Texas Tidbits
December 1, 2005
Texas Tidbits
The pock-marked Dinosaur Valley State Park reveals an amazingly well-preserved (and somewhat checkered) prehistoric past.
2005
Web Exclusive
December 1, 2005
An Excerpt from “Little Town Lies”
Chapter 1Sally Hopkins gave up trying to find an NPR station. They didn’t make that kind of radio out here, not on the long road back home … and maybe that was just as well. She stopped twisting the dial when she heard the faint sound of country music coming
Music Review
December 1, 2005
Lost Horizon
Musicians have been exploring the majesty of the electric-guitar sound almost since the instrument’s invention, but it’s only recently that a spate of instrumental rock bands has sprung forth in dedication to it. Friends of Dean Martinez (the “ez” was added at the behest of the Dean Martin estate) was
Music Review
December 1, 2005
Live in Austin, TX DVD/CD
The long-running PBS show Austin City Limits has begun to loosen its grip on decades of peerless archives with a series of original broadcasts on DVD and companion CDs. Notable in the latest batch is Live From Austin TX (New West), a 1990 session with the short-lived supergrouping of Freddy
Music Review
December 1, 2005
The Funk Anthology
It’s hard to pinpoint why time has not built the reputation of Houston’s Johnny “Guitar” Watson. It’s not that Watson wasn’t influential—artists from Jimi Hendrix to Etta James gave him his due—and it wasn’t for a lack of hits. His seventies funk period, now collected in The Funk Anthology (Shout
Book Review
December 1, 2005
Havoc
Austinite R.J. Pineiro hits plenty of high notes in his near-future techno-thriller, Havoc (Forge). The year is 2009, and a spiffy military-strength robot orb stolen from the U.S. Nanosolutions compound in Central Texas is loose in Europe. It has switched into survival mode, replicating itself and resolving to wipe out
Book Review
December 1, 2005
Ringside Seat to a Revolution
Ringside Seat to a Revolution: An Underground Cultural History of El Paso and Juarez, 1893–1923 (Cinco Puntos) is a horseless carriage ride back to the dawn of the twentieth century, when revolution seemed to be carried around the world on the wind. And as portrayed by David Dorado Romo in
Book Review
December 1, 2005
Against Gravity
An immigrant’s tale—the specter of a life abandoned, the perilous promise of a better future—can make for compelling drama. Author Farnoosh Moshiri’s forced flight from revolutionary Iran in 1983 (she would end up in Houston for a time) provides an intriguing back story for her searingly beautiful novel Against Gravity
Texas History 101
December 1, 2005
Texas History 101
In the late 1800’s a group of women from Bell County left their husbands to set up a communal house in Belton.
Happy Trails
December 1, 2005
Happy Trails
Fairfield is much more than a near-midpoint pit stop between Dallas and Houston.
Books That Cook
December 1, 2005
Books That Cook
The Dallas Junior Leaguers are at it again. Not only do these women volunteer some 120,000 hours at nonprofit agencies in Dallas and throughout the Metroplex, but they’re also warmly hospitable and talented in the kitchen as evidenced by their beautiful new cookbook Dallas Dish.As you might expect from its
Web Exclusive
December 1, 2005
All the Pretty Horses
Catherine Crier, the host of Court TV’s Catherine Crier Live, on growing up in Dallas, riding and showing horses, and moving away from Texas.
Web Exclusive
December 1, 2005
There’s No Going Home
Senior editor Gary Cartwright on how Arlington is not his town anymore.
Web Exclusive
December 1, 2005
The Real World
Associate editor John Spong on going to Westlake, being popular, and life after high school.
Web Exclusive
December 1, 2005
The Kid From Amarillo
Contributing photographer Wyatt McSpadden talks about open spaces, Amarillo as an oasis, and where he’s from now.
Web Exclusive
December 1, 2005
Basic Training
Senior editor Michael Hall on being a military child, growing up on a base, and starting over.
Web Exclusive
December 1, 2005
Family Matters
Writer-at-large Jan Reid on growing up, his mother, and her religion.
Web Exclusive
December 1, 2005
Good Times
Editor Evan Smith on Willie Nelson and what we could all learn from him.
Where I'm From
December 1, 2005
This Month’s Contributors
Roberto Parada, who illustrated the seven Where I’m From profiles, was born in North Arlington, New Jersey.Executive editor Mimi Swartz (“Midnight in the Garden of Memory,” was born in Baltimore, Maryland.Senior executive editor Paul Burka (“I of the Storm,” was born in Galveston.Writer-at-large Oscar Casares (“Christmas
Where I'm From
December 1, 2005
Lupe Valdez on Being the Daughter of Migrant Workers
As the daughter of migrant workers from South Texas, I was taught to value education, choose my friends wisely, and stay on the right side of the law.
Where I'm From
December 1, 2005
Richard Linklater
The prison affected me personally. I grew up parking cars at the prison rodeo. I had a stepfather who was a prison guard.
Where I'm From
December 1, 2005
Tish Hinojosa
It wasn’t until I moved away that I saw that a lot of art, a lot of what Texas is about, didn’t come only from San Antonio.
Where I'm From
December 1, 2005
Ethan Hawke
Larry McMurtry writes about how if you’re forced to leave Texas before you’re ready, before the state lets you go, you always dream of it.
Where I'm From
December 1, 2005
Kirbyjon Caldwell
One evening Ike and Tina came over for dinner to my mom and dad’s house. Tina kissed me on the forehead before I went to bed.
Where I'm From
December 1, 2005
Bob Schieffer
Whenever I go to Fort Worth, I try to take a look at the little house where we lived. It’s amazing to think about what we went through.
Music
December 1, 2005
Willie Nelson
“I always thought that if I was having fun doing what I was doing and making a living doing it, then I was already successful.”
Art
December 1, 2005
Start Here
The childhood homes of nine famous Texans.
Roar of the Crowd
December 1, 2005
Rah Deal
Great article about the cheerleading debate [“Flipping Out,” October 2005]. All I can say is this: It’s funny that the legislators mention “more of our young girls getting pregnant in middle and high school, dropping out of school, having babies,” when it’s the young ladies on the cheerleading squads
Reporter
December 1, 2005
Y’all Come Back
Homecoming in the town of Spur means football, the crowning of a queen, parades, pep rallies, barbecue, a bonfire, and so much more.
Pat's Pick
December 1, 2005
O Christmas Tea
Timely treats for your culinary calendar.
Pat's Pick
December 1, 2005
Café San Miguel
Dallas.
Feature
December 1, 2005
I of the Storm
The Gulf carried mendacity in every molecule. Its beauty, its tranquillity, was all a lie. It had created Galveston, carved out its deepwater port, tempted us with the promise of greatness, and then betrayed us.
Feature
December 1, 2005
The Lost City
A few of the streets near what used to be downtown have familiar names, but Arlington has mutated into a disconnected clump of shopping malls, cul-de-sacs, and gated communities, faceless, soulless neighborhoods that give urban sprawl a bad name.
Feature
December 1, 2005
Christmas in Brownsville
My father, who had grown up on a farm, used to talk about his family’s killing a pig for the tamales, but this was back in the twenties.
Feature
December 1, 2005
Midnight in the Garden of Memory
My San Antonio was an overgrown small town, socially stratified and inbred, controlled by a handful of old, wealthy families.
Feature
December 1, 2005
Flatlander
People have an attitude about the Panhandle, as if living there is a hardship. To this day, they offer condolences when they learn where I’m from.
Texas History
December 1, 2005
Embarrassment of Riches
At Westlake, even if your parents wouldn’t spring for Ralph Lauren, you could still work your way into the in crowd.
Feature
December 1, 2005
Army Brat
More than anything, we hated the moves, the long drives in a hot car with squabbling siblings, then getting to the new post and having to be the new kid all over again.
Feature
December 1, 2005
Me of Little Faith
All I know for certain about religion is that the one my mother tried so hard to pass on to me just didn’t take.
Behind the Lines
December 1, 2005
Where I’m Of
The case for my Texanness.
Sarah Bird
December 1, 2005
Mass Appeal
My short, happy life as a Catholic schoolgirl.
Around the State
December 1, 2005
Around the State
December—People, Places, Events, Attractions12-2005It’s list-checking time again up at the North Pole, so if you’ve been more naughty than nice this year, some friendly advice: Head straight to Columbus. You can plead your case directly—and ad nauseam—at the Mary Elizabeth Hopkins Santa Claus Museum, where more than two thousand versions
Texas Tidbits
November 1, 2005
Texas Tidbits
Once the pride of Houston, the Astrodome now faces a midlife crisis.
Texas History 101
November 1, 2005
Texas History 101
The rise and fall of Galveston.
Web Exclusive
November 1, 2005
The Cowboy and the Lady
Executive editor Skip Hollandsworth on Peggy Jo Tallas (the infamous bank robber known as Cowboy Bob) and rooting for the bad guy.
Web Exclusive
November 1, 2005
The State of Boys State
Senior editor Gary Cartwright on the McCallum boys, Boys State, and democracy.
Web Exclusive
November 1, 2005
The Reformers
Executive editor Mimi Swartz on Proposition 12, partisan politics, and consumer rights.
Sports
November 1, 2005
Made in China
Brook Larmer, Newsweek’s Shanghai bureau chief and the author of Operation Yao Ming, on basketball sensation Yao Ming, sports in China, and writing his first book.
Web Exclusive
November 1, 2005
Stormin’ Norman
Writer-at-large Don Graham on provocative writer Norman Mailer, New Journalism, and existentialism.
Web Exclusive
November 1, 2005
Welcome to the Dome
Associate editor John Spong talks about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, its survivors living in the Astrodome, and new beginnings.