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Bill Crist ’73 says: I was a fish in Sqdn 4 the year we built the tallest Bonfire on record. I remember the bruises, the muscle pains, the cuts, the blisters, the pushups. It is all pale compared to the sacrifice our 12 brothers and sisters gave to our beloved school. Every Aggie Muster since that day I have said a "Here" for them. Their sacrifice is forever etched in our minds. Whether or not we ever see another official Bonfire does not matter; our traditions will survive. We are great. We are mighty. We are Texas Aggies. (November 5th, 2009 at 10:23am)

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Evan Smith

Evan Smith

Evan Smith joined the staff of TEXAS MONTHLY as a senior editor in 1992. In 2000, he became the magazine’s editor, a post he held until 2008, when he was promoted to president and editor in chief. In 2009, Smith stepped down from the magazine to become the CEO and editor in chief of the Texas Tribune.

As editor emeritus, he continues to host Texas Monthly Talks, a weekly interview program that airs on PBS stations across the state.

Features

Wealthy Republican donor James Leininger on why he supports school vouchers and opposes apostates in his party. (June 2006)

The former national security chief and deputy CIA director on why we're losing the peace in Iraq and where the terrorists could strike next. (March 2004)

You'd be one too if you were Carole Keeton Strayhorn and you thought the governor was messing with you. (December 2003)

What Walter Cronkite really thinks about cable TV shoutfests, the length of network newscasts, and (ahem) Jayson Blair. (November 2003)

(August 2003)

In a rare interview, George H.W. Bush—a.k.a. the Former Leader of the Free World—disses Newt and the Dixie Chicks, muses on the restorative powers of Maine, and (who'd have imagined?) has nice things to say about the current occupant of the Oval Office. (July 2003)

San Antonio's Marshevet Hooker is not just any old high school sprinter; she's an Olympic gold medalist in the making. Meet her and nine other women we're betting will lead the new Texas—and the world. (February 2003)

Prudence Mackintosh's sons. (September 2001)

What are George Bush’s weaknesses as he heads into the fall campaign? We asked six Texas Democrats— a former governor, a former lieutenant governor, two wannabes, and two wiseacre pundits—to make the case against him. They pulled no punches. (July 2000)

“When a corporation does something that results in the death of people, what prison do you put them in?” asks the plantiffs lawyer Texas business loves to hate, and he’s just getting warmed up. (June 2000)

“Entrepreneurship is the art of the possible. Anyone with money and a good idea has what it takes to write his own ticket. The hitch, of course, is follow-through. You have to execute. You have to do it. And no one has done it as well as Michael Dell.” (December 1999)

His days as a “loyalty thermometer” in the nation’s capital. (June 1999)

Which Hollywood legend is “the bitch of all time”? Which comedienne’s daughter was a dope addict by age fourteen and came to Houston to get unhooked? Texas’ top gossips tell all. (January 1999)

Independent counsel Kenneth Starr was born in Vernon, and that’s just one of the many Texas connections at the heart of his investigation of Bill Clinton. (May 1998)

The players. The stories. A special report on our booming film business. (May 1998)

How Jim Wright schoozes, George Foreman bruises, ZZ Top trims, and Janet Evans swims, plus the straight skinny on everything else from nearly fifty other Texas celebrities. (April 1993)

Columns | Miscellany

Nine years as editor of this magazine taught me a few things, like failure is always an option, the writers are usually right, and whatever you do, stay far, far away from postcoital astronauts. (October 2009)

The case for my Texanness. (December 2005)

The Ben Franklin of McGregor. (July 2005)

Are the Texas Democrats deserters? (May 2004)

"I have a very comfortable lifestyle as a jazz musician. Every day is a Saturday for me." (April 2004)

They dislike us. They really dislike us. (February 2004)

How the new editor of the Houston Chronicle is trying to turn the page on the paper's past. (September 2002)

Evan Smith on Johnny “Lam” Jones. (September 2001)

(September 2001)

Evan Smith on Robert Strauss. (September 2001)

(September 2001)

Polling the ex-governors. (September 2001)

(September 2001)

A new Texas Monthly by design—and necessity. (April 2001)

Where we go from here. (August 2000)

Will Iraq be the president’s legacy? A conversation with eminent historians H. W. Brands and Doris Kearns Goodwin. (March 2006)

“The problem is that there’s nobody who can put their foot down and say, ‘Yep, by God, we’re going to do this …’ It’s a city without leadership.” (February 2006)

“Any idea you can think up and plan out isn’t going to be that good. There’s no way I could have thought up all of Holes beforehand.” (January 2006)

“I’ve always felt like Abbott was a special place.” (December 2005)

“People speak nostalgically about family newspapers. For every decent one, there were literally hundreds of embarrassingly bad ones.” (November 2005)

“I’ve had my failures and my mistakes. I don’t dwell on them. So I don’t have anything dragging me down at any given time.” (October 2005)

“There have been times when I’ve said, ‘It seems like everything I’m passionate about gets cut! Stop that!’” (September 2005)

“The worry is that we’re going to put the Bell system back together. You hear that a lot. Anybody who says that is just not informed.” (August 2005)

“There are some places where it wouldn’t matter if Pope Benedict XVI was winning the Tour. They would kill him. They would say he cheats, he steals, he has sex with little boys.” (July 2005)

“The record’s clean. I’m sure that I haven’t done everything that everyone would like me to do. But I’ve never hurt anybody.” (June 2005)

“Nobody doing what I’m doing is important anymore. Not in the way Winchell, Kilgallen, Hedda, and Louella were important.” (May 2005)

“I knew immediately that they’d be serving ice water in hell about the same time I’d be cast in [Sideways].” (April 2005)

“A lot of people are perfect fits for universities. I’m a perfect fit for Texas Tech. I understand West Texas. I am West Texas.” (February 2005)

“There’s not anything that’s happened since Election Day that proves to me that Bush is going to be moderate at all.” (January 2005)

“It isn’t about cheap. You can make a pizza so cheap nobody will eat it. You can make an airline so cheap nobody will fly it. It’s about the product.” (December 2004)

“Texas is a huge, growing state on a border. We have some very basic issues that need addressing, and I don’t think they’re being addressed right now.” (November 2004)

"You can't make all of TV and movies kid-safe. If you do, we're all going to be watching the Care Bears. I think there should be things that are just for adults." (October 2004)

"I like to go out at night. I like to sit in a nice room and look at beautiful women. I don't want to just sit on my back porch drinking scotch, and there isn't much more to do in Archer City." (September 2004)

"We're a real NFL football team, and we can go out and make plays. We have talent. We can beat teams. It's not a fluke if we beat the Cowboys." (August 2004)

"Billy can go to a 7-Eleven and buy a soft drink and must pay sales tax, but Billy goes to school, buys a soft drink, and pays no sales tax." (July 2004)

"War is always a great reinforcer of secrecy, but a war on terror is the most insidious threat to openness—you can always claim, without having to explain why, that something can't be public." (June 2004)

"You get some people who say, 'I really want to know all the things you do when you're not working.' Well, I really don't want to tell you those things. Go away." (May 2004)

(January 2004)

The Latinas in the Democrats’ sights. (July 2000)

Emilio Navaira and Gloria Trevi get their days in court. (May 2000)

The politics — and semantics — of the Mosbacher divorce. (April 2000)

Henry Kissinger versus UT. (March 2000)

(March 2000)

The former stripper, the tabloid, and George W. Bush. (February 2000)

(October 1998)

(July 1998)

(October 1996)

(August 1996)

(July 1996)

(June 1996)

(February 1996)

Reporter

Jerry Jones’s high hopes for his new stadium. (October 2009)

Tanya Tucker on life on the road and her new album. (September 2009)

The new Episcopal bishop on politics, faith, and Twitter. (August 2009)

New mayor Julián Castro on San Antonio’s future. (July 2009)

Astros skipper Cecil Cooper on life in baseball. (June 2009)

Tony Garza on the situation in Mexico. (May 2009)

Tito Beveridge on making vodka. (May 2009)

Catherine Hardwicke on growing up in McAllen. (April 2009)

Todd Oldham on his life of design. (March 2009)

Dean Fearing on menu planning and home cooking. (February 2009)

(February 2009)

Sheila Jackson Lee on the Age of Obama. (January 2009)

Mark Seliger on how to take a photograph. (December 2008)

Rick Riordan is not J. K. Rowling. (November 2008)

Bob Schieffer on Sundays without Tim Russert. (October 2008)

(September 2008)

Luci Johnson on her father’s legacy. (August 2008)

Ricardo Sanchez on what happened at Abu Ghraib. (July 2008)

(June 2008)

Margaret Spellings defends No Child Left Behind. (May 2008)

Avery Johnson on how to be an NBA coach. (April 2008)

Mark McKinnon on John McCain’s comeback. (March 2008)

Diana Natalicio on the future of higher ed in El Paso. (February 2008)

Dan Bartlett is upbeat about Iraq and ’08. (January 2008)

Karen Tumulty on writing for Time. (January 2008)

(December 2007)

Can Joel Osteen get an “Amen”? (November 2007)

Ray Benson on Wills, weed, and the Wheel. (October 2007)

Jeanne Klein on the art of collecting. (September 2007)

Burton Tansky on Neiman’s at one hundred. (September 2007)

Jody Conradt at the buzzer. (August 2007)

Lawrence Wright looms and towers. (July 2007)

Bill Paxton on JFK and HBO. (June 2007)

Rick Perry explains himself. (May 2007)

Ted Nugent shoots to kill. (April 2007)

Four years later, even more of our heroes have fallen in Iraq. (March 2007)

Phyllis George on life’s rich pageant. (March 2007)

Joe Ely on the coming death of the CD. (February 2007)

Dick Armey on where the GOP went wrong. (January 2007)

Forest Whitaker brings Idi Amin to life. (December 2006)

Molly Ivins on the death of newspapers. (November 2006)

James Baker stays the course. (October 2006)

(September 2006)

Joe Allbaugh defends you-know-who. (August 2006)

Eileen Collins on what’s ailing NASA. (July 2006)

Betty Flores on border security—and insecurity. (June 2006)

The candidate cattle call begins. (May 2006)

Lyle Lovett on acting, singing, and Calvin Klein. (May 2006)

… on being a Democrat (but not Speaker). (April 2006)

“I used to resent the fact that people romanticize Whole Foods. I always wanted to shake them and say, ‘Gosh, we’re just a grocery store!’” (March 2005)

Benjamin McKenzie kisses. (March 2004)

Mark Cuban shoots (from the hip). (February 2004)

Two mayors give their cities the business. (February 2004)

Andy Roddick avoids Tracy Austin Syndrome. (January 2004)

Joe Jamail rails against tort deform. (December 2003)

The former first lady on her new book, how she writes— and why she never liked Alice in Wonderland. (November 2003)

Molly Ivins goes nuts for Arnold. (October 2003)

Evan Smith talks with former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk about life after politics and, well, politics. (September 2003)

Clifford Antone gets back in the club. (August 2003)

His post-phenom life. (June 2003)

The director of the new Alamo movie takes on the storied battle—and the eyes of Texas are upon him. (January 2003)

Jim Lehrer between the covers. (November 2002)

Sheila Jackson Lee can take the heat (but not pulled pork). (September 2002)

Dallas schools superintendent Mike Moses makes progress—and more money than anyone else. (June 2002)

Meet our governor . . . Rodney Ellis? (June 2000)

Hooray for Hollywood's All the Pretty Horses. (January 2000)

The knock on Matthew McConaughey’s arrest. (December 1999)

Ping-Pong balls in our governor’s past. (November 1999)

The tycoon from Texas who’s very much in Vogue. (October 1999)

How George W. could be evitable. (September 1999)

Does the Dallas Morning News discriminate? Plus: Bill Clinton between the covers. (August 1999)

The book (make that books) on George W. Bush. (July 1999)

Is Phil Gramm out of gas (and oil)? (June 1999)

(May 1999)

Several Sundays a year, Texans wake to find not one but two GOP presidential hopefuls inside the state’s borders. (April 1999)

ZZ Top v. Chrysler (April 1999)

After watching their business districts wither away as companies set up shop in the suburbs, Texas cities and towns are banding together to fight back. (March 1999)

Sympathy for Jerry Hall (March 1999)

Sandra Cisneros’ colorful victory. (February 1999)

Who says there is nothing funny about the Monica Lewinsky matter? (January 1999)

Internet profiteers target George W. Bush. (January 1999)

How Frank Sinatra, Jr., became a Texan-in-law. (December 1998)

“Aunt Jimmy” sues Galveston’s first family. (November 1998)

Fort Worth art patrons fight the Presbyterians over Georgia O’Keefe (October 1998)

Why the Austin American-Stateman’s film critic is under seige. (September 1998)

The media muff George W. Bush’s name. (August 1998)

Gary Mauro’s bad spell. (July 1998)

Inside Tex Moncrief’s IRS mess. (June 1998)

LeAnn Rimes gets written off. (May 1998)

Anna Nicole Smith’s bar mitzvah brouhaha. (April 1998)

Red McCombs, still on the sidelines (March 1998)

Signs of intelligent life in Dallas. (January 1998)

Paula Jones and Texas. (December 1997)

A Houston congresswoman’s space case. (November 1997)

For Robert James Waller, life imitates art—and irritates wife. (October 1997)

The governor’s media guru is accused of spousal abuse. (September 1997)

Why everyone’s dazed and confused about Richard Linklater’s age. (August 1997)

A Dallas lawyer’s roman à Clinton. (July 1997)

That’s what Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall got on their recent trip to West Texas. West Texas retailers got it too. (June 1997)

If you’re a celebrity who wants to pen a book, who you gonna call? Ghostwriters. (May 1997)

The Texas Observer could be on its last legs (again). (April 1997)

Why a great horror movie starring Matthew McConaughey and Renée Zellweger could get buried. (March 1997)

summary: What’s the best hotel in Texas? (Hint: It’s not the Mansion on Turtle Creek). (February 1997)

Why Texas’ best-known homeless writer is back on the streets. (January 1997)

Dick Morris’ other other woman. (December 1996)

(December 1996)

The University of Houston thinks Frank Stella is frankly stellar. (November 1996)

(November 1996)

A Spielberg-backed cyberguide comes to Texas. (August 1996)

(July 1996)

Ann Richards gets ready for prime time. (June 1996)

Molly Ivins and Bob Wade on TV. (May 1996)

Edgar and Johnny Winter sing the blues over a comic book. (April 1996)

Texas writers go Hollywood. (March 1996)

(March 1996)

Celebrity land deals—not. (February 1996)

(February 1996)

Gauging Barney’s Universal appeal. (January 1996)

(January 1996)

Web Exclusives

(July 2009)

The likely Speaker of the House promises no retaliation, an end to the acrimony, and tells his fellow Republicans to “wake up!” (January 2009)

(March 2008)

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