Austin, TX
I'm a Californian who moved to Texas for a shot at the American dream. I moved back after 2 ½ years, but I miss Texas.
- Kimberly Wilkerson is a lifelong Californian who moved to Austin in 2022.
- She preferred Texas’ politics and enjoyed the state’s nature.
- Wilkerson moved back to California earlier this year to be near family.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kimberly Wilkerson, a 46-year-old self-published author and entrepreneur who moved from Oakley, California, to Austin in 2022. She stayed 2 ½ years before moving back to California to be close to family.
I was born and raised in Northern California, mostly in the East Bay. I’m a single mother to one son, who is 20 years old.
I felt blessed in California that I could go to the snow, the beach, and the mountains. I could be in any climate that I wanted within a few hours.
Our culture in California is very diverse. Growing up, I had so many friends from all different places. California is a hub for information and innovation. And that’s so beautiful.
But I don’t agree with a lot of what California’s leadership has done, and I had grown frustrated by politics. Both sides have their rights and wrongs. It’s a big ugly mess.
I worked in the corporate world for a while in conjunction with tech. I was able to support both me and my son, and we were comfortable. But I became disabled and was on disability for quite a few years.
Around 2022, however, I was feeling better and got the blessings of my physicians to start working again. I knew I wouldn’t be able to remain in California once I started working because I only paid a portion of my rent and other costs due to my disability.
I knew I needed to create a new life for myself. I started writing again. It was just pouring out of me and before I knew it, I was like, “I’m writing a book!” I was gifted the money to self-publish.
That really started a new life for me. I wanted to build this new creative career for myself, so I was willing to do almost anything as far as jobs that would bring in income.
Both my son and I wanted to move out of California. I was offered a job to relocate to Texas. I took a job as a night auditor, basically the hotel manager, for a major hotel chain.
I wanted to be able to buy a home. So, we said, let’s do it. And we headed for Texas.
Courtesy of Kimberly Wilkerson/Getty Images
I was excited to move to Texas
I didn’t really have any anxiety. My son and I had been through a lot and needed a fresh start.
We moved to Austin originally. But as Austin continued to grow, we moved just north of the city. I’m seeing that happen a lot more. People have to spread out because parts of Texas are growing so fast.
The state is so much bigger than we give it credit for. You can drive for 50 miles and see nothing but emptiness and fields.
Once you get to Austin, though, it feels like you’re in a mini-California. I think a lot of people in the last few years have moved there and influenced the culture.
Within one year of being in Texas, I saw so much growth. It just throws everything out of whack.
But for the most part, everyone was beautiful and very welcoming to us. We were embraced in Texas.
The first question I was usually asked was, “What brings you here?” People want to know why you’re there and if you’re going to screw up their state.
My normal response was, “I know a lot of people from California have moved here, and I believe everybody has a different reason for it.”
I went to Texas to have the American dream. My main priority is to have a solid foundation to leave for my son and his future family. That’s it. I don’t need a lot. I just need my little part.
I think the Texans understood that about me. I have friends there now who are like family.
The nature in Texas is undeniably the most peaceful and beautiful I’ve encountered in my life thus far.
I also felt like Texas was offering politics that I was more in favor of than California.
Peter Tsai/Getty Images
I stayed in Texas for 2 ½ years
My mother was growing more ill. Her health had been declining since I left. I had a hope of moving my mother to Texas, but that wasn’t going to be possible. It was better for me to come back to California.
Having said that, I still want to go back.
It was a difficult decision to some degree. I came back at the end of July.
There has been good and bad. It’s been good to see friends and family, and I’ve done a lot of healing in my relationships here.
When I went back to my old church, they said, “We saved your seat; here it is.” It was really beautiful. I felt very welcomed.
I got to see my mom laugh last night, and it was so beautiful. A moment like that makes being here worth it.
But I hope to go back to Texas one day. I’m waiting for the next right thing, which ideally would be if I’m getting married. Then, whichever place my husband is most comfortable will be my home.
AUSTIN, Texas – A 20-year-old was arrested and charged with murder for a deadly shooting at the Cambria Hotel in downtown Austin, police said.
What we know:
Police said on Monday, Jan. 5, around 6:55 a.m., officers responded to a report of a gunshot at the Cambria Hotel at 68 East Avenue #824. The caller said a person had been shot.
When officers arrived, they found a man with injuries. He later died at the scene. He was identified as Luke Bradburn.
The investigation revealed that Bradburn drove and crashed a car that belonged to 20-year-old Maximillian Salinas. After the crash, Bradburn and the other people in the car left and went to the Cambria Hotel.
Salinas went to the hotel and shot Bradburn.
On Jan. 6, Salinas was arrested and charged with murder.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Austin Police at 512-974-TIPS. You may submit your tip anonymously through the Capital Area Crime Stoppers Program by visiting austincrimestoppers.org or calling 512-472-8477.
The Source: Information from the Austin Police Department
Chants of “shame” and “ICE out of Texas” rang through the street as Austin-area activists joined thousands across the nation in protesting the killing of Renee Nicole Good, who was fatally shot Wednesday by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis.
The protest was held in front of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security building in Pflugerville.
Good, 37, was shot in her SUV while attempting to drive away from several ICE officers who ordered her to exit her vehicle.
Scarleth Lopez with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the organization that led the protest, said the videos of the shooting in Minneapolis were “sickening.”
“Trump has lied and and said that Renee was a terrorist. She was a mother. She was an innocent bystander,” Lopez said. “We must organize to stop these people from kidnapping and murdering.”
Lorianne Willett
/
KUT News
Elizabeth Bope, a retired Pflugerville ISD teacher, said the claims from federal and state lawmakers that Good was attempting to strike the ICE agent with her vehicle inspired her to attend the protest.
Such claims were posted online by Vice President J.D. Vance and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Attorney General Ken Paxton reposted a statement from DHS on X, formerly known as Twitter, that said the ICE agent “relied on his training and saved his own life.”
“It’s beyond really any words that they killed this woman for no reason, but also that they’re lying about it,” Bope said. “I’m not even a radical left person, I’m just a regular old Democrat.”
Other key Texas leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, have not commented on the shooting.
Lorianne Willett
/
KUT News
Doug Tickner, who said he works for a home building company in Austin, said he felt it was important to show up in person for Good.
“I don’t really think of Minneapolis as being that far from here, and it’s not like what happened in Minneapolis was some sort of one off unique event,” Tickner said. “This is part of a pattern, and I feel folks better wake up and realize that this is becoming more and more serious.”
The news that federal immigration officers shot and wounded two people in Portland, Oregon, broke hours before the protest.
The gathering in Pflugerville is among the first of four anti-ICE demonstrations planned across the Austin area over the next few days.
Earlier on Thursday, protesters gathered at the intersection of 45th Street and Lamar Boulevard during rush hour. A protest on Friday will be held at the Capitol and another will be held Saturday at City Hall.
Lorianne Willett
/
KUT News
State and federal leaders are now sparring over who should conduct an investigation into the Minneapolis shooting, according to NPR.
Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which was originally asked to conduct a joint investigation with the FBI, said in a statement it was later told the investigation would be led solely by federal authorities.
AUSTIN, Texas – A Texas agency is concerned that the flesh-eating New World screwworm could be getting closer to Texas without commercial livestock movement.
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller is sounding the alarm again for livestock owners to remain vigilant in watching for signs of the parasite in their animals.
Screwworm sighting near Texas
The latest:
Miller said in a Thursday release that a screwworm had been detected in a cow in González, Tamaulipas, a little more than 200 miles from the southern Texas border.
According to the commissioner, the cow had no reported history of movement outside Tamaulipas, and is the third active case reported there.
Officials in Mexico have not reported a known population of the worm in Tamaulipas. They’re working with U.S. authorities to investigate further into the new case.
What they’re saying:
“The screwworm now may be moving closer on its own, with no apparent link to commercial animal movement,” Commissioner Miller said. “Texas producers must act now—stay informed, stay vigilant, and prepare immediately. We cannot drop our guard for even a moment.”
Inspect livestock for screwworm
What you can do:
Miller urged immediate action from ranchers along the Texas border.
“Inspect your animals daily,” Miller said. “Check every open wound. If anything looks suspicious, report it right away. Better a false alarm than a delayed response—early detection and rapid reporting are our strongest defenses against this devastating pest.”
U.S. plan to fight screwworm in Texas
Big picture view:
The threat to cattle has been deemed so potentially devastating to the U.S. food supply that the federal government is committing $850 million to fight it.
Most of that money will be spent on building a sterile male fly production facility near the border.
The facility will produce 300 million sterile male flies a week to be dropped into target areas where the screwworm is now. Those male flies help to reduce the population size through mating without reproducing.
A much smaller portion of the funding will be used for screwworm detection technology.
In addition, the federal government has already spent $21 million on a sterile fly production facility in Mexico.
What are New World screwworms?
Dig deeper:
The insect gets its name because it’s only found in the Americas.
It lays its eggs in the open wounds of animals, and its larvae become parasites, threatening livestock, domestic animals, and even people.
The screwworm was mostly eradicated in Texas and the rest of the United States in the 60s. But now, it’s moving north up from Panama and has a known presence a little over 300 miles south of the Texas-Mexico border.
The Source: Information in this article comes from Sid Miller.
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