
October 2012 Issue

Features


Portrait of the Artist as a Postman
The only American ever to design scarves for the exclusive French fashion house Hermès is Kermit Oliver, a 69-year-old postal worker from Waco who lives in a strange and beautiful world all his own.

The Kay Place
Kay Bailey Hutchison, the state’s senior senator and the first woman from Texas to hold that office, opens up about the changes in her party, why she decided to retire, and the governor’s race that got away.
Web

The Drop Everything List
Learning Butchery, the Dragonfly & Damselfly Workshop, "The Price Is Right Live," and Boogie, Blues & Brews . . .

Tackling the Cowboys
Joe Nick Patoski takes on America's most storied football franchise in his new book, The Dallas Cowboys.

The Drop Everything List
The One O'Clock Lab Band, Cuero's Turkey Trot, Kenny Rogers, and the Scarecrow Festival . . .

The Kimbell Is Looking Better Than Ever at 40
The man ushering the Kimbell Art Museum into a grand new era: Eric M. Lee.

The Drop Everything List
La Follia, Zine Fest, Love This Giant, and the Master Model Builder competition . . .

Celebrating Denton Cooley and Old Houston
How the 50th anniversary party for the Texas Heart Institute was really a glimpse into the Houston that once was.

Making an Austin City Limits Debut
Terry Lickona, the television show's executive producer, talks about some of the acts that will step on the Austin City Limits stage for the first time, including Radiohead and Kat Edmonson.
Righting Votes
Why requiring photo identification on Election Day is sensible and necessary—and hurts no one at all.
A Q&A With Jan Reid
Senior editor John Spong talked with Jan Reid about his new Ann Richards biography, ‘Let the People In.’
Touts

The Belt Buckle
Six variations on the choicest form of jewelry for a cowgirl. Or boy.

Pecan Pralines
The creamy-crispy confection looms large in Texans’ collective taste memories.

Toast of the Town
The best way to visit Houston is one neighborhood at a time. Let’s start with Montrose.

Reporter

Crime and Publishing
Inside the darkly humorous world of the Lufkin Daily News police blotter.

The Thrill Isn’t Gone
How Gary Clark Jr. is reclaiming and reinventing the blues for the hip-hop generation.


Kenny Klimple, Bus Driver
After serving as a police officer for six years in the Brazos Valley, Klimple “burned out” on working with the public and sought refuge in truck driving. He got his commercial driver’s license while hauling oil equipment for Halliburton, never imagining that a year later he’d put it to use


5 Things You’ll Be Talking About in October
1. Third Time’s the Charm! Right?For the third straight year, the Texas Rangers head into the postseason with hopes that are high and realistic. Led by perennial MVP candidate Josh Hamilton, they’re the best-hitting team in baseball. They’ve got a lights-out closer in Joe Nathan and, despite some devastating injuries,

The Poll Truth
When a third of its citizens vote, can Texas really be called a democracy?
The Last Liberal
As Jan Reid's new biography makes clear, Ann Richards was one of the most magnetic politicians of the past thirty years. So why didn’t she leave much of a legacy?

Ted Cruz’s Excellent Adventure
Will a tea party darling be the state’s first Hispanic senator?
Columns

Offering Fine Advice Since 2007
The Texanist on tailgating, winterizing grass, and beer cocktails.

Fracked Into a Corner?
Hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have given us a natural gas boom—and a whole lot of questions.
Miscellany

Cover Credit
Photo illustration by Image Foundation. Tower photograph by Wyatt McSpadden.

Roar of the Crowd
Our September cover was a hit on Facebook, where it received hundreds of shares and likes—and generated a raging debate between those who thought the photo was adorable and those who felt that the children should have been more covered up. “First of all, can they put some clothes on them?”