Alongside our coverage of more consequential happenings in our state, Texas Monthly is also dedicated to documenting the weird and wild events you might have missed in the news.

The author of the magazine’s Meanwhile, in Texas column is Texas Monthly fact checker Meher Yeda, and she joins TM Out Loud host Katy Vine this week to share a few of her favorite stories of the year.

This piece was produced by Sara Kinney, Patrick Michels, and Brian Standefer.

Transcript
Transcript

Katy Vine (voice-over): Hi, and welcome to TM Out Loud, exclusive audio storytelling for Texas Monthly Audio subscribers. I’m Katy Vine.

Texas is, of course, one of the most consequential places on earth. It has one of the world’s largest economies, it’s a global center in the energy industry. It’s home to the wealthiest man on earth. The first time somebody walked on the moon, his first words were to mission control . . . in Texas.

Every month, my Texas Monthly colleagues and I devote most of our magazine to explaining—in one way or another—why our home state is so exceptionally important.

But we also save one page each month for something else: A brief survey of the strangest, most trivial, and confounding things that you might have missed underneath that more consequential news.

We call the feature Meanwhile, in Texas, and the writer who compiles these oddities each month is my colleague, Meher Yeda.

This week on TM Out Loud, Meher is here to talk about the most memorable inconsequential tidbits she surfaced this year.

Here’s my conversation with Meher Yeda.

Katy Vine: Hey, Meher. Thanks for coming on the show.

Meher Yeda: Hi, Katy.

Katy Vine: You’ve been working on a segment called Meanwhile in Texas for the magazine, featuring all kinds of wacky headlines and events from around the state—everything from a cryptocurrency named after a baby capybara to a pickup carrying 26 couches at once.

The first Meanwhile column ran in January 2014. You then took over the section for the May 2024 issue. Can you talk about how you first got involved with the column and how you choose headlines?

Meher Yeda: Yeah. I just took over for the person that had been doing it prior, Arman. He was leaving, and so they were looking for someone to do it, and they just kind of offered it to me. And I was like, “Yeah,” ’cause it seemed so fun and a way to keep up to date with Texas news and funky headlines. 

Whenever I’m looking at the news, I keep a running document each month of headlines. And obviously, people send me stuff, and people send me things from social media or in their own lives. And at the end of the month, I’ll look at all sorts of news sites. And, any kind of law- and crime-related websites, particularly, because they tend to capture, I think, a lot of events that, once you really look into them, are actually more absurd than they seem on the surface.

Katy Vine: Like what? What’s one that comes off the top of your head?

Meher Yeda: I do want to make sure that it’s not all fluffy animal stories. So I like—

Katy Vine: ’Cause you could probably fill one with that.

Meher Yeda: With just animal stories. I think that there is merit to having a thing now and then. Like, I think, last issue, actually, just about a brawl at a Bass Pro Shops.

Katy Vine: Oh, I love that one. Oh man. Can you talk about it? Just for people who missed this epic moment in Odessa history.

Meher Yeda: There was a Bass Pro Shops opening in Odessa, and there was a man waiting for the bathroom. And I believe he just—he got agitated that another person was taking too long. So the guy came out of the bathroom, and they exchanged a few words and then ended up getting into an entire fight that got more people in and might’ve drawn some blood.

Katy Vine: It was videotaped by everybody watching, spread around, became this sort of viral moment in Odessa history. For better or worse. What are some other favorites of yours that you’ve come across?

Meher Yeda: So I said not all animal stories, but I love the animal stories. There was a really cute one about a pig and a blind dog who were seen walking along the highway. And it was kind of unclear whether or not they were lost. But then they ended up like . . .

Katy Vine: They were just on an adventure.

Meher Yeda: They were just on an adventure. And they were walking along the highway, and then they went into a general store. And then they were reunited with their owner after, but they kept each other safe. And I love that. 

Katy Vine: So are there parts of the state that are really rich for territory? Like, for a little while, I know we had something called Meanwhile, in Lufkin. So it’s like, for a while at least, Lufkin was a gold mine for finding just kind of funny little stories. And sometimes that has to do with just whatever news outlet, or the personalities in charge of those kind of outlets in a particular area. But is there anything that you’re finding right now that’s really good, productive areas?

Meher Yeda: I think Houston. Houston has been such a gold mine these past few months. Maybe it’s because they also just have the Houston suburbs and more reporters dedicated. I do think East Texas has the occasional weird, silly story. You know how there’s “Florida man”? I think there should be an “East Texas man” out there. But I would say a lot comes from Houston.

Katy Vine: Yeah, that makes sense.

Meher Yeda: So many that I—we actually have our own style rules for Meanwhile, and we don’t like to repeat places. And sometimes I have to break that because I have two really good Houston items in a month.

Katy Vine: Were there some segments that didn’t make final cut of the column? Is there reasons that something would get cut?

Meher Yeda: One reason that they can be cut is simply, you cannot summarize this in one sentence. That’s kind of hard to take a very complex person and situation and finagle that into one full sentence. 

We had an item about a girl who, she was part of this really weird online AI-scam thingy that happened. So basically, there was a viral news story—news in quotes—about a waitress from Olive Garden who threw breadsticks at the customers. And this was Facebook viral. And this girl from College Station was being used as the picture in the fake story. And it turned out that she had been arrested, and someone else pulled her mug shot into this fake story. So for many reasons it didn’t work out—as soon as we knew that there was the second layer, it became hard to make one sentence of, “Well, you know, this woman got her mug shot used in this fake story,” and all this complex layer.

Katy Vine: It kind of takes the humor out of it when you have to really explain the whole thing.

Meher Yeda: Yeah.

Katy Vine: Sometimes they get funnier. The more convoluted it is, the funnier it is.

Meher Yeda: Yeah. That just made me remember there was an item about a guy who—classic embezzlement story, but the part in Meanwhile that stood out was that he ended up buying an Escalade, and his license plate said, “HIDE IT.”

And you know, it’s like, so when it’s like that short and it’s obviously kind of still sad, but there’s a funny bit to it that’s less sad. I don’t know.

Katy Vine: Has working on Meanwhile made you think differently about Texas or about people? 

Meher Yeda: Well, sometimes yes. I think there was an item about a guy who rode his horse into a bar and tried to play pool. And I was like—that did make me think a little differently about . . . there are still people maybe who would bring their horse into a bar.

Katy Vine: So there was—I was at a concert in October, and I later saw a photo of myself next to the stage at that concert. And one of my colleagues pointed out, “There’s a horse behind you.” Which I did not know. The entire concert, I sat there. I had no idea there was a horse behind me until I saw the photo. I was like, What if I just looked to my left?

Meher Yeda: That’s literally, like, the setup to a joke.

Katy Vine: I don’t know the punch line. [laughs]

Meher Yeda: Like, what would you do . . . ? I don’t know if it necessarily made me think differently. I think it just makes me feel more connected, and it makes me realize there are people out there doing all sorts of things, and don’t judge yourself too harshly. Like, even there are people that are getting caught doing all sorts of silly things, so . . .

Katy Vine: Think of the things they’re not getting caught doing.

Meher Yeda: Yeah. At least there are people out there who are also attuned to wanting to know more about this as well. 

Katy Vine: Yeah. We pulled a few of our favorite segments to chat about. We’re gonna run the clips. This one’s from the November 2025 issue. 

Irving police officer: Hi, how are you, sir?

Man in video: I’m good.

Irving police officer: I’m about to tell you the weirdest thing you’ve probably ever heard in your life, okay? So did you just get your truck inspected? 

Man in video: Yeah. 

Irving police officer: Okay. So that guy has a pet pigeon, and it’s in the back of your truck. 

Katy Vine: “Irving police officers reunited a blind, flightless pigeon named Kevin with his owner after the man brought the bird to the auto shop where he works, and it hopped into the bed of a customer’s truck.”

Irving police officer: Birdman saving the day.

Irving police officer 2: Should we put him in a seat belt?

Irving police officer: Is this pigeon under arrest or what? 

Irving police officer 2: He is. All right. Here you go. 

Irving police officer: That’s awesome. 

Bird owner: Kevin!

Irving police officer: Kevin. This is Kevin? 

Bird Owner: Kevin! Kevin! Oh man, thank you guys so much, man. You guys . . . 

Irving police officer: No problem.

Bird owner: It’s like a child to me, man. Thank you guys so much, I owe you.

Irving police officer: Absolutely.

Katy Vine: It’s like a child to him, Meher.

Meher Yeda: Aw.

Katy Vine: How did you find this?

Meher Yeda: I wish I had a really exciting story. It was just scrolling through the news. Yeah. Which maybe we should all do a bit more. But yeah.

Katy Vine: You’re the only person on the planet who would say those words, but yes. Okay.

Meher Yeda: No, I feel like local news is the most awesome blend of weird and quirky news segments that lead into very interesting stories.

Runner in video:  I’m trying to be the first person in history to run a marathon entirely around a Whataburger. I have no clue how many loops I’m gonna run or how long this is gonna take.

Katy Vine: Okay, this one’s from the September 2025 issue: “A corporate employee of Whataburger ran a marathon at one of the chain’s San Antonio locations by circling the restaurant more than two hundred times.”

Runner in video:  Four miles in, starting to get a little hungry, and I think it’s time for a snack. Honey butter chicken biscuit. 

I think I’ve ran around this Whataburger two hundred times. What’s a few more? One mile left. This might be the hardest mile of my life. I’m not having fun. I don’t know why I’m doing this. See you at the finish. There it is, 26.2 miles around a Whataburger, 240-something laps. Don’t try that at home.

Katy Vine: Take that, Supersize Me. 

Meher Yeda: That personally sounds like a nightmare. But it seems just so, so Texas to be both an employee of Whataburger, running around, for no reason other than he wanted to do that.

Katy Vine: Pride. Pride in Whataburger. That’s right. So, Meher, a lot of these, there’s certain elements in any of these stories that could potentially be a feature. Have you ever found any that you thought, “Wow, there’s actually more to it than just one sentence.”

Meher Yeda: Oh, definitely. I mean, there’s definitely a story in each item. I think a lot of the serious ones that get discarded have more potential than maybe a cat that was adopted from the library. But that’s not to say that that would not make for a compelling story in its own way.

Katy Vine: It’s just, how much can you milk out of the situation? And sometimes, no matter what, it’s two sentences.

Meher Yeda: Yeah.

Katy Vine: Just depends on what else is there.

Meher Yeda: There was one I was kind of remembering that I wrote about. It’s this woman who started a fraudulent dentistry practice. And she advertised it on social media, and people wanted veneers, and she’d give them the most not-professional veneers, so much so [that] people started to complain. And that’s how she was caught. And I always wondered if there was something there. Or like, I think with any kind of topic, the person who creates the problem may not even be that compelling. Like, they may just be like, I just wanted money. You know? And that’s that. 

Katy Vine: I think a lot of times, “I just wanted money” isn’t really—they may say that, but a lot of times . . . 

Meher Yeda: That’s not the truth.

Katy Vine: You just scratch the surface, and it’s not, it’s almost never really just about the money.

Meher Yeda: That’s very true. 

Katy Vine: Have you ever talked to somebody featured in the section?

Meher Yeda: Yeah. So, I got to call up this Astros superfan who went viral after he brought three pounds of crawfish and some corn to Daikin Park . . .

Katy Vine: In Houston.

Meher Yeda: . . . during a game in Houston.

Katy Vine: Which was basically how the item ran: “An Astros superfan went viral for bringing three pounds of crawfish and a few ears of corn to Houston’s Daikin Park.”

Meher Yeda: Yeah. And that’s all I knew. And then I got to talk to him. His name is Nguyen Le, and he had such a sweet story.

Nguyen Le: I left Vietnam without my parents. I was separated from my parents from when I was eight until twelve. When I arrived in Houston back in the summer of ’79, I lived with my relatives, you know, but baseball was my way to assimilate because, you know, with sticks and balls, it transcends language barriers. Right?

And really, we were poor, so I didn’t get to go to the games, and I learned to really paint the game in my head as I was listening to the radio. All I ever wanted was Astros baseball, and here we are. 

 I fell in love with the Astros, and then later on, we named our oldest son Ryan for Nolan Ryan. I think 2013, maybe, I came back as a season ticket holder, and then since 2015, I’ve averaged over a hundred games a year.

Meher Yeda: And he’s been to 93 of 105 Astros postseason games since he became a season ticket holder, and he mentions that the only reason he didn’t go to those, I think, twelve games was because of the pandemic and because the park was closed to the public.

Like, he’s been to so many games that he was like, there’s only so much ballpark food you can eat. And he knew about this rule at the park, where you can bring anything as long as it fits into a gallon-sized Ziploc bag. So he’s brought, he says, a Costco pizza, a rotisserie chicken, all sorts of things. And he posted about bringing a crawfish boil—well, three pounds of a crawfish boil that he went and picked up.

Nguyen Le: I think it was a Monday or so, I was just craving for some, and then I drove down to Texas City, got my twenty pounds, came back home, put the three pounds in the bag, and then just walked over to the ballpark. 

Meher Yeda: And people were like, How could you bring that to a baseball park? And it ended up blowing up so much that he got a chance to be in an ad for baseball superfans. It was a really sweet story because I think he has been such a fan for a long time, and now he’s kind of getting his flowers, in a way.

Meher Yeda (on tape): Next season, is there anything you’re looking forward to bringing?

Nguyen Le: [laughs] Definitely more crawfish again. 

Meher Yeda (on tape): Yeah. [laughs] 

Meher Yeda: It makes me wish that I had the opportunity to call everyone up who goes into Meanwhile, because there’s so much richer detail that people don’t really report, maybe at first. And it was just really nice to hear a sweet story from somebody about a thing that they’re really passionate about.

You know, that would almost be a second column, is why did these people do what they do? But when you’re limited to 250 words, there’s only so much you can get into. But I think that’s the beauty of a column like Meanwhile—it’s just meant to give people a taste into the state and all of the people and all of the things that happen that are wacky and funny and wild.

Katy Vine: It’s great. Thanks so much, Meher.

Meher Yeda: Thank you. 

Katy Vine (voice-over): That was Meher Yeda.Look for Meanwhile in Texas each month in Texas Monthly. This piece was produced by Sara Kinney, Patrick Michels, and Brandon Standefer. We’ll be back with more from the pages of Texas Monthly next week.