It began in 1865 as a joyous celebration of emancipation. Today young black Texans find the holiday overshadowed by more immediate concerns.
June 1988

Features
Shrimp boats are a-comin’, and their nets are killing endangered sea turtles.
Marine scientists have struggled for ten years to establish a new colony of ridley sea turtles on South Padre Islands. All their efforts may have been in vain.
On the eve of the Mexican elections, the country’s dwindling middle class prefers fatalism o Fabianism.
A salute to Texas athletes trying young; seven hearts set on the Summer Olympics.

Houston’s city controller prided himself on being the most scrupulously honest politician in town. So why did he sign his name to someone else credit card?
The controversial home of an embattled college president is a symbol of a Panhandle brawl full of conspiracies.
You can lead a herd to water, but can you make a miniseries faithful to Larry McMurtry’s Texas classic?
Columns
A tour of the Texas psyche, with guides like Sam Houston, Katherine Anne Porter, and John Henry Faulk; a novel of adolescence addresses carnal knowledge and fundamentalist religion.
In a Houston retrospective, the art of Julian Schnabel appears to be aging prematurely.
Miscellany
Why Continental isn’t in Love (Field); Clinton Manges takes the horns by the Bullock; tort reform and the good bidness climate; logic in advertising.
Ten years old and burning out; totally nice competition; a trip work taking—once.
Reporter
The bash of the century in Austin; new heights for an Alamo author; slouching toward Jerusalem, Texas; plus designer tomatoes, East Texas ingenuity, and Amazing Car #8.