Isle Without End

An early castaway described Padre Island as “a wretched, barren sandbank.” It’s better known today as the Gold Coast of Texas, but its identity is still rooted in wildness and age-old solitude.

by Stephen Harrigan

An Aggie’s Revenge

Starting with his alma mater and using little more than charm, Robert Hicks conned the college fund-raising industry out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. His name is mud at A&M.

by Gary Cartwright

Operator, Give Me Information

It seems practically impossible to choose the best deal from the multitude of services offered by all the new long distance phone companies. But we’ve got their number.

by Catherine Chadwick

The Wee World of Golf

Looking for a sport that offers plenty of cheap thrills and wacky challenges but requires no training, no equipment, and no big bucks? Try miniature golf.

by Joe Nick Patoski

Texas Primer: The Two-step

Forget about waltzing across Texas. Let’s two-step instead.

by Susan Chadwick

My Three Sons

Maybe the mayhem generated by a trio of battling boys is just their idea of brotherly love.

by Prudence Mackintosh

Western Art: Ghost Rider

An interpretation of a classic genre.

by Ray-Mel Cornelius

Sports

Don’t Do What They Did to David Clyde

Though he fought against bad management, bad coaching, and bad habits, he finally struck out at baseball, the victim of too much too soon.

by Brad Buchholz

Behind the Lines

Labor’s nuke.

by Gregory Curtis

Business

The Pink People

A new recruit to the ranks of Mary Kay beauty consultants struggles valiantly to do his part in reaching the woman of the eighties and keeping the company in the pink.

by Mark Seal

Art

A Concrete Romance

One man’s whim-turned-obsession is changing Houston’s McKee Street Bridge and its faded environs into one of the few really original artistic images of the city.

by Michael Ennis

Classical Music

Short and Sweet

Sometimes the opera is over before the fat lady sings. Consider the successful debut of sixteen brief and eclectic works commissioned by the Texas Opera Theater.

by W. L. Taitte

Movies

All in the Family

Prizzi’s Honor is a macabre satire of the two-career marriage; Cocoon can’t burst free of its nice-guy limitations; Pale Rider recycles all the wrong western riffs; St. Elmo’s Fire should have been doused from the start.

by James Wolcott

Reporter

Texas Monthly Reporter

Hungry ants in the Panhandle; cocky dispatchers in Dallas; tiny trees near San Antonio.

by Richard Zelade

Back Roads

Through his small, simply produced literary magazine, poet David Yates made his mark—both in Texas and beyond. Peter Applebome

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Post-Modern Times

Triathletes converge upon Lake Lavon to compete in the sport of the eighties.

by Michael Ennis

Downtown

Houston police chief Lee Brown is doing things right; crime is down, public approval is up.

by Jim Atkinson

Touts

Go ahead—thing big!

by Deborah Fant

Roar of the Crowd

Taking the plunge; defending Diana; grading the tests; reforming the system.

Puzzle

State Secrets

Every phone a pay phone; look out, Clinton Manges; the GOP donnybrook; party realignment in San Antonio.

Edited by Paul Burka