Randal Ford
If the cover looks familiar to you, it’s because Randal Ford based it on a painting by one of his favorite artists. “As long as I can remember, I have been a fan of Norman Rockwell’s,” says the contributing photographer, who grew up in Highland Park and graduated from Texas A&M. In fact, Ford has created an entire series of photographs based on Rockwell’s work, which you can see at randalford.com. “Rockwell painted life the way he would have liked it. That’s the way I like it too.”
Kinky Friedman
Photograph by Cindy Lofton
“Texas’s loss is TEXAS MONTHLY’s gain,” crowed Kinky Friedman in March after losing the Democratic primary for ag commissioner. Well, just a few short months later, the former columnist has returned to our pages with “Gov Hunt” in which he offers unsolicited advice to Rick Perry and Bill White. (Kinky, for the record, has endorsed the lovable pooch Woodrow for governor.) But after two disappointing statewide races, does Kinky still think he has a future in politics? “If you fail at something long enough, you become a legend,” he says.
Patricia Kilday Hart
During the past legislative session, Patricia Kilday Hart was sitting in a Finance hearing when she heard someone from the Harris County Sheriff’s Department testify that the county jail was now the state’s largest psychiatric facility. “I knew there was a story there,” she says. Her reporting took her from the state budget to the streets of Houston. “You realize that there are thousands of families dealing with mental illness and that often their only recourse is to call 911.”
