Alright, Alright, Alright

I spent Sunday afternoon in church with Matthew McConaughey and Richard Linklater.

They gave quite a sermon. Earlier this fall my daughter wrote a story for a UT magazine she’s part of about the annual Texas Book Festival.

Specifically she mentioned the big closing event, which was McConaughey celebrating the paperback release of his memoir “Greenlights.” The event was moderated by renowned director Linklater, who made McConaughey famous when he used him in the classic “Dazed and Confused.” As soon as I read my daughter’s article about the event I ordered tickets for us – and it’s a good thing because the event sold out weeks ago.

Anyhow that’s how me, my daughter and oldest son found ourselves in the balcony of The First Baptist Church Austin listening to fascinating stories by both men. We’re all big fans of Linklater’s films (please look them up and watch if you haven’t, particularly the ‘Before’ trilogy) and who would pass up the chance to listen to an unfiltered McConaughey (whose famous catch phrase as well as life philosophy is ‘alright, alright, alright’) for an afternoon?

McConaughey talked about wild family stories, the process of writing his book, and the importance of being able to look back without stopping moving forward. Then he took question after question from the audience and seemed to be enjoying himself so much (but then again when does he not seem like he’s enjoying himself) that he might have done so all day, until one of the book festival folks said time was up. Anyway one of the questions from the audience drew the loudest applause of the entire day. Someone asked him when he was going to run for governor (which he hinted back in 2021 that he might be interested in).

“I’ll tell you what right now, I’m having a wonderful adventure doing what I fully believe is the most important job I could be doing … raising three kids,” he said.

I’ve already started reading his book and am really enjoying it.