Walker Railey
Picking up the trail of Walker Railey.
Picking up the trail of Walker Railey.
He's is a healthy teenager (and nothing could make his dad happier).
Texas is changing before our eyes, but fried pies, drive-in movie theaters, and other vestiges of earlier days are all around. To find these treasures, we risked life, limb, and cholesterol count-and had a blast from the past.
For teenage girls in the Hill Country town of Llano, life can be short on glamour and excitement—except at the annual rodeo, when one of them gets a rhinestone tiara and a rare, thrilling moment of glory.
Chasing ghosts in Corpus Christi.
In 1883, being caught with what everyday object could have gotten you killed? Find out the answer, along with 24 other equally fascinating tidbits, in the second installment of my Texas-literacy test.
Austinites thought the high-tech boom wouldn't change them, but it turned their city into something that more closely resembled Houston or Dallas in the golden eighties. Now they're paying the price.
Pamela Colloff tests an Aggie hero's medal.
In March 1836, 342 men fighting for Texas independence surrendered to Mexican general José de Urrea. A week later they were shot on orders of Santa Anna. Was it a massacre, as generations of schoolchildren have been taught, or an execution? The question has divided a historic Texas town.
Aaron Latham's new novel about a cowboy Camelot gets lost in the bull.
The prescription to treat the sickest areas in Texas isn't what you think.
Colleyville's library plot.
McAllen's terminal condition.
Fort Worth's horse play.
The El Paso mayor's race.
Austin's new Bob Bullock museum sports six bas-reliefs that tell the story of Texas. Here's how a sculptor and a team of artisans made them, like the museum's namesake, larger than life.
Who exactly was Cabeza de Vaca? Why did Texas revolutionaries shout, “Remember Goliad”? Sharpen your pencils for Part I of my four-part Texas literacy test.
What Texas should learn from the California energy mess.
Valarie Rae Miller finds her better angels.
A passel of Texans invaded the nation’s capital in January, and the town may never be the same. A report from the inaugral front.
How are Texas' top two symphonies staying financially viable and relevant to young audiences? One concert at a time.
Forty years after it was published, Billy Lee Brammer's novel about LBJ-era Austin is still one of the best ever written about American politics. Yet just as interesting is the story of Brammer himself.
Kitschy calendars that say "Feliz Navidad."
Back when I was a hippie pacifist in Northern California, I never thought I'd kill an animal for sport. Then I married into a South Texas ranching family, and in time I managed to pull the trigger and bag a buck. My emotions were decidedly mixed, but I knew that
His election was historic for many reasons, not least because he embodies the stifled hopes of generations of his countrymen. Still, the obstacles he faces when he assumes the presidency on December 1 are considerable. Will he be able to deliver?
I think, therefore iamb: My personal tour of the history of bad Texas poetry, from best to versed, prose to cons.
Who was Stevie Ray Vaughan's musical role model?
Buddy Holly. Waylon Jennings. Carolyn Hester. The Hancocks. The Flatlanders. An oral history of the state's most storied music scene.
After the killings at Columbine, the world looked disapprovingly at a computer game created in Mesquite. Die-hard players would not be moved.
From Poltergeist to the Steel Eel, Texas has five of the nation’s best new roller coasters. And they’re all a scream.
I AM A CASEWORKER WITH CHILD Protective Services in Dallas. Yours was the first article I have seen that honestly described the work we do [“No One Knows What Could Be Happening to Those Kids,” April 1999]. Our days are endless and many of our nights are sleepless because
Y’all, the world’s a stage.
Sympathy for Jerry Hall
Sandra Cisneros’ colorful victory.
Which Hollywood legend is “the bitch of all time”? Which comedienne’s daughter was a dope addict by age fourteen and came to Houston to get unhooked? Texas’ top gossips tell all.
Fifteen years ago, in a PBS documentary, Bill Moyers declared that the East Texas town of Marshall was actually two towns divided by race. To some extent, it still is.
How Frank Sinatra, Jr., became a Texan-in-law.
A few (ahem) letters about Dennis Rodman.
A Texas playwright gets panned by Catholic conservatives.
There’s nothing civil about the debate over The Civil War. Since the announcement in August that the musical re-creation of the War of Northern Aggression was Broadway bound next spring, critics have directed more than a few rebel yells at Houston’s Alley Theatre, where the production originated. As was the
Brian Benben goes after men-men for CBS
From First Monday Trade Days in Canton to Market Days in Boerne, our guide to Texas’ best troves of trash and treasure.
In the Central Texas town of Seguin, Leon Kubala has been documenting life and death for more than fifty years, one picture at a time.
An impressive impresario.
Feet accompli.
An epilogue to Austin Stories: Why did MTV cancel the critically acclaimed slacker sitcom?
Ann Richards ads it up.
Poetry slammers descend on Austin.
What kind of person would be best at figuring out how to spend $295,000? A poet, of course. That kind of money might be chump change to Charles Barkley, but to the prototypical starving artist, it’s a lot of stanzas. Or it will be for University of Houston English professor
Computer-aided choreography, professional composers to score the music, mammoth budgets: At high schools and colleges across Texas these days, marking bands are playing for keeps.