There’s One Thing Missing in the Biden Administration: Texans
Lone Star Democrats have almost nowhere to hang their hats in the most diverse administration in U.S. history.
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.
Lone Star Democrats have almost nowhere to hang their hats in the most diverse administration in U.S. history.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
As CEO of Occidental Petroleum, Vicki Hollub made the biggest deal the oil business had seen in years. Will it also go down as the biggest failure?
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
During a very tough year, no Texas CEO did more—for customers, students, and voters.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
In the 2018 midterms, many lifelong Republican women voted Democratic. Will the urgent issues driving this election keep them there?
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Now, as the Romance Writers of America reckons with its history of racism, will she finally get her due?
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Time had a way of stopping at the iconic cafeteria chain. Not any longer.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Like a lot of Democratic primary voters, I am still in a black hole of indecision, with the clock running down.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
What happens when a wealthy patron wears out his welcome?
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
For many years, taking on the senior Texas senator seemed like a fool's errand. But in 2020, Cornyn looks less than invincible.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Like many in Houston, I've fallen into a predictable pattern as I’ve adapted to the increasingly extreme weather here.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Those wistful end-of-summer photos on Instagram have us deeply envious.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Tony Buzbee knows how to win big in court. In the era of Trump, he might just win the Houston mayoral race.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
On Monday, the Senate passed a proposal to add four more writing tests and tie school funding directly to third-grade test results.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
It's that magical—and all too brief—time in the city, when the heady blooms seem to make everything a little bit better.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Eight different readability formulas showed the test's reading portions are at a higher level of difficulty than appropriate for the grades they’re assessing.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
My father always pampered his pets. So when he fell ill and moved in with us, it was no surprise that his corgi came to rule our home. What I didn’t expect was for Trilby to care for me after Dad was gone.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
More challenges emerge to Texas’s least favorite exam.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Leading educators and testing experts have studied the exams and find that they are asking kids to understand passages aimed two or more years above their grade level.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
He built an oil empire, revitalized the state’s Republican party, gave rise to a political dynasty, and forever changed the Lone Star State. Yet the question dogged him his entire life: Was he a real Texan or merely a Yankee transplant?
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
The Houston mayor understands the wisdom of maintaining good relations even with people you disagree with again and again.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
A Houston couple brings the ”Moneyball” philosophy to social change.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
The president and CEO of Houston’s Episcopal Health Foundation has some bold ideas for retooling our medical system.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
The video ad reminds viewers of Donald Trump’s Ted Cruz insults and of Cruz failing to act ’Texas Tough.’
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Of course it wasn’t any wonder that our Texas senators couldn’t find it in their hearts or minds to consider Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s version of events.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Inspired by the Senate hopeful’s bumper sticker, Judy Masliyah, owner of My Flaming Heart, has also created a Western shirt for men.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
When the company collapsed, the former CEO went to prison for fraud and insider trading. Turns out, he was just ahead of his time.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
A year after Hurricane Harvey brought Houston to its knees, the city is still wrestling with how to prepare for the next great storm. There’s no shortage of good ideas, but in Houston, that’s never been the problem.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
In this exclusive excerpt from 'Ticker: The Quest to Create an Artificial Heart,' world-renowned Houston surgeon Bud Frazier races to help an ailing patient by implanting a revolutionary device that may one day save millions of lives.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Outside a cookie shop in one of Houston’s most idyllic neighborhoods, a West University Place council member spied Trump’s name on a teenager’s shirt and yelled a few of the president’s worst words at her. Then the internet found out. It's springtime in the age of hysteria.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Abbott’s school safety plan could land us back in darker times.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
As I have aged and faced my own challenges as a female on this planet, I have come to a different understanding of Barbara Bush.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Why the remarkable heroism displayed by my fellow Houstonians will be required for years to come.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Dear Governor Abbott,I just happened to catch your remarks from yesterday afternoon, the ones you made while visiting the Austin gun range to sign the bill that lowers the cost of gun licenses in Texas. The Dallas Morning News story I read said that you celebrated by firing a 9 mm
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
A heart surgeon leads his city to the forefront of medical innovation.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Public school parents with special-ed kids often find themselves squaring off against school districts and the taxpayer-funded lawyers who protect them.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Anna Nicole Smith rose from a small town girl in Mexia to an icon, but her demons followed her far beyond Texas.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Executive editor Mimi Swartz says goodbye to Tom Curtis, a writer, reporter, and former Texas Monthly contributor, who died earlier this week.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
in a state known for austerity, how can Texas's largest cities be nearly broke?
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Houston says farewell to its legendary heart surgeon.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Sherron Watkins, fifteen years later.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Winning the MacArthur “genius grant” was a career highlight for Rice professor Rebecca Richards-Kortum. But it was a visit to Malawi that changed her life.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Why do so few novelists write about Houston?
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Since he finished his prison sentence, Andy Fastow, Enron’s disgraced CFO, has been quietly trying to make amends. But is the public ready to accept his apology?
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Mimi Swartz discovers the Texas she remembers in a small cafe in Cisco.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Houston greets its new mayor, Sylvester Turner, with a host of big-city problems.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Houston’s super-rich are learning to love the brand-new, very ritzy, much-heralded River Oaks District. (Maybe.)
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
HERO evokes another era—one we shouldn’t be proud of.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
The election only determines who will lead the nation's fourth-largest city, no big deal.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
How did smog-breathing, gridlock-prone Houston become the newest natural wonder of the urban world?
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Mimi Swartz cross-examines the Court of Criminal Appeals’ unprecedented sanctions against a death penalty lawyer.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.