June 2004 Issue

On the Cover

Coasting

Since I was a kid growing up on polluted Galveston Bay, I’ve held a grudge against the watery edge of Texas—but no more. Protected wetlands! Pelicans and turtles! Historic buildings! Edible oysters! And that’s not the half shell of it.

Features


His Mickey Mouse Ways

In a world full of evil dudes pretending to be good guys, Waylon Jennings was a good guy pretending to be an evil dude and never quite succeeding.

An F for Effort

Or maybe the grade should be “incomplete.” The special legislative session on school finance proved that Rick Perry and Republican lawmakers care a lot more about reducing property taxes than about improving public schools. Anybody surprised?

Feature

Life and Meth

Around the Piney Woods, most people will tell you that they know someone who’s addicted to homemade speed. Drug recovery centers are overwhelmed; court dockets are backed up; jails are filled. There’s no end in sight.

Columns


Jan Jarboe Russell

Viva la Diferencia

A Harvard know-it-all predicts that the emerging Hispanic majority will be a drag on America. Tell it to your friends in Cambridge, bub.

Reporter


Reporter

Class Warfare

When Sul Ross State University professor Larry Sechrest called his neighbors and students idiots and inbreds, the entire town of Alpine rose up against him. Not that he's changed his mind.

Web


Recipe

Hawaiian Delight

1 three-ounce package Jell-O (any flavor; cherry is traditional) Your choice of the following (whatever you prefer or have on hand): 1 banana, sliced 1 can sour cherries or 1 small jar maraschino cherries, well drained 1 small can pineapple chunks, well drained 1/2 cup miniature marshmallows slivered almonds grated

Recipe

Golden Glow Salad

1 three-ounce package lemon or orange Jell-O 1/2 cup grated or shredded carrots 1 small can crushed pineapple or pineapple chunks, well drainedPrepare Jell-O as directed on package. When Jell-O is about half-set (approximately an hour or so), add carrots and pineapple.Editor’s note: Pineapple is one of the few fruits

Recipe

Gammy’s Broken Glass Torte

Crust 2 dozen crushed graham crackers 1/2 cup butter, softened 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup chopped pecans Mix thoroughly and pack tightly in oblong 9 x 13 Pyrex dish. Filling 1 package each lime, lemon, and cherry Jell-O 1 package plain unflavored gelatin 1/2 cup cold water 1 cup pineapple

Recipe

Coke Salad

1 three-ounce package black-cherry Jell-O 1 twelve-ounce can Coke 1 to 2 cans Bing cherries, well drained 1/2 cup pecans, chopped Using a large bowl, prepare Jell-O as directed on package, substituting the Coke for 1 1/2 cups water. The Coke will foam up; be prepared! Pour mix into pan

Recipe

Pansit Bihon Grisado (Philippine Vermicelli)

Cebu, Houston 1 1/2 pounds chicken breast cut into strips 1 pound shrimp, shelled and deveined 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 medium yellow onion 1 medium green bell pepper 2 medium carrots cut into 1-inch strips 3 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 small cabbage 1 pack Philippine vermicelli noodles from Asian

Pat's Pick

Cebu

San Antonio’s most exotic new dining venue, Cebu looks utterly American, with sponge-painted walls and Ella and Louis on the sound system. But open the menu, and you’re in a whole other country: the Philippines, to be precise. Are you ready for kinilaw na manga? I was, especially when the

Pat's Pick

Drink, Eat, and Be Merry

Wanted: Earthy, complex, full-bodied dinner companion with good legs and a long finish. Does that describe what you’ve been seeking in a wine? Then you should find plenty to interest you on the upcoming California junket of Foodtravels.com. From September 15 to 19—coinciding with the annual grape crush—the new Austin-based

Books That Cook

Books That Cook

Americans devour about 38 billion burgers every year. Seymour, Wisconsin, hosts an annual Burger Fest with a bun toss, a ketchup slide, and a hamburger-eating contest. Daytona Beach, Florida, boasts the International Hamburger Hall of Fame. But these tidbits are merely condiments in The Great Big Burger Book, by Jane

Happy Trails

Happy Trails

A drive through the Hill Country and a brush with Texas's mystic side gave my world-weary self a breath of fresh air.

Web Exclusive

Fast Times

Senior editor Pamela Colloff on methamphetamine's grip on East Texas, talking to addicts, and what it's like to follow around narcotics investigators.

Texas Tidbits

Texas Tidbits

Over the years, filmmakers have tried to capture the essence of Texas athletics through comedy and drama. These movies tackle the deep-seated sports culture of the state.

Miscellany


Atsbox

The Month in Art

Greatest Hits On June 27 the line to get in the Kimbell Art Museum, in Fort Worth, will probably resemble more closely that of a megaplex theater, and for good reason. It’s the opening day of the summer blockbuster exhibit, “Caravaggio to Dali: One Hundred Masterpieces from the Wadsworth Atheneum

Bill Moyers

“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.”

Atsbox

06.04.04

Dallas in the summertime has been called a lot of things—”heaven” has never been one of them. Of course, what isn’t written in stone may be disproved this month when guitar enthusiasts flock to Fair Park for the Crossroads Guitar Festival. The three-day, charity-benefiting rapture masterminded by Eric Clapton—go ahead,

Atsbox

Play Dates

Animal Magnetism When was the last time the kids got to feed a giraffe? See a wildebeest? These are just a few of our favorite things to do at the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, in Glen Rose. Explore at your own pace along the ten-mile scenic drive (don’t be surprised

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