May 1999 Issue

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Next Cormac McCarthy

Meet El Paso novelist James Carlos Blake, who writes critically acclaimed literary westerns with lots of violence but few female characters. Sound familiar?

By Jan Reid

Has Madalyn Murray O’Hair Met Her Maker?

Officially, the most famous atheist in the world is still missing. But the feds think she’s dead, and they think they know where her body is. They also think they know who’s responsible. And he says he didn’t do it.

By Michael Hall

Feature

Tex Mecca

What are tens of thousands of Muslims doing in Arlington? Adjusting to life in America, debating the merits of assimilation, and trying to convince the world that they’re not terrorists.

By Helen Thorpe

Sports

Ice Guys Finish First

Hockey in Texas? And the team is good? Don’t laugh. The Dallas Stars could win it all this year, and sports fans across the state could soon be drinking Shiner Bock from the Stanley Cup.

By Jason Cohen

Columns

Art

Arte and Soul

Thirty years ago, Monterrey had no galleries, no museums, and no collectors. Today, it’s an art market that rivals Dallas and Houston.

By John Davidson

Cotton Tale

Long before Lonesome Dove and other cattle-culture classics defined Texas for the world, Hold Autumn in Your Hand—a novel that wasn’t about cowboys or Longhorns—won critical acclaim. With good reason.

By Don Graham

Shakespeare in Lufkin

Y’all, the world’s a stage.

By Gregory Curtis

First Person

In Over My Head

When I decided to put in a swimming pool, I had visions of supermodels doing the backstroke in my back yard. Instead, I got one big headache after another.

By Turk Pipkin

Health

Ardor in the Court

Working out of his two-man firm in Dallas, plaintiff’s attorney Kip Petroff is doing something his peers around the country can’t: He’s bringing a major drug company to its knees.

By Alicia Mundy

Reporter

The Ex Files

Jason and Jeremy London

Jason: I got my first movie role the summer of my junior year. Jeremy wanted to go to this audition in Dallas for The Man in the Moon, and he talked me into driving him. I didn’t want to go because I had a date with my girlfriend, but I

By Patricia McConnico

David Hale Smith

David Hale Smith rejects more than three hundred manuscripts each month, but when he accepts one, publishers take note. Since 1994, when he left the tutelage of Dallas superagent Jan Miller and founded his own agency, DHS Literary, the thirty-year-old has established himself as one of the industry’s young lions,

By Katy Vine

Business

Whole Sales

As the nation’s largest chain of natural and organic foods supermarkets, Austin-based Whole Foods Market is where the trendy buy such necessities as tea tree oil toothpaste. But now patrons no longer have to shop in person to make a statement. In late March WholeFoods.com opened for business, offering some

By Eileen Schwartz

CD and Book Reviews

Hot CDsTexas honky-tonker Floyd Tillman is best known for heartbreak lyrics like “Slipping Around” and “It Makes No Difference Now.” But on Herb Remington Instrumentally Salutes Floyd Tillman (Glad), the chiming steel guitarist for Bob Wills’s post-war Texas Playboys demonstrates that Tillman’s poppish material is equally strong on melody and

Not So Rosy

Why Bush’s tax cuts are in trouble.President-anoint George W. Bush has adopted a Rose Garden strategy as the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination that justifies ducking GOP rivals and the media by saying he has to concentrate on doing his job as governor. But this game plan works only

By Paul Burka

Al, Gored

Can Al Lipscomb survive both the ballot box and the jury box?

By Jim Atkinson

Reporter

Unbearable

Baylor University gets sued by one of its own.

By Jordan Mackay

Reporter

Date Line

The world’s largest online love line.

By Patricia McConnico

Reporter

Inflamed

Why a Seguin writer is all fired up.

By Patricia Sharpe

The Obsession Thing

When someone says she loves George Bush these days, she’s almost certainly talking about the man William Bennett recently christened “W.” But at least one novelist prefers the ex-president to the presidential hopeful. Next January Simon and Schuster will publish Lydia Millet’s George Bush, Dark Prince of Love, which she

By Evan Smith

Web

Recipe

Thai Corn Cakes

3 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro 2 tablespoons peeled and chopped garlic 1 jalapeño, seeded and chopped 2 tablespoons seeded, chopped red bell pepper 3 eggs, beaten 1 tablespoon cornstarch 1 teaspoon salt 3/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper 1/4 cup corn oil (for frying)

Recipe

Sesame Chicken Satay

Peanut Dipping Sauce1/4 cup chopped cilantro 1 tablespoon peeled and grated fresh ginger 2 teaspoons peeled and chopped garlic 1 teaspoon tamari or light soy sauce 1/4 teaspoon fish sauce 2 tablespoons raw chile paste 1/4 cup honey 1/3 cup rice vinegar 4 tablespoons creamy peanut butter 1 teaspoon dry

Recipe

Peanut Dipping Sauce

1/4 cup chopped cilantro 1 tablespoon peeled and grated fresh ginger 2 teaspoons peeled and chopped garlic 1 teaspoon tamari or light soy sauce 1/4 teaspoon fish sauce 2 tablespoons raw chile paste 1/4 cup honey 1/3 cup rice vinegar 4 tablespoons creamy peanut butter 1 teaspoon dry mustard 1

Miscellany

State Fare

Some dishes are so harmonious that they practically sing, and this creation from chef Mynetta Cockerell at Marty’s WineBar in Dallas is one of them. Served in the small, cozy restaurant located at the front of the wineshop, the dish involves variations on the themes of garlic, ginger, and sesame.

By Patricia Sharpe

The Inside Story

Built for Speedy

RICHARD SPEEDY wasn’t planning on working last January when he took his fifth trip to Mexico’s Copper Canyon, but he happened to be on the same trek as senior editor Joe Nick Patoski, who needed someone to document his crossing of the vast and brutal expanse (see “Let’s Get

By Eileen Schwartz

Texas History

Cynthia Ann and Quanah Parker

Which American president was befriended by Quanah Parker?

By Anne Dingus

Around the State

The Detroit tigers—literally, Sumatran cats from the Motor City—make their new home at the Dallas Zoo. A house-museum called Rienzi proves that home is where the art is in Houston. Lance Armstrong rides tall in the saddle to fight cancer in Austin. Russia’s Romanov dynasty holds court at the San

The Stand Up Desk

Small Talk

ISSUES LIKE YOUR LATEST, “The Best of Small-Town Texas” [March 1999], are why we moved back to Texas.Gary SalyerArlingtonI CANNOT IMAGINE LIVING ANYWHERE ELSE but Hico. I love this town. Everything you said about small towns is so right. The ambience makes up for the lack of malls.Anita MuellerHicoYOUR