over cake at Empire Cafe lead to starting a new life time project. His Montrose Grace Place poetry project shifted from academic-style workshops to paying unhoused LGBTQ youth to write, by focusing on practical ways to keep creating when you feel stuck. • building Pass the Salt Press as a community-first literary nonprofit • learning from an early workshop model that felt too academic • paying youth poets and why small payments change everything • publishing anthologies as resume builders and proof of work • reducing barriers with freewrites, gentle edits, and “listening poet” drafting • sustaining the work through gratitude, donations, and realistic print budgets • why in-person tabling and storytelling sells more than social posts • practical advice for beating writer’s block by building from past work and seeking live art To find out more connect with him here: https://www.passthesaltpresse.org/ To the listeners...THANK YOU for sharing, liking and donating as you can! Josh Wallenstein for Texas House District 133 Support the show We hope you will listen often. For more information, visit our website 22sides.com

  7. May 28

    What Does It Mean To Reclaim What’s Lost with Kathi Crawford

    Let us know what you think by clicking here to send us a text. A poetry book doesn’t just “come out” one day. It’s built in public, one reading, one community connection, and one crucial preorder at a time. Kathi Crawford joins us again at 22 Sides to share what’s changed since her last visit and to introduce her next collection, "running with the beasts", published by Finishing Line Press with preorders opening June 29.  We talk about why the preorder period matters for authors and small presses, how her upcoming launch celebration becomes an open mic that lifts other writers up, and what a welcoming literary community can look like in Houston. Kathi also reads two poems that stay with you: one surreal and haunting meditation on time, memory, and aging, and another that riffs on Lou Reed, drums, girlhood, and the long tail of being told “you can’t” because of your gender.  Then we get practical for anyone trying to publish poetry or submit to literary magazines. Kathi breaks down the systems that keep you sane: track submissions with a spreadsheet, submit simultaneously when allowed, read magazines to find the right fit, and watch for legitimacy so you don’t hand your work to spammers. We also dig into creative collaboration, including why working with a real artists feels more human and more interesting than defaulting to AI.  If you enjoy poetry readings, writing craft talk, and honest advice about the creative process, hit subscribe, share this with a writer friend, and leave us a review so more listeners can find the show. Places to find Kathi works and more: Kathi: https://theworldinsideyou.com/ https://www.instagram.com/kathicrawford/ Event: June 7th: https://www.bloodhoneylit.com/ https://www.instagram.com/bloodhoneylit/ Book: Unbroken a public poetry anthology: https://www.penandleafpress.com/ Book: White Wall Review Metamorphosis: https://whitewallreview.com/ Josh Wallenstein for Texas House District 133 Support the show We hope you will listen often. For more information, visit our website 22sides.com

  8. Apr 20

    Vote FOR JOE District C + Bring your pals like it's a party for democracy

    Let us know what you think by clicking here to send us a text. We sit down with Houston City Council District C candidate Joe Panzarella and campaign communicator Christos Patelis to talk about why they stepped into local politics and what they are hearing from neighbors across the district. We focus on safer streets, affordability, transparency, and the small-turnout reality that makes local elections a fast way to change daily life in Houston.  • Why first-time candidates move from organizing to running for office  • What Houston District C includes and why its boundaries matter  • How neighborhood culture shifts in Montrose and beyond  • What “urbanism” means as a practical quality-of-life goal  • Why traffic deaths drive the safer-streets agenda  • How the high injury network can guide smarter street redesign  • What traffic calming looks like on Houston roads  • How “eyes on the street” can reduce fear and build trust  Please, please go vote April 29th through May 12th. Election day is May 16th.  You can find our social media for Joe at Joe for Houston.   Joeforhouston.com Josh Wallenstein for Texas House District 133 Support the show We hope you will listen often. For more information, visit our website 22sides.com

See All (36)

Ratings & Reviews

About

22 Sides is a podcast that will let you get to know some fascinating people and keep up with many things that are happening in and around the Houston area.

Information

  • Creator
    Robin & Alexis
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    36
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 22 Sides
  • Show Website
    22 Sides

You Might Also Like