When I moved back to Austin to start The Barbed Wire, I was an investigative reporter by trade, and I’d written a book, but I had never managed a team, never created an editorial calendar, never even been a full-time editor. The joke we tell is that I Dick Cheney’d myself into this position — […]
Author Archives: Olivia Messer
Olivia Messer is editor-in-chief of The Barbed Wire. Her decade-long, dogged investigative work on the Texas Legislature has repeatedly exposed a culture of sexual abuse and harassment, sending bipartisan shockwaves through the state and leading to significant reforms. (Keep sending her tips: olivia@thebarbedwire.com.)
Olivia grew up in Houston, then cut her teeth as a local crime reporter for The Waco Tribune-Herald before moving to New York, where she wrote for The Daily Beast’s award-winning Cheat Sheet newsletter and then national news desk. She is now based in Austin and has published work in Rolling Stone, Marie Claire, Slate, Texas Monthly, and Texas Observer. Tina Brown once called her “meticulous,” and Barbara Bush once read to her elementary school class. Her forthcoming novel — about a journalist losing her grip on reality — is called Something’s Wrong With the Girls and will be published by Rare Bird.
Posted inImmigration
2-Month-Old Baby Juan Nicolás & His Mother Were ‘Abandoned Across the Border’ Hours After He Was Hospitalized With Bronchitis, Castro Says
A recently hospitalized 2-month-old baby has been deported with his mother, father, and 16-month-old sister, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro said Tuesday. Juan Nicolás was rushed to the hospital on Monday night after spending nearly a month in federal custody at Dilley Family Detention Center, Univision’s Lidia Terrazas first reported. In a Sunday evening social media […]
Posted inImmigration
Texas Democrats Demand Release of ‘Political Prisoner’ Leqaa Kordia, Compare ICE Facility to ‘Internment Camps’
Texas Democrats are accusing President Donald Trump of holding 33-year-old Columbia University protester Leqaa Kordia as a political prisoner, and on Friday called for her release in a frigid press conference outside of Prairieland Detention Center in North Texas. Kordia, a Palestinian Muslim woman who had lived in Paterson, New Jersey since 2016, has been […]
Posted inImmigration
Even Texas Republicans Are Starting to Turn on ICE After Alex Pretti’s Killing
As a rare storm blanketed the Texas state capital in picturesque frost on Monday, Texas Republicans joined a chorus of criticisms against the Department of Homeland Security, its Secretary Kristi Noem, and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency terrorizing American cities in President Donald Trump’s second term. In short, Hell has frozen over. This past […]
Posted inNews
Jasmine Crockett Was Asked About Her ‘Electability’ Again. Some Say That’s Just a ‘Pretext’ for Race.
U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett and Texas state Rep. James Talarico faced off in a debate on Saturday, giving Texas voters their first true glimpse at the U.S. Senate candidates’ policy proposals — and contrasting political styles — ahead of the March 3 primary election. During Saturday’s debate, moderators Daniel Marin, a KXAN news anchor, and […]
Posted inEditor's Letter
Gutsy, Fearless Journalism Isn’t Dead. Don’t Let Bari Weiss Convince You It Is.
Look, I’m a crier. I get misty-eyed at adorable babies and beautiful brides, so you can imagine what a nightmare it is to sit near me when I report on tragedies. Still, I was gobsmacked when I began to write my year-in-review piece — a simple assignment! I’ve done dozens of them over my career! […]
Posted inNews
Jasmine Crockett Is Running for U.S. Senate. Let’s Revisit Her Most Viral Quotes, Clapbacks, and Provocative Alliterations.
U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett announced her highly-anticipated run for U.S. Senate on Monday after weeks of rumors, guessing, and national headlines. “Turning Texas blue is what I want to talk to y’all about today. Now, there are those that say ain’t no way,” Crockett said to a crowd of supporters as she officially announced her […]
Posted inCulture
The Most Thoughtful, Unusual Gifts We Received This Year
It is time once again to break out the Bonne Maman advent calendar, host festive dinner parties, and snuggle up on your green Joybird couch with a chic, overpriced blanket. With the holidays inevitably come gift guides. While we’re no Wirecutter (yet???), I’ve been an avid gift-guide consumer for most of my adult life. And […]
Posted inEditor's Letter
Texas Is a Lot More Queer Than You Think. I Am Too.
I think I need to start at the beginning, because I’ve never talked about this publicly. During freshman orientation at McGill University, I ended up on a pedestrian-only stone street strung with pink decorations: The Gay Village in Montreal, Canada. There’s a Saint-Pierre-Apôtre Church with a Chapel of Hope dedicated to AIDS victims. Rainbows. Murals. […]
Posted inCulture
Oscar Wyatt Was Houston’s Oil-Slicked Gatsby. Step Inside His ‘Tower of Terror.’
Late last week my mom texted me, “Only the good die young.” Then, “Oscar Wyatt.” The 101-year-old oil tycoon was primarily famous for turning an $800 loan in 1955 into a pipeline company that became the Coastal Corporation — a national energy conglomerate that earned him billions. He passed away in Houston last week “peacefully […]