Contributors
Suzy Banks
Attention all freelancers: Writer-at-large Suzy Banks has some advice for you. After years of sending fruitless pitches to Texas Monthly (the rejection letters were “sweet and funny,” she swears), she took matters into her own hands. She crashed an editor’s Christmas party in 1995, chatted up said editor’s wife, received an invitation to lunch with said editor shortly thereafter, and soon landed her first assignment. A decade later, Banks has written about everything from shopping along the border to soaking up the sun on the Gulf Coast. This month finds her saving money for our readers: “Free for All,” her guide to the best stuff in the state that doesn’t cost a cent.
Christopher Kelly
You’d think a movie critic might relish passing thumbs-up, thumbs-down judgments on all the latest flicks, but for writer-at-large Christopher Kelly, that’s the least interesting part of his job. “Movies and TV and celebrities are more than entertainment,” says the Staten Island native. “I like to figure out how they relate to life and the place they take within culture.” A film critic for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Kelly can riff on the beauty of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remakes just as easily as give you the latest scoop on the Dallas movie. Now he brings his analytical eye to Reporter’s Hollywood, TX page, where this month you’ll find him making much ado about Austin director and animator Mike Judge.
T.J. Tucker
Looking at T.J. Tucker’s picture, you might think to yourself, “What a handsome intern.” But the 28-year-old has set the standard for racing up the masthead; in May he became Texas Monthly’s ninth art director, only three years after starting at the magazine. What’s his secret? Hard work, limitless talent, and more hard work. Tucker, who grew up on a ranch outside Baird, earned a degree in design communications from Texas Tech University. That means three of the past four art directors at Texas Monthly all studied in the same program. And given how good the magazine has looked over the years, we don’t think it’s a coincidence.
My Library
