Eric O’Keefe
“This was more than a trial,” says Eric O’Keefe, who covered the manslaughter case of his former boss John Goodman in Palm Beach, Florida (“Goodman Gone Bad”). “It was a tragedy. I was knee-deep in the evidence, in the drama, and in the sadness.” While reporting the story, the Dallas-based author also finished his first novel—a murder mystery that just happens to be set in Palm Beach—and celebrated the U.S. premiere of his first feature film, The Cup, which he scripted with director Simon Wincer, of Lonesome Dove fame. “Not much going on this spring,” O’Keefe says, laughing. “Hoping for a busier summer.”
Michael O’Brien
Michael O’Brien and his 21-year-old son, Sam, drove nine hundred miles in four days to take portraits of ranchers who lived through the epic drought of the fifties (“When the Sky Ran Dry”). “The farther west we went, the more rugged the landscape and the more that was echoed in their faces,” the Austin-based photographer and longtime TEXAS MONTHLY contributor says. “But none of them had any vanity at all. They were more interested in telling me about the land.”
KUT + StateImpact Texas
Thanks to our Austin-based friends at KUT and StateImpact Texas—specifically producer Matt Largey, news director Emily Donahue, and reporters Mose Buchele and Terrence Henry—we will be taking this month’s in-depth report on water to the airwaves. In a special hour-long broadcast, which will air on public radio stations across the state beginning on June 22, we will further explore the impact of droughts both past and present. “The thing that has struck me about drought is how unique of a disaster it is,” says Henry. “Unlike a hurricane or a flood, whose damage is swift and intense, a drought is more like a slow death. Its true toll and impact may not be clear for years.”
