Archive Activism is a memoir of activism rooted in a new way to converse with history—by rescuing it. Archive activists discover documents and other important materials often classified, “gone missing,” or sealed that somehow escaped the fireplace or shredder. It is an approach to LGBTQ advocacy and policy activism based on citizen archivery and original archival research to effect social change. Research=Activism is the formula growing out of Charles Francis’s personal story as a gay Texan born and raised during the 1950s and 1960s in Dallas. The rescues range in time and place from Francis’s first encounter with a raucous, near-violent religious demonstration in Fort Worth to attics loaded with forgotten historic treasures of LGBTQ pioneers. Archive Activism tells how Francis helped Governor George W. Bush achieve his dream of becoming president in 2000 by reaching out to gay and lesbian supporters, the first time a Republican candidate for president formally met with gay and lesbian Americans. This inspired Francis to engage with deleted LGBTQ history by forming a historical society with an edge, a new Mattachine Society of Washington, DC. For the first time, Archive Activism reveals how LGBTQ secrets were held for decades at the LBJ Presidential Library …

Asepo is a simulated domestic space that speaks to being a product of the hybridization of cultures, the sense of displacement and the need for belonging that comes with being a hybrid of sorts. The exhibition includes four sectors. The first is a bed with a floating headboard accompanied by projected imagery and sound. A performance takes place upon the bed. The second is a table with three accompanying wall-mounted pieces that connect to the table through symbolism. The third is a sculptural wooden diptych and the final sector is comprised of accessories.

On November 22, 1963, the author of Behind the Scenes was a young Dallas Times Herald reporter who sprinted from his newspaper desk to Dealey Plaza minutes after shots were fired at President John F. Kennedy. Thus began Darwin Payne’s close involvement in covering one shocking event after another on this history-making weekend. Eyewitnesses he found at Dealey Plaza included Abraham Zapruder, who insisted from the first moments that the president could not have survived the serious wounds he had seen so clearly through his camera viewfinder. Payne interviewed detectives outside the School Book Depository that early afternoon as they brought down evidence of the shooter’s location, as well as his rifle, and he was among several journalists taken to the assassin’s sixth-floor window from where fatal shots had been fired. Before the day ended, Payne was in the Oak Cliff rooming house where the suspect had been living briefly apart from his Russian wife, Marina. Payne learned that the alleged assassin, now in police custody after being charged with the murder of officer J. D. Tippit, was known as O. H. Lee instead of Lee Harvey Oswald. On Payne’s regular Saturday night police-beat duty, he was among the growing …

This anthology collects the ten winners of the 2022 Best American Newspaper Narrative Writing Contest at UNT’s Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference. First place winner: Jason Fagone, “The Jessica Simulation: Love and Loss in the Age of A.I.,” about one man’s attempt to still communicate with his dead fiancée (San Francisco Chronicle). Second place: Jenna Russell, Penelope Overton, and David Abel, “The Lobster Trap” (The Boston Globe and Portland Press Herald). Third place: Jada Yuan, “Discovering Dr. Wu” (The Washington Post). Runners-up include Lane DeGregory, “Who Wants to Be a Cop? (Tampa Bay Times); Christopher Goffard, “The Trials of Frank Carson” (Los Angeles Times); Evan Allen, “Under the Wheel” (The Boston Globe); Mark Johnson, “A Wisconsin Mom Gave Birth in a COVID-19 Coma before Slipping to the Brink of Death” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel); Annie Gowen, “A Dance, Not a War” (The Washington Post); Peter Jamison, “They’d Battled Addiction Together. Then Lockdowns became a ‘Recipe for Death’” (The Washington Post); and Douglas Perry, “The Obsession” (The Oregonian / Oregon Live).

Grammy Award–winning pianist, bandleader, and composer Cedar Walton (1934–2013) is a major figure in jazz, associated with a variety of styles from bebop to funk and famous for composing several standards. Born and raised in Dallas, Walton studied music in Denver, where he jammed with musicians such as Charlie Parker and John Coltrane. In 1955, Walton moved to New York, immediately gaining recognition from notable musicians and nightclub proprietors. When Walton returned to the U.S. after serving abroad in the Army, he joined Benny Golson and Art Farmer’s Jazztet. Later, he became both pianist and arranger for Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. Next, he worked as part of Prestige Records’s house rhythm section, recording with numerous greats and releasing his own albums. One hallmark of Walton’s impact is his numerous long-term collaborations with giants such as trombonist Curtis Fuller and drummer Billy Higgins. By the end of his career, Walton’s discography, as both band member and bandleader, included many dozens of vaunted recordings with some of the most notable jazz musicians of the 1960s through the first decade of the twenty-first century. Ben Markley conducted more than seventy-five interviews with friends and family members, musicians who played with or were otherwise …

During World War II the United States mobilized its industrial assets to become the great “Arsenal of Democracy” through the cooperation of the government and private firms. The Dallas Story examines a specific aviation factory, operated by the North American Aviation (NAA) company in Dallas, Texas. Terrance Furgerson explores the construction and opening of the factory, its operation, its relations with the local community, and the closure of the facility at the end of the war. Prior to the opening of the factory in 1941, the city of Dallas had practically no existing industrial base. Despite this deficiency, the residents quickly learned the craft of manufacturing airplanes, and by the time of the Pearl Harbor attack the NAA factory was mass-producing the AT-6 trainer aircraft. The entry of the United States into the war brought about an enlargement of the NAA factory, and the facility began production of the B-24 Liberator bomber and the famed P-51 Mustang fighter. By the end of the war the Texas division of NAA had manufactured nearly 19,000 airplanes, making it one of the most prolific U.S. factories.

Joe Olexa enlisted in the US Army in December 1940, figuring that if he was going to be in a war, he might as well start training. Assigned to the 1st Infantry Division, nicknamed “The Big Red One,” he served in Company L of its 26th Infantry Regiment for the next four years. Along the way he trained with the division in maneuvers in the United States; shipped to England in 1942; landed at Oran, Algeria, in the Operation Torch landings of November 1942; and fought in Tunisia, Sicily, Normandy, Belgium, and Germany. Olexa was one of the first group of enlistees that brought the division up to full strength in the buildup prior to Pearl Harbor, and was a sergeant by the time he went overseas. He served as a squad leader, platoon sergeant, and acting platoon leader, outlasting nearly all the men in his company. His memoir features accounts of unusual adventures in Tunisia when his battalion was detached from the rest of the division, and presents a detailed and intense account of his platoon’s experiences at El Guettar. Later, Olexa became a “Sea Scout,” going ashore on Sicily the night before the invasion to provide signals to …

Art work (Pedestal created using CNC Router) in ceramic and cone 10 porcelain by artist Segrest, Courtney, as part of 2023 MFA exhibition entitled: "Inside, Outside, Under" in the Cora Stafford Gallery South, 1201 W Mulberry St, Denton, Texas, from April 26 - April 29, 2023.

Despite all that has been written about Vietnam, the story of the 1-A-O conscientious objector, who agreed to put on a uniform and serve in the field without weapons rather than accept alternative service outside the military, has received scarce attention. This joint memoir by two 1-A-O combat medics, James C. Kearney and William H. Clamurro, represents a unique approach to the subject. It is a blend of their personal narratives—with select Vietnam poems by Clamurro—to illustrate noncombatant objection as a unique and relatively unknown form of Vietnam War protest. Both men initially met during training and then served as frontline medics in separate units “outside the wire” in Vietnam. Clamurro was assigned to a tank company in Tay Ninh province next to the Cambodian border, before reassignment to an aid station with the 1st Air Cavalry. Kearney served first as a medic with an artillery battery in the 1st Infantry Division, then as a convoy medic during the Cambodian invasion with the 25th Infantry Division, and finally as a Medevac medic with the 1st Air Cavalry. In this capacity Kearney was seriously wounded during a “hot hoist” in February 1971 and ended up being treated by his friend Clamurro …

US Air Force Forward Air Controllers (FACs) bridge the gap between air and land power. They operate in the grey area of the battlefield, serving as an aircrew who flies above the battlefield, spots the enemy, and relays targeting information to control close air support attacks by other faster aircraft. When done well, Air Force FACs are the fulcrum for successful employment of air power in support of ground forces. Unfortunately, FACs in recent times have been shunned by both ground and air forces, their mission complicated by inherent difficulty and danger, as well as by the vicissitudes of defense budgets, technology, leadership, bureaucracy, and doctrine. Eagles Overhead is the first complete historical survey of the US Air Force FAC program from its origins in World War I to the modern battlefield. Matt Dietz examines their role, status, and performance in every US Air Force air campaign from the Marne in 1918, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, and finally Mosul in 2017. With the remaking of the post-Vietnam US military, and the impact of those changes on FAC, the Air Force began a steady neglect of the FAC mission from Operation Desert Storm, through the force reductions after …

When Ella Szabó fled her homeland during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, she never dreamed that someday she would become a member of the US Olympic swimming team, an accomplished baker in America, and the author of a cookbook about Hungarian desserts. But a chance encounter with a fellow Hungarian in Connecticut led to Ella’s becoming the custodian of a collection of heirloom recipes that form the core of this book. You’ll learn from more than fifty recipes how to bake Hungarian tortes, cookies, pastries, and cakes, from elegant old-world pastry-shop classics like Linzer Torte and Esterhazy Torte to easy homestyle desserts, many of them from recipes that have never been published before. Try your hand at delicate nut-flour tortes made from walnuts, almonds, and hazelnuts: Almond Meringue Torte with Coffee-Cream Filling, Walnut Wedding Torte with Hazelnut Filling, and Chocolate Roulade with Hazelnut Cream. Enjoy easy-to-make Hungarian Almond Biscotti, Orange Kugelhopf, and Cherry Sponge Cake. And delight in devouring Walnut-Apricot-Lemon Bars, traditional Hungarian Cheese Biscuits, and Beigli, a Hungarian pastry roll filled with walnuts or poppy seeds, always eaten at Christmas. You’ll also find a complete section on ingredients, equipment, and techniques, as well as several historical and contemporary photographs. …

Art work by artist Jacob Tylor Gibson, as part of an exhibition entitled "From Every Depth of Good and Ill" in the Cora Stafford Gallery, University of North Texas, from April 26 to April 29, 2023.

This guest recital was performed at the UNT College of Music Winspear Hall.

In Music from the Hilltop, Benjamin A. Kolodziej studies three significant academic musical figures to weave a narrative that not only details the role musical studies played in the development of Southern Methodist University but also relates a history of church music and pipe organs in Dallas, Texas. Bertha Stevens Cassidy (1876–1959), the first organ professor and the only woman on the faculty of the new university, established herself as a leader and veritable dean of the church music community, managing a career of significant performances and teaching. Her student and protégé, Dora Poteet Barclay (1903–1961), broadened the pedagogical horizons for her students. Many of her own students achieved great professional heights as performers and church musicians. Robert Theodore Anderson (1934–2009) was intellectually able to bridge the gap between the theologians of the Methodist seminary and the performers at the Meadows School of the Arts. He consulted with the Dallas Symphony to prepare for the installation of an organ in the new Meyerson Symphony Center—an organ that would influence concert hall instruments in subsequent decades.

My Darling Boys is the story of a New Mexico farm family whose three sons were sent to fight in World War II. All flew combat aircraft in the Army Air Forces. In 1973 one of the boys, Oscar Allison, a B-24 top turret gunner and flight engineer, wrote a memoir of his World War II experiences. On a mission to Regensburg, Germany, his bomber, ravaged by German fighters, was shot down. He was captured and spent fifteen months in German stalag prisons. His memoir, the core of this unique book, details his training, combat, and prisoner-of-war experience in a truthful, introspective, and compelling manner. Fred H. Allison, the author and Oscar’s nephew, gained access to family letters that supplement Oscar’s story and bring to light the experiences of Oscar’s brothers. Harold Allison, the author’s father, was sidelined from combat as a bomber copilot due to a health condition. The letters also tell of the brother who did not come home, Wiley Grizzle Jr., a P-51 fighter pilot. Wiley’s last mission brought his squadron of Mustangs into a pitched battle with German fighters bound for the front to attack American troops. The letters also introduce the boys’ family, who fought …

Interview with Birdie Meyer, a registered nurse with a master's in counseling from Speedway, Indiana. Meyer discusses education, experience working as a nurse, learning about maternal mental health issues through Postpartum Support International and Depression After Delivery, working closely with PSI, Wade Bowen fundraising for the organization, training and programs, impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic, inclusivity, and resources in the field of maternal mental health.

Interview with David Vo, a resident of Calera, Oklahoma. Vo discusses his upbringing in Vietnam, his father's work as an officer in the South Vietnamese military, the Vietnam War, escaping on a boat and coming to the United States, getting his degree in automotive industrial technology at Cal State University, starting a family, and his perspective regarding his homeland.

Interview with Horace N. Robinson, a resident of Durant, Oklahoma. Robinson discusses his upbringing, life in a small town, the appearance of polio, World War II, PTSD he had seen in veterans, Christianity, the development of pacifism, the Vietnam War, and reminders left behind.

Interview with Jeanne Watson Driscoll, a clinical nurse scientist from Boston, Massachusetts. Driscoll discusses her experience with obsessive thought disorder during her pregnancies, Carol Dix's book about postpartum depression, helping women with breastfeeding, becoming active in postpartum support organizations, PSI, the NURSE plan, DAD, and speaking on maternal mental health.

Interview with Laurence Kruckman, an anthropologist who specializes in mental health and epidemiology from South Venice, Florida. Kruckman discusses education, learning about postpartum illness and starting self-help groups with friends, spreading awareness, the DSM, Dar a Luz, becoming involved in leadership at PSI, and evolution of the support system in the U.S. for new mothers over time.

Interview with Marilyn Gibson Calhoun, a UNT graduate from Dallas, Texas. Calhoun discusses her education, family, involvement with the civil rights movement, support and community groups that formed among African-American students that were experiencing discrimination at North Texas State, her teaching career, family, going through breast cancer, the COVID-19 Pandemic, and the Remembering Black Dallas group.

Interview with Noel Lisboa, a Filipino personal trainer from Plano, Texas. Lisboa discusses growing up in the Philippines, Catholic education there, Filipino cuisine, family traditions and holidays, experiences with a political uprising, immigrating to the United States, food, life, and holidays in the United States compared to the Philippines, gang activity in the U.S., the fitness industry, and his community.

Interview with Pec Indman, a mother and advocate for women's mental health from Cozumel, Mexico. Indman discusses working in a women's clinic, her education, raising awareness about postpartum depression, becoming co-author to a book, PSI, teaching and creating curriculum, transgender perinatal issues, and change over time.

Installation view (digital photo) of 2023 MFA exhibition by artist Sarah DePetris, entitled "Stones & Ghosts (Part I)" in the Union Art Gallery, University Union, University of North Texas, from March 27 - April 6, 2023. Photograph by Stephanie Gerhart.