The Stand Up Desk
May 19, 2021
Chain Saws and Chicken-fried Steak
Senior editor Paula Mejía, senior editor Josh Alvarez, and executive editor Courtney Bond plan to pursue compelling stories in the coming months.
Editor's Letter
The Stand Up Desk
April 15, 2021
Crisis Manager
Executive editor Kathy Blackwell and her team have chronicled the pandemic's impact on the employees and owners of Texas’s hospitality companies.
The Stand Up Desk
March 23, 2021
From the Editor: Neither Snow nor Gloom of Night . . .
In this month’s cover package on the late Tejana singer Selena, we offer readers what we hope will be a welcome change of pace from our disaster coverage.
The Stand Up Desk
March 2, 2021
From the Editor: Fans of the Cowdog
Two of our staffers have been ardent Hank the Cowdog fans since they were kids. Now they bring you this month's cover story on the creator of the beloved children's books.
The Stand Up Desk
September 16, 2020
From the Editor, October 2020: “Learning to Listen”
How Skip Hollandsworth does it.
The Stand Up Desk
August 19, 2020
From the Editor, September 2020: “Knives Out”
The team behind this month's well-red cover story.
The Stand Up Desk
May 20, 2020
From the Editor, June 2020: “Investing in Talent”
We introduce you to Texas Monthly's newest editorial staff members.
The Stand Up Desk
April 17, 2020
From the Editor, May 2020: “It’s All Been a Blur”
When we started planning this issue, months ago, we had a fun lineup in mind. Then oil prices crashed and the coronavirus brought much of the state to a standstill.
The Stand Up Desk
April 8, 2020
Announcing a Big Change to Our Site
And a special gift for subscribers!
The Stand Up Desk
March 18, 2020
From the Editor, April 2020: The Hunger to Know
Robert Draper, like the people he interviewed for this month's cover story, is driven by a need to understand the past.
The Stand Up Desk
February 19, 2020
From the Editor, March 2020: Father and Son
On two generations of talented storytellers contributing to our pages.
The Stand Up Desk
January 22, 2020
From the Editor, February 2020: The Power of Sound
With our hit Boomtown podcast, Texas Monthly is learning new ways to tell stories.
Bum Steers
December 18, 2019
From the Editor, January 2020: Herding Bum Steers
Plus, feeling grateful for our gimlet-eyed deputy editor, Jeff Salamon.
The Stand Up Desk
November 20, 2019
From the Editor, December 2019: Boots on the Ground
On bee stings and boots—both cowboy and combat.
The Stand Up Desk
September 18, 2019
From the Editor, October 2019
On the battle over Texas history, a serial killer in Laredo, and more in our October issue.
The Stand Up Desk
August 20, 2019
From the Editor, September 2019
On honky-tonks, a collaboration with the Texas Tribune, and more in our September issue.
The Stand Up Desk
January 20, 2013
Behind the Lines
TALK OF CHANGE AND REFORM has been in the air since the Sharpstown scandals more than perhaps at any time in our state’s history. Such talk is welcome, and, as most of us apparently felt in the last elections, mandatory. One imagines that talk of reform came as uncomfortably, but
The Stand Up Desk
April 30, 1974
Behind the Lines
On a warm March morning we went looking for the grave of my great-great-grandmother Nancy Daugherty. My mother had visited the grave more than 40 years before, and remembered only that it was near the capitol and that a small iron fence encircled the plot. We found the grave amid
Politics & Policy
March 31, 1974
Behind the Lines
We Texans have always seemed to drive more, and farther, and for perhaps stranger reasons, than just about anyone else. Young people in the bleak and monotonous landscapes of West and North Texas grew up accustomed to endless, aimless rides around the countryside and to regular trips into the cities
The Stand Up Desk
February 28, 1974
Behind the Lines
Writing about Larry L. King is a difficult task that leaves me feeling like some sweating country jeweler stooped over a fine stone trying to fashion an appropriate setting out of tin. Some good writers have craft; others have soul and spirit. Larry has what great writers have: he has
The Stand Up Desk
January 1, 1974
Behind the Lines
INMATES OF THE TEXAS DEPARTMENT of Corrections have made 181 new desks for about $34 a desk. Rockford Furniture Associates of Austin has fashioned matching chairs for $180 a chair. A new electronic voting board has been installed for $33,500 ($200 more than the total cost for the chairs). These
The Stand Up Desk
April 1, 1973
Behind the Lines
WE TEXANS TALK A LOT about how big we are, and how we are getting bigger. This is all right, since it is true. We are the only state with more than one of the ten largest cities in the country. In fact, we have three—Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.
The Stand Up Desk
February 1, 1973
Behind the Lines
IF OUR READERS HAVE EVER finished the daily paper or the six o’clock news and felt there was more than what they were told, then they know why we started Texas Monthly. We designed it as an intelligent, entertaining and useful publication for Texans whose culture, sophistication and interests are