Since Kinky Friedman ran for governor, in 2006, he has written one feature for texas monthly and finished a book about politics. This month marks his return as a back-page columnist (“Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”). Fans of Sarah Bird, however, shouldn’t panic; the two are going to alternate months. “When [editor] Evan Smith suggested that arrangement, I said, ‘Hell, I’ll alternate with Jeffrey Dahmer if you pay me enough,’” Friedman says. “I’d say it’s not bad for a Plan II honors program graduate from the University of Texas at Austin, which qualifies you to either sleep under a bridge or run for governor.”
Who says hard work and talent don’t pay off? We offer the tale of Andi Beierman, who started as an intern in our art department in 2006 and became deputy art director this past January. “I’ve always been interested in design,” she says. For four years Beierman worked at the Academy of Oriental Medicine at Austin, where she regularly “borrowed” office copies of the magazine. “I bugged the art director for three months to hire me as an intern.” Now she’s responsible for creating the layouts for a wide range of stories. “The job is a little intimidating,” she says, “but I’m enjoying the challenge.”
Since getting what he calls his breakthrough assignment from texas monthly (see “Good Vibrations,” October 2004 ), Brent Humphreys has refined his distinct style—lots of light and staging—and gone on to become one of the magazine world’s sought-after photographers. For proof, look at his 2007 travel itinerary: Assignments for the New York Times’ Play Magazine, Wired, Outside, and Field & Stream took him to Patagonia, Russia, France, and Italy; fortunately, we were able to send him to Alpine, where he photographed a 59-year-old college football player in October (“Untitled Mike Flynt Project”). “Autumn in West Texas is pretty much the same as springtime in Patagonia, minus all the flowers,” the Austin-based photographer says with a laugh.
