January 1990
Table of Contents
Features
The 1990 Bum Steer AwardsA year of antagonistic attorneys, beleaguered Bushes, costumed cacti, dead dogs, espied Elvises, falling Fledermause, garbled grapes, hemline histrionics, imprudent impeachings, journalistic judges, kinky kindling, legislative largesse, mock McMurtrys, novelist’s nooks, overrated Odessas, phantom pharaohs, qualified quail, Ruby’s revolvers, spurious spies, tardy transcribers, U-charistic Uthanasians, vandalized vans, weird wienersm X-onerated X-ecutives, yapping Yankees, and zippered zoos. A Case of Black and WhiteIt wasn’t nostalgia that brought me back to my hometown. It was a black man’s violent death in a jail cell. The Bucks Stop HereThe troubled Parks and Wildlife Department is supposed to protect the state’s natural resources. Instead, it protects its friends and, above all, itself. |
The Call of the WildmanTo find their true masculine selves, wildmen dance and sweat, bond and meditate, renounce their mothers and grunt, “Ho!” I thought, “Hmmm.” Swamp ThingSnapping turtles are cantankerous, grotesque, and savage. And those are just a few of the reasons I like them. Texas Primer: The WindmillBut for this ever-so-practical invention, Texas history as we know it would be gone with the wind. |
Columns
Behind the LinesUT goes lite.HealthTake It Off! Take It All Off!With liquid diets, the pounds just seem to melt away. But what it takes to keep that unwanted weight off is sometimes even harder to swallow. CrimeGoing By the BookWhen his luck ran out, A.W. Gray ended up behind bars. Now he’s on a winning streak as a crime novelist. |
BooksA Child’s Garden of TexasThe young—and even the not-so-young-can travel back through the state’s glorious past simply by opening up any one of these fourteen children’s classics. TexanaA Slaughter, A Smuggled Painting, and A RaidA customs seizure raises a perplexing question: Who owns our past-Texas or Mexico? |
Reporter
ReporterBon-FurorBonfire-crazed yell leaders Keving Fitzgerald and Brant Ince foresee defeat for fire’s foes. ReporterSultan Of StinkTim Johnson came out smelling like a rose when San Franciscans detected broken gas lines. ReporterUpscale Garage SalingShopper Ethel Sexton is dressed to the nines in her garage-sale finery. |
Miscellany
Roar of the CrowdDiscovering the hero in every person; getting off the ground without ever leaving the airport; paying our respects to an ancient tree. |
State SecretsThe right angle for striking oil; making book on the Bush library; a roving eye for GOP money; reining in rogue cops. |
Domain: A TEXAS MONTHLY Editorial Supplement
Chefs on the RangeMost recipes for game birds amount to long, slow overkill. Only quick, hot cooking ensures that red-meat birds retain their rich flavor. A Grand FinaleBrownie point. |
