Today, many younger Texans may be inclined to think of Lady Bird Johnson as belonging entirely to the past. But if her demeanor and style seemed faintly anachronistic, the virtues instilled by her parents back in East Texas—practicality, thriftiness, good manners, and an open mind—made her remarkably effective as a first lady, more so than some of her “modern” successors.
I wanted to help my old pal when he became a Katrina evacuee. I really did. But any houseguest who stays for nearly two years is going to drive you crazy (or, in my case, crazier).
Of the many things the first black district attorney of Dallas County is doing, none is more important than rethinking the concept of guilt and innocence.
Two Border Patrol agents are sent to prison while the dope smuggler they pursued and wounded is granted immunity by federal prosecutors and goes free. A miscarriage of justice? Not so fast.
There are prettier women in Hollywood. There are more-talented actresses on TV and in the movies. So how to explain the charmed, celebrated existence that is la vida Longoria?
Well into their second decade with only the slightest of personnel changes, the Gourds are already beyond the life span of the average band. Their earthy eclecticism has produced an extensive list of classics, and if their albums haven’t always been long on consistency, (Yep Roc) has
These days, listening to a new album is like hovering above a city in a helicopter: The experience might be spectacular, but eventually you want to feel as if you’re headed somewhere. It’s easy to forget how fresh Lovett’s gospelized country-swing sounded when he first burst upon the
Will Sheff, the force behind Austin’s Okkervil River, is not one to take baby steps. He conceives the band’s music in broad, ambitious strokes, and if what he hears in his head is beyond his vocal range, no matter. He goes for it. At first his yelping had a
By design, there are no stunning revelations to be gleaned from Follow the Money: How George W. Bush and the Texas Republicans Hog-Tied America. Texas journalist John Anderson does not mine for new scandals but instead reconstructs, strand by strand, the web of power-mongering and money that snared
Vietnam. Thirty-plus years after helicopter airlifts signaled the fall of Saigon, the name still evokes ghastly images of napalm-scorched children and ad hoc executions by handgun. Denis Johnson, author of Jesus’ Son and currently the Mitte chair of creative writing at Texas State University, summons that communal memory to
Since revealing his 1985 abduction by nonhuman visitors, the best-selling author has garnered as much attention for his opinions on alien life-forms as for his fiction. His new novel, 2012: The War for Souls, has been optioned by Warner Bros. for Michael Bay (Transformers) to direct.What’s the significance
Warren was born and raised in New York but has lived in Houston for more than twenty years. She is an eleventh-grade U.S. history teacher at Hastings High School, in the Alief Independent School District, which serves one of the state’s most ethnically diverse student populations. More than sixty languages
THE SPIRITIt’s the season to abandon reason, so make your fanaticism count. Don all that team paraphernalia, yes, but distinguish yourself from a couch potato with shows of true commitment: face decals, dye jobs, strategic shaving, and, of course, body paint. Also imperative are your ride’s trimmings (bumper stickers, hitch
Evan Smith is the cofounder of the Texas Tribune, a senior adviser at Emerson Collective, and the former editor in chief and president of Texas Monthly.
The folksinger, a third-generation musician from California who put down roots in Texas long ago, has just released Your Town Tonight (RedHouse), a live album recorded over two nights at Austin’s Cactus Cafe.Why release a live album now?Well, I’d never done it. At shows, there isn’t a night
Evan Smith is the cofounder of the Texas Tribune, a senior adviser at Emerson Collective, and the former editor in chief and president of Texas Monthly.
Football as religion is the gospel truth here in Texas, where players are gods and fields are hallowed ground. So the organizers of this month’s Six-Man Super Saturday can be forgiven if their slogans have been a bit holier-than-thou: “Not since Moses have believers traveled so far to the
Beaumont, Frisco No, it’s not a comeback (unfortunately), but Pete Sampras, who hung up his racket in 2003, is back in the game. The 36-year-old tennis legend, who was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in July, has stayed busy in his retirement by playing a few
Life is too short to enjoy cocktail hour with a bag of Doritos. In Kate Heyhoe’s new book Great Bar Food at Home, we learn that you can have a sophisticated bar atmosphere in the comfort of your own pad. You just have to plan. And Heyhoe is ready to
What are they doing here, hiding $100 bills in the booths? Spraying Love Potion Number Nine around the dining room? Flashing subliminal messages on the big-screen TVs (“You love the Porch, you must eat at the Porch . . .”)? I ask this in all seriousness, because now that
My very first issue as the editor of this magazine—August 2000—had Lady Bird Johnson on the cover, flanked by her daughters, Lynda and Luci. Back then I hadn’t yet met the matriarch of Texas’s first family; certainly she didn’t know me from Adam (or Greg). But we would become acquainted
Evan Smith is the cofounder of the Texas Tribune, a senior adviser at Emerson Collective, and the former editor in chief and president of Texas Monthly.
I was appalled to learn of texas monthly’s designation of Representative Lon Burnam as one of Texas’s Worst Legislators, in part due to his purported ineffectiveness on behalf of the environment [“The Best and Worst Legislators,” July 2007]. The Texas Legislature has no greater advocate for the environment than
