December 1997

Dec 1, 1997 — By Suzy Banks

All over Texas, smart shoppers are bidding on everything from antiques to airplanes. Join them before the best buys are going, going, gone.

Dec 1, 1997 — By Anne Dingus

This time of year, Yule find him hanging around East Texas: On lawns and roofs, he’s a Claus célèbre.

Dec 1, 1997 — By Joe Nick Patoski

It’s unpalatable to cattle, an invader of grasslands, and a water hog. So why can’t I just get rid of it? Because it’s a vegetative Vietnam.

Dec 1, 1997 — By Kathryn Jones

So says Larry McMurtry, Texas’ best—and best-known— novelist. But that doesn’t mean he’s giving up literature altogether; in fact, his days are quite booked.

Dec 1, 1997 — By Paul Burka

The University of Texas at Austin, whose paralysis in response to the Hopwood decision ignited racial tensions. And that was before Lino Graglia said a word.

Dec 1, 1997 — By Rebecca Cohen

They give to the neediest Texans.

Dec 1, 1997 — By Kathryn Jones

His artful gift to the city of Dallas ensures his legacy.

Dec 1, 1997 — By jamesmagnuson

He gave millions—and he did it in a novel way.

Dec 1, 1997 — By Ann Castle

From the Altshulers to the Zales, the state’s top philanthropists support a range of causes but have at least one thing in common: their selflessness.

Dec 1, 1997 — By Texas Monthly

Hot CDs Sure, you can waltz across Texas to the Cornell Hurd Band’s Texas Fruit Shack (Behemoth), but you can also shuffle, two-step, boogie, and maybe even jitterbug. Joined by guest stars like Johnny Bush, Austinite Hurd fronts a versatile group that puts an authoritative stamp on the full run…

Dec 1, 1997 — By Jordan Mackay

Just as Austin is the Dallas of the nineties—a booming cultural icon bordering on cliché—Austin Stories may be the Dallas of the nineties. The MTV sitcom, which debuted this fall, is weekly television’s first credible portrayal of Texas and Texans since J.R. got shot. (Walker, Texas Ranger? Kung fu in…

Dec 1, 1997 — By Paul Burka

Ten reasons why former police chief Lee Brown is well positioned to be elected Houston’s first black mayor on December 6: (1) He ran stronger than expected in the November 4 primary, with 42 percent to Rob Mosbacher’s 29 percent. Both were projected to poll in the 30’s. (2) The…

Dec 1, 1997 — By Joe Holley

The Panhandle goes hog wild.

Dec 1, 1997 — By John Morthland

The newest bilingual TV star.

Dec 1, 1997 — By Ted Oehmke

A Houston widower battles TWA.

Dec 1, 1997 — By Pamela Colloff

George W. Bush pardoned convicted rapist Kevin Byrd after DNA evidence proved he was the wrong man. How did he get sent to prison in the first place?

Dec 1, 1997 — By Evan Smith

Paula Jones and Texas.

Dec 1, 1997 — By Erin Gromen

“When I was little,” Ara Celi says, “I used to watch TV and ask, ‘How do you get on there?’” At 19 the El Paso native set out for Hollywood to answer that question; once there, she quickly learned the three most important words in show business: audition, audition, audition.

Dec 1, 1997 — By Brian D. Sweany

Tommy Tune I started dancing when I was five, after [Houston dance teacher] Emmamae Horn visited my school and asked my parents if I could enroll in her dance class. It must have run in the family, though, because my parents were great dancers too. When I was about nine,…

Dec 1, 1997 — By Skip Hollandsworth

What does the school board scandal say about Dallas?

Dec 1, 1997 — By Carol Chapman

He hasn’t been able to find his father’s killer, but Austinite David Wheeler’s computer programs are catching lots of other crooks.

Dec 1, 1997 — By Pamela Colloff

Can Miller Quarles live forever? The 83-year-old Houstonian hopes so—and he’ll pay $100,000 to anyone who will help him.

Dec 1, 1997 — By Stephen Harrigan

Growing up in Longview and Texas City, John Lee Hancock dreamed of a life in the movies. Today, he’s one of L.A.’s hottest screenwriters.

Dec 1, 1997 — By Joe Holley

Why are small-town Texas newspapers thriving? Because unlike big-city dailies, they know their readers, and they give them what they want.

Dec 1, 1997 — By Claire Poole

A year after she was forced to file for bankruptcy, Houston’s Ninfa Laurenzo is cooking up a way to save her popular restaurant chain.

Dec 1, 1997 — By Texas Monthly

Why we love West Texas; defending the death penalty.

Dec 1, 1997 — By Anne Dingus

Why was Howard Hughes’s plane nicknamed the Spruce Goose?

Dec 1, 1997 — By Jordan Mackay

“I love lists,” says Ann Castle, who got into the listmaking business last year when the online magazine Slate asked her for a roundup of the nation’s biggest givers. “Because of the Slate list, lots of people have contacted me about doing this in their state,” she says, though she…

Jan 20, 2013 — By Patricia Sharpe

How did the chefs at Dallas’ French Room whip up such a delicious cake? Choc it up to creativity.

Jan 20, 2013 — By Texas Monthly

Pistachio and Eggnog Milk Sauce 1/2 cup shelled pistachios 4 medium egg yolks 1/2 cup sugar (less if using eggnog, to taste) 1/2 quart whipping cream or eggnog 1 quart milk 1 vanilla bean, split Roast pistachios at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, chop, and…

Jan 20, 2013 — By Helen Thorpe

Dominique de Menil—1908-1997