Being Texan
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.
Being Texan
Style & Design
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.
Texas Country Reporter
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.
Texas History
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.
Being Texan
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.
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.
Texas Country Reporter
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.
Texas Country Reporter
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.
Texas Country Reporter
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.
Music
February 18, 2022
TM Recommends: A Glorious Georgetown Hike
Plus: a Motown dance party and an existential visit to West Texas.
Texas History
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.
The Texanist
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.’)
Meanwhile, in Texas
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.
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 Dan Solomon![Dan Solomon's Profile Photo]()
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.
Being Texan
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Texanist
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.
Texas History
January 17, 2022
The Secrets of Bonfire Shelter
Archaeologists are uncovering new clues at a canyon where ancient Texans once hunted bison en masse.
Meanwhile, in Texas
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.
Being Texan
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.
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.
The Texanist
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.
Meanwhile, in Texas
January 4, 2022
Fish Fell From the Sky in Texarkana, and No One Is Reel-y Sure Why
Cod this story be any stranger?
Being Texan
December 24, 2021
Ode to a Fact-checker
Texas Monthly remembers Chester Rosson, a longtime staffer and resident gentle soul.
By John Spong![John Spong's Profile Photo]()
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.
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 Cat Cardenas![Cat Cardenas's Profile Photo]()
Being Texan
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.
Being Texan
December 16, 2021
‘The Twelve Days of Christmas,’ Texas Edition
Twelve tamales steaming, eleven Longhorns losing . . . and thirty to fifty feral hogs.
Texas History
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.
Being Texan
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 Mimi Swartz![Mimi Swartz's Profile Photo]()
Meanwhile, in Texas
December 11, 2021
Meanwhile, in Texas: A Butterfly Migrated by Plane
Plus, a woman in Temple threw her soup at a restaurant employee.
The Texanist
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?
Being Texan
December 6, 2021
An East Texas Freedom Colony Looks to the Future—and Reckons With Its Losses
The Upshaw family has preserved their history and traditions since the 1870s. Now, amid deaths and other departures, family members worry for their land’s legacy.
By Cat Cardenas![Cat Cardenas's Profile Photo]()
Sports
December 3, 2021
Texas Monthly Recommends: A Game of Spikeball
The only limit to where it can be played is your imagination.
Texas History
December 1, 2021
It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s Barbette, a Gender-bending 1920s Aerialist From Round Rock
Performing death-defying trapeze stunts in drag, he shocked Parisian audiences.
Politics & Policy
November 29, 2021
How Refugees From Myanmar Have Embraced Midland—and Its Conservative Politics
Members of the Chin ethnic group have found good jobs in the oil fields, and many are voting Republican.
Hunting & Fishing
November 24, 2021
Texas First: Killing and Cooking My Own Thanksgiving Turkey
As an impressive quantity of hot, steaming blood poured over my bare hands, I wondered how I, a vegetarian for most of my life, had ended up here.
By Rose Cahalan![Rose Cahalan's Profile Photo]()
Art
November 20, 2021
Remembering Dave Hickey, Brilliant Art Critic and Renegade Texan
The celebrated Fort Worth writer and entrepreneur spent most of his life in exile from his home state. But it never lost its grip on his imagination.
Being Texan
November 17, 2021
14 Ways to Prepare for the Next Winter Freeze
Texas experts share their best advice on emergency kits, weatherizing your home, connecting with neighbors, and more.
Best Thing in Texas
November 16, 2021
Texas Tech Just Won Its Third Straight National Championship in Meat Judging
Students, many of whom go on to work in food science, train by spending as much time as possible in a meat locker studying beef carcasses.
Meanwhile, in Texas
November 14, 2021
Meanwhile, in Texas: Deputies Wrangled a Kangaroo on the Lam
Plus, a Lubbock couple found their chihuahua hidden in their suitcase at the airport, and other head-turning stories.
Sports
November 10, 2021
Westlake High School Football Coach Todd Dodge Might Be the Best Who Ever Did It
Good luck finding a Texan who’s lived a more complete football life than Westlake High School coach Todd Dodge. Now in his final season before retirement, the six-time state champion is looking to add one more trophy to his mantel.
The Texanist
November 4, 2021
The Texanist: Where Did All These Bright Green Parrots Come From?
A longtime San Antonio resident is thrilled—but puzzled—by the presence of monk parakeets in her hometown.
Best Thing in Texas
November 2, 2021
Mariah Carey Armors Up Against a Dallas Bar’s War on Christmas
A bar decreed “All I Want for Christmas Is You” non grata, and the queen of Christmas isn’t happy about it.
Texas History
October 29, 2021
Houston’s First Black Cemetery Was Neglected For Decades. One Group Is Leading Its Rejuvenation.
Olivewood Cemetery is the resting ground of many Houston trailblazers and an important piece of the history of the African diaspora.