1989 Bum Steer Awards!

A year of avaricious Arabs, belligerent bovines, convincing Connallys, dubious degrees, elusive Elvises, furious firefighters, George's goofs, hassled Hunts. Ingenious inmates, jilted judges, knotorious Kneppers, loose locomotives, migrant moose, normative nerds, overcautious orchestras, preposterous pythons, qualmish queens, rampant roaches, Sue Ellen's swimsuits, targeted transvestites, upset umps, vetoed Virgins, wanton Willies, x-tremist x-chairmen, yammering Yankees, and zapped zygomatics.

Smile, Houston

Three photographers of international reputation reveal their own new yet unfamiliar first impressions of Houston.

God Help Her

How Madalyn Murray O’Hair became the supreme being of the American atheist movement.

by Lawrence Wright

Dad’s Last Home

It was the hardest decision I ever had to make. Had the time come to put my father in a nursing home?

by Jody Goode

Superpolitics

Will Texas’ acquisition of the supercollider increase the state’s clout in Washington? We’d better hope so, because now that we’ve got it, we’ve got to get the money to deliver it.

by Paul Burka

Superbonanza!

Look out, Waxahachie! Here come the Protonettes, the Big Bang Motel, and the Phil Gramm Institute.

by Jerry Jeanmard

If These Walls Could Talk

They’d tell a tale of a half-century of Dallas wheeling and dealing.

by Frederick E. “Shad” Rowe, Jr

Texas Primer: King Ranch Casserole

What kind of dish would a Texas clubwoman invent? One that’s not too greasy, not too spicy, and, well, sort of tasteful.

by Anne Dingus

Lifestyle

Onward Through the Fog

The plane was heading to Houston at dawn. Surely the pilot was kidding when he said we would be landing in Nashville.

by Emily Yoffe

Behind the Lines

The case against conspiracy.

by Gregory Curtis

Business

Bringing It All Back Home

Through shrewd buying and aggressive marketing, Fort Worth-based Pier 1 has transcended its old head-for-the-home image and emerged into the new age a more profitable company.

by Bill Crawford

Sports

Two-Point Conversion

The question wasn’t whether my son was tough enough to play high school football. It was whether I was tough enough to watch him do it.

by Jan McInroy

Travel

Making Waves

It’s cold and rainy; your stress level has reached an all-time high; your roof has sprung a leak. But you don’t have to sit still for this. Escape to the Bay Islands of Honduras.

by Joe Nick Patoski

Classical Music

Playing It Safe

Take two Aspern: one a world premiere by the Dallas Opera, the other the Henry James novella on which the opera is based. Which is better for you?

by W. L. Taitte

Reporter

Big Man, Small Town

An East Texas librarian learns the perils of shushing the wrong guy; Houston and Dallas put on the ritz for couture; and Citizen Butt picks the Texas Supreme Court.

by Alison Cook

Roar of the Crowd

Cleaning up with Heloise; fighting Crack in Dallas; testing the school district in Garland.

State Secrets

UT football on the Longhorns of a dilemma; who’s supreme at the Supreme Court; a taxing idea in Washington.

Edited by Paul Burka