Columns

Behind the Lines

To Beans or Not To Beans?

It takes guts to fool around with pork bellies and other commodities.

Fiends and Lovers

A love affair that is so real it hurts; and one that hurts so much it’s unreal.

Great Bowls of Fire

Menudo is one soup Campbell’s can forget about canning.

The Public Well Fare

The costs of being sick in Texas keep going up, up, up.

A Child’s Christmas in Tales

Bringing back the Ghost of Christmas Past.

Behind the Lines

The First Hurrah

The confessions of the second man in a two-man race.

Fool’s Gold

In today’s market all that glitters is not gold.

Go West, Old Man

Gambling and growing old, odd subjects for films, odd films for those subjects.

Children in Shadow

Some children need more help than they are likely to get.

Sweets from the Swedes

Holiday treats from the land where Christmas is always white.

Crossing into Thirty

One of the few things in life that may be more than it’s cracked up to be.

Behind the Lines

Bursting the Bubble

Examining the Supreme Court’s decision on Nixon’s tapes.

Tight Money, Loose Talk

Belt tightening is in order; the present credit crunch may last and last.

Who’s Minding the Gore?

Blood-and-guts movies take a back seat to a film about a pushy kid on the way up.

How Green is My Alley

Eating along the San Antonio River Walk is delightful or disappointing; here’s how to opt for delight.

Tea for Texas

The ins and outs of drinking tea in Texas.

Visit Beautiful Austin (Quick)

Austin is trading old houses for new offices. The City Council calls it progress.

Behind the Lines

The Politics of Outsiders

The Raza Unida party still isn‘t sure whether it wants to hurt the Democrats or help itself.

Pilgrims at Turtle Creek

The Dallas Theater Center sets sail for distant and perhaps dangerous shores.

Diversify and Conquer

The oil companies are hedging their bets in the energy crisis by buying other firms.

Roux the Day

Crawfish pie is not the only Cajun dish worth sampling.

Behind the Lines

Steel Walls Do Not an Art Museum Make

The Houston Contemporary Arts Museum has an acute case of schizophrenia.

The Sport of Rough Gentlemen

Football evolved from rugby, which may show that evolution doesn’t always mean progress.

Waltzing Methuselah

Alternatives to raging against the dying of the light.

Dallas’s Restaurants

Our reviewer is well pleased but not ecstatic with three famous establishments.

Tykes Bearing Gifts

Throwing a birthday party for young children is really a very simple, enjoyable thing—to watch.

Behind the Lines

Among the Ruins

Across Yucatan on pennies a day. An intrepid traveler reports.

The Peter Out Principle

The Texas GOP cranks down for November elections.

Marginal Utilities

Utilities companies’ long range plans didn’t include a fuel shortage. Now they have shortages of a different kind to worry about.

When All the Laughter Turned to Sap

All these movies have something missing; it didn’t take Sam Spade to find it.

Splendor on the Grass

Cooking over an open fire is no mystic art. And it helps if you start everything in your kitchen at home.

Behind the Lines

Katie at the Bat

Women’s college sports, after years of atrophy, are getting more attention, but the same amount of financial support—almost none.

The Adipose Tissue Issue

There’s a mechanism in the brain that’s supposed to keep you from getting fat. The only problem is you have to eat right and exercise to make it work.

Ashes to Ashes, Trust to Dust

Real Estate Investment Trusts proved that you could lose money in real estate; and nobody ever wrote to thank them for the lesson either.

From Badlands to Worselands

Gatsby is not a complete disappointment while an unheralded little movie about Texas looks great.

Games Small People Play

The games of yesterday are the memories of today. Here are a few bits and pieces on how to help your own child store up some memories.

The Constant Reader

A look at new work from Larry King, Ronnie Dugger, and Edwin Shrake.

A Fine Kettle Of Fish

Gulf Coast seafood is good eating even when you’re watching the scales.

Dustin’ Off The Stetson

It takes slant-heeled boots and a strong jaw to campaign in West Texas; a Ph.D. probably doesn’t help.

Going For Brokers

It costs money to make money, nut how are brokers commissions affecting the private investor’ss chances of turning a profit?

Maim!

Another big money musical is another disaster and cop stories are a too-familiar tune.

Innocents Abroad

You can travel with children. A whole world out there is waiting ... with a smirk.

Behind the Lines

On a warm March morning we went looking for the grave of my great-great-grandmother Nancy Daugherty. My mother had visited the grave more than 40 years before, and remembered only that it was near the capitol and that a small iron fence encircled the plot. We found the grave amid