ON THE COVER: Cover Mike Hicks/Hixo Photography Rick Patrick
January 1983
Table of Contents
Features
Bum Steer Awards 1983Presenting blazing barbecue, bumbling Bush, blaspheming Baptists, and 118 more of the best of the worst of Texas. God’s Happy HourEvery year communities scattered across Texas hold wet-dry elections. Each one pits the forces of fundamentalism against the forces of realism. This is the story of one such election. The Grand TourHouston’s the ticket to a trip around the world. In that one city you can now eat, shop, drink and dance across the continents of Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Americas. |
Texas Primer: The Dallas ModelThe sweetheart of the Apparel Mart: where she came from and where she’s going. The Making of a CongressmanTwelve ran, Mike Andrews won. A saga of ambition, money, power, courage, and the nature of urban politics in Texas. |
Columns
Behind the LinesNegative utopias. MoviesNolo ContenderePaul Newman stars as an existential ambulance chaser in The Verdict, a dismal study of law and disorder. Best Friends will alienate you; Heartaches will make you feel good. 48 Hrs. is dirty talk and deja vu. BooksA Monumental ManIn The Path to Power Robert Caro brings the Texas of the twenties and thirties to hot, scrubby life, but tries to fit the young Lyndon Johnson into a prefabricated and constricting mold. |
ArtThe Quixotic TheotokopoulosA spectacular show at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts reexamines the genius of El Greco. LifestyleA Home Away from HomeThanks to indulgent parents, many of today’s wealthy kids are disdaining dorms for UT-area condos - and forfeiting what may be the best part of a college education. |
Reporter
ReporterTexas Monthly ReporterTwo newspapers in search of nothing in particular; a fish story with a happy ending; an eleven-letter word for “crossword puzzle whiz”; the cutting edge of Corpus Christi’s minority politics. |
Miscellany
Roar of the CrowdBanned in the schools, school kids in the band. ToutsAnimal magnetism. |
PuzzleA slice of life. State SecretsOne giant step for wives; one small step for John Glenn; why oilmen will never rule the world; why the new Texas congressmen won’t either. |



