Renewable Stories: “Learning to Roughneck”
There’s been a recent uptick in activity in the Permian Basin. This week we look back at the last time West Texas was booming.
Andrea Valdez, a Houstonian, received a BA in English from the University of Texas at Austin in 2005 and received her MSJ from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism in 2006. Two days after graduating from Medill, she began working at Texas Monthly as a fact-checker. In addition to dutifully guarding the magazine's integrity, she wrote more than forty columns in a series titled "The Manual," a short lesson on activities every Texan should know how to do. The column has since been turned into a book, How to Be a Texan: The Manual.
Valdez moved to the digital side of editorial in 2011, and in 2014 she became the editor of texasmonthly.com. During her tenure, the site's traffic has increased more than 250 percent and Texas Monthly's social media audiences have more than quintupled. She also helped launch two verticals—TM Daily Post and TMBBQ.com—and had a hand in a major redesign of texasmonthly.com in 2013.
She lives in Austin.
There’s been a recent uptick in activity in the Permian Basin. This week we look back at the last time West Texas was booming.
Reporting on a different kind of power in Texas.
A look back at Texas's eventful year.
Tying a Texas rig. Buying custom boots. Making a no-frills margarita. In this excerpt from How to Be a Texan: The Manual, Andrea Valdez explains how to behave like a native.
Revisiting the archives, including our greatest hits, the obscure b-sides, and everything in between.
For those of you unfamiliar with the Day of the Dead, rest assured it is not another remake of Zombie Apocalypse. In Mexico, it is an annual fall celebration of remembering, honoring and communing with loved ones who have gone before. The holiday has its roots in a pre-Columbian summer
Or at least within the Loop 1604 area.
A peek at our September cover, featuring Houston's favorite new hometown hero.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. But feel free to give it a new coat of paint.
The two musicians, featured on our July cover, talk about Texas’s rich songwriting history and their place in it.
From South Padre Island to Mission, some of the greatest tacos in the RGV.
As the taco trend marches north—beyond our own state’s borders—it’s good to remind ourselves where the roots of this culinary delight are sunk the deepest. That would be Mexico, of course, and within our borders, the Rio Grande Valley. Tacos are as entrenched in Valley culture as muffulettas are
Our June issue, featuring a look back at Urban Cowboy 35 years after its premiere, is on newsstands and texasmonthly.com.
An interview with the Baylor Law student who spent a year doing 63 things that every Texan should do before they die.
A taste of the majestic vistas Big Bend National Park has to offer.
How to get around the park, sleep under the stars, and deal with the wildlife.
A fond look back at 16 Texans—and three beloved Texas animals—who died in 2014.
Take your shots before the big reveal tomorrow.
A taco tour of Austin, traversing Burnet Road, South Austin, and the East Side.
Unless it's one of the places featured in our December issue cover story.
Food-tested, football-fan-approved.
Ten Instagram photos taken by you, dear reader.
We asked four people—including a legislator, a doctor, and a veteran—to have an open dialogue about the pros and cons of using marijuana to help people cope with PTSD.
Including Robert Del Grande, Stephan Pyles, and Jeff Blank.
Thirteen famous Texans showed us theirs. Now we want to see yours.
We are beyond thrilled to announce that Brian D. Sweany now holds the top job at Texas Monthly.
Now it's time to see off another pillar in the Texas community: our governor. A look into our July issue, featuring Rick Perry on the cover.
Yesterday, when we unveiled the cover of our July issue featuring Rick Perry, we also told you about “The Perry Report Card,” an upcoming magazine feature where, as the title suggests, we graded the tenure of the governor on eight areas of public policy. We invited you to weigh
Our July cover features Rick Perry, who is wrapping up his historic tenure as governor of Texas.
And our June issue is better than a cup of coffee.
How our creative director captured a moment all Strait fans will know and love.
Plan a summertime weekend surveying the coastal art scene using this guide with tips on what to do, where to eat, and where to stay.
We tip our hat to the King of Country, George Strait.
Through the magical wonderland that is the May 2014 issue.
Recipes for a most decadent brunch—including ancho chile applesauce and peach ice cream—from Lisa Fain's latest cookbook, "The Homesick Texan’s Family Table."
Here's what you missed while waiting in line for that free burger.
The Austin-based ad agency created "Avoid Humans," a web app to point users to the least-crowded restaurants, bars, coffee shops, and general areas of refuge.
We asked three experts in the oil field to come together to discuss that very question and to debate whether this latest boom will treat Texas, and the nation, any better than the last two.
They're a labor of love. But they're worth it.
A take on the Southern classic from Ziggy Gruber, the owner/chef of Kenny & Ziggy's in Houston.
From pastry chef Steven Cak, of Olive and June restaurant, in Austin.
Archer City's most famous son tells a writer's group that ‘Blood Meridian’ "was a little windy" and admits that two of his favorite television shows are ‘The Sopranos’ and ‘Everybody Loves Raymond.’
On Wednesday’s edition of Marketplace, Noel King reported on the recent “philanthropic urge” that has been striking certain people of means during the government shutdown. King points to Houston’s own John and Laura Arnold, who made headlines this week when they donated $10 million from their
A segment on This American Life tells the story of the vigilante killer in the violent border city, a woman who called herself, Diana, the hunter of bus drivers.
A Done DellAfter months of delays and deliberations, Dell Inc. shareholders voted Thursday to take the company private in a $24.8 billion buyout from CEO Michael Dell and the Silver Lake Partners investment group. The deal, which is expected to go through by November 1, comes after a lengthy
Senior editor Katy Vine, author of the Greatest Barbecue Story Ever Told, put together a BBQ Road Trip soundtrack. It features fourteen songs with a variation of the word “barbecue” in the title, six tracks called “Salt and Pepper,” three boogies, an ode to white bread, and one
More than 75 songs to accompany you during a meaty quest.
A party without a feast is an incomplete party.
Our barbecue editor was recently interviewed by Sunrise, Australia’s self-described “number one breakfast show.” The hosts ask him about Texas-style barbecue (and the difference between an Aussie sear and our preferred smoking method), if he is “the Simon Cowell of the brisket,” and his favorite places in Texas. Watch the
(Photograph by Chris Wilkins | Texas BBQ Posse)In a move that seems long overdue, today we named Daniel Vaughn as Texas Monthly‘s first barbecue editor.Before people start stamping their feet and cursing that they weren’t hired for this highly coveted position, let me assure you that Vaughn is very well