Politics & Policy
October 14, 2020
Don’t Call Texas’s Latino Voters the “Sleeping Giant”
They're not disengaged—they’re waiting to be heard, and fully understood.
28 Articles
Being Texan
April 19, 2017
What Wall?
How a civic-minded, cowboy-themed party came to represent an identity that’s not so easily split.
Sports
January 15, 2017
How “America’s Team” Became South Texas’s Team
Why Mexican Americans love the Dallas Cowboys.
The Daily Post
February 24, 2016
Pope Francis in Juárez
Why the pope's visit to Juárez resonated so deeply.
Features
July 15, 2013
The Passion of Benjamin Sáenz
The messy, lonely, and visionary life of the first Texas writer—and the first Latino—to win the vaunted PEN/Faulkner Award.
Politics & Policy
January 31, 2013
What Nobody Says About Austin
Is Austin the state’s most segregated city?
Border & Immigration
January 21, 2013
Ghost Town
Inside the vicious cartel war in northern Mexico—and one family’s struggle to survive.
True Crime
January 20, 2013
Borderline Insanity
How else to describe the murder and mayhem and fear that have gripped Nuevo Laredo for months—and are now spilling over into Texas?
True Crime
January 20, 2013
Ciudad de la Muerte
Ten years. More than three hundred women murdered. What is going on in Juárez? And why aren't the Mexican authorities doing something about it?
The Culture
January 20, 2013
Who’s Next?
San Antonio's Marshevet Hooker is not just any old high school sprinter; she's an Olympic gold medalist in the making. Meet her and nine other women we're betting will lead the new Texas—and the world.
Feature
January 20, 2013
The Unknown Soldier
Hector Perez loved his country enough to die for it. A year later, his family is still paying the price of patriotism.
Politics & Policy
January 20, 2013
Continental Rift
As U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Tony Garza was supposed to be the right man in the right job at the right timesomeone who would promote a new era of cooperation between the two countries. If only external events hadn't intervened.
Texas History
April 1, 2012
The True Meaning of the Tejano Monument
A $2 million bronze monument honoring Tejanos was unveiled at the Capitol last week. Here's why it's historically significant to all Texans.
Letter From Juarez
August 31, 2011
The Missing
For the women of Juárez, the terror of kidnapping—and worse—has never ended. Will it ever?
Border & Immigration
January 1, 2008
Bridge Game
What it used to be like to cross the border.
Feature
May 31, 2007
Sounds Like Teen Spirit
Each year, some 55,000 talented high school musicians try out for 1,500 chairs at the Super Bowl of band geekery: the Texas Music Educators Association Clinic/Convention in San Antonio. Once upon a time, I made the cut.
True Crime
July 31, 2006
The Bad Guy With the Badge
How Conrado Cantu, the sheriff of Cameron County, lived down to people’s expectations of South Texas law enforcement.
Cecilia Ballí
June 30, 2004
The Framing of Mario Medina?
Did Mexican authorities find the man who killed a crusading Nuevo Laredo editor? Or have they taken the easy way out (again)?
Music
April 1, 2004
King of the Accordion
You may never have heard of Ramón Ayala, but to his four generations of fans in South Texas and Mexico, he’s music royalty. He revolutionized norteño, a genre that reigns along the border, and—after more than one hundred albums—is still going strong.
Feature
March 1, 2003
Bard of the Border
The most promising young fiction writer in Texas is Oscar Casares, whose tales of life in Brownsville have put him and his hometown on the literary map.
Texas History
February 1, 2003
All About My Mother
Widowed at 38, a Mexican citizen with no money and a sixth-grade education, she raised three proud American daughters—and embraced life on her own terms.
Feature
January 1, 2003
Bottom’s Up
The U.S. Census Bureau says that Cameron Park, a Brownsville colonia, is the poorest community in Americaand yet optimism thrives there. How do you explain to statisticians and demographers that poverty is a relative thing?
Politics & Policy
September 30, 2002
Twins Peak
Julián and Joaquin Castro's résumés look as similar as they do: degrees from Stanford and Harvard, billable hours logged at a tony law firm, and now, promising careers in San Antonio politics. Nothing could please their mother more.
The Culture
August 31, 2002
Pueblo Nuevo
When I moved to Houston two years ago, I was expecting little in the way of Hispanic culture. Who knew it was such a good city for Latinosbetter, even, than San Antonio?
Border & Immigration
September 30, 2001
A Tale of Two Cities
To residents of Presidio and Ojinaga, the international border that separates them had always seemed irrelevant. They crossed it easily, spoke the same language, and considered themselves part of the same community. When Mexican authorities wrongly imprisoned a Texas grocer in April, that relationship changed dramatically—and it hasn't been the
Web Exclusive
April 30, 2001
Goliad Revisited
Cecilia Ballí tells how a difference of interpretation has divided a historic town.
Texas History
April 30, 2001
The Second Battle of Goliad
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.
Texas History
January 1, 2001
Return to Padre
For years my relatives have claimed that they were robbed of oil and gas royalties on Padre Island. Last May a Brownsville jury agreed, vindicating—for now—the family’s proud heritage and proving that, sometimes, the little guy does win.