Assume you’re in 4000 B.C., and on your way to fetch water from the Euphrates or the Nile river to sustain your crops, your life source, after a long day of beading and basket-weaving.
It’s 2026 now, and you’re submerging into the water of the San Marcos River to get a break from the early Spring sun, feeling the tickle on your feet by the long, dancing blades of Wild Texas Rice, and catching a tan alongside a good book (or an even better conversation with friends). This sounds like a familiar day to thousands of students who treasure this Texas State staple.
Among my New Year’s resolutions—or to-do list, in my book —were two hopeful bullet points: I want to have more days like this come Spring, and explore more of the arts in San Marcos. As an ignorant first-year student, I admit I had no clue about the menacing prospect of A.I. data centers and their possible effects on a resistant community until I purchased a day pass to attend the ninth Lost River film fest this February.
Keeping San Marcos Wet
Support and opposition for a proposed $1.5 billion data center near San Marcos, Texas, were fiercely met with both opposition and support. Students, farmers, business owners, and many more proponents of a colorful community all had something to say, whether a data center may create rural jobs or drain the life out of a region already in drought. This hypothetical data center was projected to have used 25 million gallons of water in one year.
Feb. 7, 2026
On a mild and sunny Saturday in town, my best friend and I walked from campus to the historic Price Center, arriving promptly at 9 a.m. for the first event, a release party for The Hays-Caldwell Examiner, an independent regional newspaper. We were greeted with local coffee, kolaches, and hospitable hosts and Examiner staff. At this point, I honestly had no intention of writing about my experience and was more excited to see some exclusive indie films.
I opened the copy of a newspaper I was given and read the cover page, an exposé of a Christian nationalist “patriot academy” in Dripping Springs, a town only twenty-three miles away. My friend and I, presumably the youngest people in the room at this point, struck up a conversation with a retired history professor at Texas State, from “how are you liking our majors so far?” to “how beautiful we think diversity is.”
After another 30 minutes of chit-chatting and people-watching, the festival began at 10:00 a.m., and we stuck around for three of the five films and panels, and for many people on many different missions.
10:00 AM: Steal This Story, Please! (dir. Carl Deal & Tia Lessen)
“Long story short, I should not have worn mascara today,” is what I wrote in the Notes App on my phone, soon after realizing that I absolutely should have every intention to write about today. If you are unfamiliar with journalistic hero Amy Goodman or Democracy Now!, then I’m leaving you with some homework. This fantastic 100-minute documentary follows Goodman’s unrelenting passion for truth and justice for everyone, as well as her work to make Democracy Now! the publication it is today.
11:00 AM – 1:30 PM: Panel + Break
After I treated myself to some popcorn and (complementary!) Topo Chico, I sat back down to listen to a panel of many independent Texas journalists from the Hays-Caldwell Examiner, Truha of the Rio Grande Valley, and Corpus Christi’s Chisme Collective. What they each had in common was movement. Words that I kept hearing, enough to jot down as a bullet point, were ‘rooted in your community.’ I defined such a phrase as caring for your home and your neighbors, protecting the precious things in said home.
Madison and I broke away for a pick-me-up from The Coffee Bar, and I couldn’t help but be more observant as she sipped her blondie on our way back. The downtown streets were bustling, with people walking their dogs or stopping at the farmers’ and flea market (I got a sample of mochi, yum!), studying outside and eating with blood and chosen families. The words I heard earlier stuck with me. This is where I am now. As long as my tuition and rent are paid, it’s looking like I’ll be here for a while. This is my community, a really sweet one that seems to immediately come out on the first sunny day…
2:00 PM: Data Center Panel
Following our break and my revelation, I returned to a panel where I’d really be schooled on the A.I. data center problem in Central Texas, courtesy of the Texas Youth Power Alliance and the Public Citizen & Data Center Coalition. Here is another ‘community’ phrase I heard: community autonomy. A.I. and these proposed data centers have an invasive nature that, in a way, strips communities and municipalities of collective autonomy and decision-making. When the water is eventually gone, where do we get more from?
Additionally, I visited the same room that earlier hosted the release party, where I met those opposed to the data centers. Long conversations were had, mostly with me listening, and I was given packets of information on the dangers of the proposal passing, as well as a guide to applying pressure as a member of the public.
2:45 PM: Eddington (dir. Ari Aster)
Throughout today’s Politico, data centers were ominously mentioned in large posters in the fictional town of Eddington. To be totally honest, this A24 western political thriller first struck me as a crossover between No Country for Old Men and South Park. Is that ridiculous to say?
The film was star-studded, with Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, and Austin Butler. It is set in mid-pandemic 2020 (shivers) and follows the dark, ridiculous, and ultimately real chaos that comes with fear, surveillance-states, and hate.
6:00 PM: Seeds for Liberation (dir. Matthew Solomon)
Following a quick, yes, local dinner, we headed back to view our last film of the evening. Seeds of Liberation is a 92-minute documentary, a collection of interviews filmed on two iPhone 16s of voices in the Palestinian movement. Like the doc itself, modern technology has revolutionized the way we view and interact with war, conflict, and activism: everything is in our face, for us to see. Central to the film is the importance of intersectionality in the pursuit of autonomy and self-determination. There is an emphasis on the need for global movements to stand together.
Seeds for Liberation received a standing ovation.
Lessons Learned
While I am not attempting to sway you, reader, a certain way, my decision to, one, touch grass more often, and two, really seek out the creativity within such an amazing city, led me to do more than just see exclusive films. I took a moment to see the importance of standing up as collectives.
The proposal was blocked by a majority vote in the San Marcos City Council on February 16, 2026.