The Ragged Edge Richard Stone

We're taking a break. Details in the clip.

My guest this week is Jason Stanford. His book, which he wrote with authors Chris Tomlinson and Bryan Burrough, is called “Forget the Alamo: the Rise and Fall of an American Myth.” It was published earlier this month by Penguin Press and is an Amazon Bestseller.

Jason also publishes a very good weekly newsletter called the Jason Stanford Experiment and I recommend it. Subscribe at jasonstanford.substack.com

Jason and I talked about how what we know of as the story of the battle of the Alamo came to be, why its been only fairly recently that those 13 days in Texas history have been subject to academic rigor and the impact Phil Collins  has had on the current debate — yes, that Phil Collins.

Our show this week is another on the road edition, this one recorded during a town hall for State Rep. John Bucy on the patio at Whitestone brewery in Cedar Park and hosted by the Hill Country News. I got to moderate the conversation. Every time we do one of these live programs, we learn something new … this time we learned that matter how hard I try, I just don’t have the resources to get a clean recording of an outdoor event amid all the traffic and wind and other extraneous noises … so, our apologies for all that. Like our previous on the road edition, this is an extended episode and includes a whole lot of Texas state government policy wonkiness. 

We took our second-ever road trip to the Texas Beer Co. for an in depth conversation with Texas HD52 State Rep. James Talarico. We talked about the good, the bad and the ugly from the 87th meeting of the Texas Legislature, why redistricting is a bi-partisan issue and the importance of civics education in our public schools.

A few weeks ago, I had my cousin on the show to talk about Oran Roberts, the most important Texas you never heard of. As is often the case, especially where conversations with Jon are concerned, we talked about a lot of stuff that didn’t make it into the interview. Well, I saved that part of the interview for a special edition I’m calling “Remnants.” We talked about the civil war, politics today and … well, little known facts about the Louisiana Purchase. 

Also, Program Notes:
Live event 7 p.m. June 10 at @texasbeerco with @jamestalarico
Later in June, Jason Stanford sits in to talk about his new book, 
Forget the Alamo.

Our conversation this week is with Denise Rogers, a Central Texas LGBTQ+ activist, about the horrible legislation working through the Texas Legislature. We also discussed what you can do to support this community — even if all you know is that you dislike the way the way some people are treated — and the importance of representation in popular culture.