Photo illustration by Image Foundation. Tower photograph by Wyatt McSpadden.
October 2012
Table of Contents
Features
Storming the Ivory TowerFor the past four years, a group of passionate reformers has been steadily trying to remake how higher education works in Texas—over the screams and howls of many professors and school presidents. Last year the battle came to UT. And the bombs are still flying. Portrait of the Artist as a PostmanThe only American ever to design scarves for the exclusive French fashion house Hermès is Kermit Oliver, a 69-year-old postal worker from Waco who lives in a strange and beautiful world all his own.
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Turnover!Two decades ago, a barbarian from Arkansas named Jerry Jones bought the Dallas Cowboys and rebooted the franchise from the ground up. Inside the wild first days of the most hostile takeover the NFL has ever known. The Kay PlaceKay Bailey Hutchison, the state’s senior senator and the first woman from Texas to hold that office, opens up about the changes in her party, why she decided to retire, and the governor’s race that got away. |
Columns
Behind the LinesFracked Into a Corner?Hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have given us a natural gas boom—and a whole lot of questions. |
The TexanistOffering Fine Advice Since 2007The Texanist on tailgating, winterizing grass, and beer cocktails. |
Reporter
Working LifeBus Driver“When someone doesn’t say hi, it bothers me. I start to wonder why they didn’t.” |
BooksThe Last LiberalAs Jan Reid's new biography makes clear, Ann Richards was one of the most magnetic politicians of the past thirty years. So why didn’t she leave much of a legacy? MusicThe Thrill Isn’t GoneHow Gary Clark Jr. is reclaiming and reinventing the blues for the hip-hop generation. TX JournalCrime and PublishingInside the darkly humorous world of the Lufkin Daily News police blotter. |
Touts
DatebookOctober's must-attend concerts, shows, and festivals. The Belt BuckleSix variations on the choicest form of jewelry for a cowgirl. Or boy. Toast of the TownThe best way to visit Houston is one neighborhood at a time. Let’s start with Montrose. |
Friday Night FritesA Dallas bistro’s artful take on “not too French” cuisine. Pecan PralinesThe creamy-crispy confection looms large in Texans’ collective taste memories. |
Miscellany
Web Exclusives
Righting VotesWhy requiring photo identification on Election Day is sensible and necessary—and hurts no one at all. A Q&A With Jan ReidSenior editor John Spong talked with Jan Reid about his new Ann Richards biography, Let the People In. The Drop Everything ListLearning Butchery, the Dragonfly & Damselfly Workshop, "The Price Is Right Live," and Boogie, Blues & Brews . . . Making an Austin City Limits DebutTerry Lickona, the television show's executive producer, talks about some of the acts that will step on the Austin City Limits stage for the first time, including Radiohead and Kat Edmonson. The Drop Everything ListSecret Sex Lives, Texas Hold 'Em Tournament, the State Fair of Texas, and the Banned Book Bash . . . |
Celebrating Denton Cooley and Old HoustonHow the 50th anniversary party for the Texas Heart Institute was really a glimpse into the Houston that once was. The Drop Everything ListLa Follia, Zine Fest, Love This Giant, and the Master Model Builder competition . . . The Kimbell Is Looking Better Than Ever at 40The man ushering the Kimbell Art Museum into a grand new era: Eric M. Lee. The Drop Everything ListThe One O'Clock Lab Band, Cuero's Turkey Trot, Kenny Rogers, and the Scarecrow Festival . . . Tackling the CowboysJoe Nick Patoski takes on America's most storied football franchise in his new book, The Dallas Cowboys. |
Multimedia
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Recipes
Wood-Grilled Gulf Oysters With “Casino Butter”From Boulevardier, in Dallas. |




