Every city is storied in some way, and Austin is no different: A sleepy (redlined) college town once full of oddballs and misfits is now gentrified beyond recognition and home to such dignitaries of mediocrity as Joe Rogan and Elon Musk. Voice Lessons, iconic Austin activist and writer Alice Embree’s new memoir, reminds its audience that things weren’t always this way.
Embree has lived most of her life in Austin, with brief, Austin’s first underground newspaper and one of the largest such papers in the country. Embree has been arrested numerous times for her activism, and she has protested the Vietnam War, the trial of the Chicago Seven, and segregation in the UT dorms. She was active in Students for a Democratic Society for years and assisted those involved in the Columbia University takeover of 1968 that captured global attention.
