Latest / Austin Signal / Federal court weighs decision over air conditioning in Texas prisons

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Federal court weighs decision over air conditioning in Texas prisons · Austin Signal

• 0:08
  Ahead of the coming summer heat,
• 0:10
  a federal court is considering
• 0:11
  whether air conditioning should be
• 0:13
  provided in all Texas prisons.
• 0:15
  We have been following this case
• 0:16
  that's been happening in town over
• 0:17
  the past couple of weeks.
• 0:19
  We're going to bring you the latest.
• 0:20
  And there are changes to SNAP,
• 0:23
  the benefits that help low-income
• 0:24
  Texans purchase food that assistance
• 0:26
  now cannot be used for candy
• 0:28
  or most sweetened drinks.
• 0:30
  More about those qualifications and
• 0:31
  those stories coming up on today's
• 0:33
  show.
• 0:34
  The Austin Signal is a production
• 0:36
  of KUT News, hosted by
• 0:38
  Jerry Kehanel.
• 0:39
  Plus, the San Marco Studio tour
• 0:41
  continues this weekend.
• 0:42
  We're gonna hear about one artist
• 0:43
  who's showcasing work out there,
• 0:45
  and a bit of good news to start
• 0:47
  the weekend.
• 0:48
  Austin's favorite owl is giving us a
• 0:50
  couple of reasons to celebrate a
• 0:52
  whole lot more about those stories.
• 0:54
  Coming up next, that is right here
• 0:56
  on Austin Signal.
• 1:07
  Howdy out there, thank you for
• 1:08
  tuning in to Austin Signal.
• 1:11
  It is Friday, April 10th.
• 1:13
  I'm your host, Jerry Kikano.
• 1:14
  We appreciate you tuning in to
• 1:16
  Community Powered Public Radio.
• 1:18
  This is KUT News.
• 1:21
  A trial that could have an impact on
• 1:22
  whether or not air conditioning is
• 1:24
  required for Texas prisons is
• 1:26
  about to conclude.
• 1:27
  Closing arguments have wrapped up,
• 1:28
  and now we're waiting for a judge to
• 1:30
  decide that outcome.
• 1:31
  For more about the case, we're
• 1:32
  speaking with KUT's government
• 1:34
  accountability reporter, Andrew
• 1:35
  Weber. Andrew, thanks for being back
• 1:37
  on the show. Yeah, thanks for having
• 1:38
  me, Jerry. So can you remind us
• 1:39
  about this case and what is at
• 1:41
  stake here?
• 1:42
  Yeah, the past is prolog here.
• 1:44
  And that's like really, really
• 1:45
  important. There's a big backdrop
• 1:46
  here.
• 1:47
  Last year, a federal judge, Robert
• 1:49
  Pittman, declared like in
• 1:51
  a ruling, rather in
• 1:53
  an order, not a ruling said
• 1:55
  basically the way that Texas
• 1:57
  has gone about providing AC
• 1:59
  in its state prisons was,
• 2:01
  and this is a quote, plainly
• 2:02
  unconstitutional.
• 2:03
  Like I said, he stopped short of
• 2:05
  ruling on that and requiring the
• 2:07
  state to air condition its prisons.
• 2:10
  But this trial over the last two
• 2:12
  weeks has been the
• 2:14
  sort of preamble to a
• 2:16
  ruling that will come down
• 2:17
  eventually from him.
• 2:19
  So folks have argued on behalf
• 2:21
  of prisoners that the conditions,
• 2:23
  and this is even by, we've reported
• 2:25
  this and the state has,
• 2:28
  by its temperature logs,
• 2:30
  it's regularly over 90 degrees
• 2:32
  in most Texas prisons.
• 2:33
  Two thirds of Texas prisons are on
• 2:35
  air condition.
• 2:36
  And so plaintiffs are arguing the
• 2:37
  state needs to do this, but they've
• 2:39
  been sort of dragging their feet on
• 2:40
  this. And the state argues that,
• 2:43
  you know, this is something that
• 2:44
  we're trying to do and we're tying
• 2:45
  to get there, but we can't do this
• 2:47
  overnight.
• 2:48
  This is the first day this week that
• 2:50
  you're not in that federal court and
• 2:52
  closing arguments just wrapped up.
• 2:54
  What have been some of your takeaways
• 2:55
  from being in the room and from
• 2:56
  those arguments specifically?
• 2:58
  Those arguments hinged a lot
• 3:00
  on specifically
• 3:03
  whether or not deaths are
• 3:05
  quote unquote heat related.
• 3:06
  The state previously has said
• 3:09
  over the last several years that
• 3:10
  there have been no heat related
• 3:12
  deaths.
• 3:12
  They sort of walked that back at the
• 3:14
  start of this trial, which was
• 3:15
  interesting and said, okay, three
• 3:17
  of these more recent
• 3:19
  deaths, heat was a
• 3:21
  contributing factor to those deaths.
• 3:23
  But plaintiff's attorneys said,
• 3:25
  Okay, well, what about these other
• 3:26
  seven? Because They highlight a 10.
• 3:28
  Cases, 10 individuals who
• 3:30
  they say died because of
• 3:32
  heat-related illness.
• 3:35
  The state has argued basically
• 3:37
  there are a lot of factors that
• 3:39
  go into some of these deaths.
• 3:41
  Some of them were drug-related, some
• 3:42
  of them had folks
• 3:45
  had comorbidities.
• 3:46
  But the state leaned heavily on
• 3:49
  the fact that it is trying to get
• 3:50
  beds online. I
• 3:52
  believe it has just near
• 3:54
  53,000 bets currently
• 3:56
  that are air conditioned.
• 3:57
  And they said they want to bring
• 3:58
  9,000 more on by the end
• 4:00
  of the year.
• 4:01
  Uh, but you know, there's still
• 4:03
  140,000 ish
• 4:05
  inmates. So they're, they're not,
• 4:07
  you know.
• 4:07
  Not everybody's getting air
• 4:08
  conditioned.
• 4:09
  Yes, okay, so you're not allowed to
• 4:11
  record anything inside the federal
• 4:12
  court, but you did talk with some
• 4:14
  folks during this trial Who we're
• 4:15
  going to hear from
• 4:16
  Jeff Edwards.
• 4:17
  I talked with him, I believe it was
• 4:19
  on Tuesday after court let out.
• 4:21
  He's an important person to talk to.
• 4:23
  He is a plaintiff's attorney, yes,
• 4:24
  but he's also successfully sued
• 4:26
  the state to get air
• 4:28
  conditioning in 2018.
• 4:30
  And he said this is kind of the case
• 4:32
  in Texas, that the state
• 4:34
  isn't going to act on these plans
• 4:36
  unless there's a federal
• 4:38
  court order.
• 4:39
  Absent an order from the court,
• 4:42
  TDCJ is simply not
• 4:44
  going to move at a speed that
• 4:47
  reflects any semblance
• 4:49
  of the notion that it is violating
• 4:51
  the Constitution.
• 4:52
  And I also spoke with Amit
• 4:54
  Dominic. She is an advocate.
• 4:56
  She works with Texas prison
• 4:58
  communities.
• 5:00
  She's been working at this since
• 5:01
  2015, very
• 5:03
  heavily involved at the legislature.
• 5:05
  And she said, whatever happens from
• 5:07
  this case, there still needs to
• 5:09
  be some legislative action.
• 5:11
  If it's a funding issue, then the
• 5:12
  state needs to give more to the
• 5:14
  Texas Department of Criminal Justice
• 5:16
  to make sure that the conditions
• 5:18
  are humane.
• 5:19
  People behind those walls and
• 5:21
  their family members are their
• 5:22
  constituents.
• 5:24
  And they're responsible for allowing
• 5:26
  this to happen.
• 5:27
  They're accountable for allowing
• 5:29
  to happen along
• 5:31
  with TDCJ and
• 5:33
  its administration.
• 5:35
  There's plenty of accountability
• 5:37
  to spread around for this.
• 5:39
  So we do, do we know when this judge
• 5:41
  is going to be making his decision?
• 5:42
  We don't in the last,
• 5:44
  the last ruling took about eight
• 5:46
  months.
• 5:47
  So it, but it could, you know, it's
• 5:49
  variable.
• 5:50
  Obviously as court was sort of
• 5:51
  letting out yesterday, judge Pittman
• 5:52
  sort of thanked all the attorneys
• 5:53
  and everybody and said, you know, I
• 5:55
  would love to have y'all on my court
• 5:56
  again, but not in this case.
• 5:59
  Uh, so he'll have a ruling at some
• 6:01
  point then, you know, depending on
• 6:02
  how it goes, it could get appealed
• 6:04
  to the fifth circuit court of
• 6:05
  appeals, federal appeals court.
• 6:07
  That's going to take years and years
• 6:08
  to play out.
• 6:09
  All right, we have been speaking
• 6:11
  with KUT's government accountability
• 6:12
  reporter, Andrew Weber.
• 6:14
  We're gonna have a link to his
• 6:15
  latest reporting and
• 6:16
  today's show notes.
• 6:17
  Andrew, thanks for your time.
• 6:26
  New changes have come to the Texas
• 6:28
  Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
• 6:29
  Program, or SNAP.
• 6:31
  Those benefits, which help
• 6:32
  low-income Texans purchase food,
• 6:34
  now cannot be used for candy
• 6:36
  or most sweetened drinks.
• 6:38
  That's thanks to a law that was
• 6:39
  passed last year, part of a slate of
• 6:41
  legislation dubbed the Make Texas
• 6:43
  Healthy Again agenda.
• 6:45
  But what actually qualifies as
• 6:47
  candy or as a sugary drink?
• 6:49
  KUT's Olivia Aldridge reports some
• 6:51
  Austin area residents are figuring
• 6:52
  that out at the checkout counter.
• 6:54
  I'll see you next time.
• 6:55
  On a recent trip to H-E-B,
• 6:57
  I couldn't resist a stroll down the
• 6:59
  picked-over Easter Candy aisle,
• 7:01
  hoping for a marked-down bag of
• 7:03
  Cadbury Mini Eggs.
• 7:05
  Not seeing as many discounts
• 7:07
  as I'd like,
• 7:10
  but a lot of these signs that
• 7:12
  say, no longer SNAP eligible,
• 7:15
  with lots of details about the
• 7:16
  change to the SNAP program.
• 7:18
  I also saw signs in the
• 7:20
  juice aisle, the soda aisle.
• 7:22
  And local SNAP recipient Sandra
• 7:24
  Allen told me that signage has been
• 7:26
  really helpful.
• 7:27
  But she says not every grocery store
• 7:29
  has it and not all the
• 7:31
  grocery staff seem to know much
• 7:32
  about the new rules.
• 7:34
  During her first visit to Target
• 7:35
  after the law went into place April
• 7:37
  1st, she was surprised to discover
• 7:39
  the apple juice she often buys for
• 7:41
  her nine-year-old daughter isn't
• 7:43
  SNAP eligible anymore.
• 7:45
  She says having a conversation with
• 7:47
  a confused store clerk about whether
• 7:48
  or not you can buy something can
• 7:50
  feel embarrassing.
• 7:52
  Them saying, well, you can't get
• 7:53
  this.
• 7:53
  Can't get this and you're left with
• 7:55
  half your basket.
• 7:56
  You can't afford and
• 7:58
  that's it's embarrassing enough to
• 7:59
  have to pull out of a snap card.
• 8:01
  So everybody behind, you know,
• 8:03
  really knows why.
• 8:04
  She really can't afford any game.
• 8:05
  She had to put half her basket back.
• 8:07
  Leading up to April, Texas Health
• 8:09
  and Human Services released
• 8:10
  guidelines on what should be
• 8:11
  excluded from SNAP.
• 8:13
  That includes the obvious stuff,
• 8:15
  candy bars, taffy, gum,
• 8:17
  but also yogurt-covered raisins and
• 8:19
  nuts. Also off the table,
• 8:21
  drinks with more than five grams of
• 8:23
  added sugar or any amount of
• 8:25
  artificial sweetener.
• 8:26
  There are exceptions for milk-based
• 8:28
  drinks and medical-grade electrolyte
• 8:30
  products like Pedialyte.
• 8:32
  Individual retailers have to
• 8:34
  interpret this guidance, and they
• 8:35
  face penalties if they allow SNAP
• 8:37
  benefits where they shouldn't,
• 8:39
  including fines and even prison
• 8:40
  time.
• 8:41
  At Austin's locally owned Fresh Plus
• 8:43
  grocery stores, the task fell to
• 8:45
  John Robertson.
• 8:46
  You use Google a lot to get
• 8:48
  the internet's interpretation.
• 8:50
  You look at the law
• 8:52
  and how it's written.
• 8:54
  Going through individual items in
• 8:56
  the store took Robertson around
• 8:57
  three days.
• 8:58
  He said he erred on the side of
• 9:00
  marking items as ineligible when
• 9:01
  there wasn't a clear-cut answer.
• 9:04
  And sometimes he really had to
• 9:05
  scrutinize nutrition labels.
• 9:07
  For traditional sodas, it's
• 9:09
  straightforward.
• 9:10
  But what about those new-fangled
• 9:11
  prebiotic sodas that use natural
• 9:13
  sweeteners?
• 9:14
  I found myself going out and having
• 9:15
  to look at basically every
• 9:18
  single can to see how much
• 9:20
  added sugar was in that particular
• 9:22
  line.
• 9:23
  Some drinks that many folks might
• 9:24
  think of as healthy don't pass a
• 9:26
  close label check.
• 9:27
  For instance, not all kinds of
• 9:29
  Welch's grape juice are the same.
• 9:31
  The brand has a 100% grape juice
• 9:33
  that doesn't include added sugar,
• 9:35
  but a 10 ounce bottle of Welches
• 9:36
  grape juice cocktail has 20
• 9:38
  grams.
• 9:39
  And as for sports drinks, a 12
• 9:41
  fluid ounce serving of Mountain
• 9:42
  Berry Blast Powerade has 21
• 9:45
  grams, four times the
• 9:46
  limit of added sugar.
• 9:48
  That's the kind of thing that
• 9:49
  surprised Sandra Allen.
• 9:51
  She said she doesn't often buy candy
• 9:53
  or soda or energy drinks,
• 9:55
  but scrutinizing the exact grams
• 9:57
  of sugar in a juice box feels
• 9:59
  a little different.
• 10:00
  Having to have someone
• 10:02
  quickly tell you that you need to
• 10:03
  change the way you eat.
• 10:05
  Cause basically that's what it is.
• 10:07
  You need to change the way you feed
• 10:08
  your family." She also points
• 10:10
  out that many of the juices still
• 10:12
  covered by SNAP are more expensive
• 10:14
  and would eat up more of her
• 10:15
  balance.
• 10:16
  She gets around $400 per month
• 10:18
  loaded onto her Lone Star card since
• 10:20
  she lost her job as a project
• 10:21
  manager around a year ago.
• 10:24
  She says she's been looking for a
• 10:25
  new role ever since, doing some odd
• 10:27
  jobs to make ends meet.
• 10:28
  What's the economy?
• 10:31
  Professional and it's just been
• 10:32
  really hard to to land a
• 10:34
  job so I'm using that.
• 10:37
  Feed my child and myself.
• 10:40
  But the restrictions on candy and
• 10:42
  sweetened drinks may ultimately be a
• 10:44
  small change compared to what could
• 10:45
  be coming for the SNAP program.
• 10:48
  A provision of U.S.
• 10:49
  House Resolution 1, also known
• 10:51
  as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act,
• 10:53
  requires states to pay more to run
• 10:55
  their SNAP programs.
• 10:57
  And if states have a high error rate
• 10:58
  for SNAP spending, mistakes in how
• 11:00
  the program's money is issued,
• 11:02
  they could be required to take on
• 11:04
  some of the cost of benefits to.
• 11:07
  Texas has a roughly 9%
• 11:09
  error rate for SNAP payments.
• 11:11
  That largely comes from
• 11:12
  administrative mistakes or income
• 11:14
  reporting issues resulting in
• 11:15
  overpayments or underpayments
• 11:17
  through SNAP.
• 11:18
  And it means the state would have to
• 11:20
  budget an additional $708
• 11:22
  million to fund the program
• 11:24
  moving forward.
• 11:26
  Celia Cole is the CEO of Feeding
• 11:28
  Texas, a state association
• 11:30
  of food banks.
• 11:31
  That's not a decision that'll be
• 11:32
  made until next legislative session
• 11:34
  in 2027,
• 11:36
  but any reduction in access
• 11:38
  to benefits or eligibility or
• 11:40
  simply walking away from the program
• 11:42
  would be, you know, obviously really
• 11:43
  devastating for the
• 11:45
  three and a half million or so
• 11:46
  Texans that participate.
• 11:48
  In order to...
• 11:48
  To avoid that steep price tag,
• 11:50
  Texas would need to shrink its error
• 11:52
  rate to 6% by September,
• 11:54
  the end of the current fiscal year.
• 11:56
  I'm Olivia Aldridge in Austin.
• 12:00
  And thank you for spending part of
• 12:01
  your Friday here with Austin
• 12:03
  Signal.
• 12:04
  We are made possible by
• 12:06
  KUT News.
• 12:07
  We are community-powered public
• 12:09
  radio. We have more coming up after
• 12:11
  this break.
• 12:12
  Stay with us.
• 12:28
  This is Austin Signal.
• 12:30
  Welcome back.
• 12:31
  A basketball court in Austin seems
• 12:33
  pretty ordinary, but for
• 12:35
  many in the Montopolis area, the
• 12:36
  court is more than just a place to
• 12:38
  shoot some hoops.
• 12:39
  It's a place for community to
• 12:41
  congregate, come together, and
• 12:43
  become stronger.
• 12:44
  The grand opening of courts at the
• 12:45
  Roy G. Guerrero Park is being
• 12:47
  celebrated tomorrow afternoon,
• 12:49
  hosted by the Land Justice Community
• 12:51
  School's Youth Fellows.
• 12:52
  Joining us now is Executive Director
• 12:55
  Alexia Laclaff.
• 12:56
  And youth fellow Genesis Pedraza.
• 12:58
  Thanks for speaking with us.
• 12:59
  Thanks for having us.
• 13:01
  So tell us a little bit first off
• 13:03
  for a listener who might not be
• 13:04
  familiar.
• 13:05
  What is land justice community
• 13:07
  school?
• 13:07
  Yeah, this is Alexia and I'm the
• 13:09
  Executive Director of Land Justice
• 13:11
  Community School.
• 13:12
  We are a collective of organizers,
• 13:14
  educators, artists, and we work
• 13:16
  specifically with youth from East
• 13:18
  Austin to ensure that their voices
• 13:20
  are centered and their lived
• 13:21
  experiences are centered in shaping
• 13:24
  media narratives and shaping
• 13:25
  education work and also shaping the
• 13:27
  futures of their communities.
• 13:29
  So as a fellow Genesis, do you feel
• 13:30
  like you have a lot of third spaces
• 13:32
  here in Austin?
• 13:33
  No, not at all.
• 13:34
  Because I remember when I was
• 13:36
  younger, there was more
• 13:38
  third spaces, but not like with
• 13:40
  all the gentrification and stuff.
• 13:42
  There's rarely third spaces that
• 13:44
  people can be at.
• 13:46
  What are some of the third spaces
• 13:48
  that you remember from your youth?
• 13:50
  I used to live in an apartment when
• 13:51
  I was younger, so like the office
• 13:53
  area was kind of like a third space
• 13:55
  to me because they would allow
• 13:56
  anybody to be there, they would
• 13:57
  like give us ice cream, like stuff
• 13:59
  like that. And so like that really
• 14:00
  made me feel like, oh like I have
• 14:02
  a community there that like supports
• 14:04
  me, like enjoys me being
• 14:06
  there.
• 14:06
  Yeah, that's really, that that's
• 14:08
  funny, because I remember when I
• 14:09
  first moved into Apartment Complex,
• 14:11
  it was like the computer room back
• 14:12
  then. You know, I'm a little bit
• 14:13
  older than you. So like, it was,
• 14:14
  like, oh, we can go there and use
• 14:15
  the internet and hang out and just
• 14:17
  be ourselves away from hanging
• 14:19
  out at home.
• 14:21
  So you all have an event happening
• 14:22
  tomorrow. Tell us more about what's
• 14:24
  going on.
• 14:24
  Yeah so one of our colleagues, Noe,
• 14:26
  built a basketball court for
• 14:28
  Metopolis because over the years a
• 14:29
  lot of the, all the public
• 14:31
  basketball courts were closed down
• 14:33
  for different reasons and so we
• 14:34
  thought it would be really important
• 14:35
  to have that space for the
• 14:37
  community.
• 14:38
  And so Genesis, do you want to speak
• 14:39
  a little bit more about like what
• 14:40
  you have planned for the event we
• 14:42
  have organized.
• 14:43
  So what we have planned is
• 14:45
  a potluck style gathering and we're
• 14:46
  going to have roller skating,
• 14:48
  basketball, tamales,
• 14:50
  just so everybody can be there.
• 14:52
  Alexio, what do you enjoy about
• 14:54
  working with these fellows and
• 14:55
  working with the community at the
• 14:56
  same time?
• 14:57
  Yeah, I think I learned so much from
• 14:59
  working with the community.
• 15:00
  It's really a reciprocal
• 15:01
  relationship and it's about young
• 15:03
  people connecting their own lived
• 15:04
  experiences with the systemic
• 15:06
  analysis of the world around them
• 15:08
  and realizing that they have the
• 15:09
  voices, the stories, the tools
• 15:12
  necessary to determine what
• 15:14
  their futures and what their
• 15:15
  communities are going to be shaped.
• 15:17
  Yeah, what have you learned during
• 15:19
  your time as a fellow?
• 15:20
  I learned more that there's
• 15:22
  people there that need a community
• 15:24
  and that like they can
• 15:26
  have somebody to rely on which is
• 15:28
  like what really matters to me
• 15:29
  because when I was younger like
• 15:31
  there was people but now
• 15:33
  that I'm older I could help out more
• 15:35
  people with like them because like
• 15:37
  they're like helping me and
• 15:38
  we're also helping other people
• 15:40
  while we're doing that.
• 15:41
  Alexia, how can other Austinites get
• 15:43
  involved?
• 15:44
  Yeah, so one of our biggest program
• 15:45
  is our Southern Land Justice
• 15:47
  Fellowship. And we're going to be
• 15:49
  paying 10 Black and brown youth to
• 15:51
  organize on different environmental
• 15:52
  justice issues. And it's going to
• 15:53
  across Austin, Corpus,
• 15:55
  Brownsville, and St. John's
• 15:58
  in Louisiana.
• 15:59
  And the applications are currently
• 16:00
  live on our social media and
• 16:02
  website. They're going be due May
• 16:04
  1st. And we would love to have you
• 16:05
  join us in working together
• 16:07
  to make Austin a better place for
• 16:09
  everyone.
• 16:09
  You know, Genesis, one last
• 16:11
  question. You mentioned that there
• 16:12
  aren't a ton of third spaces here in
• 16:13
  Austin. So it seems as though
• 16:15
  there's this creation of this new
• 16:16
  one with the Montopolis courts.
• 16:18
  In your ideal world, what kind
• 16:20
  of other third spaces would you like
• 16:22
  to see created in Austin?
• 16:23
  What I would want to see is
• 16:25
  something where you don't have to
• 16:26
  pay for it, where you don't feel
• 16:27
  like, oh, if I go somewhere,
• 16:30
  I have to pay for because then I
• 16:31
  feel bad because I'm just in their
• 16:33
  space.
• 16:34
  What I want is more spaces where
• 16:37
  people can feel like they belong
• 16:39
  there, they can talk with other
• 16:40
  people, share ideas, feel
• 16:42
  belong.
• 16:43
  All right, well, you're going to
• 16:45
  have roller skating, a DJ,
• 16:47
  and tamales.
• 16:48
  What more do I have to say?
• 16:49
  That's tomorrow at the Montopolis
• 16:52
  Courts in Roy Guerrero Park.
• 16:53
  We're going have a link to that in
• 16:55
  the show notes for today's podcast.
• 16:57
  We have been speaking with Genesis
• 16:59
  Pedraza and Alexia LeCla.
• 17:01
  They are with the Land Justice
• 17:02
  Community School.
• 17:03
  Thank you for your time.
• 17:04
  Thank you.
• 17:12
  In its fourth year the San Marcos
• 17:14
  studio tour is showcasing almost
• 17:16
  every kind of artists you can
• 17:17
  imagine.
• 17:18
  Painters and sculptors, graphic
• 17:20
  designers and ceramicists,
• 17:22
  tattoo artists and metal workers.
• 17:24
  There are over 80 creators featured
• 17:26
  along the tour.
• 17:27
  KUT's Hayes County reporter Lee
• 17:29
  Walden spent some time with one of
• 17:31
  them.
• 17:32
  Ducking in from the rain last
• 17:33
  Saturday, about a half dozen people
• 17:35
  welcome you when you enter Carly
• 17:37
  Schlievert's studio.
• 17:38
  Tucked into a bright yellow
• 17:39
  building, the room is about the size
• 17:41
  of the self-checkout area in an HEB.
• 17:43
  In a semicircle, five tables are
• 17:45
  set up with artists showcasing and
• 17:47
  selling their work.
• 17:51
  Schliebert has perched on a counter
• 17:52
  with her art.
• 17:53
  She makes life-size ceramic busts
• 17:55
  and masks.
• 17:56
  They all share the same discerning
• 17:58
  eyes and deadpan expressions.
• 18:00
  They're all painted in bright colors
• 18:02
  and have perfectly pursed rosebud
• 18:04
  lips.
• 18:04
  Fed up fems.
• 18:06
  It's about like wanting to look and
• 18:08
  feel fabulous as a feminine
• 18:09
  presenting person in this world
• 18:11
  while being like constantly
• 18:13
  consciously aware of the consumption
• 18:15
  of the male gaze and having
• 18:17
  to make decisions about how
• 18:19
  you present or what you wear how you
• 18:21
  go out in public.
• 18:22
  Her creations watch us as we tour
• 18:24
  the space.
• 18:25
  Got all the tools, anything cookie
• 18:27
  cutters, hole
• 18:29
  punchers, wood carving tools.
• 18:31
  Cubbies and boxes help organize
• 18:33
  an entire wall of tools.
• 18:35
  Shelves are cluttered with projects
• 18:37
  in every stage of creation.
• 18:39
  Some are easily recognizable.
• 18:42
  Plates or vases.
• 18:44
  Some are beyond description,
• 18:46
  spanning whole shelves and creeping
• 18:47
  up the walls.
• 18:48
  I'm gonna be doing this big Marie
• 18:50
  Antoinette beehive
• 18:52
  situation and then coming out of it
• 18:53
  like our hair will be a castle.
• 18:55
  When Schlievert was five years old
• 18:57
  and just getting started with art,
• 18:59
  her teacher told her something that
• 19:00
  stuck.
• 19:00
  Or you make a cup or a bowl, because
• 19:02
  everyone wants to make something
• 19:03
  like that. You have to make a
• 19:04
  something that's alive.
• 19:05
  First.
• 19:06
  The art breathes life into the whole
• 19:08
  space.
• 19:08
  It's owned by the city of San
• 19:10
  Marcos, but Schlievert makes a lot
• 19:11
  of her art here, and dozens of
• 19:13
  students come here every week for
• 19:15
  ceramics classes, some of which
• 19:17
  Schliever teaches.
• 19:18
  I saw it as a really great
• 19:19
  opportunity, not only for myself,
• 19:21
  to use this as my studio, but to
• 19:23
  share it with others too,
• 19:26
  and ceramics is such an inaccessible
• 19:27
  medium.
• 19:28
  Can be expensive.
• 19:29
  There's the clay itself but also the
• 19:31
  tools, a kiln, glazes,
• 19:33
  maybe a wheel.
• 19:35
  It's not as easy as just like
• 19:36
  getting some paint and a canvas from
• 19:38
  Michael's you know.
• 19:39
  Four times a week in this studio,
• 19:41
  Schliebert helps teach artists of
• 19:42
  all levels how to work with clay.
• 19:44
  She teaches another two classes
• 19:46
  every week at a different studio in
• 19:48
  Austin.
• 19:48
  Needless to say, she is really
• 19:51
  busy.
• 19:51
  Do something you love and you'll
• 19:52
  never work a day in your life.
• 19:53
  No, do something you'll love and
• 19:54
  never know a moment of peace, but in
• 19:56
  the best way.
• 19:57
  When she can, Sleevert finds time to
• 19:59
  make her own pieces.
• 20:03
  The bus she's working on cuts off
• 20:04
  around the forehead right now, but
• 20:06
  Schlievert says it'll probably be
• 20:08
  done by the end of the month.
• 20:09
  It takes a lot of work.
• 20:11
  Rolling, slipping, scoring,
• 20:13
  adding the coil.
• 20:14
  All told, one of her bus takes
• 20:16
  anywhere from 12 to 40
• 20:18
  hours to complete.
• 20:19
  The crowd of fed-up fems staring at
• 20:21
  us from across the room represents
• 20:23
  years and years of work
• 20:29
  It's Wednesday night.
• 20:31
  Schlievert's advanced clay class is
• 20:32
  packed into the studio.
• 20:34
  The chaos of creation is littered
• 20:36
  on tables crowded throughout the
• 20:38
  room.
• 20:38
  Seated around them, about 20 people
• 20:40
  work on every imaginable project.
• 20:43
  Some are concrete.
• 20:44
  So yeah, I'm making these napkin
• 20:46
  holders for my wedding.
• 20:47
  Some are vague.
• 20:48
  Just trying to build something.
• 20:50
  For myself and something big.
• 20:51
  Some are straight up deadly.
• 20:54
  One of those spiky balls on a
• 20:56
  chain that's attached to a stick.
• 20:57
  I'm making this single-use
• 21:00
  weapon, but
• 21:02
  it's like a flail with
• 21:04
  a ceramic chain.
• 21:06
  This one's really cute, though.
• 21:07
  It's got little stars on it, the
• 21:09
  kind of flail that you could imagine
• 21:11
  a fairy using.
• 21:12
  Almost all of the creators in this
• 21:14
  space are women.
• 21:15
  And these classes are about more
• 21:17
  than just getting to make art.
• 21:19
  Like got a ton of friends in this
• 21:20
  class now that I've met over the
• 21:22
  years of being in this class.
• 21:23
  Casey Baker is working on ceramic
• 21:25
  labels for the plants in their
• 21:26
  garden. It's just nice to be able to
• 21:29
  give myself some time to actually
• 21:30
  create something and not
• 21:32
  doom scroll and like just do
• 21:34
  something healthy with my life.
• 21:36
  For some of the artists in the room,
• 21:37
  there's equal parts catharsis from
• 21:39
  the process of making as there is
• 21:41
  from just being in the room.
• 21:43
  Schlievert is a big part of that.
• 21:44
  To her, there's no wrong way
• 21:47
  to start playing with clay.
• 21:48
  It's just mud and we're just making
• 21:50
  stuff that will
• 21:52
  outlive us and our children and our
• 21:54
  children's children.
• 21:54
  We're making future artifacts and I
• 21:56
  think that's really beautiful too.
• 21:57
  One of Schlievert's dreams is to do
• 21:59
  her own show, one where her fed-up
• 22:01
  femmes crowd the space and where
• 22:03
  they all get to be unapologetically
• 22:05
  fabulous.
• 22:06
  They're not here to please you or to
• 22:07
  win you over.
• 22:08
  Yeah, they're just hanging.
• 22:09
  This is girls hanging, you know,
• 22:11
  that's just kind of my whole thing.
• 22:12
  If you want to hang out with some of
• 22:14
  Schlieber's girls, you can catch
• 22:15
  them during the second half of the
• 22:17
  San Marcus Studio Tour this weekend.
• 22:19
  I'm Leigh Walden in San Marcus.
• 22:25
  All right now let's go into our
• 22:26
  weekend on an even better note here
• 22:28
  to help us do that is KUT's
• 22:30
  Luce Moreno Lozano.
• 22:31
  Luce, thanks for being on the show.
• 22:32
  Always a pleasure.
• 22:33
  So loose you have been following for
• 22:35
  the last few weeks the story of
• 22:37
  Athena so tell us who is Athena and
• 22:39
  why you've been following so
• 22:40
  closely.
• 22:40
  Yeah, she's the owl that
• 22:42
  has taken up residence at the
• 22:44
  Wildflower Center.
• 22:46
  She comes and has come to the
• 22:47
  Wildflow Center and nested there
• 22:49
  since at least 2012.
• 22:51
  She's laid several eggs and
• 22:53
  hatched and fledged
• 22:56
  several owls out of it, but
• 22:58
  I'm obsessed with her.
• 22:59
  You're even up to date on the
• 23:01
  specific, you know,
• 23:03
  definition, the fledged, what is
• 23:04
  fledged that is just...
• 23:05
  It means that they're able to fly.
• 23:08
  Like they can leave the nest,
• 23:09
  literally leave the nest.
• 23:12
  Okay, so tell us about these
• 23:13
  these how many how I mean how
• 23:15
  many eggs were there this go-around?
• 23:17
  Yeah, so she laid two eggs.
• 23:19
  I believe she laid the first one in
• 23:21
  like early March, like March 4th,
• 23:22
  and then she laid a second egg
• 23:24
  just a few days later.
• 23:27
  So the first egg actually
• 23:30
  hatched earlier this week
• 23:32
  on April 8th, and then the
• 23:33
  second one actually fully hatched
• 23:36
  this morning, just before 8
• 23:37
  a.m.
• 23:38
  Now how are you aware of
• 23:40
  this? Are you going to the
• 23:41
  Wildflower Center every day and are
• 23:42
  you calling, texting Athena?
• 23:43
  How is this working?
• 23:44
  Yeah, they actually,
• 23:46
  the Wildflower Center has a live
• 23:48
  camera on her at all times
• 23:50
  and you can even go back in the
• 23:52
  stream and see what she's been doing
• 23:53
  in the middle of the night, which is
• 23:55
  how I spend my mornings sometimes.
• 23:56
  Catching up on what Athena was up to
• 23:58
  overnight.
• 23:58
  Yeah, yeah, so I've been
• 24:00
  watching her on the out cam that
• 24:02
  that they're monitoring her from and
• 24:04
  they've got a lot of fun stuff on
• 24:06
  there I mean, they're watching her
• 24:07
  Not just the stream they have more
• 24:08
  stuff than that
• 24:09
  Well, no, it's just a stream, but
• 24:10
  they're watching her every move.
• 24:12
  Gotcha. She's got her own Facebook
• 24:14
  page and Twitter page,
• 24:16
  and they're just updating as much as
• 24:17
  they can, because, oh man, she's so
• 24:19
  cute. I'm watching her as we speak.
• 24:21
  Well, how long is this new family
• 24:23
  gonna stick around here in Austin?
• 24:24
  Yeah, so she'll
• 24:26
  care for them for up to like six
• 24:27
  weeks, which is about the time it
• 24:29
  takes them to learn to fly.
• 24:32
  So for the next couple of weeks,
• 24:33
  we'll see her like feed them.
• 24:34
  I saw her feed breakfast this
• 24:36
  morning and lunch earlier today.
• 24:39
  And yeah, and they'll like slowly
• 24:41
  grow and they're kind of fluffy and
• 24:43
  cute and eventually they learn to
• 24:45
  flight. And so that takes about six
• 24:46
  weeks sometimes a little longer, but
• 24:47
  give or take about six week.
• 24:48
  Okay, so we'll be able to watch them
• 24:49
  for a good amount of time.
• 24:51
  Oh, yeah Oh, yeah.
• 24:51
  If you go to the Wildflower Center,
• 24:52
  they usually have someone there
• 24:54
  pointing them out.
• 24:55
  You don't want to disturb them, but
• 24:57
  sometimes there's a ranger or
• 24:58
  someone up there that's like,
• 24:59
  there's an owl up there if you want
• 25:01
  to check it.
• 25:01
  Definitely don't want to disturb.
• 25:03
  That's why we can watch on the
• 25:04
  stream. We're gonna have a link to
• 25:05
  that in today's show notes loose
• 25:07
  Thanks for the rush of dopamine this
• 25:09
  afternoon. That is loose more than a
• 25:10
  lasano KUT City Hall reporter
• 25:12
  and Athena expert.
• 25:13
  We appreciate you
• 25:14
  Thanks, Jerry.
• 25:15
  And thank you for spending the week
• 25:17
  here with us.
• 25:18
  Rayna Sevilla is our technical
• 25:19
  director.
• 25:20
  Kristen Cabrera is our managing
• 25:21
  producer.
• 25:22
  Special shout out to Rene Chavez.
• 25:24
  I'm your host, Jerry Quijano.
• 25:26
  Have a great weekend.