I recently chatted with the fabulous Lisa Gray, host of our podcast City Cast Houston since its debut in 2021. Lisa, not a native Houstonian, first fell in love with the city as a college student.
What originally brought you to Houston and made you stick around?
I needed scholarship money, so my high school advisor suggested that I apply to Texas colleges. I first saw Houston when I landed here on the first day of Rice’s freshman orientation. I didn’t expect to stay.
In fact, I left the first chance that I got, a few years after I graduated, and moved to Washington, D.C. — the kind of powerful, center-of-the-universe city where I expected to build a first-tier journalism career. But I was miserable. People there all dressed alike, and they thought alike, and when you walked into a room you could feel them gauging how powerful you were.
I was shocked to find myself homesick for Houston — a place I hadn’t realized was home.
What is a memorable moment you’ve had hosting the podcast?
We did an episode about why Texas teachers are leaving the profession in droves. One of the former teachers said that after the school shooting in Uvalde, she cried for two weeks. People expected her to protect kids in her classroom at all costs, but she’s not a trained military professional. “I’m not one of the Avengers,” she said. She was on the edge of tears.
Where’s one of your favorite places to relax in the city?
Most Saturday mornings, I meet my grown kids and my best friend for yoga at Discovery Green. Taking deep breaths in that beautiful place, surrounded by people I love: It’s hard to beat that.
