Before even setting foot on stage to kick off the first of two headlining sets at this year’s Austin City Limits Music Festival, Dua Lipa made headlines for her adventures in the capital city. The professional vacationer, also known as the “Vacanza Queen,” made all the right stops while she was in town, visiting classic […]
Author Archives: Cat Cardenas
Cat Cardenas is a writer-at-large for The Barbed Wire based in Austin, covering entertainment, politics, and Latinx culture. Her work has appeared on the covers of Rolling Stone and Dazed, as well as in Vogue, W Magazine, Variety, GQ, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, and others.
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The Soul, and the Destruction, of Peyote Gardens in South Texas
Out in the Tamaulipan thornscrub of South Texas, Mario Garza has spent years looking for something sacred. To the untrained eye, the ranchland he visits might seem unremarkable, or even hostile — a wide expanse of mesquite and huisache thickets littered with rattlesnakes and tasajillo spines, among other natural hazards. But Garza sees it differently. […]
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‘We’ve Been Left Out’: Joaquin Castro Wants to Fill the ‘Void’ of Latinos on Screen
Growing up in West Side San Antonio, Congressman Joaquin Castro’s world was wholly different than the one on his TV or downtown at the Aztec Theatre. “What I would see on screen almost never matched what I saw when I stepped out my front door and into my neighborhood,” he told The Barbed Wire. “The […]
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The Trail-Blazing Tejana Singer Who Performed for Kings and Presidents
On the southern banks of the San Antonio Riverwalk, millions of visitors each year wind along the cobblestone path and cross over Rosita’s Bridge — the arched ivy-covered walkway connecting the river to the city’s historic La Villita arts village — following in the footsteps of the path’s namesake: Rosita Fernández. Known as “San Antonio’s […]
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Meet the Men Helping Texans with Disabilities Explore the Outdoors
Just off the coast of Port O’Connor, in the shallow marshes on the edge of Espiritu Santo Bay in Southeast Texas, the early morning landscape was enveloped in a tranquil azure haze. It was the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, and while the boat traffic certainly picked up, at 8:30 a.m., fisherman Jason Ruiz didn’t […]
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The Next Generation of Dallas Lowriders: Chingona Women
When she’s cruising down Jefferson Boulevard in Dallas’ Oak Cliff neighborhood, it’s impossible to ignore Mercedes Mata. It’s not just that her signature ride is a glimmering pink 1984 Chevy Monte Carlo — a car so captivating it’s been on display for the last four months at the Bullock Texas State History Museum — it’s […]
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The Taco Wars Forgot the Most Important Player: The Rio Grande Valley
This summer, Texas restaurateurs waited with bated breath to hear if the state’s long standing “curse” at the James Beard Awards would finally come to an end. Texas has lagged behind other states at the annual awards (known as the Oscars of the food world), winning just three national titles over the last 34 years. […]