Sharp Eyed. Sharp Witted. Deep in the Heart of Texas.

ALISA WRITES is a cultural and political commentary newsletter from bestselling author and award-winning journalist Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, offering incisive takes on the messy, beautiful, infuriating contradictions of American life—especially here in Texas.

With more 3,000 engaged readers and growing fast, this Substack is where big ideas meet real people. From school board battles to book bans, borderland myths to barbecue politics, Alisa delivers soulful storytelling and unflinching analysis, all with a dry wit and a deep love for the complicated place she now calls home.

Inspired by the fearless spirit of Molly Ivins, ALISA WRITES speaks truth with heart—calling out hypocrisy, uplifting marginalized voices, and finding flashes of hope in unlikely places. Expect essays that sting a little, make you laugh out loud, and leave you thinking long after the last line.

This is commentary with guts. And soul. And cowgirl boots on the ground.

Who’s Alisa?

Alisa Valdes is an award-winning former staff writer for the Boston Globe and LA Times, a NYT bestselling novelist, and a lifelong progressive with roots in both the newsroom and the mountains of New Mexico. Now based in Austin, she writes with the kind of clarity you only get from surviving a few storms—and walking away with your sense of humor intact.

New posts every few days. Sometimes more when the world’s on fire. And the world’s almost always on fire. Subscribe to get them first.