Bankruptcy and job loss may be closing in, but Texans aren’t sitting home eating Spam. They’re down-scaling, gang-hosting, and improvising a new hard-times etiquette as they go along.

As a medical student, Deborah Spiva was at the top of her class. As a researcher, she did experiments that came out perfectly. As a physician, she was known for treating patients with rare diseases. She was too good to be true.

Buster Welch’s success as a cutting horse trainer is based on a simple observation: when you insult a horse’s intelligence, you hurt his feelings.

Not in the mood for a plush vacation resort or the rigors of backpacking? Instead, try solitude and starry nights at one of these ten park hideaways.

The biggest legislative bloodbath in 31 years is shaping up between Clements and Hobby. At stake: not only the state’s education budget but the economic and political future of Texas as well.

In a land of contrasts, a few hours can mean the difference between drought and deluge.

In Larry McMurtry’s Texasville, the teenagers from The Last Picture Show await their thirtieth high school reunion amid the hard times in Thalia and, as always, the war between the sexes.

An inappropriate practicality.

Come to Monterrey, where you can find all the comforts of home: Pollo Frito Kentucky, Super Sietes, and a looming economic crisis.

Radio Days is a nostalgic doodle; Black Widow needs fewer poses and more cheap lust; Dead of Winter is spookhouse-scary—but schlocky; The Good Wife is soapy yet strangely affecting.

Buying shoes is a passion for some women. Selling shoes is a passion for Doyle Moody. That adds up to a perfect fit.

Marty Wender can’t do anything wrong—and San Antonio loves him for it. Joe Russo can’t do anything right—and Houston loves him for it. Plus: pop paraphernalia, naming Henry’s baby, Poppin’ Pigskins, and Who Killed Mark White?

Out of the Valley and into the Borderlands, where the architecture is erratic, the radio is heavenly, and the peso has lost its power.

Hot stuff at the cinema.

Self-appointed visionaries on the border; self-development seminars all over Texas; self-indulgent behavior at the corner burger joint.

Can the Cotton Bowl survive the SMU scandal? a Mexican American major for Corpus Christi—maybe; the water bureaucrats are up to no dam good.

All that glitters is not gold.