Too Cool to Get Married

If marriage means commitment and trust, that’s fine. If it means never dancing in front of a Billy Idol video again, that’s no so fine.

by David Seeley

Is This All There Is?

Tales of Houston as it faces life after the boom.

by Alison Cook and Peter Elkind

So You Walk Into a Honky-Tonk and Some Three-Hundred-Pound Cowboy Says He Doesn’t Like Your Face. Now What?

Honky-tonks: how to get in, how to get out.

After Midnight

Holiday clothes go to the Longhorn Ballroom as easily as to charity balls.

Texas Primer: The Texas Brag

It’s not quite a lie and not quite the truth. It’s a patriotic duty.

by Susan Chadwick

Why They Won

The inside skinny on the elections.

by Paul Burka

Western Art: Buckaroo

An interpretation of a classic genre.

by Andrzej Dudzinski

The Great Texas Alligator Hunt

Now that alligators aren’t endangered, they’re game. So are Texas hunters.

by Gary Cartwright

O Christmas Tree

For a perfectly decorated tree, call Tom Osborn. But only if money is no object.

by Catherine Chadwick

Behind the Lines

Clap, clap, clap, clap.

by Gregory Curtis

Texana

Trivial Texas

Three Texas Trivia games separate Lone Star zealots from ordinary believers.

by Dick J. Reavis

Movies

Double Trouble

Body Double settles for facile thrills; Comfort and Joy offers moments of magical bliss; The Little Drummer Girl is off-pitch.

by James Wolcott

Fatherhood

Fishing with Dad

I took my son fishing because I wanted him to love the sport—and me.

by Lawrence Wright

Books

Beyond Kitsch

Frederick Barthelme’s first novel, Second Marriage, is a wondrous tale of love and absurdity set in the Gulf Coast suburbs.

by James Whitaker

Software

Scrolling Through the Bible

The Word Processor reveals the wisdom of the Good Book with a few keystrokes.

by Scott Lubeck

Sports

Has Success Spoiled Snook?

After winning seven straight state basketball championships, the Snook Bluejays are learning that success has a flip side.

by Larry Herold

Classical Music

Classical Glass

The Houston premiere of Phillip Glass’ Akhnaten was a grand opera.

by W. L. Taitte

Crime

Peddling Paranoia

Selling crime self-help devices has become a booming business. But do any of these gadgets really make us safer?

by Jim Atkinson

Reporter

Texas Monthly Reporter

Kung’s underground hideaway; Dallas’ Cadillac wars; the Panhandle’s art terrorists; Houston’s poet-laureate; Austin’s airport quandary.

by Harry Hurt III

Roar of the Crowd

Touts

Puzzle

State Secrets

A new law takes the driving out of DWI; a new battle brews on the Texas Supreme Court; Exxon gets rid of an old burden; so does Clinton Manges.

Edited by Paul Burka