January 1981

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January 1981

Table of Contents

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Features

Being An Aggie Is No Joke

Honest.

by Al Reinert and Will van Overbeek

Bum Steer Awards 1981

An ample account of the absurdities, affronts, asininities, atrocities, abominations, and anacoluthons that assaulted Texans in 1980.

Laying Down the Law

That’s what the Legislature is here to do, and unless we’re lucky, it just may.

by Paul Burka

King of the Mountain

Clements is ready for the Legislature, but is the Legislature ready for him?

by Paul Burka

Rags to Riches

When buyers and sellers converge on Dallas’s Apparel Mart for a week-long orgy of fashionable commerce, high style and discriminating taste confront the cold reality of the bottom line.

by Michael Ennis

Columns

Stepping Out

See How She runs

Diane von Furstenberg is a one-woman event, from her DVF glasses to her purple lizard pumps.

Michael Ennis

Behind the Lines

East is East, West is West, and in Texas the twain shall never meet.

by William Broyles

Education

Grade F

The Texas education Agency’s recent report on teacher competency doesn’t make the grade.

Gene Lyons

Church

The Church of What’s Happening

You’ll really groove on the teachings of the Today Church in Dallas; tiny Keene is a town for Seventy-day Adventists-all week long.

by William Martin

Film

The Contender

Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull is full of fancy footwork, but it doesn’t land many solid hits. Jack Lemmon deserves Tribute; The Competition is a winning film.

by George Morris

Theater

The Charge of the Light Brigade

Lighting a stage for an operatic performance isn’t just a matter of flipping a switch.

by W. L. Taitte

Books

Behind the Purple Page

Texas writers of historical romances spice up the old boy- meets-girl plot with more than a pinch of passion.

by Stephen Harrigan

Dining Out

High Texana

Alan’s Texas Cafe in Austin is good eats with Alan; Don’s in Houston has Cajun food worth ragin’ about.

by W. L. Taitte

Reporter

Reporter

Texas Monthly Reporter

Rounding up rustlers in North Texas; shaping up mind and body at the Houstonian; chalking up a victory against infant deaths in the Valley.

by Susan Duffy

Miscellaneous

The Inside Story

Dress code.

by Gregory Curtis

Roar of the Crowd

Trusty scouts, perilous potholes, French fancies.

Touts

Burgers, bargains, and bovines.

Patricia Sharpe

Puzzle

You are what you eat, fatty.

Susan Duffy

State Secrets

Discount medicine needles doctors; open season on Democrats; meanwhile, back at Southfork; Dallas blacks are fed up—with busing.

Edited by Paul Burka