A Battle for the Soul of Marfa
What happens when a wealthy patron wears out his welcome?
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
Is John Cornyn Vulnerable?
For many years, taking on the senior Texas senator seemed like a fool's errand. But in 2020, Cornyn looks less than invincible.
Here We Go Again: Houston, Flooding, and the Five Stages of Grief
Like many in Houston, I've fallen into a predictable pattern as I’ve adapted to the increasingly extreme weather here.
Legends of the Fall
Those wistful end-of-summer photos on Instagram have us deeply envious.
Could a Loud, Rich, and Scandal-Prone Personal Injury Lawyer Win Control of Houston?
Tony Buzbee knows how to win big in court. In the era of Trump, he might just win the Houston mayoral race.
More STAAR? The Texas Senate Proposes Even Higher-Stakes Testing for Students.
On Monday, the Senate passed a proposal to add four more writing tests and tie school funding directly to third-grade test results.
Enjoy Houston’s Intoxicating Jasmine Air While You Can
It's that magical—and all too brief—time in the city, when the heady blooms seem to make everything a little bit better.
New Study Reaffirms That STAAR Reading Tests Are Not on Grade Level
Eight different readability formulas showed the test's reading portions are at a higher level of difficulty than appropriate for the grades they’re assessing.
Life, in Dog Years
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.
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.
Seventeen Years After the Enron Scandal, Jeff Skilling Returns
When the company collapsed, the former CEO went to prison for fraud and insider trading. Turns out, he was just ahead of his time.
Troubled Waters: A Year After Harvey, Has Houston Learned Anything?
A year after Hurricane Harvey brought Houston to its knees, the city is still wrestling with how to prepare for the next great storm. There’s no shortage of good ideas, but in Houston, that’s never been the problem.
The High-Stakes Race to Create the World’s First Artificial Heart
In this exclusive excerpt from 'Ticker: The Quest to Create an Artificial Heart,' world-renowned Houston surgeon Bud Frazier races to help an ailing patient by implanting a revolutionary device that may one day save millions of lives.
How Houston Lost Its Mind Over a Trump Shirt
Outside a cookie shop in one of Houston’s most idyllic neighborhoods, a West University Place council member spied Trump’s name on a teenager’s shirt and yelled a few of the president’s worst words at her. Then the internet found out. It's springtime in the age of hysteria.
Barbara Bush Had a Good Life But a Hard One
As I have aged and faced my own challenges as a female on this planet, I have come to a different understanding of Barbara Bush.
Houston Must Plan For the Coming Storm
Why the remarkable heroism displayed by my fellow Houstonians will be required for years to come.
Dear Governor Abbott, I just happened to catch your remarks from yesterday afternoon, the ones you made while visiting the Austin gun range to sign the bill that lowers the cost of gun licenses in Texas. The Dallas Morning News story I read said that you celebrated by firing a 9…
It Can’t All Be Energy
A heart surgeon leads his city to the forefront of medical innovation.
Not So Special Ed
Public school parents with special-ed kids often find themselves squaring off against school districts and the taxpayer-funded lawyers who protect them.
Reflections on Anna Nicole Smith, Ten Years After Her Death
Anna Nicole Smith rose from a small town girl in Mexia to an icon, but her demons followed her far beyond Texas.
Farewell to a Fond Friend
Executive editor Mimi Swartz says goodbye to Tom Curtis, a writer, reporter, and former Texas Monthly contributor, who died earlier this week.
Towering Debts
in a state known for austerity, how can Texas's largest cities be nearly broke?
Out of Africa
Winning the MacArthur “genius grant” was a career highlight for Rice professor Rebecca Richards-Kortum. But it was a visit to Malawi that changed her life.
Since he finished his prison sentence, Andy Fastow, Enron’s disgraced CFO, has been quietly trying to make amends. But is the public ready to accept his apology?
Hail to the Chief?
Houston greets its new mayor, Sylvester Turner, with a host of big-city problems.
Haute Topic
Houston’s super-rich are learning to love the brand-new, very ritzy, much-heralded River Oaks District. (Maybe.)
HERO
What Houston’s Reaction to the Equal Rights Ordinance Says About My City
HERO evokes another era—one we shouldn’t be proud of.
Why No One Seems to Care About Houston’s Mayoral Race
The election only determines who will lead the nation's fourth-largest city, no big deal.
Green Acres
How did smog-breathing, gridlock-prone Houston become the newest natural wonder of the urban world?
Appeal to Reason
Mimi Swartz cross-examines the Court of Criminal Appeals’ unprecedented sanctions against a death penalty lawyer.
A Seat at the Table
Mimi Swartz wonders why, in this day and age, there are so few Hispanics serving on the boards of Texas nonprofits.
Texas History in 601 Words
The story of Texas can be reduced to one sentence: somebody has something somebody else wants and will put up a fight to get. In the beginning, these fights were over land. The Spanish explorers came here in the 1500’s; ignoring native peoples, they claimed a vast region that…
Torn on the Bayou
Mimi Swartz on what Houston’s fractious mayoral race says about the city.
Can’t We Ever Get Over the Texas Stereotype?
Bryan Cranston’s portrayal of LBJ was just another sad caricature of what the world thinks a Texan ought to act like.
Cities, Slicker
Mimi Swartz on how the rise of our cities will lead to a new kind of government.
Rachel Bonyton's film "Big Men" follows Dallas oilman Jim Musselman as he contracts with the government of Ghana to find and develop the first oil field in that country.
