We All Tell Our Stories, Some are Musicals

Austin, Texas attracts a lot of attention for being the hub of the reddest of

red states, ask Attorney General Eric Holder. While it seems somewhat ironic to a survivor of the “Cold War” that Texas is proud of being “red” today, irony

barely shows in the herds of viable stories about Austin. If you focus on a single member of the herd, stereotyping takes its toll and robs you of knowing the culture of a place or a group of people. Austin prides itself on being the home of a vibrant musical community where people you probably never heard of share their stories using a variety of instruments and genres. While you ponder the multiple threads that make up Austin, Texas, here is a little bit of July in Austin.

We All Tell Our Stories, Sometimes in Sculpture

Note from Story Chip: It has been pretty quiet here for a while, but the reason is quite exciting as Story Chip prepares to launch a new addition to the web. This post will tease our expansion, but keep the details for later.

Sallie Chisum Roberts

Stories arrive in many forms. Graphics, music as well as the words that are most frequently the subject of this blog. The city of Artesia in southeastern New Mexico spent a decade and millions of dollars to remind us that sculpture and three dimensional representations can tell some powerful stories with very little help. Main Street features a series of bronze sculptures that tell the story of Artesia's founding and development from Sallie Chisum to men who work the oil rigs of the Permian Basin.

Independence Day - Bearing Witness

Kelly McEvers has been bearing witness as a reporter in Syria and other ravaged parts of the Middle East for some time. She took over the spot in my mind formerly held by the heroic Anne Garrels who reported mesmerizing accounts of the Iraq war. I marveled over the bravery and perhaps insane devotion to the telling of truth of first Anne Garrels and now Kelly.