My father always pampered his pets. So when he fell ill and moved in with us, it was no surprise that his corgi came to rule our home. What I didn’t expect was for Trilby to care for me after Dad was gone.
Mimi Swartz, the author, with Sherron Watkins, of Power Failure, The Inside Story of the Collapse of Enron, is an executive editor of Texas Monthly. Previously, she was a staff writer at Talk, from April 1999 to April 2001, and a staff writer at the New Yorker from 1997 to 2001. Prior to joining the New Yorker, she worked at Texas Monthly for thirteen years. In 1996 Swartz was a finalist for two National Magazine Awards and won in the public interest category for “Not What the Doctor Ordered.” She was also a National Magazine Award finalist for her November 2005 issue story on tort reform, titled “Hurt? Injured? Need a Lawyer? Too Bad!” and won the 2006 John Bartlow Martin Award for Public Interest, Magazine Journalism, for the same story. In 2013 she won her second National Magazine Award (again in the category of public interest), for “Mothers, Sisters, Daughters, Wives,” a compelling look at the state of women's health care in Texas.
Over the years, Swartz’s work has appeared in Vanity Fair, Esquire, Slate, National Geographic, and the New York Times’ op-ed page and Sunday magazine. It has also been collected in Best American Political Writing 2006 and Best American Sportswriting 2007. She has been a member of the Texas Institute of Letters since 1994. Swartz grew up in San Antonio and graduated from Hampshire College, in Amherst, Massachusetts. She now lives in Houston with her husband, John Wilburn, and son, Sam.
Articles by Mimi Swartz
Testing the Test: New Legislation Filed to Audit STAAR
More challenges emerge to Texas’s least favorite exam.
Are Texas Kids Failing? Or Are the Tests Rigged?
Leading educators and testing experts have studied the exams and find that they are asking kids to understand passages aimed two or more years above their grade level.
The Texanhood of George H. W. Bush
He built an oil empire, revitalized the state’s Republican party, gave rise to a political dynasty, and forever changed the Lone Star State. Yet the question dogged him his entire life: Was he a real Texan or merely a Yankee transplant?
The Power Issue: Sylvester Turner Is Reaching Across the Aisle to Save Texas’s Biggest City
The Houston mayor understands the wisdom of maintaining good relations even with people you disagree with again and again.
The Power Issue: John and Laura Arnold Are Guiding Philanthropy Into the Age of Big Data
A Houston couple brings the ”Moneyball” philosophy to social change.
The Power Issue: Elena Marks Is Offering a New Prescription for the Health Care System
The president and CEO of Houston’s Episcopal Health Foundation has some bold ideas for retooling our medical system.
Richard Linklater Political Ad Pokes Fun at Ted Cruz
The video ad reminds viewers of Donald Trump’s Ted Cruz insults and of Cruz failing to act ’Texas Tough.’
Ted Cruz and John Cornyn’s Stances on Brett Kavanaugh Confirm Their Allegiances to the Old Boys’ Club
Of course it wasn’t any wonder that our Texas senators couldn’t find it in their hearts or minds to consider Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s version of events.
Houston Designer Wears Her Support for Beto with a Sleeveless Dress
Inspired by the Senate hopeful’s bumper sticker, Judy Masliyah, owner of My Flaming Heart, has also created a Western shirt for men.
