
November 2005
Table of Contents
Features
Southern ComfortFabulous fried chicken, marvelous meat loaf, great greens, outstanding okra, perfect pie, and more: where to find our favorite staples of home cooking. Dome Away From HomeInside the Eighth Wonder of the World—the largest shelter ever organized by the American Red Cross—faith, hope, and charity helped the survivors of Hurricane Katrina begin the process of rebuilding their lives. The Last Ride of Cowboy BobThe feds knew him as a prolific bank robber. But the bearded man who eluded them for so long was not who they imagined him to be. And absolutely no one expected the story to end the way it did. |
Hurt? Injured? Need a Lawyer? Too Bad!What tort reform has done to Texans in need would be grounds for a lawsuit—if there still were any lawsuits. Yao Got GameChina’s most famous athletic export arrived in the U.S. as a seven-foot-four-inch seventeen-year-old who excelled at every move except America’s most glorified one. Given his upbringing, getting him to stuff the ball in the hoop in rim-rattling fashion was no slam dunk. |
Columns
Gary CartwrightState of DysfunctionThree Austin boys + the hatred and intolerance of their Boys State experience = a lesson in today’s democracy. |
Patricia Kilday HartWho is Joe Barton?The most powerful Texas congressman you’ve never heard of. And a partisan hack. And a bipartisan pragmatist. |
Reporter
ReporterHail to the ChiefFor going on five years, my admiration has grown for the weekly paper in the tiny Panhandle town of Miami (above). The New York Times it ain’t, but it tells me everything I could ever want to know about local births and deaths, windblown mail, bad potholes, and good yards. And Theo. Book ReviewSix Bits a DayBook ReviewDermaphoria |
Book ReviewUnder the WireMusic ReviewPure Genius: The Complete Atlantic RecordingsMusic ReviewSnowMusic ReviewDos Amigos |
The Filter
Pat’s PickCova |
Pat’s PickUpper Crust |
Miscellany
Texas Monthly TalksRobert Rivard“People speak nostalgically about family newspapers. For every decent one, there were literally hundreds of embarrassingly bad ones.” |
Roar of the CrowdSeeing Red |
Web Exclusives
Comfort ZoneSenior editor Patricia Sharpe, who wrote this month’s feature on home cooking, talks about local opinions and okra. Welcome to the DomeAssociate editor John Spong talks about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, its survivors living in the Astrodome, and new beginnings. Stormin’ NormanWriter-at-large Don Graham on provocative writer Norman Mailer, New Journalism, and existentialism. Made in ChinaBrook Larmer, Newsweek’s Shanghai bureau chief and the author of Operation Yao Ming, on basketball sensation Yao Ming, sports in China, and writing his first book. The ReformersExecutive editor Mimi Swartz on Proposition 12, partisan politics, and consumer rights. The State of Boys StateSenior editor Gary Cartwright on the McCallum boys, Boys State, and democracy. |
The Cowboy and the LadyExecutive editor Skip Hollandsworth on Peggy Jo Tallas (the infamous bank robber known as Cowboy Bob) and rooting for the bad guy. Happy TrailsMarble Falls Texas TidbitsOnce the pride of Houston, the Astrodome now faces a midlife crisis. Texas History 101The rise and fall of Galveston. |
Recipes
Prosciutto with HalibutCova, Houston |




