February 1993

Table of Contents

Find the access code — required to read stories online — on the third contents page in the most recent issue of Texas Monthly. Subscribers can also visit our Customer Care page to get the code. Subscribe now and get instant access.

Columns

Politics

Essay: Last of the Line

When Lloyd Bentsen joined the Clinton cabinet, Texas lost not only its senior senator but a link to its political past.

Behind the Lines

Great Days

Twenty and counting.

Politics

Profile: Senator Spite

Phil Gramm’s unrelenting partisanship has changed Texas politics, but it may cost him the presidency.

Politics

Scrapbook

Reading Bush, spinning Baker, regarding Henry, investigating Ross, explaining Ann, and toasting LBJ.

Politics

On Assignment: On the Lege

We started out bashing the worst Texas legislators. We ended up critiquing both the best and the worst.

Politics

Focus: Schmooze Cast

When Leadership Texas began, there were no role models for women. Now its members are the role models.

Politics

Some Things Never Change: Sleazy Riders

From the Lip to the Gibber, Texas pols have always been ethical. They’ve just been creative about it.

Business

Essay: A Wild Ride

Once, 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.

Business

Profile: Food Fight

Last summer, restaurateurs Shannon Wynne and Gene Street bragged about their new partnership, but now they’re eating their words.

Business

Scrapbook

Temple of doom, Spence for hire,, deals that won’t Hunt, Blount analysis, and the King of the ranch.

Business

On Assignment: Prime Pickens

Up close and extremely personal with Boone Pickens, the takeover titan who changed Texas business.

Business

Focus: Withdrawn

In the heady days of banking, Texans ran the state’s biggest, most profitable institutions. Not anymore.

Business

Some Things Never Change: Power Hungry

In Texas, lunch is for gossip and dinner is for dates. Breakfast, however, is for wheeling and dealing.

Way of Life

Essay: Myth-O-Maniacs

Twenty years ago, we were two-steppers. Now we’re twelve-steppers, thanks to a set of self-help gurus.

Way of Life

Focus: Old Faithful

In Texas, spirituality ebbs and flows, but fundamentalism remains a dominant force.

Way of Life

Profile: Baytown Blues

The Baytown of my youth was a thriving refinery town. Today it’s a city struggling to reinvent itself.

Way of Life

Scrapbook

Cap wearing, Urban Cowboy watching, football playing, Claytie selling, town creating, and tree tainting.

Way of Life

On Assignment: Parent Rap

Writing about my children was more than a job—it was an adventure.

Way of Life

Some Things Never Change: A Cut Above

Eating a hunk of beef at Brenner’s is not as politically correct as it used to be. But that doesn’t stop me.

The Issues

Essay: Gone to Texas

Sharpstown used to be an affluent suburb. Today it’s where the world has come to live.

The Issues

Profile: Voice of Reason

The mission of Houston minister Bill Lawson extends far beyond his church—and isn’t just about race.

The Issues

Scrapbook

Profligate prisons, prime Padre, proud photographs, controversial choice, and halfway health care.

The Issues

On Assignment: Welfare Foul

A few weeks with the Polk family showed me how the welfare system made things better—and worse.

The Issues

Focus: Roe Redux

A look back at Roe v. Wade on its twentieth anniversary—and at the key players in Texas who made it happen.

The Issues

Some Things Never Change: Seeing Green

Long before environmentalism was in vogue, attorney Ned Fritz was fighting to keep Texas pristine.

Culture

Essay: Remembrance of Things Primitive

Culture

Profile: Return of the Native Son

For years he renounced his Texas ties. Now Larry McMurty is once again calling Archer City home.

Culture

Scrapbook

Remembering the Alamo, Candy Barr, J. Frank Dobie, and Farrah. Forgetting James Michener’s Texas.

Culture

On Assignment: Picture This

The Standard Oil Collection captured details of everyday life in the forties and, in 1981, helped us to understand modern Texas.

Culture

Focus: Local Color

With the suddenness of a revolution, Texas changed from a cultural colony to a hot spot for homegrown artists.

Culture

Some Things Never Change: Doug Deep

He’s a little bit country, rock and roll, and everything in between. That’s why Doug Sahm is still going strong.

Miscellaneous

Authors

About our contributors.

Subscribe Now
Blogs
Food Anthology