Brent Humphreys
Brent Humphreys
“Travel assignments are an adventure, and the wide-open spaces proved relaxing,” says Austin-based photographer Brent Humphreys, who hit the highway for “On the Road Again”. “It was nice to reacquaint myself with the state.” Humphreys, who is currently logging even more miles for a book project on the Tour de France, spent two days on each of the four drives, trying to capture the essence of the area. Asked if he has any advice for the road, he is practical and succinct: “Pack plenty of good music and, when in doubt, fill the tank.”
Pamela Colloff
Pamela Colloff
Senior editor Pamela Colloff first heard about the unsolved 1960 murder of Irene Garza, in McAllen, when she was reading about the Texas Rangers’ elite cold-case unit last January. That a priest, John Feit, had always been the main suspect in the death of the beautiful South Texas teacher fascinated Colloff, who delves into the full story in “Unholy Act”. Her reporting took her from the Valley to San Antonio, Oklahoma City, and Phoenix. “I really wanted to get a sense of who Irene was,” Colloff says. “The biggest challenge of this story was trying to make a crime that happened nearly half a century ago feel as urgent and horrifying as it did when it took place.”
Sarah Bird
Sarah Bird
“I was, literally, the first writer I ever knew,” says writer-at-large Sarah Bird about breaking into her line of work. “I completely backed into it.” Turns out that may be as good a way as any to get started, because not only has she penned five novels (including The Yokota Officers Club, 2001) and is working on a sixth, but she is also stepping into Kinky Friedman’s boots as texas monthly’s back-page columnist. Bird, who lives in Austin, says the cigar-wielding humorist is a tough act to follow: “I fear incurring the wrath of the Kinkyrati. Villagers with torches and pitchforks. Charges being trumped up and my sentence the first one that Governor Friedman does not commute.” For her brave debut, see “Sibling Ribaldry”.
