News & Politics
April 27, 2023
One Aspiring Mother’s Nightmare in Post-Roe Texas
After learning that their long-awaited baby wouldn’t survive childbirth, two parents suffered the pain of finding maternal health care out of state.
Personal Essay
Being Texan
April 17, 2023
My Brother’s Ashes, the Bayou, and an Enigmatic Life
As I untangled Chris’s affairs, I discovered a trove of books, letters, and unarticulated love.
Books
April 7, 2023
Why ‘Lonesome Dove’ Gives Me the Creeps
A nightmarish scene in Larry McMurtry’s epic novel triggered my unshakable—and completely illogical—fear of snakes.
Being Texan
April 3, 2023
What Westheimer Means to Me
The 19-mile Houston road isn't the kind of place tourists appreciate. But it's everything I love about my city.
Being Texan
March 31, 2023
Texas First: Taking Bluebonnet Photos of My Kid
I didn’t think I’d get to be a mom. Now that I am, the passage of time confounds me.
By Rose Cahalan![Rose Cahalan's Profile Photo]()
BBQ
March 21, 2023
Rudy’s Bar-B-Q Overnight Shipping Got Me Through the Pandemic in New York
As a Texpat living in New York during the pandemic, indulging in a delivery of family-style brisket and spicy beans kept me close to home.
Business
March 20, 2023
The GameStop Generation Would Like Some Respect
Long before it became a meme stock, the Grapevine-based video game retailer lodged itself in the hearts of a generation entranced by the storytelling it found inside those plastic boxes.
Libations
March 20, 2023
Texas First: A Dr Pepper Loyalist Finally Tries Big Red
Mmmmm, tastes like red.
Food & Drink
March 20, 2023
Soggy and Divisive, Chico’s Tacos Are Perfect to Me
Sometimes food is less about the taste (or the ingredients . . . or the presentation) and more about being home.
Tacos
March 20, 2023
Despite Its National Appeal, Chili’s Is a Dallas Restaurant Through and Through
Sure, the restaurant chain was founded in Dallas and is currently headquartered there—but the concept also embraces the Dallas identity.
Food & Drink
March 20, 2023
The Draw of El Fenix’s Sensory Overload
In the Tex-Mex wars of my mind, the victor was never in doubt.
Being Texan
February 28, 2023
From Camel Herding to Blues Music to Tacos al Pastor: Finding the Middle East in Texas
I long thought they were at odds, but after a summer in Texas and a deep dive into its history, I discovered that they have been married for decades.
Being Texan
February 22, 2023
Finding Weird All Over Again in Rockport
I left homogenized Austin for the Texas Gulf Coast—and felt right at home amid the Speedo-wearing bikers and chicken feet–fed alligators.
Libations
February 13, 2023
How to Become a Regular at a Texas Dive Bar
Follow these tips and tricks to becoming beloved at your local watering hole from the guy who literally wrote the book.
Books
February 2, 2023
A Novelist and Hollywood Screenwriter Grapples With Her Texan Identity
Attica Locke looks back on her 2012 essay weighing her Houston pride against the fact that “there are things about the state that just don’t work for me.”
By Dan Solomon![Dan Solomon's Profile Photo]()
Critters
January 17, 2023
I Wrote a Book Called ‘The Leopard Is Loose.’ Then a Leopard Got Loose in Dallas.
An escape in 1950 inspired my novel. The wildly different public reactions show how much our relationship to animals has changed.
Texas Icons
January 17, 2023
The U.S.-Mexico Border Is Not Just a Line on a Map
As a child, I experienced the boundary between Texas and Mexico as its own distinct place. Now I know why.
Texas Icons
January 17, 2023
How to Create a Great Magazine Out of Thin Air
Fifty years ago, Texas Monthly was little more than an idea dreamt up by a local lawyer with minimal experience in journalism. Then it was an actual thing. How did that happen?
Texas Icons
January 17, 2023
We’ve Always Claimed That Everything Is Bigger Here. It’s Time for Us to Prove It.
For more than fifty years, the state I call home has repeatedly surprised me. The Texas of 2023? Well, it’s got me thinking a lot about how far we have, and haven’t, come.
By Mimi Swartz![Mimi Swartz's Profile Photo]()
Texas Icons
January 17, 2023
Consider the Windmill
Along with its descendant, the towering wind turbine, this spindly mechanism turns fast and slow, measuring out our days.
Food & Drink
December 20, 2022
One Decadent Weekend in San Antonio, I Finally Became the ‘Fancy Mom’
After raising three kids on a budget, novelist Amanda Eyre Ward indulges her teen fantasy of being the parent who says, “Order whatever you want.”
Business
October 10, 2022
H-E-B Curbside Changed Me
The convenience of the store’s grocery-pickup service comes at a small financial cost. The personal price is up to you.
Tacos
October 7, 2022
La Morena Wasn’t Just a Restaurant, It Was a West Texas Rite of Passage
In Andrews, this mostly serve-yourself Tex-Mex restaurant was a community staple that’s still remembered fondly after its closing.
Tacos
October 5, 2022
Out of All Mexican Foods, Why Did the Taco Win America’s Love?
Living in a taco-obsessed world and reporting on border issues makes senior editor Jack Herrera’s relationship with the dish complex—and a little frustrating.
Being Texan
September 6, 2022
What We Say When We Say “San Antonio”
A wedding, a broken taillight, and a missed exit: a family outing from Brownsville heads north and then goes south.
Travel & Outdoors
June 21, 2022
Barton Springs Pool in the Dark Is Its Own World
Swimming before sunrise became a necessary ritual for novelist Elizabeth McCracken during an uncertain time. And then came the strangers.
Travel & Outdoors
June 21, 2022
Reeling in the Years at a Cabin in the Laguna Madre
My family’s shack on an island in the world’s largest hypersaline lagoon has brought us closer to the fishing—and to one another.
Opinion
June 2, 2022
My Uvalde
I’ve lived in Uvalde for thirteen years. Our community is more complex and nuanced than media portrayals suggest.
Being Texan
May 11, 2022
The Joy and Struggle of Learning Spanish as a Tejano Adult
I used to feel ashamed that I didn't speak Spanish. Now I understand why my parents didn't teach me.
Being Texan
March 22, 2022
The Boy From Booker T.
A decade after losing one of their own, the former residents of an Austin housing project reckon with their upbringing and the tragedy that changed them.
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
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.
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]()
News & Politics
December 2, 2021
A Texas School District Banned My Book. Then Things Got Really Ugly.
I’ve been the target of censorship and vicious harassment, but my greatest worry is what this trend means for young people who rely on school libraries.
Being Texan
October 15, 2021
This Year’s State Fair Was Overstimulating, Anxiety-Inducing—and Exactly What I Needed
After nearly two years of pandemic life, I didn’t even realize just how much I was craving this release.
By Anna Walsh![Anna Walsh's Profile Photo]()
Being Texan
May 17, 2021
What an Obscure Childhood Experience Taught Me About the Nature of Memory
Passing through a desolate stretch of North Texas, I set an anchor in the sea of time.
Personal Essay
June 28, 2019
Farewell to the “Rambling Boy,” Lonn Taylor
The Fort Davis historian and raconteur knew and loved Texas and its people like no one else.
Being Texan
April 19, 2017
3,822 Miles
Seeing, and understanding, our land and its borders anew—in a Cessna 182 Skylane.
Travel & Outdoors
September 21, 2016
A Love Unearthed
My grandfather’s work as a paleontologist took him to West Texas over and over again. Fifty years later, I found myself retracing his steps.
Art
February 1, 2003
An Unmarried Woman
My divorce made me what I am today.
Being Texan
April 1, 1998
Taxi Driver
I was my own boss, set my own hours, and came and went as I pleased. I was a Houston cabbie, and though it was hack work—literally—it paid the bills.
Books
August 31, 1997
My Willie
Willie Nelson and I have been friends for years, so why did I decide only now to make him a character in one of my mystery novels? The plot thickens.
Being Texan
April 1, 1997
Babes in the ’Hoods
Thought the competition between Texas cities was over? Until my daughter was born in Dallas and a friend’s was born in Austin, so did I.
Being Texan
March 1, 1997
Green Eggs and Kao
I thought I’d teach my young son’s Laotian friend about all the essentials of American culture, including Dr. Seuss. I just never imagined how much he’d teach me.
By Mimi Swartz![Mimi Swartz's Profile Photo]()
Being Texan
June 1, 1995
Confessions of A Preacher’s Wife
The tensions between the demands of the spirit and the demands of the world defined my marriage—and destroyed it.
Being Texan
January 1, 1995
Closing the Circle J
A final farewell to the Hill Country spread that for more than thirty years meant everything to me and my family.
Health
July 1, 1994
Loved to Death
Married for 32 years, my parents both died of AIDS, and we, their children, may never know why.
Being Texan
January 1, 1994
What I Learned in the Bubble
Until I house-sat there last year, I thought I knew rarefied Highland Park. To my surprise, it was much more fragile and defensive than it had seemed.
Texas History
March 1, 1993
Indian Takers
All across Texas, vandals are searching for ancient treasures by looting Indian campgrounds—including the one on my family’s ranch.
Being Texan
March 1, 1992
He Called Me Puddin’
Through sickness and health. Texas humorist John Henry Faulk was my mentor, my idol, my friend.