December 2001 Issue

On the Cover

The Shops Around the Corner

In these big-city neighborhoods, at these offbeat stores, you'll find the perfect presents—from lava lamps to vintage kimonos—for everyone on your list.

Features


Remember the Christian Alamo

Evangelist Lester Roloff drew a line in the dirt to keep the State of Texas from regulating his Rebekah Home for Girls. Years later, then-govenor George W. Bush handed Roloff's disciples a long-sought victory. But this Alamo had no heroes—only victims.

Lyndon B Johnson

Lyndon Johnson on the Record

Working on his memoir one day in 1969, LBJ spoke more frankly into a tape recorder about the Kennedys, Vietnam, and other subjects than he ever had before. The transcript of that tape has never been published—until now. Michael Beschloss explains its historical significance.

A Long, Strange Trip

The life of Roky Erickson——one of the most influential Texas rock and rollers of all time——has been one calamity after another. His family and friends have taken care of him with the best of intentions, but you know what they say about the road to hell.

Columns


Politics

Party Poopers II

Ronald Reagan once commanded, "Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican." So why has the state GOP declared war on itself over resdistricting?

Catcher in the Raw

Forty years after its publication, Horseman, Pass By is still one of Larry McMurtry's finest novels—and as groundbreaking as J. D. Salinger's masterpiece.

Guad Is Great

Forget about the Rocky Mountains. For first-class kayaking, fishing, and bird-watching, head to the Lower Guadalupe after Labor Day, when the drunken armada of tubers retreats to shore and nature returns in full strength.

Sports

Centered

When David Robinson opened a school for poor kids in September, he proved once again that he was San Antonio's most valuable player.

Reporter


Web


Pat's Pick

Forever Fruitcake

When I was a child, it puzzled me that other families left cookies and milk for Santa Claus. He could have that any day. In our family, my two brothers and I set out a slice of my mother’s homemade fruitcake and a glass of port for the jolly old

Recipe

Twelfth Day Cake

This recipe for old-fashioned fruitcake is chock-full of raisins and other natural dried fruits and contains no evil green and red citron. The pecans are a Texas substitution for the original’s almonds.

Pat's Pick

That’s Amore

Count me among those who are smitten with the fantastic regional Italian food at Da Marco. The little central Houston cottage—with its white tablecloths and walls painted in tones of sunflower and daffodil—is enchanting, and chef-owner Marco Wiles is practiced in the art of seduction. His rustic cauliflower soup leads

Web Exclusive

Shopping Spree

Writer-at-large Suzy Banks tells the story behind this month's cover story, "The Shops Around the Corner."

Web Exclusive

True Believers

Senior editor Pamela Colloff talks about "faith-based" terminology, the Rebekah Home for Girls, and corporal punishment.

Miscellany


Atsbox

On Stage

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE The holidays just wouldn’t seem right without perennial favorites like The Nutcracker, A Christmas Carol, and Miracle on 34th Street. Of course, you know how all those feel-good shows are going to end, so this year we encourage you to expand your repertoire. Check out these

Atsbox

Straight Talk

I DREAM OF TEXAS Barbara Eden, fondly remembered for her role as the foxy genie on the sixties sitcom I Dream of Jeannie, will be in Lubbock November 30 through December 2 starring in a national tour of the Broadway show The Odd Couple: The Female Version. Eden will be

Atsbox

Fine Art

VIDA DE LA RAZA It may strike some people as funny that Cheech Marin, the actor who catapulted to fame as a crazy, glassy-eyed dope smoker in Cheech and Chong movies, has been a serious Chicano art collector since the late seventies. But Marin is sincere, for the moment, as

Atsbox

Anniversary

A TIME TO REMEMBER When the heads of the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg planned the museum’s official mainland commemoration of the Pearl Harbor anniversary, they knew it was going to be important—this, after all, is the sixtieth year since the 1941 attack. More than three hundred

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