Not a funny year. The meltdown kept melting down, the collapsing markets kept collapsing, and the downsizing economy kept downsizing. Texas fared better than most states (see “California, disaster in”), but we weren’t immune. In October, the number of unemployed Texans topped one million. In November, the comptroller’s office
Andrew Sansom, Leslie Baldwin, and Darren Braun
John Spong, Steven Tabbutt, and Von
Most people would never suspect that I—a 53-year-old retired Navy veteran who is conservative to the core—would support the legalization of marijuana [“Texas High Ways,” October 2009]. However, I do. It has come to the point in the state of Texas where too much time and effort is being wasted
The night I got married we danced for hours at the AmVets Post 65, in Marfa. It’s a large building with sheet-metal siding, a beat-up but gracious wooden stage, dramatic wooden rafters, and an Iwo Jima mural between the doors to the lobby. Like a lot of small-town halls,
I’d about given up that y’all even knew Texas had other college football programs outside of the University of Texas [“Mike Leach Is Thinking . . . ” September 2009]. Kudos for finally realizing what we’ve known for years: Mike Leach is a great coach and is giving much-deserved
Exactly one year ago in this space Evan Smith bid farewell to Mike Levy, founder of TEXAS MONTHLY and its publisher for 35 years. This month I find myself writing you about another profound departure: Last month was the final issue in which Evan’s name appeared at the top
Sam Gwynne, David Strohl and Karen Olsson.
Nugent mail accounted for roughly 90 percent of the letters to the editor regarding our July issue. A sampling of the remaining 10 percent can be found here.Capitol LettersCould you please explain to me why you consider Wayne Christian’s advocacy of “no scholarships for illegal aliens” such an outlandish idea
Two years, four months, and 26 days ago, I had a very different view of the world from the one I have as I sit down to write this letter. That was the last day that I wasn’t a parent. March 6, 2007. The next day my son was
Matt Rainwaters, Michael Hall and T. J. Tucker.
One can only guess at what motivated Gary Cartwright to write such a mean story about the state of today’s sportswriting [“Game Over,” June 2009]. I’m sure that he sorely misses those drunken days of debauchery at the heels of Blackie Sherrod, but to take cheap shots at today’s
To: Mr. John DeStefano Jr., mayor of New Haven, Connecticut; Mr. Thomas J. Moses Sr., mayor of the Village of Hamburg, New York; Mr. Kenneth Rottier, mayor of Seymour, WisconsinDear Sirs,It has come to our attention that the localities of which you are the elected representatives have for many years
Dan Winters, Patricia Kilday Hart, and Douglas Brinkley.
One of the notable characteristics of this magazine is that it manages to inspire an equal amount of criticism from all parts of the political spectrum (this will come as a surprise, of course, to all parts of the political spectrum). Since our subject matter is a state, and
I can only assume that your editors carefully discussed the merits of placing Joel Osteen on the cover. And I can only deduce that they decided that the benefits (presumably in terms of the appeal to his religious constituency) outweighed the costs. One question they might not have considered, or
Patricia Sharpe’s article on her favorite dishes under $10 really brought home the truth in the cliché “Time changes everything” [“How to Eat Well in Hard Times,” April 2009]. When my wife and I were first married and attending Sul Ross State College, our weekly grocery budget was $8.
Since tax day, when Governor Perry flirted with the idea of Texas seceding from the Union, we have been treated to a full-blown rampage of anti-Texan invective the likes of which have not been seen since George W. Bush decamped from Washington for brushier pastures. “This one state has
Eva Longoria? Jerry Hall? Seriously? As a Texas native, I was sad not to see Barbara Jordan and Stevie Ray Vaughan on your list of the thirty most stylish Texans in place of these two [“Styles and Styles of Texas,” March 2009].Tom DoodyRockville, MarylandYou missed a big one: Alvin
This month we’re pleased to bring you the Texas Monthly Brainstorm—a massive collection of ideas large and small, serious and quirky from a diverse group of big-thinking Texans on the topic of how we might improve our state. The notion to bring together all this brainpower came to us
Liz Lomax, Michael Webber, and The Texanist—a.k.a. assistant editor David Courtney.
Craig Cutler, Donald M. Yena and Jeff Wilson
The only thing sadder than your choice of Kay Bailey Hutchison for the February cover is knowing that there are plenty of idiots in Texas who will vote for either her or Mr. Big Hair.Don HathawayFort WorthIncident ReportAs an SMU alum and a DEA special agent, I read the article
According to T. S. Eliot and a now annual chorus of newspaper columnists, weathermen, bloggers, marketing departments, six o’clock news anchors, drive-time deejays, adolescent poets, and tax-mad accountants, April is the cruelest month. This year, however, January and February each made strong cases that the dubious honor should be
Kristie Ramirez, Michael Ennis, and LeAnn Mueller.
Ignored by you for years, the Southern Legal Resource Center has finally arrived [“The 2009 Bum Steer Awards,” January 2009]! But, hey, where have y’all been? We filed the student free speech federal lawsuit against Burleson ISD back in 2007.Clueless as we are, we naively cling to the quaint
When the idea of putting together a special Texas Monthly style issue was first laid on the table, it was greeted with consternation. Did we intend to dispatch Paul Burka to the fashion shows to analyze the spring lines or Skip Hollandsworth to the nearest perfumery to fill his untutored
David Bowman, Paul Burka, and Bear Guerra.
Before Mark Seliger talks to me about photography [Reporter, Texas Monthly Talks, December 2008], he needs to study the terrific cover of the December issue.Dick MitchellAustinYou failed to mention the best hidden cafe and beer joint in Texas: the Back Door Cafe, in Roosevelt [“The 40 Best Small-Town
On Tuesday of the week that this issue arrives on the newsstand, President George W. Bush will rise from his bed on the second floor of the White House for the last time. According to custom, he will receive President-elect Barack Obama for coffee sometime later that morning. The
Your story concerning Longhorn athletics really brought back memories [“Come Early. Be Loud. Cash In,” November 2008]. I remembered how my wife and I struggled for eight years to put our two children through the University of Texas, scrimping and practicing the frugality learned in our careers as educators
With this issue we begin the final year of the Aughts, also known as the Two Thousands, the Zeros, the Naughts, the Ohs, the Oh-ohs, or, as seems recently to be the case, the Oh-nos. Before long we’ll be heading into the Tweens, trying to make sense of the
Patricia Sharpe, Oscar Casares, and Adam Wiseman
Let me say a few words about the modern world, the last on the subject—or any subject—that I expect to be writing in this space in the foreseeable future.For nearly 36 years, the editor of Texas Monthly had one job. Our founding editor, Bill Broyles, presided over the publication of
I know it’s easy to get wrapped up in Matthew McConaughey’s dreamy eyes and pearly whites, but another cover story for this guy [“Dude!” October 2008]? What did he do this time, make another bad movie? Look, as a fellow Texan on the West Coast, I appreciate his
I’m a fifth-generation Texan and mad as hell at T. Boone Pickens for his rape of our beautiful land [“There Will Be Boone,” September 2008]. And for what? To line his pockets even more? Apparently, a billion dollars isn’t enough.A year ago, my husband and I purchased 93 acres
To those who insist all journalists are pinot-swilling, Bibb-lettuce-nibbling, four-hundred-thread-count-Egyptian-cotton-pillowcase-coveting elitists, I say: Meet Michael Hall. It’s not just that the soul-patched, ratty-flannel-shirt-wearing Army brat doesn’t present as Bill Buckley or Tom Wolfe. It’s that, in word and deed, he more than transcends the “man of the people” cliché. This
“The Killing Field” is the most sickening, repulsive story I have heard in a long time [August 2008]. These young men are “good kids”? I do not think so. I promise you, we will hear of these boys again, and it will not be about their good works.Mary Louise
I can’t say I wasn’t warned. In November 1991, not long after I’d announced to my bosses at a big magazine company in New York that I would soon be quitting to take a job with Texas Monthly, one of the company’s officers, a hulking man with a thick German
Jill Greenberg, Dwight Romanovicz, and Katy Vine.
Yaphet SmithThough he’s worked both as a CPA and an attorney, Yaphet Smith’s first love is film. The 37-year-old, who grew up in Austin, received widespread recognition in 2001 for his screenplay The Supermarvelous; his following script, about a Little League team in Harlem, was backed by Spike Lee
Thanks to Elmer Kelton for the story on cowboys [“True Grit,” July 2008]. It is sad that some pundits have used an honorable name and profession to mislabel some of our political leaders. I consider it sadder that some of our political leaders would adopt the outward manifestations of
If you had asked me a year ago—if you had asked me three months ago—I would have bet my house that Boone Pickens would not be on this month’s cover. Not that his previous time as our cover subject wasn’t memorable: Joe Nocera, then a Texas Monthly associate editor and
Sarah Wilson, Stephanie Elizondo Griest, and Charlie Llewellin.
As I type these words, it is July 4— a day filled with bunting, parades, hot dogs, and political candidates slyly impugning one another’s patriotism. It is also a day to contemplate what this country of ours owes us, and what we owe it. The former has been the subject
I enjoyed your barbecue story and am planning my summer trips so that they include stops at some from the top five on your list. [“BBQ08,” June 2008]. But I must say that y’all missed a great one: Martin’s Place in Bryan.Matt WiedersteinBryan. . . Angelo’s Bar-B-Que in Fort
Looking at your Willie cover, I see him praying, my wife sees him stoned, and my daughter sees him reflecting on a long, well-lived life. It is truly a work of art.James JolleyOdessaTwenty-four hours after literally being stopped in my tracks by its impact, I’m still left speechless by your
Of the many concerns I have about the Iraq war, one of the biggest is this: The media have done an inadequate job, abetted by the Bush administration’s no-images-of-flag-draped-coffins dictate, of covering the massive loss of life, limb, and livelihood these past five-plus years. This is true all over the
Matt Cook, Peter Yang and Beth Perkins.
Your piece on the 68 awesome things to do with your kids was terrific but incomplete when it came to family-friendly train rides [“Child’s Play,” April 2008]. You missed the Austin Steam Train, which runs vintage trains every weekend on a 33-mile route into the Hill Country, and the
