The Texanist
January 17, 2021
The Texanist: Has There Ever Been Any Violence at the Texas Capitol?
The recent, terrifying events in Washington have an Austin man wondering about mayhem closer to home.
Being Texan
Being Texan
January 15, 2021
Why Droves of Pilgrims Trek to This Tree in South Texas Every Year
Two decades ago, a woman bought a cutting from a nursery in the Rio Grande Valley. What grew was much bigger than a tree.
By
Cat Cardenas
![Cat Cardenas's Profile Photo]()
The Texanist
January 7, 2021
The Texanist: My Daughter Moved to Texas More Than a Year Ago. Why Hasn’t She Visited the Alamo Already?
A Maryland man is worried that his progeny may never become a true Texan.
Health
January 5, 2021
The 19-Year-Old Funeral Home Employee Facing a Flood of “Death Calls”
Last month, Donavan Diaz planned as many funerals as he might have in six months pre-pandemic.
Texas History
January 5, 2021
Until 1968, a Married Texas Woman Couldn’t Own Property or Start a Business Without Her Husband’s Permission. This Dallas Attorney Changed That.
Louise Raggio fought to pass a landmark law that gave equal rights to Texas women.
Being Texan
January 1, 2021
“This Pandemic Isn’t Finished With Us Yet. Until Then, I’m Sleeping With One Eye Open.”
Chefs, musicians, gardeners, and one very enthusiastic librarian tell Texas Monthly about their New Year’s rituals and plans for 2021.
Art
December 31, 2020
The Photographs That Stopped Us in Our Tracks in 2020
From a homing pigeon in flight to a kayaking trip on the lower Pecos River, these are our favorite images from the year.
The Texanist
December 28, 2020
The Texanist: Words of Wisdom for Ringing in 2021
All the Fine Advice you'll need to make sure the new year is much, much, much better than the last.
Being Texan
December 23, 2020
Holiday Traditions Are Essential for My Sister. This Year, We’re Making New Ones Together.
Ellie, who lives with autism, has struggled with the loss of routine wrought by the pandemic. But her enthusiasm has buoyed both of us.
Health
December 22, 2020
San Antonio’s Bus Drivers Stepped Up During the Pandemic
Watch the video to follow Bobby Richardson and others as they deliver food, and support, to the families along their routes.
Health
December 22, 2020
Unwilling to Call in an Exterminator, 89-Year-Old Carlene Stalks a Tiny Foe
I’ve been living in my house for 31 years, and I never had a mouse in the house. Well, a few days after Thanksgiving I found a candy wrapper on the floor beneath my kitchen compactor. It was one of those Kind bars, with nuts in them. I
Libations
December 18, 2020
The Best Things We Learned to Do at Home in Texas This Year
Try your hand at gardening, stargazing, mixing the world’s easiest cocktail, and much more with this handy guide.
The Texanist
December 18, 2020
The Texanist: How Can Whataburger Say That It’s Still “Family Owned and Operated”?
An Austin man is skeptical that a company held by a Chicago investment firm can claim that distinction.
Style & Design
December 17, 2020
How Six of Your Favorite Texans Are Celebrating the Holidays This Year
Tootsie Tomanetz, for one, is capping off this pandemic year with lots and lots of Christmas lights.
Being Texan
December 17, 2020
The Ten Most Memorable Things Influential Texans Told Us This Year
These are our favorite quotes from the actors, musicians, business leaders, and other prominent people who appeared in our pages.
Best Thing In Texas
December 16, 2020
The Best Things in Texas, 2021: H-E-B’s Charles Butt
During a very tough year, no Texas CEO did more—for customers, students, and voters.
By
Mimi Swartz
![Mimi Swartz's Profile Photo]()
Being Texan
December 16, 2020
Texas Wedding Photographers Have Seen Some $#!+
They know what you did this summer.
Texas History
December 15, 2020
What Happened at Pease River Wasn’t a Battle. It Was a Massacre.
How a Texas Ranger’s personal mythology came to be accepted as popular history.
Being Texan
December 15, 2020
Meanwhile, in Texas: A Woman is Reunited with Her Six-Years-Missing Dog
Plus, an intoxicated passenger forced a plane heading to Houston to land early in Alabama.
Being Texan
December 8, 2020
How Zoom Spanish Classes Are Saving My Sanity During the Pandemic
When my Austin lessons went virtual, I discovered the joy—and distraction—in thinking about unfamiliar pronunciation, irregular verbs, and past tenses in these challenging times.
The Texanist
December 7, 2020
The Texanist: Is There Really Only One Place to Go Trout Fishing in Texas?
An Oregon transplant is hoping he can find a few places to cast a line in his adopted state.
Best Thing In Texas
November 30, 2020
The Best Thing in Texas: Detroit Lions Fans Are Donating to Deshaun Watson’s Charity to Thank Him for the Whupping He Gave Their Team
The Lions have been mired in mediocrity—but Deshaun and the Texans may have helped break the fever.
By
Dan Solomon
![Dan Solomon's Profile Photo]()
Music
November 30, 2020
Collings Guitars Are Worth Every Penny
In a nondescript space outside Austin, the team behind these world-renowned guitars carry on the exacting legacy of their founder.
By
Michael Hall
![Michael Hall's Profile Photo]()
Being Texan
November 24, 2020
The Viral Footage of Texans Waiting in Line at the New College Station Dunkin’ Donuts Is Good, Actually
Let people have some joy for once in their lives.
By
Dan Solomon
![Dan Solomon's Profile Photo]()
Texas History
November 20, 2020
A Trove of Vintage Photos Reveals a Bygone Texas—and Beyond
A Houston exhibit of images scavenged from junk shops and flea markets offers a view of the past that anticipates the present.
Texas History
November 18, 2020
Texans You Should Know: How a Black Cowboy’s Discovery Changed the Field of Archaeology
George McJunkin found a prehistoric bison skeleton that upended theories about human existence in the Americas.
Meanwhile in Texas
November 18, 2020
Meanwhile, in Texas: An Austin Man Built a Robot Named Artie and a Candy-Shooting Cannon
Plus, a horse cloned from an endangered Mongolian breed was born at a Canyon veterinary hospital.
The Texanist
November 16, 2020
The Texanist: I Love Tamales. But I Live in Northern Ireland. Help!
A Belfast woman is looking for a few good corn husks.
Texas History
November 6, 2020
Slavery Was Integral to Texas’s Transition From Republic to Statehood, but This Textbook Doesn’t Tell the Full Story
The version of Texas history taught in school is often anglicized and sanitized. We examine how one textbook falls short.
Health
October 30, 2020
During COVID, San Antonio’s Botánicas Saw an Uptick in Customers
Follow writer Peter Holley as he explores some of the city's traditional-medicine and faith-healing establishments.
Texas History
October 29, 2020
How Leaders of the Texas Revolution Fought to Preserve Slavery
The version of Texas history taught in school is often anglicized and sanitized. We examine how one textbook falls short.
Being Texan
October 28, 2020
I’m Not Ashamed of My Stutter
Stuttering is finally in the spotlight, thanks to Joe Biden’s campaign and the announcement of a groundbreaking new University of Texas research center. But it’s always been part of my life.
The Texanist
October 26, 2020
The Texanist: Bears Are Making a Comeback in Texas. How Scared Should I Be?
A Midland woman wonders what to do if she meets a member of the family Ursidae in the wild.
Texas History
October 22, 2020
How One State History Textbook Erases the Stories of Black and Hispanic Texans
The version of Texas history I learned in school was woefully incomplete. And, according to two historians, this 2016 textbook is, too.
Being Texan
October 15, 2020
How Texas Beeworks’s Erika Thompson Became the Queen Bee of Pastoral TikTok
A day in the not-so-secret life of bees.
Being Texan
October 14, 2020
This Year, Our Family’s Día de los Muertos Altar Will Memorialize Those Who Have Died From the Coronavirus
The ofrenda we build to honor loved ones will include not only our distant past but also the very sorrow that we’re living through now.
Meanwhile in Texas
October 14, 2020
Meanwhile, in Texas: An Abilene Man Used a Golf Club to Fish a Snake out of His Toilet
Plus, fifty thousand purple martins descended on a parking lot in McAllen.
Texas History
October 13, 2020
Remember That Time a Nuclear Weapons Bunker Blew Up in San Antonio?
In 1963, Lackland Air Force Base experienced a cataclysmic explosion. People thought World War III had started. Today, it's been almost completely forgotten.
The Texanist
October 8, 2020
The Texanist: What Would the World Be Like if Willie Nelson Had Never Happened?
An Austin man ponders the unthinkable.
Politics & Policy
October 8, 2020
In the Shadow of the Border Wall, Rio Grande Valley ‘Dragtivists’ Fight for Equality
South Texas queens who put on a wig, makeup, and heels are rebelling against a culture that has long been steeped in machismo.
By
Cat Cardenas
![Cat Cardenas's Profile Photo]()
The Texanist
October 5, 2020
The Texanist: What Old Texas Games Can I Get My Screen-Addicted Kids to Play?
A Houston mom has had it with Minecraft.
Sports
September 24, 2020
Breaking the Barrier: The Road to Becoming a First-Generation Bull Rider
In the first film for our new Being Texan docuseries, three pint-size cowboys make their inaugural rides on flesh-and-blood steers.
The Texanist
September 12, 2020
The Texanist: Do Texans Have a Beef With Alberta, Canada?
A resident of “The Texas of Canada” is having second thoughts about retiring to the Lone Star State.
Health
September 2, 2020
On Texas Time: Davina Davidson, Founder of the Melanin Yoga Project
The Houston teacher and nonprofit leader talks about dismantling racism in yoga.
Texas History
August 19, 2020
The Statues Are Coming Down. Maybe That’s a Missed Opportunity.
As monuments to slaveholders, Confederate soldiers, and Texas Rangers disappear across the state, we’re being forced to reconsider what should be honored, what should be commemorated, and what it’s time to let go of.
Country Notes
August 19, 2020
Passing the Time With the Ghosts in the Dirt
Social distancing on a ranch in South Texas, one writer finds a diversion—and a sort of community—in studying the fragments of English dinnerware her predecessors left behind.
Texas History
August 18, 2020
The ‘Country Queers’ Podcast Challenges Preconceptions About Rural Areas
The multimedia oral history project features the stories of queer people, many of them Texans, who live outside cities.
The Texanist
August 17, 2020
The Texanist: Why Are People Putting Cilantro in Everything?
A Texas transplant to California is unhappy about the ubiquity of the “nasty and repugnant weed."
The Texanist
August 10, 2020
The Texanist: Can an Alabamian Be the Voice of Big Tex?
A Sugar Land man wants to know if his friend from out of state could be the official greeter at the State Fair of Texas.
Best Thing In Texas
August 4, 2020
The Best Thing in Texas: Curbside Larry Is the Hero We Need in These Times
We pulled up and opened the trunks of our hearts, and the Harris County Public Library’s instantly iconic pitchman quickly deposited himself inside.
By
Dan Solomon
![Dan Solomon's Profile Photo]()