January 2007

Table of Contents

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Features

The 2007 Bum Steer Awards

It was a year of aggrieved actors, banned boobs, Cuban commodes, DeLay denial, errant Elmo, frisky floaters, grouchy governors, hung hoopsters, immigration insensitivity, job-seeking judges, klobbered Karl, Longhorn lushes, miffed musicians, nude no-no’s, ousted Osteens, peeved passers, quarreling queens, riled Rangers, subpar sheriffs, tiny “terrorists,” unseemly URLs, vice presidential violence, wiseacre W., x-asperated x-wives, youthful yakkers, and zoo zeal.

Here Comes Trouble

Dan Patrick is causing nervous breakdowns of various size and duration—and he’s not even in the Texas Senate yet.

Par Excellence

The best golf holes in Texas, according to the legends of the game.

Coal Hard Facts

Facing an energy crisis, Texas is on the verge of a solution that will belch about five billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in the next forty years. Breathe deeply—while you still can.

The Permanent Campaign

Elections disappear into the history books, but the buttons and matchbooks and posters that exhorted us to vote for one candidate or another live on in our memories—and in the personal collection of the state’s biggest political junkie.

Home Girl

Most people from Dallas who make it big in the music business get out of town as soon as they can. “That’s what celebrities do,” Erykah Badu says. “I never wanted to be a celebrity.”

Columns

Behind the Lines

Minority Report

What the Hispanic vote tells us.

Michael Ennis

The Mighty Metroplex

Just a few years after nearly being written off the map, the region has become a roaring engine of growth and social transformation.

Suzy Banks

The Horror! The Horror!

How my lifelong dream of writing a novel turned into a nightmare.

Sarah Bird

Horn ’Em, Hookers!

Texas versus Iowa State versus me.

Reporter

Buy This Now

Face Value

A brush with greatness.

Encyclopedia Texanica

Texas Myth# 31

Did The Texas Chainsaw Massacre really happen?

Faith Bases

St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church

St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Austin.

Go

Turn, Turn, Turn

Suzy Banks hits the roads less traveled.

Hollywood, TX

Fumble!

Dim the Lights.

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

Giant chickens in South Texas?

Immigration then and now.

Texas Monthly Talks

Dick Armey

Dick Armey on where the GOP went wrong.

The Horse’s Mouth

Getting Fit

Kenneth Cooper on getting—and staying—fit.

The Sports Authorities

Ball Boy

A few swings at Andy Roddick.

Topic A

Passing Grades

Grading the quarterbacks.

Previews+Reviews

Books

The best new books from Texas.

Previews+Reviews

Music

The best new music from Texas.

The Filter

Pat's Pick

Cibo

Miscellaneous

Recipe

Suppli

Cibo, Austin

Editor’s Letter

Our Cover Is Blown

Roar of the Crowd

Saving Accounts

Web Extra

Now That’s Funny

Senior executive editor Paul Burka on editing Bum Steers.

Web Extra

Power Play

Executive editor S. C. Gwynne on researching the energy industry and writing about coal plants.

Web Extra

The Real World

Writer-at-large Michael Ennis on writing about politics and culture.

Web Extra

Man of the People

Executive editor Mimi Swartz talks about Dan Patrick, Houston’s celebrity-talk-show-host-turned-politician.

Web Extra

Groovy Girl

Senior editor Michael Hall on spending time with Dallas musician Erykah Badu.

Books That Cook

The Kitchen Table

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