Mimi Swartz
Mimi Swartz, author, with Sherron Watkins, of Power Failure, The Inside Story of the Collapse of Enron, is an executive editor of Texas Monthly. Previously, she was a staff writer at Talk, from April 1999 to April 2001, and a staff writer at The New Yorker from 1997 until she joined Talk. Prior to joining The New Yorker, she worked at Texas Monthly for thirteen years. In 1996, Swartz was a finalist for two National Magazine Awards and won in the public interest category for her story on managed care. She was also a National Magazine Award finalist for her November 2005 issue story on tort reform, entitled “Hurt? Injured? Need a Lawyer? Too Bad!” and won the 2006 John Bartlow Martin Award for Public Interest, Magazine Journalism for the same story.
Over the years, Swartz’ work has appeared in Vanity Fair, Esquire, Slate, National Geographic and the New York Times’ Op Ed page and Sunday magazine. It has also been collected in Best American Political Writing, 2006, and Best American Sportswriting, 2007. She has been a member of the Texas Institute of Letters since 1994.
Swartz grew up in San Antonio, Texas, and graduated from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. She now lives in Houston with her husband John Wilburn, and son, Sam.
Features
San Antonio Rose
11/22/2013
In one year the eyes of the world will turn to Dallas's Dealey Plaza for the fiftieth anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination. Is the city ready?
And Away They Go
Sending a Texan off into the world—and hoping he’ll return.
Mothers, Sisters, Daughters, Wives
In 2011 the Legislature slashed funding for women’s health programs and launched an all-out war on Planned Parenthood that has dramatically changed the state’s priorities. A year later, the battle is still raging, and the stakes could not be higher.
The One-Question Interview With Steve Coll
The author of Private Empire: ExxonMobile and American Power answers the question: In terms of difficulty, how would you compare reporting on Exxon with the reporting you did for your previous book, The Bin Ladens?
Downward Dog
Over the past fifteen years, John Friend turned his Woodlands–based Anusara style of yoga into an internationally popular brand. Then, in the space of a few weeks, it became hopelessly twisted amid a wild series of accusations of sexual and financial improprieties.
The Tree of Strife
For a quarter of a century, the Art Guys, Michael Galbreth and Jack Massing, have been Houston’s master provocateurs, stirring up discussion with their wacky, thoughtful, and tenaciously marketed “social sculptures.” But have they finally gone too far?
Super Collider
Terry Grier is the hard-charging, reform-minded, optimistic superintendent of the largest school district in the state. He’s also the most divisive, embattled, and despised man in Houston. Did it have to be this way?
The Not So Happy Campers
For more than seven decades, Camp Mystic has been one of the prettiest, happiest, and most exclusive destinations in Texas. But after a bitter, multimillion-dollar legal battle, the very thing that the owners cherished—family—may be the force that tears the camp apart for good.
The Great Terquasquicentennial Road Trip
Some people call it a quartoseptcentennial, or a septaquintaquinquecentennial (seriously), but you’d better save your breath. You’ll need it on this wide-ranging 6,000-mile voyage commemorating Texas’s 175th birthday. It starts in Glen Rose, ends in Austin, and stops along the way at 175 places that tell the story of the state, from the grassy field in La Porte where independence was won to the parking garage in Dallas where the Super Bowl was dreamed up; from the Austin dorm room where Dell Inc. was born to the college hall in Houston where Barbara Jordan learned to debate; from the hotel in San Antonio where Lydia Mendoza recorded “Mal Hombre” to the—well, you get the idea. And you’d better get started. The road awaits . . .
Law and Disorder
During his lifetime, he captivated Houston with his courtroom brilliance, outsized ambition, and high-dollar lifestyle. But in the year since John O’Quinn’s tragic death, a bitter estate battle has revealed who he really was.
The Outsider
In the post-Washington game, former attorney general Alberto Gonzales has fared worse than any other member of the Bush administration. Why?
Boy’s Life—Bill White
Before he was fighting for the governorship of the second-largest state in the country, Bill White was just a kid from Texas.
The Lost Girls
Every year thousands of women are smuggled into the United States and forced to work as prostitutes. Many of them end up in Houston, in massage parlors and spas. Most of them will have a hard time ever getting out.
The Bucket List
Driving the River Road, in far West Texas; having a drink at the Mansion on Turtle Creek, in Dallas; fishing for bass in Caddo Lake; eating a chicken-fried steak in Strawn; searching for a lightning whelk along the coast; and 58 other things that all Texans must do before they die.
People We’ll Miss—2009
A fond look back at 22 Texans who died in 2009, from Farrah Fawcett and Walter Cronkite to Brandon Lara and Joe Bowman.
Below the Surface
In 1996 a powerful South Texas ranching clan accused ExxonMobil of sabotaging wells on the family’s property. Thirteen years, millions of dollars in legal fees, and one state Supreme Court opinion later, the biggest oil field feud of its time is still raging.
The 50 Greatest Hamburgers In Texas
On our first-ever quest for the state’s best burgers, we covered more than 12,000 miles, ate at more than 250 restaurants, and gained, collectively, more than 40 pounds. Our dauntless determination (and fearless fat intake) was rewarded with a list of 50 transcendent burgers—and you’ll never guess which one ended up on top. Check out our Best Burger section.
Culture Vulture
The Dark Knight
Inside the fantastic rise and catastrophic fall of Sir Allen Stanford—that high-flying egomaniac with the offshore bank, gold helicopter, Caribbean island, and knack for disposing of other people’s money.
Styles and Styles of Texas
The thirty Texans with the most iconic, unforgettable, eye-popping looks, from Davy Crockett to Beyoncé.
My Life
Trade secrets and true tales from Lynn Wyatt, she of the famously fabulous parties, glamorous couture gowns, rich and entertaining pals (e.g., Liza Minnelli, Andy Warhol), and legendary whiskey laugh.
Children of the Storm
After Hurricane Katrina, Rhonda Tavey selflessly opened her Houston home to a New Orleans evacuee and five of her children. She fed the kids, bathed them, and grew to love them so much that when their mother tried to take them back to Louisiana, she wouldn’t let them go.
The Risk Premium
Most American consumers understand that the invasion of Iraq has contributed to the skyrocketing price of oil. But there’s another reason why we’re paying so much per barrel and gallon: The countries where crude is available in abundance are increasingly dangerous places to operate. Russell Spell, of Conroe, can tell you firsthand.
Child’s Play
Summer vacation is right around the corner, but that doesn’t mean you should panic. We’ve rounded up 68 of our favorite things to do with your toddlers, teens, and every kid in between. Dance the hokey pokey. Rope a horse. Eat way too many hot dogs. Zip down a waterslide. And yes, feed the animals.
The Gospel According to Matthew
Why does a rich Houston investment banker spend his days traveling the globe, preaching to the uninformed and indifferent that the world’s supply of crude oil is in steep decline and the end of life as we know it is very, very near? Maybe because it is.
The Day Oscar Wyatt Caved
In the right light, the ornery octogenarian oilman’s guilty plea can be seen as a victory: After all, he won’t spend the rest of his natural life in jail. But the fact is, he couldn’t beat the rap—and he knew it.
Eva Almighty
There are prettier women in Hollywood. There are more-talented actresses on TV and in the movies. So how to explain the charmed, celebrated existence that is la vida Longoria?
Splitsville!
True-life tales from the files of one of Houston’s top divorce lawyers.
Eva vs. Goliath
After James and Linda Rowe were killed in a grisly refinery explosion in Texas City in 2005, their wild-child daughter could have taken a modest settlement and started to rebuild her life in a small Louisiana border town. Instead, she chose to fight—and brought a multibillion-dollar oil company to its knees.
The Punch Line
Anna Nicole Smith died as she lived: as a bit of tabloid ephemera, sandwiched between a love-crazed astronaut and Britney Spears’s new do. And that’s exactly where she belonged.
Here Comes Trouble
Dan Patrick is causing nervous breakdowns of various size and duration—and he’s not even in the Texas Senate yet.
Girl Walks Into an Outlet Mall
But not just any. The Prime and Tanger outlets, in San Marcos, with Neiman’s Last Call and Saks Off Fifth and Polo Ralph Lauren and Zegna among their more than 225 stores, are the fourth most popular tourist attraction in Texas. Maximizing a trip to such a massive shopping mecca requires a carefully thought-out strategy. Fortunately, I have one.
Guilty Pleasure
Kenny, we hardly knew ye. Okay, maybe we knew you too well. The jury, at least, seems to have pegged you just right. You too, Skilling.
The Gangstas of Godwin Park
Whatever else you can say about it, the life and death of Bellaire High School junior Jonathan Finkelman is a tragic tale of drugs, money, race, and MySpace.
Heartbreak High
If the war is an unpleasant abstraction in the rest of the country, it’s omnipresent at Killeen Shoemaker, where many of the children of the enlisted men and women of Fort Hood are enrolled—and pray for peace every single day.
Midnight in the Garden of Memory
My San Antonio was an overgrown small town, socially stratified and inbred, controlled by a handful of old, wealthy families.
Hurt? Injured? Need a Lawyer? Too Bad!
What tort reform has done to Texans in need would be grounds for a lawsuit—if there still were any lawsuits.
The Mildcatters
The lessons of the eighties boom have been internalized by today’s energy entrepreneurs, who seem nothing like their risk-loving forebears. They’re happy playing it safe, which is why their preferred commodity is gas, not oil.
Till Death Do Us Part
The marriage of Baylor College of Medicine and Methodist Hospital should have been made in heaven—and until recently, it was. Their nasty breakup is a bell tolling for American medicine.
Happily Enron After!
The fairy tale is long over, but reality hasn’t necessarily set in.
The Good Wife
Is she a “saccharine phony”? A closet liberal? A foot soldier—or a rebel—in the culture wars? The truth about Laura Bush is that her ambiguity makes her a model first lady: a blank screen upon which the public can project its own ideas about womanhood.
Them's Fightin' Words!
All over the world, and all over this country, the Texas stereotype is mocked and maligned (so what else is new?). Does it matter, really, if everyone thinks we're fat, violent, prudish yahoos?
Cast Away
For Sharon Bush, membership in the world's most powerful family had its privileges. But as she discovered after her husband of 23 years—the brother of one president and the son of another—ended their marriage via e-mail, it can be revoked without warning.
"I Had a Great Future Behind Me"
So says my friend Jost Lunstroth, one of thousands of formerly successful Texans for whom unemployment is more than a statistic.
The Witness
For forty years Nellie Connally has been talking about that day, when she was in that car and saw that tragedy unfold. She's still talking—and now she's writing too.
The Traitor Next Door
His name was Wadih el-Hage. He had an American wife and American kids, a home in Arlington, a job at a tire store in Fort Worth, and a secret past that led straight to Osama bin Laden.
How Enron Blew It
The Houston-based energy giant put the pursuit of profits ahead of all other corporate goals, which fostered a climate of workaholism and paranoia. And that was only part of the problem.
Nice Guys Finish Second
Is Survivor’s Colby Donaldson for real? Over lunch, the last old-fashioned Texas man talks about why he threw the game and what he’ll do next.
Good-bye to All That
Austinites thought the high-tech boom wouldn't change them, but it turned their city into something that more closely resembled Houston or Dallas in the golden eighties. Now they're paying the price.
Architecture • Ted Flato and David Lake
Master builders.
Gossip • Liz Smith
She’s got a secret.
Sloane, Alone
Dallas’ Sloane Simpson was a society queen who enchanted New York, seduced Mexico City, and turned Acapulco into a jet-set getaway. But when she died last year at age eighty, she was almost completely forgotten.
Brenham’s Paradise Lost
An idyllic small town confronts a controversial rape case involving four high school boys and a thirteen-year-old girl and discovers that nothing is certain—except that its children can’t escape the big-city culture of teenage sex.
It Came From Outer Space
The inside story of how industrious NASA scientists discovered signs of life in a Martian rock and boosted the fortunes of the tabloids, Hollywood producers, and even the president.
Religion • Kirbyjon Caldwell
Practicing what he preaches.
Truckin’
On the road with Victor Morales, the schoolteacher turned U.S. Senate candidate who is out to prove he’s not running on empty.
The High Times of Gerry Goldstein
Texas’ top drug lawyer helps dope dealers and cocaine kingpins beat their raps—and he’s proud of it.
Congressman Clueless
Steve Stockman was supposed to have been a lethal weapon in the Republicans’ fight to unmake the Great Society. Instead the freshman legislator has been a loose cannon—an outsider in his own party.
The Public Hell of Bob Carreiro
A daughter’s gruesome murder became a grieving father’s dark crusade to find her killer and thrust him into an ever-widening spotlight as an advocate for victims of violent crime.
Silicone City
From invention to litigation, the breast implant has done more for Houston’s economy—and its psyche—than anything since oil.
Not What The Doctor Ordered
How an old-fashioned Texas physician fought the takeover of modern medicine by heartless insurance companies—and lost.
How to Marry A Millionaire
Anna Nicole Smith got her man: the full story on the big gal’s marriage to octogenarian oilman J. Howard Marshall.
The Fugitive
Stardom has caught up with Tommy Lee Jones—finally. But don’t expect him to act like he’s enjoying it.
Shooting Stars
With wit and grit, Amarillo-born photographer Mark Seliger persuades reluctant celebrities to show their true selves.
The Price of Being Molly
Being the nation’s most famous interpreter of Texas politics sounds like fun. But for Molly Ivins, success has been no laughing matter.
River Oaks 77019
Two prominent families, one soapy feud. What could be better for a summer miniseries?
Judge Roy Scream vs. The Texas Cyclone
How to beat the heat, find the food, and master the coasters at Texas’ four big theme parks.
The Man Who Knows Everything
Clyde Wilson is more than a private investigator. He’s the historian of Houston’s dark side—and that makes him the most dangerous man in town.
Love and Hate at Texas A&M
A report from the front lines in the battle of the sexes—inside the Aggie corps.
Murder in the Melting Pot
Some Vietnamese immigrants live the American dream. But for the family of Vu Dinh Chung, the dream turned into a fatal nightmare.
Blood in the Streets
Blood in the Streets. Houstonians and homicide detectives struggle to cope with a deadly crime wave.
The Cheerleader Murder Plot
To understand Wanda Holloway’s dark and desperate story, you have to start with where she came from.
The Fab Flacks
The nouvelle stars of Houston society are none other than Becca Cason and Holly Moore, the founders of the hippest, most with-it PR machine in the city.
The Mythic Rise of Billy Don Moyers
A small-town boy’s journey from Texas to the cosmos.
Abortion Street
Sixteen years after Roe v. Wade, all the bitterness and horror of the abortion fight can be found at a single site in Dallas.
A Legacy of Evil
In the town George Parr once dominated, a nineteen-year-old mother was gang-raped by her neighbors. In the aftermath of the crime, the old horrors of San Diego have surfaced anew.
Texas Primer: The Rose Window
The secrets of love seen through a glass, clearly.
No Promises
I arrived in Houston at the height of the boom, and left just as the bust began. Along the way I learned what it means to grow up.
Texas Primer: The Sticker Bur
After encountering this small brown barb, the wise Texas child learns to pick and choose his fights with the landscape.
Texas Primer: The Collins Purse
In the sixties a small company in Medina produced a wooden box decorated with rhinestones. It became a Texas tradition.
Requiem for a Margarita
Tequila, tequila, everywhere, and not a drop in your margarita.
Columns | Miscellany
Enron Ever After
Ten years ago this month, the company that once dominated Houston collapsed in a cloud of debt. But its ghost still haunts the city—and America.
Left Behind
Rick Perry’s stumbles on the national stage have inadvertently highlighted the weakness of his opposition back home—Texas Democrats.
Oil Night Long
Amid all the drink tickets, bikini-clad hostesses, and outrageous displays of wealth at the world’s largest expo for independent oilmen, I was determined to get some answers about the future of the business.
Meet the Parent
In the year since my mother died, I’ve learned a lot of things—like how to spend time with my dad.
Spills and Bills
The BP oil spill hit the small world of Houston’s oil and gas business hard. So now that the well is plugged, who’s up and who’s down?
The Super
After a year on the job, the superintendent of the largest school district in Texas is loathed and loved in equal measure. Does that mean he’s doing his job?
Enroncore!
The debut of Enron, the play, on Broadway might be the perfect time to settle a question that’s been bothering Houston: Does Jeff Skilling need a new trial?
Out and About
Annise Parker, the newly elected mayor of Houston, is ready to discuss any of the challenges facing her city. That will happen as soon as everyone else is ready to stop talking about her sexuality.
Home Front Lines
For too many veterans, the emotional scars of war go untreated. An innovative group of Harris County politicians, judges, attorneys, and health care workers—most of whom are veterans themselves—is aiming to fix that.
What She Wore
On the day my mother died, I found myself in the place that, more than any other, had defined our relationship: her closet.
White Elephant
The most formidable candidate in the race for Houston’s next mayor may be the outgoing chief himself.
Failing Darla
It’s time for Texas to start taking better care of people like Darla Deese, a developmentally disabled woman who has spent most of her life in our harrowing state schools.
The Grand Gesture
Why Texans stand out in crowds.
Emergency!
Why are the UT regents letting Galveston’s only hospital die?
I Don’t Like Ike
Here comes the story of the hurricane.
How Green Is My Bayou?
Increasingly so. Surprise, surprise.
Tour de Farce
Only yesterday, it seems, my mother was taking me to visit colleges. A second later, here I am, enduring this rite of passage from the other side.
Reversal of Fortune
How Houston’s rich got to be the same as you and me—that is, boring.
The Year of Living Dangerously
Houston’s Katrina hangover.
Lynn Wyatt
I had no clue about the amount of magic Texas held. Texas had a persona all its own, and I was proud to be a little smidgen part of it.
Kirbyjon Caldwell
One evening Ike and Tina came over for dinner to my mom and dad’s house. Tina kissed me on the forehead before I went to bed.
Going Public
An exit interview with Hockaday’s headmistress.
World Crass
Will Houston's next mayor be White?
The Perfect Storm
Enron, rest in pieces.
Oscar Wyatt
The oil boom is long over, but he and other wildcatters are still thriving.
The Last Resort
Acapulco used to be a favorite destination of beautiful people from Texas and elsewhere. It still should be.
Westheimer, Ho!
Accessories for sexual adventurers, columns for your Craftsman bungalow, tasteful tables made from old manhole covers: You can find it all on this reborn Houston strip.
Green Eggs and Kao
I thought I’d teach my young son’s Laotian friend about all the essentials of American culture, including Dr. Seuss. I just never imagined how much he’d teach me.
Crew’s Control
Bare and spare, J. Crew’s newest retail outlet pays homage to refined minimalism.
San Antonio Shopping Guide
Where to find the best food, crafts, and arts in the Alamo City.
Reporter
James Turrell’s Skyspace, Houston
Selling High-end Women’s Fashion
Mickey Rosmarin on selling high-end women's fashion.
Paint-By-Numbers Art
Trey Speegle on paint-by-numbers art.
Teaching Yoga
Coiffing Socialites
Cerón on styling socialites’ hair.
Washington Avenue, Houston
The once forgotten corridor emerges as an eclectic enclave.
New Chinatown, Houston
Westheimer Road, Houston
Westheimer Road, Houston
Throwing a Party
Party tricks from Jackson Hicks.
West Nineteenth, Houston
West Nineteenth, Houston.
It Is the Heat
Hot enough for you?
The Enron Show
Scenes from the Enron reality show.
Six Ways To Sunday
The New England Patriots weren't the only winners at the Super Bowl. Houston won too, sort of.
Stanley Marcus
Mimi Swartz sizes up the legacy of Stanley Marcus.
Fear Itself
Mimi Swartz finds fear at home.
Water World
Mimi Schwartz considers the wake of Tropical Storm Allison.
Mercy!
The latest star pupil of the so-called Houston school.
Web Exclusives
Celebrating Denton Cooley and Old Houston
How the 50th anniversary party for the Texas Heart Institute was really a glimpse into the Houston that once was.
An Extended Interview With Steve Coll
The New Yorker writer talks about his latest book, Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power.
Don’t Mess With River Oaks
Houston has always prided itself as a city that barrels forward into the future, and operates without memory, regret or nostalgia. But when developers began messing with the historic River Oaks Shopping Center, Houstonians raised their hackles.
The Usual Suspects
Brent Coon’s back to take on BP.
High Society
The Houston Chronicle’s loss is CultureMap’s gain—Shelby Hodge.
Mayor League
The Houston mayor’s race gets interesting (finally).
Sticky in Houston
What to do in humid Houston during the summer? If you’re Lynn Wyatt, you don’t sweat it and ask a couple dozen of your closest acquaintances to a book signing party for your dear, dear friend Candy Spelling, mother of Tori and author of Stories From Candyland.
Circle of Influenza
If you need an example of how the world can change in an instant, here is a small blow by blow.
Our Very Own Bernie Madoff
Maybe the collapse of the Stanford Group isn’t Enron, but Houston wasn’t about to be left out of the financial scandals.
Downsizing Houston
If the crash that followed the boom hasn’t exactly been our fault, the result has been that same sad sense that maybe we’ll never have fun again.
Man Hunt
Executive editor Mimi Swartz talks about Wadih el-Hage and this month's cover story, "The Traitor Next Door."
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