1988 Bum Steer Awards

A year of clumsy Clements, stupid stickups, ripped-off Rangers, cockeyed cops, agitated alligators, rotund cockroaches, jumpy judges, nitwit newsmen, addled Aggies, naughty newlyweds, randy retirees, and a pestered pontiff.

The Sins of Walker Railey

He had a wife and a girlfriend. His ambition was unchecked. He tried to commit suicide. But when I came face to face with the minister of my boyhood church, the sin we talked about was murder.

by Lawrence Wright

Ode On a Hempstead Urn

That concrete urn you bought by the side of the road is making decorating history.

by Jerry Jeanmard

This Land Is My Land

Growing up, I took the Panhandle’s plain nature for granted. Only after years away and a sentimental journey home did I take it to heart.

by Anne Dingus

Break the Bank!

Don Dixon ran Vernon Savings the way Romans ran orgies, equating excess with success, until his empire collapsed.

by Byron Harris

Texas Primer: The Cotton Bowl

The ghosts of bowl games past recall an era when cotton and the Cotton Bowl were king in Texas.

by Lawrence Wright

Behind the Lines

The big squeeze.

by Gregory Curtis

Education

Not What the Doctor Ordered

When Houston’s Hermann Hospital sought a cure for its financial ills, it decided to perform major surgery on its agreement with the UT medical school next door.

by Tom Curtis

Lifestyle

Sweet Fifteen

More than an excuse for a good time, the Mexican quinceaera party is a fifteen-year-old girl’s rite of passage.

by Rolando Hinojosa-Smith

Popular Music

Chantilly Lace and A Jolly Face

When Texas songwriter the Big Bopper died with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens in a 1959 plan crash, his hit “Chantilly Lace” became the end rather than the beginning of a national career.

by Jody Denberg

Reporter

Texas Monthly Reporter

Down but not out in Bent Tree; dishes only the devil could love; hello, Wal-Mart; stupid napkin tricks; gossip boys and Gorilla girls.

by Alison Cook

Roar of the Crowd

Speaking up for unsung cowgirls; Greeks bearing gripes; Libertarians looking for a landslide.

The National Tour of Texas

Out itinerant reporter visits with a Lubbock man determined to preserve the American Way of Life; the doughty clan that brought beer to Levelland; a windy lady fascinated with the weather and a rusticated professor gone to seed.

by Dick J. Reavis

State Secrets

Does Texaco have a chance in the U.S. Supreme Court? Dukakis and Gore fight over Texas; a bad start for Kent Hance; the latest Disneyland-comes-to-Texas tale.