From a base camp darkroom in Vietnam to street photography in San Francisco to the political stage, this interview with Bob McNeely traces his life as a photographer and offers honest insight into Hillary’s personality and career, wrestling with both the promise of her capabilities and the problems of her political history. Hear how McNeely’s access ended abruptly in 1998 amidst scandal and how Hillary’s Senate race in 2000 foreshadowed her ability to be resilient and move on with her life.

A Pure Solar World explores how Sun Ra was a master of jazz composition, a pioneer in electronic music, a major African American poet, and an expansively free-thinking teacher. Author Paul Youngquist talks to us about the philosophy behind Sun Ra's space music, how audiences first responded to his music and his message, and why his work deserves more attention.

Mando Rayo and Jarod Neece drove over 7,000 miles sampling tacos in 10 major Texas taco hubs to build a community of taco lovers. The culmination of their journey is the new indispensable guide, The Tacos of Texas. We talked to them about their road trip and the process of enlisting community leaders, knowledgeable locals, and abuelitas to delve deeper than Yelp reviews and capture authentic taco culture.

This enriching conversation unpacks how creating art is like raising a child, how not to suck as a creative person, and how pain should be part of becoming a healer. Hersh honors Vic, sharing her favorite memories from the road and explaining why she finally agreed to write Don’t Suck, Don’t Die. She emits so much wisdom, revealing how she learned to “crawl into” prose writing to add dimension to her music and not let "staying in the heavy" obscure hope. We also delve into the process of writing her nonfiction novel Rat Girl.

Texas is very innovative in a lot of ways but also holds tight to its past and its traditions. Some Texan traditions are obvious, but others took some digging, like drawing on water dousing skills to find water during contemporary droughts. We ask Andrea Valdez what research she conducted to write an authoritative how-to manual on Texas life, how she feels about certain Texas stereotypes, and why engaging in these activities enhanced her sense of self.

Texas women have a uniquely global brand of strength, humor, and grace. We ask non-native Texan Sarah Bird what about the culture of friendly femininity won her over, what her mother taught her, iconic Texas women like Ladybird Johnson and Molly Ivins, and what it means to hunger for the companionship of other women.

This fascinating conversation illuminates the power, purpose, and imagery of Freemason societies in America from their origins in ancient Egyptian mystery schools to the Grand Lodge of Texas sending Buzz Aldrin to claim the moon as Texas Masonic Tranquility Lodge #2000. Adele and Webb talk about how these groups functioned in communities, how they were driven by immigrants seeking to preserve ancient traditions, and how their principles were communicated through ritualistic objects.

This moving conversation wrestles with two centuries of deeply ingrained racial tension born out of Southern plantation kitchens and the journey Toni Tipton-Martin embarked upon when she started one of the world’s largest private collections of African American cookbooks.

Ray Benson speaks honestly about utilizing his ADHD in his career, being Jewish in the music world, playing for the Klu Klux Klan, and the reality that becoming a successful musician has always been a hat trick.

The sociological study at the heart of Invisible in Austin seeks to correct stereotyping in similar studies that reduces people to “the drug dealer,” the single mother,” “the stripper.” The co-authors talk about tackling the politics of collaboration in academia, subjectivity, and intense debates on how to most effectively tell an individual's story.