The Governor’s New Clothes

Bill Clements, unmasked at last.

by Stephen Harrigan

The Cancer Belt

In the southeast corner of Texas, more people get cancer than anywhere else in the state. Why?

by Harry Hurt III

The Mistress And The Muscleman

A tale of passion in the double-knit aristocracy.

by Jim Atkinson

The Subway That Ate Houston

The most expensive, amazing, dynamic, futuristic, and sexy way not to solve a transit crisis.

by Paul Burka

Champs

It is whether you win. And these eight Texans are winners.

by Anne Dingus

Behind the Lines

Two men from Dallas.

by Gregory Curtis

Health

Extreme Unctuousness

Without embalming you can have a simple, inexpensive funeral. That’s just what Texas morticians don’t want.

by Victoria Loe

Sports

The Pitcher’s Right Arm

The Hendricks brothers are pros at making money - for themselves as well as for the pros they represent.

by Daniel Okrent

Jazz

Bass Hit

For twenty years Texas-born Gene Ramsey was in demand as one of the swingingest rhythm bassists in Kansas City, New York, and stops in between.

by Doug Ramsey

Popular Music

Wall, Croon, and Thrum

Small-label recordings prove that whether Texans are singing ballads, blues, or punk, they make their best music at home.

by Pepi Plowman

Church

Buddha In Boots

A chant-happy Buddhist sect puts on a dazzling pageant in praise of the Texas cowboy. Pastor Barry Bailey lives up to his reputation as a bulwark of Fort Worth Methodism.

by William Martin

Film

The Lion Sleeps

Lion in the Desert is like a breath of hot air. In Death Hunt, the Mounties take forever to get their man. Nighthawks never takes flight. In The Last Metro, Truffaut’s film about wartime Paris, he plays it a little too safe. The Postman Always Rings Twice doesn’t ring true.

by C.W. Smith

Dining Out

A Good Catch

Schrenkeisens’ is so elegant you’ll think you’re in the big city, but the fish is so fresh you know you’re on the coast. Ninfa’s runs thirteen Mexican restaurants across Texas, and amazingly, they can all cook.

by W. L. Taitte

Reporter

Studying the hard truths of Dallas politics; learning the ropes as a commercial driver; teaching kids to think; remembering the lessons of the oil patch.

Roar of the Crowd

Moon over El Paso; tea and symphony, the terminal men.

Touts

On the ball and off the wall.

by Patricia Sharpe

Puzzle

High gear.

State Secrets

Fines for political signs; big changes in the Valley; UT bursting at the seams; the failure of consultants; Arlington, an unlikely newspaper town.

Edited by Paul Burka