The 1920’s are often seen as a golden age of literature and art. On our side of the Atlantic, there was Greenwich Village, the physical home of much of the intellectual and artistic ferment in America in the 20’s. This is your last week to catch the Harry Ransom Center's free exhibition, “The Greenwich Village Bookshop Door: A Portal to Bohemia, 1920-1925” focusing on a bookshop owned by Frank Shay in Greenwich Village in the early 1920’s, located at 4 Christopher Street. The exhibit features a wooden interior door for “Frank Shay’s Bookshop” that was signed by 242 writers, literary bigwigs and assorted cultural figures of the era. more ›

In terrible things news, a recent post on the Alcalde, the University of Texas alumni blog, shows a picture of a small boy in a Texas A & M t-shirt holding a rope attached to a longhorn with his horns facing down. It was supposedly accomplished by weighing the horns down slowly over time. more ›

The Harry Ransom Center has acquired novelist J.M. Coetzee’s archives (at an estimated $1.5 million), making him the ninth Nobel laureate to be housed at the HRC -- a lofty list that includes T.S. Eliot, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, and Doris Lessing. The archives contain over 150 boxes and filing cabinets of journals, manuscripts (including two Man Booker Prize winning novels: Life & Times of Michael K and Disgrace), as well as letter correspondence, interviews, digital and audiovisual materials, and family photographs covering a fifty-year career. more ›

Since Rick O'Donnell's dismissal from the University of Texas System last week, members of the community have come out to defend UT's position as one of the top research universities in the country. Now UT students have written a letter directly to the Board of Regents. Top-down efforts to cut costs and increase productivity at the System's nine campuses have developed into a large-scale debate on the merits of a research-based institution, and students want a role in the decision process. more ›

The Save the Cactus Café organization started over the weekend as a Facebook group and is now over 13,000 members strong. They're gathering this afternoon at a town hall meeting to try to persuade University of Texas president Bill Powers to save the iconic venue and its courses. more ›

The Texas Union Board of Directors announced on Friday its support of a phase-out of the Cactus Cafe and Informal Classes program. According to the Board, "The decision to close the Cactus Cafe and the Informal Classes program was made to minimize the impact of budgetary reductions on students and to protect student core services. President William Powers Jr. recently asked all university departments to prepare plans that prioritize reductions." more ›

For those hoping to avoid all of the pre-festival activities around downtown and looking for a dose of heady science (and really, who isn't?), UT Austin is hosting a special lecture by American mathematician Jeffrey Weeks, entitled 'The Shape of Space." more ›

Concealed handguns on their way to a campus near you? State Senate gave preliminary approval today to a bill allowing concealed handguns on public university campuses.Police searching for the suspect from a mugging at UT this morning. The Statesman now has a nifty online crime map. Round Rock ISD employee steals 100 computers from the district, tries to sell them on Craigslist. CapMetro set to use $10 million loan, if needed. Statewide smoking ban bill, we hardly knew ye. 4-year-old Waco man in stable condition after being stung more than 250 times by bees. more ›

• Texas A&M scientists are starting the zombie invasion. Texas ranchers are actually excited about this.
• Dallas couple found Jesus in a Cheeto. They nicknamed it "Cheesus."
• An 11 year-old Lakeway boy is among the people protesting the removal of trees at Barton Springs Pool. He even has a website and an online petition!

Watch a recently found full-color film detailing the brutal aftermath of the May 11, 1953 Waco tornado. (If you've ever wondered why half of downtown Waco is a parking lot, here's your answer. It wasn't like that until the tornado.) Be careful about jaywalking in front of any cop near UT! Finals week: Don’t forget to have your brain blessed! Gail Collins of The New York Times Op-Ed page calls Texas “a teen pregnancy disaster zone.” (Expert opinion claims abstinence-only education makes Texas a baby-makin’ factory!) Legendary Texas writer Bud Shrake had a fantastic life, and wound up with this great obit. He was even part of history: years ago, he told us that Jack Ruby was sitting on his newsroom desk when JFK was shot. Read his book "Strange Peaches" if you aren't going to his service tomorrow. Students sprinting in skivvies at UT! (SFW) more ›

Next week, thousands of university students across Austin are going to start freaking out when they realize their semester is coming to an end and they have only one test left to raise their grade--their final exam. From late night Wendy's visits and sleeping in public to scantrons and in-class essays, the late-spring ritual usually brings out the worst in college students, but Austin comedian Chuck Watkins, replacing the library with UT's west mall, takes on Finals Week a little differently... more ›

Low turnout for early voting so far. Firefighters talk about yesterday's apartment fire. DPS director resigns amid allegations of touching women in his office inappropriately and other unprofessional behavior. Bill up before state legislature would require sex offenders to register online. Hill Country Galleria files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. UT student may have swine flu. Do you know how much your school district superintendent makes? more ›

• Case with Austin ties coming up before the Supreme Court tomorrow has some wondering if the Voting Rights Act is needed in the Obama era.
• UT Law Prof Stefanie Lindquist discussed the case with KUT's Jennifer Stayton.
• Bill up before the Texas Legislature would ban usage of cell phones in school zones.

• More drugs, please! Texas requests additional pharmaceutical weapons to fight swine flu.
• Deer Park, represent! House declares today Ron White Day. He's the dude from the “Blue Collar Comedy Tour” who is clutching the cigar and the scotch.
• If your house gets burgled in the middle of the night this week, your detective might be yawning. APD is switching some detectives to the night shift.

• The Barbara Jordan statue at UT was unveiled today.
• Austin as the capital of New Texas?
• Rep. Mark Strama has an anti-bullying bill this session; Equality Texas wants your help to get it passed.

Tomorrow night, the UT Libraries are hosting a panel discussion on the legacy of Barbara Jordan. Moderated by Texas Politics Project Director James Henson, "When Barbara Jordan Talked, We Listened - A Panel Discussion" will include current State Rep. Senfronia Thompson, Executive Director of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Susan Rieff, and former Dean of the LBJ School of Public Affairs Max Sherman. This panel is free and open to the public. more ›

Tomorrow, April 16, is the two-year anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings. To commemorate the day, as well as to protest proposed state laws allowing guns on campus, a walk-out has been announced at UT. The plan was sent out to UT staff, faculty and students through a student announcement email this morning. Students and faculty are asked to leave their classes at 11:30am and meet up at noon on the South Steps of the Capitol to hear from state legislators and victims of campus violence, among others, on the issue of firearms on campus. more ›

Several Austin establishments have announced alternate hours or complete shut-downs this weekend, due to the Texas Relays. No specific or unified reason has been offered, but all the entities have mentioned safety concerns, poor revenue in past years, and post-SXSW blues. more ›

This Saturday at the Main Mall at UT you will be able to catch Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, who have actually played at all of the aforementioned festivals, for a free show at this year’s Forty Acres Fest. Past performers at this fest providing music, games, food and fun for all have included The Roots, Common, Little Richard and more. But, this time it’s the Brooklyn-based indie art rockers. more ›

The University of Texas' Music & Entertainment Committee's annual Forty Acres Fest is right around the corner, and campus is already buzzing with rumors about this year's headliner. We'll let you in on a secret: you'll know who it is tonight, when MEC posts information about the lineup and headliner on its Facebook page. This year's festival is Saturday, April 7 beginning at 7 p.m., and as always, will take place beneath the UT Tower. more ›

• Dell to lay off hundreds of employees.
• New Austin superintendent hasn't stuck with a position for longer than 3 years since the mid-90's.
• When you went to bed last night, the State Senate was still working on the Voter ID bill.

Around lunchtime, many people spotted smoke coming up from the West Campus area. The photo at the left was the view from Whitis and Dean Keeton. more ›

Playwright and filmmaker David Mamet is returning to UT this Thursday—oddly enough, a year and a day after his last appearance on campus—for a chat with UT Austin President William Powers Jr. more ›

Every weekday morning we'll be featuring a photo (or two) from our readers. Please feel free to submit your photos (min 600px width) by adding them to the Austinist Flickr Group. more ›

Just this year alone, at the ripe young age of 50, they managed to acquire the archive of acclaimed British author Jim Crace, letters from Tennessee Williams and John Steinbeck, and an ancient Bible written in parallel in Latin, Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, Aramaic. more ›

The Harry Ransom Center at UT Austin gives out about 50 fellowships each year to post-doctorates and independent scholars for research projects "in all areas of the humanities." The funding includes a handsome $3,000 monthly stipend (up to 4 months), plus travel stipends. Applications are now being accepted; the deadline is February 2, 2009. HRC also notes that priority goes to proposals that incorporate the Center's collections, so you'd do well to take a stroll around their impressive collections before coming up with a research topic. [Harry Ransom Center Fellowships] more ›

The Harry Ransom Center at UT Austin today announced two impressive acquisitions to its already massive collection: letters from cherished American playwright Tennessee Williams and equally cherished American novelist John Steinbeck. more ›

20-year-old Justin Levi McCelvey, a self-described Spurs fan (based off a now-deleted Myspace account), was overheard bemoaning that he "wished he could go into a classroom and shoot everybody," and "blow up this campus and blow up Austin" ... "Virginia Tech style." A fellow student relayed his comments to university counselors, who in turn told the police. more ›

For the third time this month, a student was held up at gunpoint by a man described as standing approximately 6 feet tall with a "medium to muscular build." In each case, the assailant donned a mask and gloves. More disturbingly, the suspect thus far seems to be solely targeting Asian students. more ›

Photos by Steve Hopson. more ›