Contest
Not figuratively speaking.
Former senior executive editor Paul Burka joined the staff of Texas Monthly in 1974, one year after the magazine’s founding. He led TM’s political coverage for nearly forty years and spearheaded its storied roundup of the Best and Worst Legislators each biennium. A lifelong Texan, he was born in Galveston, graduated from Rice University with a BA in history, and received a JD from the University of Texas School of Law.
Burka spent five years as an attorney with the Texas Legislature, where he served as counsel to the Senate Natural Resources Committee. He won the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award in 1981. He also received a National Magazine Award in 1985, for his two-part profile of Clinton Manges. After retiring from Texas Monthly in 2015, he taught at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He died in 2022.
Not figuratively speaking.
By Paul Burka
Happy Valentine’s Day.
By Paul Burka
Here’s the plot for the legislature’s 140-day run, opening soon.
By Paul Burka
Wrong division.
By Paul Burka
What’s in a name?
By Paul Burka
Typographical errors.
By Paul Burka
Anagrams!
By Paul Burka
When was the last time you went to an SMU-Baylor game?
By Paul Burka
Poems to celebrate the new season.
By Paul Burka
Football evolved from rugby, which may show that evolution doesn’t always mean progress.
By Paul Burka
Trains did have exotic names. Here’s your chance to invent your own.
By Paul Burka
By Paul Burka
Women’s college sports, after years of atrophy, are getting more attention, but the same amount of financial support—almost none.
By Paul Burka
By Paul Burka
INMATES OF THE TEXAS DEPARTMENT of Corrections have made 181 new desks for about $34 a desk. Rockford Furniture Associates of Austin has fashioned matching chairs for $180 a chair. A new electronic voting board has been installed for $33,500 ($200 more than the total cost for the chairs). These
By Paul Burka
A secret garden, presidential papers, tasty pinto beans—and a Picasso.
By Paul Burka