ON THE COVER: Illustration by Stephen Pietzsch
SECTION TITLE PAGES: Illustrations by Melissa Grimes
February 1993
Table of Contents
Columns
Behind the LinesGreat DaysTwenty and counting. PoliticsEssay: Last of the LineWhen Lloyd Bentsen joined the Clinton cabinet, Texas lost not only its senior senator but a link to its political past. PoliticsProfile: Senator SpitePhil Gramm’s unrelenting partisanship has changed Texas politics, but it may cost him the presidency. PoliticsScrapbookReading Bush, spinning Baker, regarding Henry, investigating Ross, explaining Ann, and toasting LBJ. PoliticsOn Assignment: On the LegeWe started out bashing the worst Texas legislators. We ended up critiquing both the best and the worst. PoliticsFocus: Schmooze CastWhen Leadership Texas began, there were no role models for women. Now its members are the role models. PoliticsSome Things Never Change: Sleazy RidersFrom the Lip to the Gibber, Texas pols have always been ethical. They’ve just been creative about it. BusinessEssay: A Wild RideOnce, you needed the price of oil to predict our ever-changing economic future. Now you need the want ads, the stock tables, and a whole lot more. BusinessProfile: Food FightLast summer, restaurateurs Shannon Wynne and Gene Street bragged about their new partnership, but now they’re eating their words. BusinessScrapbookTemple of doom, Spence for hire,, deals that won’t Hunt, Blount analysis, and the King of the ranch. BusinessOn Assignment: Prime PickensUp close and extremely personal with Boone Pickens, the takeover titan who changed Texas business. BusinessFocus: WithdrawnIn the heady days of banking, Texans ran the state’s biggest, most profitable institutions. Not anymore. BusinessSome Things Never Change: Power HungryIn Texas, lunch is for gossip and dinner is for dates. Breakfast, however, is for wheeling and dealing. Way of LifeEssay: Myth-O-ManiacsTwenty years ago, we were two-steppers. Now we’re twelve-steppers, thanks to a set of self-help gurus. Way of LifeFocus: Old FaithfulIn Texas, spirituality ebbs and flows, but fundamentalism remains a dominant force. Way of LifeProfile: Baytown BluesThe Baytown of my youth was a thriving refinery town. Today it’s a city struggling to reinvent itself. |
Way of LifeScrapbookCap wearing, Urban Cowboy watching, football playing, Claytie selling, town creating, and tree tainting. Way of LifeOn Assignment: Parent RapWriting about my children was more than a job—it was an adventure. Way of LifeSome Things Never Change: A Cut AboveEating a hunk of beef at Brenner’s is not as politically correct as it used to be. But that doesn’t stop me. The IssuesEssay: Gone to TexasSharpstown used to be an affluent suburb. Today it’s where the world has come to live. The IssuesProfile: Voice of ReasonThe mission of Houston minister Bill Lawson extends far beyond his church—and isn’t just about race. The IssuesScrapbookProfligate prisons, prime Padre, proud photographs, controversial choice, and halfway health care. The IssuesOn Assignment: Welfare FoulA few weeks with the Polk family showed me how the welfare system made things better—and worse. The IssuesFocus: Roe ReduxA look back at Roe v. Wade on its twentieth anniversary—and at the key players in Texas who made it happen. The IssuesSome Things Never Change: Seeing GreenLong before environmentalism was in vogue, attorney Ned Fritz was fighting to keep Texas pristine. CultureEssay: Remembrance of Things PrimitiveCultureProfile: Return of the Native SonFor years he renounced his Texas ties. Now Larry McMurty is once again calling Archer City home. CultureScrapbookRemembering the Alamo, Candy Barr, J. Frank Dobie, and Farrah. Forgetting James Michener’s Texas. CultureOn Assignment: Picture ThisThe Standard Oil Collection captured details of everyday life in the forties and, in 1981, helped us to understand modern Texas. CultureFocus: Local ColorWith the suddenness of a revolution, Texas changed from a cultural colony to a hot spot for homegrown artists. CultureSome Things Never Change: Doug DeepHe’s a little bit country, rock and roll, and everything in between. That’s why Doug Sahm is still going strong. |
Miscellany
AuthorsAbout our contributors. |



