Adventures of a Gonzo Journalist
Posted in Austin, Journalism, Ministry of Hemp, and Video
In our new spotlight series we are going to visit places and people within the hemp industry!
Our first stop is the Joy Organics Austin store. We got to talk with owner Danielle Cearbaugh and get some insight into what Joy Organics is about and what she wants you to know about buying quality CBD. We also got to try Joy Organics’ CBD Energy Drink, which comes in a delicious “Happy Berry” flavor.
Posted in Austin, Creative Commons, and Journalism
Last week, Austin anarchists marked Juneteenth a day early with a protest against modern-day slavery.
Juneteenth, honored on June 19 each year, marks the day that news of the Emancipation Proclamation reached slaves in Texas. However, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution legalizes unpaid or shockingly underpaid slave labor by those behind bars. The Juneteenth prison protest in Austin targeted two offices operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Around dawn, activists scaled flag poles at the Austin offices of the TDCJ parole board to replace the U.S. and Texas flags with an anti-prison slavery banner. Later, more anarchists (and this reporter) gathered to protest at a showroom where corporations come to hire prison labor.
“ Texas is one of the few states where prisoners receive no paid compensation for their labor, yet are expected to afford commissary items, $100 medical copays, and post-release expenses,” a representative of the group told me.
Posted in Austin, Journalism, and Ministry of Hemp
Last month, we got to try a unique new hemp beer and talk to part of the team behind it.
“We finally brought together hemp and hops,” said Steve Navas, brand activation manager for New Belgium Brewing.
The private bar in downtown Austin where the tasting took place was filled with the incredible smell of The Hemperor hemp pale ale. As we spoke with Navas, the sounds of local bluegrass band Steel Betty tickled our ears.
Posted in Austin, Journalism, and Ministry of Hemp
Our Hemperor beer review in a nut (hemp?) shell: Delicious!
New Belgium Brewing recently invited our Editor in Chief to a special Austin, Texas tasting of their new hemp beer, The Hemperor HPA.
The Hemperor is a unique new offering. This is the first hemp beer from a brewery as ubiquitous as New Belgium. While this “HPA” or Hemp Pale Ale has the strong flavor of hops, the hemp flavor balances out the bitterness. The smell of The Hemperor has to be experienced to be believed. The private downtown bar where the tasting took place smelled like a hemp field at harvest, just from the open bottles and glasses of beer.
Posted in Austin, Journalism, Ministry of Hemp, SXSW, and Video
The Texas hemp industry is booming despite the obstacles faced by Lone Star State entrepreneurs.
That’s the message of the Texas Hemp and Garden Show, which took place on March 13 and 14 in Austin, Texas, at a downtown nightclub near the heart of the popular SXSW festival and not far from the capitol building.
2018 marked the Hemp and Garden Show’s second year, and there were about a dozen different vendors or organizations represented when I dropped in on the second day. Activists helped passersby fill out voter registration cards on the sidewalk, a DJ spun tunes from a small stage outside, and inside a succession of experts spoke about topics ranging from agriculture to the war on drugs. At night, musicians took over for the speakers including a surprise appearance from rapper Lil’ Flip.
Posted in Austin, Creative Commons, Gonzo Notes, and Journalism
What do you feel when you see the black bloc?
I feel pride, solidarity, and hope.
Though their faces are masked, I see a group of beautiful humans willing to get injured or imprisoned in order to keep all of us safer.
What the mainstream media wants you to feel is fear. Strangely, they want you to feel the opposite around the police, who come out to the protest dressed for war, driving military vehicles and with a sniper team ready on the roof tops. In addition to bullets, they’ve got bean bag guns, pepper bombs, noise cannons, the whole array of nightmarish “less lethal” weaponry that late stage capitalism can bring to bear.
Meanwhile, the black bloc have just their bare hands and their bodies, or if they’re lucky, a handful of flags on sticks and some homemade shields.
