1992

Bill’s Bungle

By not contesting Texas in the presidential campaign, Bill Clinton did more than throw away votes in 1992. He hurt the prospects of Texas Democrats in 1994 and beyond.

Life of a Salesman

He’s no longer at the helm of Neiman’s, but 87-year-old Stanley Marcus still knows how to run a successful business. Just ask him.

A Texas-Style Christmas: You Gotta Have Hearth

The secret to a well-appointed Texas Christmas.

Date-Nut Chews

Recipe from Dean Fearing of Dallas’ Mansion on Turtle Creek.

Unfriendly Skies

Petrouchka Discovers the Ballerina with the Moor

Lady or Tiger?

Flamboyant philanthropist Wendy Reves showered her hometown with money for a makeover—but she wanted to run the show.

They Lovett

Tandyland

The biggest, most boisterous Radio Shack in the universe lands in Arlington.

Seed Fee

Cottonseed was delicious and nutritious, but it was only for cows—until now.

Bombs Away

The Pantex H-bomb plant prepares to mothball the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

Uncommon Market

San Antonio’s Farm to Market looks like an overgrown produce stand, but inside are some of the classiest groceries in the state.

Growing Pains

When the young daughter of a friend walked sooner than my son, my feminist politics collided with my loyalties as a mom.

Sludge Happens

New York sludge is being spread across West Texas. Opponents insist it’s evil filth; others say the smell means jobs.

Behind the Lines

The Same or Better?

Keyboard Kops

Hacker Crackdown tells how the feds busted employees of a Texas games company for a crime they didn’t commit.

Merry-go-round

AUSTIN POLITICS ARE the nuttiest in the state. It all stems from an obsession with quality of life, and nothing quite brings out the daffiness like a threat to the city’s beloved Barton Springs. Even as a two-year legal battle continues to rage over development upstream on Barton Creek, a

The Cowboy Boot Book

This fall, photographer Jim Arndt and Western props supplier Tyler Beard visited the annual event in Burnet to chew the fat with many of the craftsmen featured in The Cowboy Boot Book (Peregrine Smith Books), their pictorial guide to fancy footgear. Arndt and Beard have dressed Western

Ins and Outlets

All around the state, shoppers angle for the perfect catch.

Family Fortune

Reader letters published in our November 1992 issue.

Cowboy Texas Randall

Old-timers around Canon recall that in 1959, when Harry Wheeler erected the seven-ton concrete-and-stucco cowboy outside his trading post and curio shop, he had to bring in a truck and crane from a local drilling company to set the big galoot on his feet. Towering over U.S. 60, Tex Randall

Java Jive

“WE CATER TO REAL COFFEE drinkers,” says seventy-year old Joseph Fertitta, the president of Beaumont’s Texas Coffee Company and son of the founder. Texas’ only family-owned Coffee-manufacturing company has been perking along with its Seaport brand since 1921, competing in the national market by virtue of its product’s prodigious strength.

Radio Foreplay

In the beginning, say Stevens and Pruett, a listener dubbed them “radio gods.”

Russian Around

Dateline Moscow: From Red Square to yellow journalism?

Grim Reaping

As bills mount, AIDS patients sell their life insurance policies—in Waco.

Out of Sync

Nearly everyone agrees that the nation’s best college jazz program is in Denton, but critics wonder if it isn’t mired in the past.

Injured Parties

George Paouris was accused of molesting his child. A civil court disagreed, but damage had been done–to all involved.

Dead Again

Get your masks on; put on your dancing shoes. It’s time for Mexico’s Day of the Dead, one of the liveliest celebrations around.

The Price of Being Molly

Being the nation’s most famous interpreter of Texas politics sounds like fun. But for Molly Ivins, success has been no laughing matter.

Drugged Out

After seven years, teaching kindergarten in a community devastated by drug addiction became more than I could bear. Still, my decision to leave was fraught with mixed emotions.

The Lake No One Knows

From longtime locals to environmentalists, everyone has an opinion about the future of Caddo Lake—but the issues they’re debating are as murky as the lake itself.

The Almost Great Bank Robbery

It seemed like the perfect inside job: A respected cop conspires with his teller girlfriend to pull the biggest bank heist in San Antonio history. If they hadn’t been so careless, they might have gotten away with it.

Honesty is the Best Politics

When you hold public office, the difference between truth and fiction is more than a matter of degrees. Ask Lena Guerrero.

Death of a Fixer

WHEN I WAS A SOPHOMORE AT THE University of Texas in 1977, my grandfather, a prominent Houston attorney, came to Austin to give a lecture to the university’s law students. After his speech, my grandfather told me he wanted to introduce me to someone. He led me toward a large

Raw Visions

A Houston show introduces new black Texas artists in works that range from personal vision to political agitprop.

State Fare: Quesadillas and Hashbrowns

In Texas, October is the kindest month, bringing idle breezes and the promise of nippy mornings followed by glorious blue afternoons. In weather like this, you want to have friends over for Sunday brunch, but you don’t want to kill yourself cooking. That’s when you need recipes that get you

Hidden Valley

Brownsville’s Sabal Palm Grove has it made in the shade.

Screen Gem

Bigger than life, drive-in movies defined America’s giddy age of hula hoops, poodle skirts, and blue suede shoes.

Hurricane Warning

Hurricane Andrew’s winds had a message for the Texas coast.

Life or Death?

Reader letters published in our October 1992 issue.

Stagecoach Alpine

ON A HILLTOP NEAR THE INTERSECTION of U.S. highways 67 and 90, just east of Alpine, a plywood stagecoach and four horses seem to be hightailing it into town. “A local artist-character built the stagecoach,” says Rick Sohl, who owns the hilltop. “He used it in parades but was looking

House Arrest

THE HOME OF SAM HOUSTON’S WIDOW, Margaret Lea Houston, and their eight children is for sale. A shrine of Texana, the 1830’s Greek Revival classic in the tiny hamlet of Independence comes complete with a Houston family heirloom piano that is said to render a ghostly “Come to the Bower,”

Rhino Relapse

Deaths among rare rhinos leave scientists scratching their heads.

Donkey Business

Small-town Texas gets a taste of national politics up close.

A Yen to Golf

Can the desire to win transform Japan’s gung ho golfers into pros?

Novel Approach

A gift from James Michener enriches Texas’ student writers.

Take Two

Made on a shoestring, Slacker was a hit. Now fans wonder if Hollywood money will change Rick Linklater’s style.

What a Disc!

From Scott Joplin to ZZ Top, a comprehensive guide to the best Texas music on CD.

O Janis

Janis Joplin’s life was about music, rebellion, and excess—but she was influenced most by her tormented relationship with the people and spirit of Port Arthur.