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rambleonwaywardson · 4 months

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Clegan Astronaut AU - Part 3

Masterpost

AU Summary: the boys as modern day NASA astronauts. Taking place in 2025, Bucky is about to head to the moon as mission commander of Artemis III while Buck is back-up commander and CAPCOM at NASA. Established relationship (obnoxiously in love).

Author's Note: Uh oh, the chapters are getting longer. Hope y'all will stick with me because I have plans for these boys. Heads up, this chapter does contain some expressions of homophobia. Also there's no new terms that I think need defining here, but I'm thinking of creating a term definition post for those I've already used.

‘John Egan and Alex Jefferson to make history as first queer and black representation on the moon’

‘Artemis III crew ready for liftoff in one month’

‘So three bachelors and a homosexual walk into a bar, er, a rocket…’

‘NASA targeting November 6 launch’

‘NASA’s diversity campaign’

‘What having a gay man in the space program means for the future of America’

‘NASA press conference gets heated after probing sexuality questions’

‘Biddick goes after reporter to defend fellow astronaut’

–

September 30, 2025

Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX

As NASA’s Artemis Public Affairs Officer, it is Marjorie Spencer’s job to relay information about the Artemis program to the public as well as to coordinate press events between the media and the crew and/or mission control. As Public Affairs Officer, it’s her job to wrangle a bunch of rowdy astronauts and convince them to play nice with the press, even when the press doesn’t play nice with them. With this particular crew, it can, often, be like wrangling a bunch of rambunctious, highly opinionated, and incredibly stubborn teenage boys. Or a bunch of selectively trained dogs whose selective training just happens to be whatever they feel like remembering in the moment.

A lot of people don’t truly appreciate how, as Public Affairs Officer, it is Marge’s job to make these boys – ahem, grown men – look presentable to the public when behind the scenes they are the bane of her existence. In the most loving way possible.

Public Affairs Officer, however, is only one of her jobs.

As Best Friend, her job often includes the emotional damage control that flies high above a PAO’s paygrade.

As she finishes up welcoming a room full of reporters to Johnson Space Center, she reminds them that this will be the last press conference that the astronauts will take part in before starting their pre-launch quarantine process in just a few weeks. They will have another pre-launch press conference while in quarantine a couple of days before they board the Orion crew capsule, before they strap themselves to the top of NASA’s most powerful rocket ever created.

“Please welcome NASA’s Artemis 3 crew,” Marge says smoothly. “Major John Egan, mission commander. First Lieutenant Curtis Biddick, lunar module pilot. Dr. Robert Rosenthal, crew physician. Alexander Jefferson, mission specialist.”

One by one, the crew members, dressed in their NASA flight suits, walk up onto the small stage at the front and take their seats behind the table, which is emblazoned with the NASA logo. They each have a gold astronaut pin on their flight suit collars, signifying the fact that they have already successfully flown in space. These four men are some of the most qualified people currently in the space program, and they were hand-selected two years ago to fly this mission. Together, they have logged nearly 1,000 hours of training for Artemis 3, including crew module sims, lunar module sims, zero-gravity EVAs in the neutral buoyancy tank, and lunar terrain sims. In five weeks, that training will be put to use for the chance to put the next human footprints on the moon.

At first, the questions are typical, what the crew is prepared for. They’ve been answering similar questions through much of the training process. How does it feel to be going to the moon? What will each of their roles be on the mission? What kind of training have they been doing? Do they feel prepared? What does it mean for each of them to be on this mission? What do they think it means for the general public and for the future of science? For the space program? For Bucky and Curt, how does it feel to be the first men since the 70s to step foot on lunar soil?

The crew answers them all genuinely and professionally. They joke with the reporters, a trait that has made them endearing to much of the public. They wax poetic about flying to the moon and how they’ve all dreamed about it, how they’re honored to be a part of something so grand, what they hope it will symbolize for people all over the world. They say exactly what the reporters, and the public, generally want to hear.

Until they can’t. Because at some point, no matter what you say, to someone somewhere it will never be right.

To be honest, Bucky often stops listening to the reporters names and affiliations during these things. So he isn’t sure who asks this question, but he perks up when the man says “This question is for John Egan.” Bucky nods and the man goes on. “This crew has become well-known for being a crew of young bachelors, except for you. You’re getting married in just a couple weeks, correct? To Major Gale Cleven, also a NASA astronaut.”

Bucky nods again. “Yes, that’s correct.”

“Do you or Major Cleven have any concerns about you going to the moon just days after the big day?”

Bucky smirks. “Well, which big day are you referring to? The wedding or the launch?”

The reporters in the room chuckle quietly. “The wedding,” the man says.

Bucky tries not to roll his eyes. You get married and suddenly it doesn’t matter that both spouses have been professional and highly trained adrenaline junkies for years before this. “Of course, there’s always concerns when it comes to hurling yourself off of a planet,” he replies. “But Gale and I have been through this together, more than once. We know the risks, and we support each other 100%. The only thing that will be different is I’ll have a wedding ring with me.”

As reporters clamor to get the next question, Marge points and a woman stands up, introducing herself. “Major Egan,” she starts. Two in a row. Bucky clenches his jaw, worried he knows where this press conference is about to go. “How do you think coming out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community affected your role within NASA and within the Artemis program?”

Bucky takes a quiet but deep breath. “My sexuality has never been a secret,” he answers. At least, it hasn’t been since high school. And yet the media still aren’t comfortable with words like gay or homosexual or queer or even LGBT. When they do say these words, it’s almost hushed, like it’s something terrible. “It wasn’t a secret when I flew on the ISS two years ago, and it isn’t now. My qualifications and experience, I think, speak for themselves as to why I am on this mission.”

“Do you consider yourself a role model for the queer youth of today?” Someone jumps in.

Bucky hears Curt stifle a laugh beside him, and he almost smiles himself. “I’m not trying to be any sort of role model or anything,” he says honestly. “God knows you could find better than me. But I am an Air Force pilot, I am an astronaut, I am an engineer, and yes, I am also going to marry a man next month. And that man has been the love of my life for over a decade. So if those facts can somehow align to give others the opportunity to dream, to believe in themselves and in a better future, then I’m glad.” He glances over at Marge, who looks a little wary of where things are heading, but she gives him a thumbs up for his answer.

“So this isn’t just a publicity stunt in NASA’s diversity agenda?” another reporter asks. At the same time, someone throws their hand up and says “what kind of message is NASA trying to send by putting you on this mission?”

The questions and excited mumbling of other reporters jumble into some cacophony of muddled sound, and Bucky bites down on the inside of his cheek to keep from saying something out of line. Because as a public figure, anything he says now will be ‘out of line.’

Another reporter stands up, unbidden, before he can even think of an appropriate answer to either of the questions he was able to hear. “For the rest of the crew,” he calls out, before Marge can direct him to take his seat. “How do you feel about having a gay man in the spacecraft with you?”

Bucky can taste blood as he bites down harder. Marge steps up on stage in a hurry, saying something about that being enough questions about Major Egan’s personal life, and any further questions should be directly mission related.

But Curt has already moved to stand up, and Rosie and John simultaneously reach out from either side to push him back down. Alex leans forward at the other end of the table, intent on putting that question to rest with a facial expression that is as close to a glare as can be managed without getting called out for being ‘unfriendly’ by the media. “This crew is like family,” he states with an overwhelmingly exaggerated sense of calm. “John is one of the best pilots NASA has. We are all proud to call him our friend and our commander.”

Marge, now standing firmly next to Alex at the end of the table so she can moderate more directly, nods at him in approval. As she moves to select someone for the next question, though, one of the reporters near the front scoffs and not-so-subtly mumbles something under his breath that leaves Bucky dazed, his ears ringing. Next thing he knows, Curt’s chair is clattering backwards as he shoots to his feet – “What did you say? What the fuck did you say!” Rosie is holding him back from jumping the table with all of his grip strength, and the newsroom is erupting in shouts from the reporters. Questions and insults fly across the room, directed at one another and at Bucky, too. He just sits there quietly, his elbows on the table and his chin resting on his folded hands, letting the words slap him in the face and settle like stones in his chest. He forces himself to stop biting down on his cheek, and watches numbly as security barges into the frenzied crowd to begin escorting reporters out of the room.

When Rosie finally releases his grip, Curt grabs his chair and sits back down with an angry grunt, shaking his head. “Stupid fucks,” he mutters. Marge ends the press conference after that.

As the room is cleared, the crew is shuffled out of the newsroom and into Marge’s office down the hall. She sighs and puts her head in her hand, pacing the room, her heels clacking methodically on the tile. The men stand quietly in a line, looking anywhere but at each other. Finally, Marge takes a deep breath and looks them each in the eye. “Well,” she says. “That could have been… well. That was bad. Okay, that was bad.” She looks at Bucky. “You did great, John. Thank you for how you handled that. I’m so sorry. We’ll figure out a way to handle this better for your pre-launch press conference.”

Bucky just nods. “Yeah,” he says distantly. “Yeah, no big deal.”

If we’re lucky the fag will die up there.

“It’s a big fucking deal,” Curt mutters angrily. They’re used to this kind of thing by now; between John, a gay man, and Alex, a black man, the crew has become overwhelmingly and depressingly aware that the world has not yet changed quite enough to escape derision over difference being normal, over people existing outside the boxes that society has designed. They deal with it, they move on, they do their job. But today was more… well, it was just more than usual. Like the closer they get to launch, the more the media is concerned about all the wrong things. And the more comfortable they are with voicing it.

“It’s fine,” Bucky insists. “Nothing that I haven’t heard before, really.” He can hear it in his own voice, though: He isn’t sure how much he believes himself.

If we’re lucky…

Rosie pats him on the shoulder. “Like Alex said, we’re family. We’ve got your back, and we won’t tolerate this shit.” Bucky tries to give a little half smile.

…the fag will die up there.

Marge nods and checks their schedule on her tablet. “Let’s, um, let’s all take a breather, okay? We don’t have any major press engagements until right before launch.” She looks up at them, and she fights a frown when she sees the varying states of anger, frustration, and dejection on their faces. She knows it’s not her fault, but it’s her job to coordinate and moderate these events. She tries to smile reassuringly instead. “I’ll work with each of you on your own interviews and media appearances over the next few weeks, but I need you boys to focus on the mission. I’ll take care of addressing how this conference ended, and I’ll work with public relations to make sure we can avoid things getting out of hand in the future.” She knows she has a strongly worded email from the director of the human spaceflight program – or possibly even an impromptu meeting – coming her way any minute. She has to work out how to tidy up this mess, but it can’t be her priority at the moment.

She hugs Alex, Rosie, and Curt as they exit her office. Then she looks at Bucky, who has barely moved at all. “Hey,” she says, putting a hand on his shoulder.

He glances up at her before looking back at his shoes. “Hey.”

“You okay?”

Bucky shrugs, but doesn’t answer for a long, long moment. “I should be,” he finally sighs. “I’m used to it, really. It’s been the same since my astronaut candidacy was announced. Hell, it’s been the same my whole life.” He scoffs. “I don’t know. It just feels… worse somehow, this time.”

He looks up at Marge again, and Marge feels her chest tighten at the tired sadness in his eyes. Even the toughest men she knows have never been bullet proof. She pulls him into her arms and lets him hold on for as long as he needs as he tries to keep himself together.

If we’re lucky…

“You’re one of our best,” she tells him quietly as she rubs his back. “Anyone who says otherwise is wrong.”

“I know,” Bucky says, but his voice chokes on the words. “I…” He holds onto her tighter, and he can’t bring himself to say anything else.

If we’re lucky…

When he lets go, Marge squeezes his arm. Her assistant knocks on the door then, here to tell her that Neil Harding, the director of the human spaceflight program, wants to see her in his office. She thanks the woman and takes a deep breath. “Okay,” she tells Bucky. “I’m going to work on cleaning up this mess. But once I do, I’ll meet you at yours for some good old fashioned damage control.” Damage control meaning drinks, snacks, and general mayhem. Bucky kisses her on the cheek, thanks her, and watches her strut out of the room, off to fulfill her third role: certified badass.

–

Just minutes after Marge leaves Neil Harding’s office, Gale finds himself outside the very same door, wondering why he’s been summoned out of the blue in the middle of his work day. He’s greeted by a woman who he hasn’t seen in years, looking as prim and proper as ever even in her European Space Agency flight suit.

“Sandra?” He asks.

She turns around and smiles politely at him, that charming and yet almost disarming way she always does. “Gale! Wow, it’s been some time hasn’t it?”

Gale nods, but eyes her carefully in confusion. “Sure has. Nice to see you again.”

Sandra looks unphased though, exactly as he would expect her to. This woman could be faced with a dead body or three or ten – and probably has been – and wouldn’t bat an eye. She is, perhaps, the strongest woman Gale knows, and NASA really is full of strong women. “How are you?” she asks. “And how’s John? Or, Bucky I believe is what people call him around here. You Americans and your funny nicknames.”

“Good, good,” Gale says. “He’s going up on Artemis 3 in November.”

Sandra puts a hand on his shoulder and almost looks… sad? “Oh I know. It’s all the buzz, isn’t it?”

Gale arches an eyebrow, not quite sure what she’s getting at. Before he can say anything, though, the door to Neil’s office opens and the man himself is ushering them inside.

“Gale! Sandra! We have a lot to cover so get on in here.”

–

When Marge finally lets herself into Buck and Bucky’s home with a spare key, armed with ice cream and alcohol, she stops short as she walks into the living room. She leans against the doorframe, one hand on her hip and the other holding the groceries. It’s only 4pm and Bucky, who went home early after the whole fiasco with the media, is slouched down low in the middle of the couch, bundled in an old Yankees sweatshirt with Pepper curled up at his side, her head in his lap. The news is on, a clip from their press conference earlier. A reporter is talking in depth about the incident, and the entire “controversy” over NASA’s “agenda.” As he watches, he doom-scrolls on his phone, and Marge knows he’s digging himself into a deep, deep hole filled with social media comments. His eyes are red, but his face is dry.

“John,” Marge says. He looks up at her and smiles weakly. She motions towards the TV, where the reporter is now reading an official statement from NASA, saying that the organization supports Major John Egan and the entirety of the Artemis 3 crew 100%; that the crew was selected based on merit and capability; that each member has been extensively trained and has shown that they are highly qualified and prepared for a lunar mission; and that NASA stands by all of their astronauts and employees, regardless of identity, and will not tolerate attacks of any kind such as those that occurred today.

Bucky watches the report blankly before shifting his eyes over to Marge. She sighs before walking over to the coffee table, where she sets down the bag of groceries and picks up the remote. The TV clicks off. “Enough of that,” she says. When she collapses down next to Bucky and Pepper on the couch, she peeks over at his phone. Social media comments, sure enough. Supportive and detrimental both. She plucks the phone from his hand and turns it off, placing it face down on the coffee table. “And enough of that.”

John just stares at it on the tabletop, idly stroking Pepper’s ears. He won’t look at Marge, so she reaches over across Pepper and places a hand on his shoulder. “John, look at me.”

He does, and he takes a deep, shaky breath. He opens his mouth to speak but closes it again, biting down on the inside of his lip. Pepper licks his hand. He takes another breath and looks Marge right in the eye. “There’s death threats,” he says. When Marge just frowns, he rubs a hand over his face. “For me. And for Gale. Not many, thank God, but they’re there. I read them.”

“Oh honey,” Marge says sadly. She gets up to switch to his other side, so she can wrap her arms around him properly. He lets himself settle into the embrace and closes his eyes, letting his most trusted friend ground him on one side and his dog on the other.

“Thank you for issuing that statement,” he mumbles.

Marge lays her head on top of his. “Harding wants to talk to you tomorrow, and he wanted me to tell you that the human space flight program fully supports you and always has. I think he wanted to give you some space today. Once you’re up for it, we’ll bring the whole crew in to discuss how to handle this in the future.” Bucky gives a small nod of acknowledgement. “You know it’s not really about you, right?” Marge asks. “Those things that people are saying. It’s entirely about them. None of them know you, and no one can, in any meaningful way, deny that you belong on this mission. This is about their own problems and their own prejudices. You,” she squeezes him harder, “have done everything right.”

Bucky is silent for a long time, until finally he says, “I don’t really want to talk about it right now.”

“Alright,” Marge says easily. She leans away and looks at him, grinning. “Time for some damage control.”

–

By 6:30pm, Gale can’t get the door of their house open fast enough. He hasn’t heard from Bucky all day and needs to tell him about the meeting with Harding. When he gets inside, though, he’s greeted by loud music pumping through their stereo speakers. As he walks into the living room, he takes in the sight of half empty cocktail glasses and beer bottles, open ice cream cartons and abandoned spoons, a bag of chips and a plate of fruit, and the throw pillows strewn all over the floor. He pauses in his tracks, staring at the carnage as his excitement drains rapidly from his body.

Damage Control.

Fuck.

Pepper runs out of the kitchen to greet him, tail wagging so hard her whole body goes with it. Gale tilts his head and smiles at her. Throwing his keys on the coffee table next to Bucky’s abandoned phone, he crouches down and scratches under Pepper’s collar. “What happened, Pep?” He asks her.

She just bumps his hand with her wet nose and spins around once before trotting off back to the kitchen. He follows her tentatively and peeks through the kitchen doorway, where Bucky is sitting on the counter while Marge stands, leaning back against the center island across from him. There’s flour and dirty cooking utensils everywhere, and it smells like tomato sauce.

Marge looks down at Pep and then up at Gale. “Hey there,” she says.

They’ve been laughing and singing and dancing all evening, but when Bucky looks up and sees the hesitant half smile on Gale’s face, the furrow in his brow, he knows Gale has already figured out that something is wrong anyways. The smile falls from Bucky’s face at the same time it falls from Gale’s. “Buck,” he says, but it barely pushes past his throat as a whisper.

“What’s wrong?” Gale asks. He looks from Bucky to Marge and back. “John?”

Bucky shrugs and averts his eyes, watching Pepper instead as she flops down dramatically on the tile floor. “I’m fine,” he says.

“Come on, John,” Gale sighs. But Bucky won’t look at him, so Gale looks at Marge instead.

She brushes a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Some things were said at the press conference today,” she supplies. “We had to end it early, with security pulling some reporters from the room.”

Gale frowns. “What kind of things?”

“Mostly about John’s sexuality. And your relationship. They were pretty innocent at first, but-“

“If we’re lucky the fag will die up there,” Bucky bites out. Gale feels frozen in place. He blinks, shoves his hands in his pockets, takes them out again. “There’s been worse online,” Bucky adds.

“John,” Gale says quietly. He steps forward, one hand outstretched, but he stops short when Bucky crosses his arms protectively over his chest.

“It’s not a big deal,” Bucky says, ducking his head. They both know that’s not true. ‘Damage Control’ isn’t for things that aren’t a big deal. Bucky shrugs. “At least, it shouldn’t be a big deal. Hey, I’m used to it right? I just gotta keep on going.” He laughs bitterly, but when he looks up at Gale, the hurt on the other man’s face squeezes his chest all funny and he looks away again. Then there’s a warm arm around his back, a hand on the back of his head. He feels Gale standing in front of him, and he lets his head fall forward to rest against his. Slowly, he lifts his arms to wrap around his fiancé, and he grips the fabric of his shirt in white-knuckled, shaking hands.

After a couple of long, silent minutes, nothing but their careful breathing passing in the air between them, Bucky takes a deep breath. “Wow, way to put a damper on this little party, huh? Let’s uh, let’s go back to the part where I don’t have to think about this tonight.”

They both know they’ll have to talk about this later, but Gale nods and lets go. Bucky grabs tightly to his hand, though, wanting a tether to stop this feeling of drifting away.

Marge motions for them to go back out to the living room. “Pizza in the oven. I’ll bring it out in a minute.”

When she does eventually follow them into the living room, carrying a tray of pizza, she walks in on them dancing in the middle of the room to “Can’t Help Falling in Love” by Elvis as it plays over the speakers. Bucky smoothly twirls Gale around before pulling him close again, and Marge is, not for the first time, in awe of the pure adoration that passes between the two of them. “Shouldn’t you save your first dance song for your actual wedding night?” she asks as she sets the pizza on the coffee table next to Bucky’s phone, still upside down, and Gale’s keys.

They slow to a stop and look at her. Bucky shrugs. “Gotta practice so I don’t trip over myself and embarrass my bride.”

Gale blushes and half-heartedly mumbles “stop calling me that.”

Bucky grins. “What? My bride?” He gently pulls Gale down onto the couch with him, wrapping an arm around his waist and kissing him on the temple. “But I love the way it makes you blush.”

Marge gags dramatically and tells them to eat their pizza.

As they’re polishing it off, even giving Pepper her own little piece, Gale licks his fingers and says nonchalantly, “I have some news.”

When he doesn’t go on, Marge rolls her eyes. “Care to share with the class?”

Gale is quiet for a second, but then a grin spreads across his face as he looks at both of them. “I’m going to the moon earlier than we thought. Artemis 4.”

Bucky jumps up so fast he bangs a knee hard on the table and Marge has to lunge forward to keep the pizza tray from falling to the floor. Pepper jumps up in alarm as Bucky spins to face Gale, ignoring the pain shooting through his leg. “You’ve been home for-“ he checks the clock on the wall. “An hour! And you didn’t say anything until NOW?”

Gale shrugs sheepishly. “There were more important things-“

“No!” Bucky cries. “No… Wait. How in hell did you get yourself onto the A4 roster?”

Artemis 4 is planned to launch in just over a year. Crew selection had been made months ago. Gale rubs the back of his neck. “Well, the two ESA astronauts that were supposed to go got bumped cause of health concerns. ESA was able to put in one other astronaut, but NASA wanted a more experienced pilot in the lander. Harding called me in today.”

“Gale, that’s amazing!” Marge says, crawling across the couch to hug him tight. “Oh my god, this is so amazing. Congratulations!” She’s in part already thinking about the press coordination and social media posting that this necessitates, but holy shit that can wait for now.

When she pulls away, Bucky reaches down and wraps his arms around Gale’s middle, pulling him up from the couch and spinning him around. Then he kisses him hard and spins him again, Gale laughing as he yells for Bucky to set him down. “What!” Bucky exclaims. “You gotta get used to being helpless in the air again, you’re going to the moon!”

Gale rolls his eyes as Bucky sets him down. “Who did ESA toss into the thick of it?” Bucky asks.

“Sandra Westgate.” Gale raises an eyebrow as he says this, watching for Bucky’s reaction.

It’s Marge, though, that jumps in as Bucky tries to process that. “No way, Croz’s old flame?”

“Yep.”

Bucky shakes his head, trying not to laugh. Harry Crosby, Houston’s best flight dynamics officer, had spent a hot summer a few years back – before he and his now-wife Jean got back together after a bit of a break – gallivanting about town with Sandra Westgate. She’s top class, one of the best astronauts in the European Space Agency. Gale is lucky to be flying with her, really. But damn. “Does… does Croz know?”

Gale nods, chuckling. “Yeah, he knows. Saw him gaping at her like a fish as I showed her around this afternoon. They’ve both moved on, but…”

“Awkward,” Marge cringes.

“She’ll be sticking around Houston for the next year, starting in a couple weeks,” Gale explains. “To train with us.”

“Plenty of time to un-move on,” Bucky muses.

Marge throws a pillow at him, but he dodges it and watches as it crashes into a fake plant in the corner of the room. “Don’t say that!” Marge reprimands. “Croz and Jean are very happy together you ass.”

Bucky shrugs. “Sorry.” He looks at Gale, who is still standing facing him. “Now don’t you go getting any ideas either. Sandra’s a strong and lovely woman.”

Gale cups the back of Bucky’s neck and kisses him softly. “I would never,” he whispers, before he falls back onto the couch. Bucky collapses next to him, grabbing Gale’s hand again so he can fiddle with his fingers.

They look at each other, and Bucky presses his lips to Gale’s knuckles. “I’m so proud of you.”

“I’m proud of you, too.”

Marge takes one last bite of pizza. “It’s sickening how in love you two are.”

Gale smiles shyly. “Always have been.”

Bucky smiles back at him, but too many thoughts are swirling around in his head, and he feels the words choke and fizzle on his tongue.

…

Part 4

#clegan astronaut au #clegan #clegan fic #masters of the air #mota #john egan #gale cleven #bucky egan #buck cleven #gale buck cleven #john bucky egan #buck x bucky #bucky x buck #buck squared

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unholyverse · 11 months

Text

awsten knight in kerrang! issue #1654

(full text under the cut)

THE ULTIMATE ROCKSTAR TEST

AWSTEN KNIGHT WATERPARKS

HOW DO YOU BECOME HEIR-APPARENT TO POP-PUNK'S THRONE? EAT CIGARETTES AND BREAK YOUR FEET…

ON ROCK'N'ROLL…

YOUR ALBUM'S CALLED DOUBLE DARE. WHAT'S THE STUPIDEST THING YOU'VE EVER DONE FOR A DARE?

"One time I lit my pants on fire. I was sitting on the couch with my friend, playing with matches, and he said, 'I bet you won't set your pants on fire.' I said, 'Fuck you', and I did it. We freaked out because the flames were getting really big, so he went and got a wet towel and squeezed it out over my pants. Another time I ate a cigarette in a graveyard while we were out there playing with a Ouija board.""

WHAT'S THE MOST OUT-OF-CONTROL SHOW YOU'VE EVER PLAYED?

"Back when we used to play just locally in Houston, we used to play a lot of small places. They were the sort of places where there was no security and no barricades, and a lot of the time people would basically be on the stage. They'd be stepping on pedal boards and stuff, so there were times when we had to ask them to please step off our equipment. It was all good fun."

HAVE YOU BEEN INJURED BECAUSE OF THE BAND?

"We saw this setting we wanted to take some new pictures by. Basically, we had to do some trespassing to get to the spot, and there was a 15-foot fence. When I jumped off it I landed very wrong and busted up both my feet. I don't remember what it's called, but there's this thing that connects the front and back of your feet, and I tore both of them."

We presume you mean tendons, but it could have been your socks.

FAILS AND F UPS…

WHAT'S THE MOST EMBARRASSING THING TO HAPPEN TO YOU ONSTAGE?

"I don't really get embarrassed, and if I do fuck something up it's usually on purpose, whether that's singing a part in a weird, goofy way or anything else. I can't even recall falling over onstage. There was one time I nearly went off a 10-foot stage at a House Of Blues venue somewhere. I was spinning round and went right to the edge, but I didn't die, so that's good."

WHAT'S THE WORST SONG YOU'VE EVER WRITTEN?

"I've written plenty of bad songs, but with Waterparks I'd say Bones Of '92 or Easter Egg. I just don't like Bones Of '92—it's not a very good song. With Easter Egg, it doesn't flow well and it doesn't make sense."

Did you hear that, everyone? No Easter eggs for Awsten this year…

LIFESTYLES OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS…

WHAT'S BEEN YOUR WEIRDEST-EVER FAN ENCOUNTER?

"There have been so many weird ones, but the one that made me feel the weirdest was when a mom came up and asked me to take a picture with her daughter. The girl was crying but I thought, 'Okay - sometimes people cry when they meet the bands they like. Then the mother said, 'She's sad because one of her best friends just died. Now take a picture with her, smile.' I was like, 'What the fuck is happening?" I was trying to talk to the daughter, the mom was oblivious and it was just the most awkward situation I've ever been in."

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU WERE STARSTRUCK?

"The time I went to Pete Wentz's house. He was having us on his radio show for an interview and I couldn't believe I was there. He brought us out water in boxes, which was really weird. I was just sitting there going, "What the fuck, I'm at Pete Wentz's house!" It was nuts."

Water in boxes, eh? How the other half live…

ON THE HYPOTHETICAL…

GOOD CHARLOTTE ASK YOU TO GUEST ON A SONG, BUT WHAT THEY PLAY YOU IS SHIT. DO YOU TELL THEM?

"I would, but I'd definitely still do it. It might have been shitty on purpose, and if that was the case I could go and be shitty on purpose and get with that vibe. That could be really funny"

WOULD YOU RATHER BE ABLE TO SPEAK TO ANIMALS OR SPEAK EVERY HUMAN LANGUAGE FLUENTLY?

"Animals, easy. I talk to enough people as it is, and I love animals. I went to a pet adoption thing a couple of days ago and there was this dog looking at me. I felt like he loved me more than any human had ever loved me and he'd only just met me. If I could hear the love that he was expressing I would be completely fulfilled."

Get a dog-translator app-there probably is one now. Then feel the love…

SPIRITUAL HEADMELTER…

DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS?

"Yes, I do. I told you I ate that cigarette when I was in a graveyard with a Ouija board, and we used to do that a lot. We'd seek out haunted places a couple of times a week. I had to stop because I got too freaked out. It's really fun to do all that but then when you're alone afterwards, that fucking sucks."

Imagine how the ghosts feel when you leave…

"I USED TO GO LOOKING FOR GHOSTS A COUPLE OF TIMES A WEEK" - AWSTEN KNIGHT

WORDS: PAUL TRAVERS PHOTO: ANDREW STUART

#awsten knight #waterparks #i.zip

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mfaunlv · 4 months

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Here They Come!

Meet the Incoming Class

PhD/ Black Mountain Institute Fellows

Krista Diamond (Nonfiction)

Krista Diamond's essays and fiction have appeared in or are forthcoming in The New York Times, Slate, Hazlitt, Longreads, Catapult, Joyland, TriQuarterly, Beloit Fiction Journal, Porter House Review, and elsewhere. Her writing has been supported by Bread Loaf, Tin House, Sundress Academy for the Arts, and the Nevada Arts Council. In 2022, she was writer-in-residence for Desert Companion Magazine for whom she wrote a series of essays about Las Vegas lore. Her essay 'That Girl is Going to Get Herself Killed' was recorded by Oscar-nominated actress Naomie Harris for Curio. Prior to moving to Las Vegas, she worked in the national parks. She has an MFA in fiction from UNLV and is looking forward to continuing her journey at UNLV where she will be happy to offer personalized recommendations about desert hiking and Las Vegas tiki bars.

Arpita Roy (Poetry)

Arpita received her MFA in Poetry from George Mason University, where she was the Thesis Poetry Fellow for 2023-24. She has been awarded Cheuse Center Travel Fellowship and Bread Loaf Katharine Bakeless Nason Award. Her work can be found in Thrush, Psaltery & Lyre, Couplet Poetry and X-Ray. Arpita is from Kolkata, India.

Fiction MFA

Gustavo Alvarenga

Gustavo Alvarenga is a Salvadoran born writer whose cultural background and strong family bonds play heavily into his fiction. He was raised in the suburbs of Northern Virginia but moved to Las Vegas during his sophomore year of high school when his parents relocated for work. He worked as a technician in the telecom industry for over a decade before deciding to switch careers and commit fully to the art of writing. He enjoys board games, hikes with his dog, rainy days, snowboarding, rock climbing, and meeting new people.

Jade Bailey

Jade Bailey grew up in Kansas. After completing a BSc in Anthropology at the University of British Columbia and an MSc in Applied Social Research at Trinity College Dublin, she worked as a social researcher in Dublin, Ireland. She is pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing at UNLV.

Shayla Felix

Shayla Felix (She/her) is a disabled writer born and raised in Seattle Washington. She originally attended Eastern Washington University but later transferred, completing her BA in English with a Creative writing Emphasis at Western Washington University. Most of her writing focuses on hybridity with topics orbiting around Magical realism, feminism, nature, and self-identity. Some of her favorite pieces that she’s written appear in Voidspace_, Quarter After Eight, and Cold Mountain Review. She also hopes to travel to all 50 states one day.

Julia Lu

Julia is a fiction writer currently living in Houston, Texas, where she was born and raised. She studied film production in college. Julia enjoys cooking and baking, taking walks, and picture books. Her favorite season is summer.

Izuchukwu Udokwu

Izuchukwu Onyedibiemma Udokwu is a Nigerian storyteller. His work has appeared on LOLWE, Kalahari Review, AFREADA and others. He was shortlisted for the 2020 K & L Prize. His shortlisted story was published in an anthology of speculative fiction on Africanfuturism, Black Skin No Mask. He lives in Lagos, Nigeria, where he is a fashion designer and an interior designer, and still makes time to read and write stories.

Poetry MFA

Hüseyin Arıkan

Hüseyin Serhat Arıkan is an immigrant and poet from Ankara, Turkey. He earned his BS in Political Science from METU. He's excited to have his second collection, "Firar Folkloru" (The Folklore of Escape) published in Turkey this year. He is a progressive rock enthusiast and he can't manage to maintain a streak in Duolingo.

JM Huck

JM Huck is coming to creative writing with a background in visual art. She studied photography, printmaking and textiles at many schools in New York City, where she lived for eight years. JM spent three years teaching English in Japan, and she grew up a "third culture kid," graduating from an American High School in Italy. She has been placemaking her whole life and is happy to call Nevada her current home. Huck's undergraduate degree is in Economics from Agnes Scott College.

Seth Kleinschmidt

Seth Kleinschmidt is a poet from rural Wisconsin. Hailing from Lorine Niedecker's hometown, he proudly champions the Midwest in his poetry and is currently at work on a collection of sonnets about the Black Hawk War. He graduated with a degree in literary arts from Brown and has worked in the radio industry, both on and off the air, for fifteen years. Seth arrives in Las Vegas from Washington, DC, and in free moments plays soccer, bakes pies, and browses adoptable cats.

Lindsay Loughin

Lindsay Loughin is a nonbinary bipolar poet and essayist born in California and raised everywhere else. At one point a US Marine, and at another a high school marching band instructor, their current boss once said their resume looks like a fake person. They live with their two cats, collect cassette tapes and N64 games, and have a complicated relationship with the Oxford comma.

Non-Fiction MFA

Anesce Dremen

(photograph is courtesy of a collaboration with Balvinder Singh)

Anesce Dremen is a U.S. writer and educator often found with a tea cup in hand, traveling between the U.S., China, and India. A first generation college student and domestic violence survivor, Anesce studied in four cities in China with the support of the Critical Language Scholarship and Gilman Scholarship. She was a 2022-23 Fulbright-Nehru ETA in India. Anesce’s work has been published in Stillhouse Press, Gordon Square Review, SPAN Magazine, Tea Journey, Persephone’s Daughters, The Bombay Literary Magazine, Tiny Spoon, and Shanghai Poetry Lab, among others. Her work can be found at AnesceDremen.com.

Taylor Wright

Taylor Bradley Wright graduated from the University of Iowa with a BA in Playwriting before moving back to Los Angeles and founding a non-profit production company: 48 Hours Theatre. She's written and staged multiple original works, including A Dead Rabbit, One by One, and When the Lights Go Out, and was a 2023 finalist for the Dramatists Guild Foundations National Fellows program for her play, 1976: A Motel. For the past decade, she's been working event logistics, publicity, and talent relations for large-scale events across the country, including the Oscars, The Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival, and over 100 film premieres, luncheons, screenings, and galas. She published her first novel, There's No Place Like House, in 2021 and has travelled from The Tattered Cover in Denver, CO to Prairie Lights in Iowa City for live readings and book signings. Her next book, Los Angeles: A Eulogy, is forthcoming. She is over the moon to be moving to Las Vegas with her banjo-playing husband and rescue pup, Olive, this summer to start this new chapter as a grad student at UNLV.

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kresnikxkaden · 2 years

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Kaden didn’t even need a minute to think over Lucien’s offer of choosing where he wanted to go for his birthday dinner this evening. He knew exactly where he intended to take Lucien because he’d been craving a thick cut piece of bacon glazed in bourbon molasses and some steak. He would absolutely never pick one of his master’s hoity toity fancy ass restaurants that dripped some finger-food-sized pale ass meat on streaks of artistically slathered sauces on a plate three times larger than the portion itself and an ungodly price that matched the not even fulfilling “meal.” Lucien called it art, Kaden called it a waste of money and calories.

Knowing that his master would not approve of the restaurant, he’d been tempted to keep it a surprise, but lying didn’t sit well with him. Especially when he knew that Lucien would likely freak out even more with the unexpected surprise of finding himself in Texas at a Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse. It was his birthday and Kaden didn’t want to argue about where he wanted to eat. Course it took some pleading and a teensy bit of guilt tripping to get the doctor on board with his choice, Kaden even summoning a few tears to go with his puppy dog eyes while he lamented about not celebrating with his family and how he took off work just for dinner with Lucien because it was so generous and wonderful of his master to treat him. Thankfully with timezones between Oymyakon and Texas, he was able to get a reservation for dinner on Houston time.

Dressed in a nice suit and tie with belt buckle and cuff links from his master, he summoned a portal when it was time to leave that transported them right into Houston’s Galleria where the restaurant was located. It definitely wasn’t fancy by Lucien’s standards, but for Kaden and his family? The two-story opulent and romantic mood looking over the city’s lively business district sure felt mighty elegant when they came here for big celebrations. Really, he thought this would be the better option over going to Outback Steakhouse or that other one with the peanut shells on the floor. “See, this ain’t so bad, is it, doc?” he said as he guided him through the doors to the hostess where he gave his name for the reservation. She typed away, eyes lighting up once she found it in the system. She grabbed two menus and instructed both men to follow her to their table, one upstairs with the view and mostly separated from the rest of the diners chattering amongst themselves. He pulled out Lucien’s chair like the gentleman Kaden could be before he sat across from him, taking up a menu for himself. “Thank you for takin’ me out on my birthday, I know this isn’t your cup of tea, but it sure is mine. They do have some good wine on the menu you...” He trailed off, rethinking that. Lucien had very expensive taste and only French things were his favorite as far as he knew. “Or my wife would rave to you about their signature drink if you’re bold enough to try it.”

@drluciengaudet

#p: birthday downer #para #drluciengaudet

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dankusner · 1 month

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PROJECT 2025

Texas think tank extends influence

GOP blueprint draws national attention

In April 2022, a group of conservative thinkers, former lawmakers and policy advisers convened in an inconspicuous building in Washington.

The purpose was to come up with a body of policy and personnel recommendations to be used if Americans elected a Republican to the White House in 2024.

Two years later, and with a 1,000or-so-page book to show for themselves, that effort – known as Project 2025 – has become a media phenomenon.

When the Heritage Foundation, arguably one of the most prominent conservative think tanks in the country, announced Project 2025’s original advisory board in June 2022, there was one outlier:

a single state-based think tank in Austin called the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

Over the past 35 years, the foundation has gained legitimacy, influence and recognition in Texas by being precisely the kind of organization that avoids advertising its work on the controversial, socially conservative policies with which the Heritage Foundation has become associated.

So how did it end up in the room?

The answer goes back to 2018, when the Heritage Foundation’s current CEO, Kevin D. Roberts, became the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s executive director.

The think tank was founded by Texas businessman and doctor James R. Leininger.

A prolific donor to socially conservative causes, Leininger is perhaps most closely associated with campaigns to ban abortion and same-sex marriage and to establish school vouchers.

The latter issue was the think tank’s founding cause.

While its founder has accrued a reputation in public life inextricable from the GOP’s evangelical wing, since its inception the public policy foundation has distanced itself from that association.

The think tank presented its initial effort to pass school vouchers in the Legislature as a means of reducing budgetary inefficiencies.

The first research proposal published on its website in 1990 is a 50-page document titled “Efficiency and inefficiency in the Texas public schools.”

Around the same time, Leininger’s efforts to address school “inefficiency” could not have looked more different.

A 1999 Austin Chronicle article details Leininger’s contributions to candidates for the Texas State Board of Education, a group tasked with overseeing funding and policy for all Texas public school students, throughout the 1990s.

Two years after Leininger began contributing, an incumbent on the board, Democrat Mary Knott Perkins, lost her seat to Donna Ballard, the wife of a Pentecostal minister from the suburbs of Houston.

The victory can be attributed to another arm of the Leininger-funded political operation in Texas: Focus Direct, a company that does direct-mail work for politicians and firms.

Perkins “was aghast when Focus Direct produced and mass-mailed a leaflet with a picture of a Black man and a white man kissing and accused Perkins of wanting to teach Texas children about oral and anal sex,” the article recounts.

“Perkins lost the election to Ballard. The other two Christian conservatives also won, using similarly sleazy tactics, and their victories gave the elected state school board its first-ever Republican majority.”

Decades later, the same disparity between the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s public messaging and the on-theground action of those with financial and personal ties to the institution not only has persisted but widened.

As the organization’s YouTube channel contains videos rife with phrases widely recognized as dog whistles in the battle for school vouchers, such as “parental rights,” the shadow of the organization can be found in messier, less ostensibly nonpartisan battles over school board elections.

While Roberts leads the organization, Leininger retains the title of chairman emeritus on the foundation’s board.

What has changed since 1989, however, is a view toward political stakes larger than Texas.

Since 2008, the organization has been working on national policy issues, and since 2011, that effort has been spearheaded by former California state Rep. Chuck DeVore.

Devore, the chief national initiatives officer at the foundation and a Republican who served six years in the California Assembly ending in 2010, is listed as a contributor to Project 2025.

He confirmed to the American-Statesman that he helped write the chapter of the Project 2025 book relating to the Department of Defense.

“What we do is we take policies that have been proven in Texas or in other states, but generally in Texas,” DeVore said, “and we figure out to what extent some of those policies might be applicable to other states.”

DeVore draws on the case study of Right on Crime, a criminal justice reform initiative that the foundation introduced to reduce recidivism rates in Texas and nationally.

While DeVore spoke about the initiative as a way of increasing employability for ex-convicts, many of the policy proposals published on the group’s website have to do with the benefits of private prisons and their relative cost-effectiveness to the taxpayer.

A leaked tax form from 2010 posted by the Texas Observer showed the think tank receiving $159,834 from Koch Industries and a $15,000 donation from the GEO Group, a Florida-based corporation that invests in private prisons and mental health facilities around the world.

The donation from Koch Industries, which has made its CEO, Charles Koch, a fortune from investments in the oil and gas sector, might account for another principal focus of the foundation: in Devore’s words, “increasing America’s energy IQ.”

When asked why the foundation has chosen to avoid discussing issues that lie at the heart of Texas’ conservative political landscape, such as abortion and gender-affirming care for minors, DeVore responded that the group “doesn’t take stands on things until we’ve done research.”

He said the organization asks a series of questions before adopting an issue: first, whether the topic under consideration “comported with the think tank’s values,” and second, whether there was another group already doing the work effectively.

“Our weighing in on something like the pro-life issue, in an area where there’s been an enormous amount of philosophical and medical development from a biology standpoint, it’s like ‘what would we add to that equation?’ ” De-Vore asked.

“Probably not very much. And so we leave that to other groups who do that right now.”

When DeVore joined the think tank in 2011, it employed about 30 people full time.

Today, DeVore estimates the number rests above 100.

During that time, DeVore has grown the staff dedicated to national programming from three to 25.

The organization also opened a public interest law firm called the Center for the American Future in 2015.

Change in focus

As the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s operations have scaled up, its messaging has drifted away from an exclusive focus on privatization, property rights and tax cuts.

The think tank’s online video archive shows an increase in hot-button issues such as school choice.

The first entries in the archive consist of analytical videos about the state’s budget and tax reform.

However, the most popular videos on the website today all have to do with parents’ rights and the battle between concerned parents and school boards.

By the time this transition became noticeable, however, the foundation had successfully established a reputation as one whose neutrality on social issues had allowed it to work with more progressive groups.

Marisa Bono, CEO of progressive Austin-based think tank Every Texan, confirmed the two groups had collaborated as recently as 2020.

Others, however, are less convinced.

In January 2023, former Amarillo Mayor Ken Seliger ended a nearly twodecade-long career in the state Senate after his voting record against school vouchers brought friction with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a longtime friend of the foundation.

Empower Texans – a think tank that has been unabashed about its support for socially conservative legislation – also targeted Seliger as a “RINO,” or “Republican in name only.”

Seliger ultimately decided not to seek reelection.

His seat was taken by Kevin Sparks, a former foundation board member.

“Texas Public Policy Foundation, in and of itself, is just simply the instrument,” Seliger told the Statesman. “The thing that has made it grow and be so influential is the money.”

A link between foundations

Unlike the Texas foundation, the Heritage Foundation has made little discernable effort to conceal its work on controversial social issues from opposition to gay marriage and transgender care to attempted bans on teaching critical race theory in the classroom.

The gap in the two organizations’ messaging makes the decision to tap Roberts as the Heritage Foundation’s CEO in October 2021 particularly conspicuous.

DeVore, for one, said the decision made perfect sense.

“Roberts went from being a successful leader of the nation’s largest statebased think tank to the leader of the highest-profile, most important conservative national think tank,” DeVore said.

“It was at a time when the Heritage Foundation had kind of lost its water. It had a few years in the wilderness. My feeling was that the board knew that the same old thing wasn’t going to work, that they couldn’t just take someone from Washington, D.C., and expect a different result.”

Since 2021, Roberts has had little trouble shaking off any adherence to the Texas foundation’s style of limiting overtly partisan statements.

In a January interview with The New York Times, he described his role at the Heritage Foundation as “institutionalizing Trumpism.”

In the same interview, Roberts said he believed that “at least a few” Washington bureaucrats were Chinese Communists who had infiltrated the government, and praised the openly Christian nationalist prime minister of Hungary, Victor Orbán, for his “focus on family policy broadly.”

Roberts remains on the board of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, alongside oil tycoon and prominent conservative donor Tim Dunn.

DeVore told the Statesman that he considers Roberts a friend.

Making Project 2025

If Roberts’ messaging inches to the right of the Texas foundation, the text of Project 2025’s “mandate for leadership” turns those inches into miles.

“Pornography, manifested today in the omnipresent propagation of transgender ideology and sexualization of children, for instance, is not a political Gordian knot inextricably binding up disparate claims about free speech, property rights, sexual liberation, and child welfare,” says the fifth page of the book’s foreword.

“Its purveyors are child predators and misogynistic exploiters of women. … The people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned.”

The document makes itself unapologetically clear: it is not a doctrine interested in staying out of social issues.

The foreword also urges readers to dismiss the idea of government as a mediating institution for public life and to embrace the “building blocks of any health society” instead: marriage, family, work, church, school, volunteering.

When asked if Roberts’ involvement with outwardly socially conservative projects seemed like a departure from his background at the Texas foundation, DeVore said he believed it was just something that came with the added mandate.

“Kevin was just like other CEOs who I’ve worked with,” DeVore said.

“All of them are collaborative; they’ve all worked in a collaborative manner with our deliberative process. Do they influence things? Of course they do, just like any person at the foundation does through their ability to make a good argument and to marshal the facts.”

The Heritage Foundation declined to respond to specific questions about Project 2025 and the role of its advisory board, but a spokesperson for the project shared this statement: “Project 2025 does not speak for any candidate or campaign.

We are a coalition of more than 110 conservative groups advocating policy and personnel recommendations for the next conservative president. But it is ultimately up to that president to decide which recommendations to implement.”

Controversy over Project 2025

The full list of accusations hurled at Project 2025 in Democrats’ recent campaigning efforts is too long to include.

At the center of the controversy is the theory of governance around which the document orbits: Unitary Executive Theory.

Under this framework, government agencies, such as the Department of Justice, should not be treated as independent from the president’s executive office.

In recent weeks, former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, and the Heritage Foundation have made efforts to assuage backlash to the presidential transition project.

On July 11, Trump posted to his social media network Truth Social: “I know nothing about Project 2025. I have not seen it, have no idea who is in charge of it, and unlike our very well received Republican Platform, had nothing to do with it.”

This line becomes less convincing, however, when one counts the lineup of Project 2025 contributors who have had roles in Trump’s administration.

“The interesting thing is that most of the books are written by veterans of the Trump administration,” DeVore told the Statesman.

“Now, that doesn’t mean that they’re coming back. You know, obviously, there’s no guarantees in life.”

After Trump’s statement, Project 2025’s director, Paul Dans, stepped down from the initiative and from the Heritage Foundation.

The Trump campaign responded to the news, saying that “reports of Project 2025’s demise would be greatly welcomed and should serve as a notice to anyone or any group trying to misrepresent their influence with President Trump and his campaign.”

While Dans’ retreat signals an effort to respond to sweeping media backlash, Roberts has remained adamant that Project 2025 was a success, writing in statements that the coalition had accomplished exactly what it set out to do in April 2022.

As for the Texas Public Policy Foundation, DeVore said he had been back at the Heritage Foundation as recently as July to lead in a series of “war games” for a “transition integrity project” simulating what might happen in the month after the November presidential election.

Despite this continued collaboration, the foundation has done nothing to advertise its involvement with Project 2025 outside of a Jan. 18 news release that said: “The Texas Public Policy Foundation has joined Project 2025, a national effort to unite the conservative movement around a set of principles and policy proposals that will drive the next presidential administration.”

Its lone communication on the matter, the statement stands as a digital relic of a time eight months ago when Project 2025 didn’t yet claim household name recognition

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atlanticcanada · 2 months

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#newfoundland and labrador #news #politics #canada #CBCNL

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campbowwowhoustonhobby · 1 year

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Dog Boarding Houston

Secure and Happy Stays: How to Pick the Best Dog Boarding Houston center!

Choosing the best dog boarding Houston center that caters to the needs of your beloved furry friend is a crucial decision for any pet owner. Whether you're planning a vacation, a business trip, or simply need a safe and comfortable place for your dog while you're at work, finding the right boarding facility is essential.

After all, you want your dog to have a secure and happy stay in your absence. In this article, we will explore the key factors to consider when selecting the best dog boarding center in Houston, ensuring that your canine companion receives top-notch care and a home away from home.

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The safety and well-being of your dog should be the top priority when choosing a dog boarding center. Assess the facility's security measures, including fencing, locks, cameras, and overall infrastructure, to ensure your pup will be in a safe and controlled environment.

You can also inquire about webcams in the facility, which allow you to monitor your dog remotely, providing an additional layer of peace of mind.

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The staff at a dog boarding center plays a crucial role in ensuring a happy stay for your dog. Look for facilities with well-trained, experienced staff who genuinely love and understand dogs.

They should be knowledgeable about canine behavior, health, and first aid. A caring and attentive staff can make a significant difference in your dog's comfort and overall experience during their stay.

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Check the accommodations provided for the dogs. Ensure the sleeping and resting areas are clean, comfortable, and appropriate for your dog's size and breed. Dogs should have enough space to move around and should not feel confined.

Additionally, inquire about the extra services like grooming as it can contribute to your dog's overall well-being during their stay.

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Maintaining a clean and hygienic environment is essential to your dog's health. Inquire about the facility's cleaning practices, waste disposal, and general cleanliness.

Dogs should always have access to fresh water, and feeding areas should be clean and well-maintained. Confirm that the facility requires proof of vaccinations to ensure the health and safety of all the dogs in their care.

Exercise and Playtime: Keeping Dogs Active and Happy

Dogs need routine exercise and mental stimulation to stay happy and healthy. Ask about the facility's daily exercise routines, playtime schedules, and opportunities for socialization with other dogs. A good dog boarding center will have dedicated play areas, structured playtime, and interactive sessions to keep your dog entertained and engaged.

Vaccination Requirements: Ensuring a Healthy Environment

A reputable dog boarding center prioritizes the health and safety of all its canine guests. To maintain a healthy environment, inquire about the facility's vaccination requirements. They should ask for up-to-date vaccinations to prevent spreading contagious diseases among dogs.

This vaccination policy safeguards your dog and ensures the well-being of all furry friends staying at the center.

Ensure your dog's vaccinations are current and provide the documentation to comply with the center's requirements.

Endnote:

Keeping these factors in mind when selecting a dog boarding Houston center will undoubtedly help you make an informed decision about the well-being of your furry companion.

Remember that your dog's comfort, safety, and happiness are paramount. To experience the highest standards in dog boarding and daycare services, consider Camp Bow Wow Daycare Center in Houston.

With a dedicated team of dog lovers, state-of-the-art facilities, and a commitment to providing a secure and joyful environment, we are an excellent choice for your canine friend's next stay.

Contact Dog Boarding Houston to learn more about our services, and let us take care of your furry friend so you can enjoy peace of mind, knowing they are in the best hands!

#Dog Boarding Houston #Houston Dog boarding #Dog Boarding in Houston

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modestdogmx · 5 months

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Dog trainer Houston Texas Modest Dog

Unlocking Your Dog's Potential: Expert Training and Care at Modest Dog

At Modest Dog, we understand that every dog is unique, with its own personality, strengths, and areas for improvement. That's why we offer personalized training and care services tailored to meet the individual needs of each furry companion. From obedience training to boarding and beyond, we're dedicated to helping your dog reach its full potential. Visit our website for Dog boarding Houston Texas modest dog now.

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Our experienced trainers take a customized approach to dog training, recognizing that what works for one dog may not work for another. Whether your pup needs basic obedience training or specialized behavior modification, we develop a personalized training program that addresses your dog's specific needs and your training goals. Using positive reinforcement techniques, we focus on building a strong bond between you and your dog while teaching essential commands and behaviors.

State-of-the-Art Facilities

When it comes to boarding, your dog deserves the best. Our state-of-the-art facilities provide a safe and comfortable environment for your furry friend to stay while you're away. With spacious accommodations, supervised play areas, and personalized attention from our caring staff, you can trust that your dog will be well taken care of during their stay with us.

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At Modest Dog, we prioritize the well-being of every dog in our care. Whether your dog is with us for training, boarding, or daycare, they'll receive expert care and attention from our dedicated team. From regular exercise and mental stimulation to plenty of love and affection, we go above and beyond to ensure that your dog is happy, healthy, and thriving.

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We believe in giving back to the community and making a positive impact beyond our training facility. That's why we regularly participate in community events, volunteer opportunities, and fundraisers that support local animal shelters and rescue organizations. By working together, we can make a difference in the lives of dogs in need and promote responsible pet ownership. Book an appointment for Dog trainer Houston Texas Modest Dog at our website now.

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Whether you're looking to improve your dog's behavior, provide them with a safe and comfortable place to stay while you're away, or simply want to be part of a community of dog lovers, Modest Dog has something for you. Contact us today to learn more about our training programs, boarding services, and how we can help your dog unlock its full potential.

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mutthouse015 · 5 months

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Dog Boarding Heights

Mutt House offers specialty pet grooming, doggie daycare, and boarding services in Houston Heights. Explore our range of dog baths and pet products for your furry friend's needs. Dog Boarding Heights

About Company:-

Molly’s Mutt House offers Private Boarding, Doggie Daycare, Special Day Camps, and Grooming, along with an assortment of specialty pet foods and products!

The Mutt House has wide open spaces and plenty of room to play with all the other doggies. It’s a great place for your pooch to come camp out. At Molly’s Mutt House, we always offer you the ultimate experience. Our staff is passionate about pets and will go above and beyond to ensure that your pet has a safe and enjoyable stay with us. Plus, you will always get quality services at the Mutt House.

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twobillionseconds · 6 months

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March 12th - March 17th 2024

March 12th:

Drove into work. Ugh Trying to remember this after jet lag. Definitely stopped by the gym before coming home. Other than I can't remember much.

March 13th:

Another drove into work day. Had a relatively ok day. In the evening I got a crew to go for a run. After had dinner by myself. Had to finish some stuff in the fridge. Did some more work at home.

March 14th:

Worked from home today. I had to drop the wife off at the airport. Took care of errands around the house and went to the gym. Got some In-N-Out for dinner. Started packing and what not.

March 15th - March 16th:

Woke up early. Fed the dog and took him for a walk and then took him to the boarding facility. Flight from San Diego to Houston was uneventful. My flight to London was delayed but it was fine because I got to spend time in the Polaris Lounge. Flight to London was uneventful. Time change! I tried to take the public transit to the hotel but took the wrong trains a couple times. I eventually made it to the hotel. I took a long nap after. I got dinner at an Anthony Bourdain visited restaurant. it was called the Wright Brothers. Pretty good. I checked out some salsa spots after.

March 17th:

Woke up to the alarm. I checked out another Anthony Bourdain visited spot for lunch. It was a pub called the Princess Victoria. After I bought some socks at Uniqlo and met up with a colleague to do some work. Got dinner at another Anthony Bourdain spot. It was another pub called The Hunter S. I'm assuming it's named after Hunter S. Thompson. After dinner I decided to do a night cap at the hotel bar and I ran into a fellow conference attendee. We chatted for a bit and called it a night.

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airadam · 7 months

Text

Episode 177 : Like Clockwork.

"Rockin' and rollin' like the myth of Sisyphus..."

- Anthony Cruz

More than any other month in the year, February is the one where we remember some of the greats that have passed on; as such, this mix includes tracks from J Dilla, De La Soul (RIP Dave), Big L, and Big Pun. The average ruggedness level is high, and we start off with a classic sample being used on a remix you might not know...volume up!

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Playlist/Notes

Slum Village : We Be Dem (Atomic Dog Mix)

"Atomic Dog" is one of the most heavily-used samples in Hip-Hop, and with good reason - even in novice hands it sounds good, and with someone like J Dilla in charge, it sounds amazing! He has it twitching on the three on a beat it's impossible not to move to, and on the mics, the crew don't get too complex. It's only a short one, which I got on a white label of unreleased Slum Village cuts, but I think you can find it these days on some of the digital platforms. In my opinion, this mix wins over the original version!

The ARE : OH

You can hear the sound of a well-known Michael Jackson cut being atomised and reconfigured on this killer from the "Dem Damb Jacksons" instrumentals, which punches so hard that you realise why the track title is in upper case! The whole project, as you might guess from the name, is all MJ and Jackson 5 samples, worked to perfection by the man from Houston who you may also know as a member of K-Otix.

De La Soul ft. Yummy Bingham : Much More

A single that deserved to be so as a standout from "The Grind Date", this starts off with an uncredited guest appearance by the DJ Premier questioning the commitment of some to the the Hip-Hop culture, before passing to the late great Dave (aka Trugoy) to handle the opening verse. "Using these minutes like I value the call" is a great analogy for an MC who understood more than many how important it is to say something when you have the platform to do so. J Dilla's beat is grand and imposing, and his re-pitching of the main sample as used in the hook wrong-foots you - it was originally sung by a man, but sounds like a woman by the time he's finished with it!

Sol Uprising ft. Emanon : Feel The Sound

Somehow I'd "played past" this one over and over again, due to it sharing a slab of vinyl with the incredible "Raach Ya Sol" on the 2004 "They Don't Know" 12", but having stumbled on it while shortlisting for this month, I think I need to find more places to play it! Sol Uprising is the union of Sci the MC and the awesome Stacy Epps, who is towards the top of my list of "Musicians I Wish Had Released More Material". Alongside them here are Emanon, with Exile (who you might know better for his work with Blu) on production, and Aloe Blacc on the mic. It's the records like this, the ones that slip under the radar, the ones that you sometimes take a chance on, that really make a DJ's record collection.

L.E.G.A.C.Y : More

Legacy strides over this cut from the "Legsclusives" album with so much confidence that you can't help but love it! 9th Wonder's beat from the heyday of the Justus League initially draws you in with the short sample that repeats throughout and his swinging drum track (with a different snare/clap than you might have expected), but that sneaky low bass really anchors it.

Kid Capri ft. Big Pun and NORE : Block Party

Big Pun is regarded as one of the greats in spite of him unfortunately passing away without a huge amount of recordings - his impact was that powerful. It's always a joy to realise you have a feature by him that might not be known to many, and so we land on this collab alongside fellow Latino New Yorker Noreaga, with the legendary Kid Capri on production. "Soundtrack To The Streets", on which this appears, was Kid Capri's 1998 album where he handled things behind the boards and brought in an all-star cast on the mics - being a DJ with his kind of pedigree, there were a lot of people he could call!

Otis McDonald : One For Dilla

This could happily be played anytime, but as we're paying tribute to J Dilla this month then it's a perfect inclusion for the current episode. You can definitely hear the influence throughout, even as it builds from an initial relatively chilled loop to a more energetic second section before settling down again. This is great work from the "Summer" album.

NEMS, Uncle Murda, Dave East, Scram Jones : NY Is Killing Me

"City workers give up twenty years of they life and still can't afford to pay a mortgage in the Five Boroughs..." It's raw, it's abrasive, and it has a point! You might have missed this one from last year, but this Scram Jones-produced single has Coney Islands' NEMS and guests expressing their frustrations with life in modern day New York City. It's like a rawer, more serious version of J-Zone's "Bullshit City", which the longtime listeners will have heard back on episode 11!

DJ Muggs & Meyhem Lauren : Ready For War

There are many things I love about this track, one of the more specific being the sampled vehement assertions regarding the cost of the sound system :) Of course, the production from Muggs is dark and heavy as per usual and the man on the mic is one of my favourite MCs, Meyhem Lauren! The third in the series of Soul Assassins LPs was another star-studded affair that spawned a companion short film shot in the actual Death Valley - and that in turn spawned an original score from which this track is drawn.

Buccaneer : Bad Man Story

A dancehall classic that's been getting a lot of play from me recently, a gunman anthem on the Baddis riddim that can move any dance! This 1998 release is on "Da Opera" LP, which is well worth a listen, as well as being a big single and also popping up in the Jamaican crime film "Third World Cop".

Blak Twang : Online

Bringing it to the UK for the last tune in the segment, and one I hadn't played at all for a long time - long enough that only after recording did I catch a line that I felt more comfortable censoring. From the third Blak Twang LP "Kik Off" (following the originally-unreleased "Dettwork South East" and "19 Long Time", Tony Rotton gets busy on a Preemo-influenced Harry Love track.

Nicolay : The Specialist (Instrumental)

The Dutch master himself has blessed us via the medium of modern digital distribution with a collection of his old unreleased instrumentals, "Nice Chops - The Dutch Schultz Tapes 2004-2008", which absolutely still stand up today. You can hear his more contemporary material as a soloist and as part of The Foreign Exchange, but this is a great bit of nostalgia and part of a wider set of releases celebrating twenty years of Nicolay's music.

Method Man ft. Raekwon : Meth vs. Chef

Easily one of my favourite cuts from "Tical", Meth's debut and the first of the Wu solo albums, which somehow turns thirty this year... All the elements are here - raw beat, the infamous kung-fu samples (this time from "Ten Tigers of Kwangtung" and "Shaolin Master Killer"), and bars upon bars. Meth opens up before the bell rings to end his verse/round, and then Raekwon brings it home rough like Timberland wear, as he would himself say!

Semi Six : Silver Moon

No singing hook, no hook at all in fact on this single - just a constant lyrical onslaught by one of the finest MCs in the D. The intro is eerie, off-balance, and makes it sound off when you mix it, but as soon as it's over, the dark beat thunders in and doesn't let up until the death - props to the producer, fellow Detroit native AntBell!, for providing a suitable soundtrack for this one.

Mixmaster Mike : Bermuda Tri-Axl

The 2000 "Eye Of The Cyklops" release is so simultaneously chaotic and seamless that when I came to digitise it, the only way I could work out where each track began and ended was to look it up on Discogs and read from the track timings! The legend from Rocksteady DJs/Invisibl Skratch Piklz and also the Beastie Boys, whether on production or on the wheels, always walks that line between virtuosity and total anarchy in a way few can pull off.

O.C. ft. Big L and The Lost Boyz : Dangerous The Sequel

I cut this one a little short as O.C's next verse isn't so much to my taste! I thought sharing this slightly different version of the Big L-featured cut from the classic "Jewelz" LP would be a good way to play a track you may not know while also including some Big L - like Big Pun, he sadly didn't have a long enough time with us to build a deep catalogue. Production is done by Da Beatminerz, who take one of the all-time classic samples and put some deep bump underneath it. This on the B-side of the excellent "Can't Go Wrong" 12".

[DJ Spinna] Jigmastas : Magnetize (Instrumental)

The drums are smacking, the bass is rumbling, and the overall vibe is hectic on this instrumental from the 2016 "Resurgence" album from this much-respected Brooklyn crew. I played the vocal version of this back on episode 91, which is definitely worth a listen!

Natural Elements : This Is Not A Drill

High-wire apocalyptic Hip-Hop, courtesy of one of the finest groups of MCs you can even think about finding anywhere. Over Charlemagne's dramatic beat, A-Butta, Mr. Voodoo and Swigga all tear it down on a single that suits the extremely serious times we find ourselves in. The original plan was to start the episode with this track...but how do you follow up after this kind of demolition?

Please remember to support the artists you like! The purpose of putting the podcast out and providing the full tracklist is to try and give some light, so do use the songs on each episode as a starting point to search out more material. If you have Spotify in your country it's a great way to explore, but otherwise there's always Youtube and the like. Seeing your favourite artists live is the best way to put money in their pockets, and buy the vinyl/CDs/downloads of the stuff you like the most!

Check out this episode!

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