The Super
After a year on the job, the superintendent of the largest school district in Texas is loathed and loved in equal measure. Does that mean he’s doing his job?
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.
After a year on the job, the superintendent of the largest school district in Texas is loathed and loved in equal measure. Does that mean he’s doing his job?
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Before he was fighting for the governorship of the second-largest state in the country, Bill White was just a kid from Texas.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
The debut of Enron, the play, on Broadway might be the perfect time to settle a question that’s been bothering Houston: Does Jeff Skilling need a new trial?
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Every year thousands of women are smuggled into the United States and forced to work as prostitutes. Many of them end up in Houston, in massage parlors and spas. Most of them will have a hard time ever getting out.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Annise Parker, the newly elected mayor of Houston, is ready to discuss any of the challenges facing her city. That will happen as soon as everyone else is ready to stop talking about her sexuality.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
On the day my mother died, I found myself in the place that, more than any other, had defined our relationship: her closet.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
The Houston Chronicle’s loss is CultureMap’s gain—Shelby Hodge.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
NAME: John Friend | AGE: 50 | HOME: The Woodlands | QUALIFICATIONS: Founder of Anusara, an increasingly popular style of hatha yoga / Has taught yoga for almost thirty years / Author of numerous yoga books, CDs, and DVDs, including Anusara Yoga 101 and Growing a Lotus• I was precocious
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
The Houston mayor’s race gets interesting (finally).
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
It’s time for Texas to start taking better care of people like Darla Deese, a developmentally disabled woman who has spent most of her life in our harrowing state schools.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
What to do in humid Houston during the summer? If you’re Lynn Wyatt, you don’t sweat it and ask a couple dozen of your closest acquaintances to a book signing party for your dear, dear friend Candy Spelling, mother of Tori and author of Stories From Candyland.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Location: HoustonWhat You’ll Need: Open mind, credit cardI know that the idea of a weekend getaway in Houston—in summer, no less—might strike some people as cuckoo. (Oh, yeah? And how about Pittsburgh in February?) To those folks I can only say I’m sorry—for their ignorance. I have
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Cerón on styling socialites’ hair.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
If you need an example of how the world can change in an instant, here is a small blow by blow.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Maybe the collapse of the Stanford Group isn’t Enron, but Houston wasn’t about to be left out of the financial scandals.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Why Texans stand out in crowds.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
The once forgotten corridor emerges as an eclectic enclave.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Only yesterday, it seems, my mother was taking me to visit colleges. A second later, here I am, enduring this rite of passage from the other side.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Most American consumers understand that the invasion of Iraq has contributed to the skyrocketing price of oil. But there’s another reason why we’re paying so much per barrel and gallon: The countries where crude is available in abundance are increasingly dangerous places to operate. Russell Spell, of Conroe, can tell
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Summer vacation is right around the corner, but that doesn’t mean you should panic. We’ve rounded up 68 of our favorite things to do with your toddlers, teens, and every kid in between. Dance the hokey pokey. Rope a horse. Eat way too many hot dogs. Zip down a waterslide.
Skip Hollandsworth specializes in long-form narratives.
Mike Hall writes about criminals, musicians, the law, and barbecue.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
1. Yes, Lee’s Sandwiches hails from California, but that just means it’s a spot where you can experience Melting Pot America in its myriad glory. Your order is called in Vietnamese and English; it’s a little like being in a train station in seventies Saigon. The baguettes and croissants
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
How Houston’s rich got to be the same as you and me—that is, boring.
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.
True-life tales from the files of one of Houston’s top divorce lawyers.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Westheimer Road, Houston
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Anna Nicole Smith died as she lived: as a bit of tabloid ephemera, sandwiched between a love-crazed astronaut and Britney Spears’s new do. And that’s exactly where she belonged.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Party tricks from Jackson Hicks.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Dan Patrick is causing nervous breakdowns of various size and duration—and he’s not even in the Texas Senate yet.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
West Nineteenth, Houston.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Houston’s Katrina hangover.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Hot enough for you?
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
But not just any. The Prime and Tanger outlets, in San Marcos, with Neiman’s Last Call and Saks Off Fifth and Polo Ralph Lauren and Zegna among their more than 225 stores, are the fourth most popular tourist attraction in Texas. Maximizing a trip to such a massive shopping mecca
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Kenny, we hardly knew ye. Okay, maybe we knew you too well. The jury, at least, seems to have pegged you just right. You too, Skilling.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Scenes from the Enron reality show.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
If the war is an unpleasant abstraction in the rest of the country, it’s omnipresent at Killeen Shoemaker, where many of the children of the enlisted men and women of Fort Hood are enrolled—and pray for peace every single day.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Last Call.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
One evening Ike and Tina came over for dinner to my mom and dad’s house. Tina kissed me on the forehead before I went to bed.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
My San Antonio was an overgrown small town, socially stratified and inbred, controlled by a handful of old, wealthy families.
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.
The marriage of Baylor College of Medicine and Methodist Hospital should have been made in heaven—and until recently, it was. Their nasty breakup is a bell tolling for American medicine.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
The fairy tale is long over, but reality hasn’t necessarily set in.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
An exit interview with Hockaday’s headmistress.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
All over the world, and all over this country, the Texas stereotype is mocked and maligned (so what else is new?). Does it matter, really, if everyone thinks we're fat, violent, prudish yahoos?
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
For Sharon Bush, membership in the world's most powerful family had its privileges. But as she discovered after her husband of 23 years—the brother of one president and the son of another—ended their marriage via e-mail, it can be revoked without warning.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
The New England Patriots weren't the only winners at the Super Bowl. Houston won too, sort of.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
So says my friend Jost Lunstroth, one of thousands of formerly successful Texans for whom unemployment is more than a statistic.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
For forty years Nellie Connally has been talking about that day, when she was in that car and saw that tragedy unfold. She's still talking—and now she's writing too.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Will Houston's next mayor be White?
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
Executive editor Mimi Swartz talks about Wadih el-Hage and this month's cover story, "The Traitor Next Door."
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.
His name was Wadih el-Hage. He had an American wife and American kids, a home in Arlington, a job at a tire store in Fort Worth, and a secret past that led straight to Osama bin Laden.
Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston.