Being Texan

March 18, 2022

Why Does the World Need Bottle Cap Art?

Years ago, I learned an important lesson from a family in West Texas—happiness can be found in the simplest places.

By Bob Phillips

2:05

March 17, 2022

Big Doobie’s Is the Life of the Party in Port Arthur

Joshua Rodrigues opened a food truck to serve up good times and classic dishes to a community hungry for Cajun flavors.

4:25

March 16, 2022

Meet the Mr. Rogers of East Texas

I’ll never forget Herman “Train” Gates, the man who collected junk on an empty lot in Carthage, helped fix bikes for neighborhood kids, and wrote poetry.

By Bob Phillips

texanist difference between ranch and farm

March 16, 2022

The Texanist: What’s the Difference Between a Ranch and a Farm?

A New Braunfels man isn’t quite sure that he has a firm grasp on this fundamental aspect of Texas rural life.

By

1:57

March 15, 2022

John Wayne Wasn’t a Texan. But His Legacy Lives On in Fort Worth.

In a video interview, Ethan Wayne, the film star’s son, explains how an exhibit at the Fort Worth Stockyards began with a storage unit full of his dad’s untold stories.

Byron Bennett, left, and Dr. Jonas Salk in the University of Pittsburgh lab in 1954-55.

March 15, 2022

The Forgotten Texas Scientist Who Helped Develop the Polio Vaccine

Northeast Texas–born Byron Bennett was one of four key researchers on the team that created the lifesaving vaccine, but the spotlight shone only on Jonas Salk.

By Mary Beth Gahan

March 14, 2022

Me and My Truck: A Love Story

For fifteen years, my 2005 GMC Sierra has, through good times and bad weather, taken me to every corner of Texas. It might be time to say goodbye, but it won’t be easy.

By

Diane Rose, an acclaimed quilter who is blind.

5:28

March 11, 2022

Colorful Quilts Crafted by an Artist Who’s Blind

One of the most inspiring subjects I’ve met in five decades of interviews is Diane Rose, an acclaimed quilter who sees life through the eye of a needle.

By Bob Phillips

2:15

March 11, 2022

In Fayetteville, Step Into the Shelby Store and Step Back in Time

Founded in 1946, the Shelby Store is a relic of what retail once was for many small Texas communities.

3:20

March 9, 2022

Two Guys in Houston Are Bringing Back 100-Year-Old Mosaic Tile Street Signs

Joey Sanchez and Eric Maier are behind the Blue Tile Project, a movement to locate and restore the original tile street signs across the Bayou City.

Business|

March 8, 2022

At Texas Swingers Clubs, “the Lifestyle” Is Booming

As they emerge from the pandemic, some of the state’s least socially distanced venues are welcoming more couples than ever before. But it’s not all orgies.

By Madeleine Aggeler

March 8, 2022

One of the Longest Relationships in My Life Has Been With a Fern

Staghorn ferns aren’t easy to grow in Texas, but for nearly half a century, through storms and generations, my family has kept ours alive.

By Scott Brown

Film & TV|

March 4, 2022

TM Recommends: A Transportive TikTok Travel Agent

Plan your next road trip, work out, and binge-watch with our staff’s help.

By Texas Monthly

1:41

March 3, 2022

A Small-town Texan Keeps an Ancient Japanese Art Form Alive

Dinah Bowman is a world-renowned artist specializing in a fish printing technique. The results are rich, textured, and colorful. You have to see it for yourself.

2:54

February 25, 2022

She’s a Fourth-Generation Cattle Rancher. She’s Also a Master Painter.

From her studio near the Chihuahuan Desert, Alice Leese paints what it feels like to be out on the ranch.

3:25

February 25, 2022

The Texas Furniture Brand That Starred in Hollywood Westerns for Decades

W.R. Dallas has been crafting western furniture since 1929. The company’s iconic pieces have appeared everywhere from Hollywood films to hotel chains.

The Crockett Gardens on the Goodwater Loop Trail.

Music|

February 18, 2022

TM Recommends: A Glorious Georgetown Hike

Plus: a Motown dance party and an existential visit to West Texas.

By Texas Monthly

February 16, 2022

The Story Behind the Story: “The Coming of Redneck Hip,” November 1973

A pair of Texas Monthly writers chronicle an emerging scene that would end up defining a city and changing American music forever.

By

February 16, 2022

The Texanist: What Movies Get Texas Really, Really Wrong?

As it turns out, even the best films and TV shows about the Lone Star State have their share of gaffes. (Yes, even ‘Lonesome Dove.’)

By

February 12, 2022

Meanwhile, in Texas: It’s Raining Fish

Plus, a woman finds unidentified ashes in a Goodwill urn, and a Houston driver leaves a barbecue grill unattended in his truck bed.

By

Best Thing In Texas|

February 11, 2022

An NFL Star Took a Grieving Pflugerville Girl to the Father-Daughter Dance

Philadelphia Eagles safety Anthony Harris flew to Austin to help lift the spirits of eleven-year-old Audrey Soape on a difficult day.

By

Country Notes|

February 9, 2022

Marfa Meats Brings a Slaughterhouse Back to the Big Bend

Small-town locker plants, lifelines for rural Texans for generations, have vanished from parts of the state. Christy Miller’s company is an exception.

By Sterry Butcher

February 8, 2022

Just How Hard Is It to Draw the Shape of Texas? Pretty Hard, According to the “Ugly Texas” Instagram.

The account pokes fun at the many misshapen depictions of the state, from tattoos and murals to pies and furniture.

By

Sports|

February 8, 2022

Sumo Is Getting Big in Texas

Fighters in one of the state’s newest sumo clubs, in Dallas, want the sport to keep growing—without losing the traditions that define it.

By Madeleine Aggeler

Music|

February 4, 2022

TM Recommends: An Austin Musician and a Drag Star Walk Into a Bar . . .

Listen to the unforeseen collaboration between Shakey Graves and Trixie Mattel.

By Texas Monthly

Music|

January 25, 2022

Eighty Years Later, We’re Still ‘Deep in the Heart of Texas’

How a simple, two-chord song written by an Iowan became (clap clap clap clap) our unofficial state anthem.

By Sean O'Neal

Books|

January 21, 2022

Texas Monthly Recommends: A True-Crime Tale of Two Murders

‘Blood and Money’ has it all: new oil money, an equestrian heiress, a handsome plastic surgeon, River Oaks mansions, and gossip-worthy trials.

By Texas Monthly

January 18, 2022

The Texanist: What’s the Difference Between Tex-Mex and Mexican Food?

A transplant from California wades into an age-old culinary debate.

By

January 17, 2022

The Secrets of Bonfire Shelter

Archaeologists are uncovering new clues at a canyon where ancient Texans once hunted bison en masse.

By Pam LeBlanc

January 15, 2022

Meanwhile, in Texas: A Plumber Finds Cash in a Church’s Bathroom Wall

Plus, a homeowner sets a Christmas light show to Lil Jon and fishers get rescued from a Lake Amistad sandbar.

By

The author holding Augie in front of her former home in San Marcos on October 28, 2021.

January 11, 2022

How Much Is a Dog’s Life Worth?

A writer learns the hard way—the hardest way—that in Texas the answer is: not much.

By Hannah Smothers

Best Thing In Texas|

January 10, 2022

A Rio Grande Valley Woman Just Broke the U.S. Record for Most Birds Spotted in a Year

Tiffany Kersten saw 726 species in 48 states, setting a new record for the mind-boggling achievement birders call a Big Year.

By Will McCarthy

January 6, 2022

The Texanist: Why Doesn’t Texas Have an Official State Pastry?

A Fort Worth woman wants to know why we honor the bluebonnet and the pecan tree, but not the strudel or the sopaipilla.

By

January 4, 2022

Fish Fell From the Sky in Texarkana, and No One Is Reel-y Sure Why

Cod this story be any stranger?

By

Chester hard at work at his desk on that last deadline.

December 24, 2021

Ode to a Fact-checker

Texas Monthly remembers Chester Rosson, a longtime staffer and resident gentle soul.

By

Jesse Plemons as George Burbank and Kirsten Dunst as Rose Gordon in The Power of the Dog.

Film & TV|

December 17, 2021

Texas Monthly Recommends: A Contemplative, Beautifully Shot Western

‘The Power of the Dog,’ featuring Dallas-born Jesse Plemons, is well worth your time.

By Texas Monthly

Missing tortoise comes home Daniel Guerrero

Best Thing In Texas|

December 17, 2021

Diego the San Marcos Tortoise Comes Home After 38 Days on the Lam

This is a reunion we all can shellebrate.

By

Northpark Center Santa Claus smiling at the camera.

December 17, 2021

NorthPark’s Santa Claus Misses You But Loves His Virtual Visits

Kids in Dallas have been going to see him for more than thirty years, but now, because of the pandemic, he's coming to them. He tells us how it's going, which toys are popular, and what to leave Rudolph on Christmas Eve.

By Mary Beth Gahan

December 16, 2021

‘The Twelve Days of Christmas,’ Texas Edition

Twelve tamales steaming, eleven Longhorns losing . . . and thirty to fifty feral hogs.

By

December 15, 2021

The Quirky History of the Osage Orange, Texas’s Ugliest Fruit

Once eaten by woolly mammoths, and later used by Indigenous Texans and settlers for its sturdy wood, this strange plant has spread from Texas across the country.

By Allegra Hobbs

December 15, 2021

All I Want for Christmas . . . Is You

When a grown-up son visits for the holiday, a mom takes what she can get.

By

December 11, 2021

Meanwhile, in Texas: A Butterfly Migrated by Plane

Plus, a woman in Temple threw her soup at a restaurant employee.

By

December 6, 2021

The Texanist: What’s the Best Texas Christmas Song?

An El Paso woman is looking for the finest example of Lone Star holiday musical jollity. But can there only be one?

By