We Have an Issue: Why We’re Still Talking About LBJ: Reflections on the LBJ Library at 50, and a fond farewell to Food Editor Jessi Cape – Columns
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Cover by Zeke Barbaro / Photos courtesy of LBJ Library & Museum
Dead presidents aren’t often on the tip of the tongue in national conversation, but not every dead president is Lyndon Baines Johnson. When the Texas House Democrats fled to DC this summer and broke the quorum to thwart the Republicans’ plan to attack our voting rights, LBJ’s legacy was invoked: a Texan signed the groundbreaking Voting Rights Act of 1965, and it should be a whole will be Passel of the Texans who fight to keep these voting rights in a turbulent year 2021. (While the US House of Representatives just passed the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act Tuesday, the Texas Dems story has a disappointing coda Mike Clark-Madison explains here.)
In Austin, we’re lucky enough to have the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum on the University of Texas campus open to everyone. (Well, normally open – closed to the public during the sustained high number of COVID-19 hospital admissions.) This spring the institution celebrated its 50th anniversary and this summer opened a new exhibit of unprecedented memorabilia from Lady Bird Johnson’s Archives. Art editor Robert Faires commemorates the occasion by reflecting on LBJ’s evolving legacy and the enduring legacy of its library. Find this story here.
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This week, Food Editor Jessi Cape is leaving Chronicle full-time to start a new career in communications with a local software company. But she doesn’t go too far: she will head the judges’ table at the upcoming Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival and will continue to appear as a contributor.
Jessi started at Chronicle in January 2007, tracking time at our front desk, classifieds, subscriptions, and then as office manager – a particularly ungrateful job considering we’re all basically pagans. In 2010, Jessi started writing for us, putting all sorts of stories in all sorts of beats: restaurant and book reviews; empathetic interviews with interesting and inspiring women like Cheryl Strayed, Adriene Mishler, Evelyn Ngugi, Judy Blume and Lidia Bastianich; and first-person you-are-there pieces (like the time she hunted pigs with Chef Jesse Griffiths or when she drank up and down the Red Line with beer columnist Eric Puga). In 2017, she succeeded Brandon Watson as food editor – a torch handover that I think would have tickled her mentor Virginia B. Wood pink – and I’m so proud of the work Jessi has done in that role. She stood up for the outsider, stood up against bullies, placed social justice at the center of her reporting and also brought a sense of joy to the game into the section.
I’m still trying to get used to the thought of not having Jessi with me – she was my real blue partner in the trenches – so we’ll take our time to find the next person to run the food department. Do you think you could be good at the job? View the job posting here.
Online this week
The view at the County Line BBQ (Photo by Jana Birchum)
Eating with a view: Hannah Williford recommends restaurants with picturesque views.
No Vax, No Rock: ACL Festival requires participants in the music festival in October to provide evidence of a COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID test.
RIP Powell St. John: Kevin Curtin praises the late songwriter who worked with Janis Joplin and 13th Floor Elevators.
More from the LBJ library: Robert Faires interviews former directors of the LBJ library, Kate X Messer writes about a popular birthday cake tradition and much more.
Lager Jam 7: Beer guy Eric Puga knows what they’re going to serve at Austin Beer Guide’s lager party.
Dog Day of Summer: Kat McNevins, Editor for Community Listings, rounds up the ways to celebrate National Dog Day on August 26th.
This week on the Austin Chronicle Show on COOP 91.7FM
Robert Faires and Mike Clark-Madison speak to hosts Kimberley Jones about LBJ’s legacy and the attacks on voting rights in Texas.
Tune on the KOOP Community Radio on Fridays at 6 p.m. Past episodes at austinchronicle.com/av.
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