No Promises
For eight years, I had a love affair with Houston. When the good times ended, we drifted apart. But while it lasted, we had the time of our lives.
Mimi Swartz, the author, with Sherron Watkins, of Power Failure, The Inside Story of the Collapse of Enron, is an executive editor of Texas Monthly. Previously, she was a staff writer at Talk, from April 1999 to April 2001, and a staff writer at the New Yorker from 1997 to 2001. Prior to joining the New Yorker, she worked at Texas Monthly for thirteen years. In 1996 Swartz was a finalist for two National Magazine Awards and won in the public interest category for “Not What the Doctor Ordered.” She was also a National Magazine Award finalist for her November 2005 issue story on tort reform, titled “Hurt? Injured? Need a Lawyer? Too Bad!” and won the 2006 John Bartlow Martin Award for Public Interest, Magazine Journalism, for the same story. In 2013 she won her second National Magazine Award (again in the category of public interest), for “Mothers, Sisters, Daughters, Wives,” a compelling look at the state of women's health care in Texas.
Over the years, Swartz’s work has appeared in Vanity Fair, Esquire, Slate, National Geographic, and the New York Times’ op-ed page and Sunday magazine. It has also been collected in Best American Political Writing 2006 and Best American Sportswriting 2007. She has been a member of the Texas Institute of Letters since 1994. Swartz grew up in San Antonio and graduated from Hampshire College, in Amherst, Massachusetts. She now lives in Houston with her husband, John Wilburn, and son, Sam.
For eight years, I had a love affair with Houston. When the good times ended, we drifted apart. But while it lasted, we had the time of our lives.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
In the town George Parr once dominated, a nineteen-year-old mother was gang-raped by her neighbors. In the aftermath of the crime, the old horrors of San Diego have surfaced anew.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
To understand Wanda Holloway’s dark and desperate story, you have to start with where she came from.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Two men from Mexico inherit the legacy of all immigrants—grueling labor, low pay, and a bleak existence on the edge of the American dream.
Anna Nicole Smith got her man: the full story on the big gal’s marriage to octogenarian oilman J. Howard Marshall.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
When Houston’s Hermann Hospital sought a cure for its financial ills, it decided to perform major surgery on its agreement with the UT medical school next door.
From invention to litigation, the breast implant has done more for Houston’s economy—and its psyche—than anything since oil.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Texas’ top drug lawyer helps dope dealers and cocaine kingpins beat their raps—and he’s proud of it.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
The Houston-based energy giant put the pursuit of profits ahead of all other corporate goals, which fostered a climate of workaholism and paranoia. And that was only part of the problem.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
What tort reform has done to Texans in need would be grounds for a lawsuit—if there still were any lawsuits.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
In the right light, the ornery octogenarian oilman’s guilty plea can be seen as a victory: After all, he won’t spend the rest of his natural life in jail. But the fact is, he couldn’t beat the rap—and he knew it.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
In 2011 the Legislature slashed family planning funds, passed a new sonogram law, and waged an all-out war on Planned Parenthood that has dramatically shifted the state’s public health priorities. In the eighteen months since then, the conflict has continued to simmer in the courts, on the campaign trail, and
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
The independent bookstores of sixties and seventies San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas created community and opened whole new worlds for Texans.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
And on the eighth day, the defense rested.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Everything you need to know about the alleged adultery, bribery, and abuse of office. Plus: Big-time lawyers! Billionaire donors! And burner phones!
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
From his alleged dealings with Nate Paul to the attorney general’s seeming penchant for fast food, here’s what we learned from documents released late Thursday night.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
When the go-go Houston corporation collapsed in spectacular fashion, it became a punch line across the nation. But some of the bad guys had the last laugh.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Threats from the AG’s supporters loom over the Republican state senators who will serve as the jurors in the impeachment trial.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
As celebrity lawyers feud in the press, Republican groups have launched an influence campaign in the Texas Senate.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Six years ago, the mother of all storms arrived and brought home a lesson too many of us have refused to learn: our penchant for bravely adapting to circumstances has its limits.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
John Nova Lomax, a former senior editor at Texas Monthly who died Monday, was a beautiful storyteller who struggled with his own story.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Dallas journalist Roxanna Asgarian’s new book, ‘We Were Once a Family,’ examines a murder-suicide that made national news—and finds that the story behind the story is even worse than we thought.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
While extremely limited, avenues for abortion access exist in Texas. That’s where fear tactics from antiabortion activists come into play.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
In the eighties, petroleum prices went through the roof, and Texans, flush with cash, went a little crazy—before it all came crashing down. Will we ever learn?
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Matthew Kacsmaryk cut his teeth at First Liberty Institute, a “religious liberty” law firm with Texas roots—and a growing national reach.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
The larger-than-life, redheaded émigré from Spur, Texas—who died at 95—seemed intent on making the town his own. And he did.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Decades before the recent police violence in Memphis, a brutally beaten Latino man was tossed by officers into a Houston bayou and drowned. The protests that followed continue to echo in the city to this day.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
What seems like an outbreak of local skirmishes is part of a decades-long push to privatize the education system.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Fawcett set the standard in the 1970s—blond, thin, and smiling. Thankfully, that’s changed.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
The names have changed over the decades, but through it all, Texas remains a place where money gets made—and spent.
Tom Foster writes about business, innovation, and creative people.
Russell Gold is a senior editor at Texas Monthly. He writes about energy and business.
Jason Heid is a senior editor focused on business, medicine, science, and technology.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Its recent troubles notwithstanding, the Dallas-based brand remains a shrine to good taste.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
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.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
When Texas Monthly covered Enron's fall in 2001, we wondered if the company was an outlier or the new normal. There's no longer any question.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Gregg Phillips, a former Texas official who claims that “2,000 mules” stole the 2020 election from Donald Trump, has raised millions of dollars to chase nonexistent fraudulent votes.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Friends and former colleagues share their memories of the legendary writer, editor, and mentor.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
When a family doctor spoke out about insurance companies ruining his practice, few expected his appeal would still resonate 27 years later.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Fifteen years after the popular journalist’s death, we’re living in the world she saw coming—and struggling to follow her example of joyful opposition.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
A conversation with Chris Cander, the author of ‘A Gracious Neighbor.’
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Mimi Swartz reflects on her deep dive into Houston’s breast-implant boom and its larger-than-life profiteers.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Democrats are bracing for attacks on contraception, in vitro fertilization, and other reproductive and sexual rights.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
No one had a deeper understanding of Texas power—its heroes and villains, its uses and abuses—than Paul.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
The governor has long struggled with crisis management, in part because he always strives to avoid taking political risks.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Goodbye to one of Houston’s most colorful colorless characters.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Jonathan Mitchell, who cooked up the Texas “vigilante” law that effectively made abortion illegal in the state, argues the quiet parts of the majority opinion out loud.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
After a quarter century in statewide office, Texas’s most popular politician remains an enigma—even to the folks who keep electing him. But the truth about the governor is hiding in plain sight.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
A grassroots campaign—and a multibillion-dollar corporate real estate acquisition—kept the bulldozers away.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
The attorney who successfully argued Roe v. Wade died Sunday at age 76, leaving behind a powerful legacy for Texas women.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
When a grown-up son visits for the holiday, a mom takes what she can get.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
In the two months since the virtual ban took effect, the number of abortions in the state has plummeted.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
The gay, Black social media influencer and Houston Ballet soloist is shaking up the world of classical ballet.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
The Houston social media influencer is a gay Black man with a gift for the absurd and a passion for platform heels. He’s also a star dancer in one of the world’s most rigid, gendered, and segregated art forms.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Ann Richards, Farrah Fawcett, Beyoncé. An excerpt from TM’s new book, ‘Being Texan,’ explores a strain of toughness in the iconography of the state’s females.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Any Texas woman who thought her right to a safe, legal abortion would last forever sorely underestimated the opposition. For decades.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Sissy Farenthold, who died Sunday, believed persistence and anger could change Texas.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Attorney and former Texas Solicitor General Jonathan F. Mitchell is known for his ability to identify legal loopholes where no one else does.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Charles Butt’s Holdsworth Center offers leadership training—and much-needed respect—for superintendents, principals, and teachers at Texas public schools.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Almost five decades after spurning the city—and following several deep losses—a long-lost San Antonian revisits her hometown.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Before a Democratic walkout blocked the passage of an "election integrity" bill in the Texas Lege, members of the partnership had split over how to respond to the legislation.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Tony Buzbee, who is representing the plaintiffs, and Rusty Hardin, who is defending the Texans quarterback, are trying to navigate deftly in the #MeToo era.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Political insiders say the police chief’s move to Miami follows a turbulent year in which his hopes of being elected mayor began to look delusional.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
The Houston-based energy economist is our blackout Cassandra. Will state officials finally heed his advice?
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
But when will the overseers of our so-called Electric “Reliability” Council learn?
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.