The Stand Up Desk
September 15, 2021
From the Editor: An Energetic New Colleague
As Texas Monthly’s new energy editor, Russell Gold will dig deep into one of our state’s most crucial industries.
Editor's Letter
The Stand Up Desk
July 21, 2021
From the Editor: Powerful Storytellers
Mike Hall was recently honored for his incisive coverage of the Texas legal system, while Casey Gerald brought a singular voice to our cover story on Fort Worth singer-songwriter Leon Bridges.
The Stand Up Desk
June 23, 2021
From the Editor: Team Player
J. K. Nickell, features director for ‘Texas Monthly,’ was instrumental in bringing this month's cover story to life.
Film & TV
October 23, 2020
From the Editor: Going Hollywood
Texas Monthly is making big moves into film and television.
Politics & Policy
October 14, 2020
From the Editor, November 2020: “BBQ, Boots—and Ballots”
An ambitious politics cover package ahead of the 2020 election wouldn't have been possible without these key players.
The Stand Up Desk
August 19, 2020
From the Editor, September 2020: “Knives Out”
The team behind this month's well-red cover story.
The Stand Up Desk
July 22, 2020
From the Editor, August 2020: “The Annas in Our Engine Room”
Behind the scenes, two staffers with the same first name keep Texas Monthly running smoothly.
The Stand Up Desk
June 24, 2020
From the Editor, July 2020: “A Spong for You”
Senior editor John Spong is the brains behind our special thirteenth issue of Texas Monthly devoted to the life and music of Willie Nelson. The issue publishes in August.
The Stand Up Desk
May 20, 2020
From the Editor, June 2020: “Investing in Talent”
We introduce you to Texas Monthly's newest editorial staff members.
Bum Steers
December 18, 2019
From the Editor, January 2020: Herding Bum Steers
Plus, feeling grateful for our gimlet-eyed deputy editor, Jeff Salamon.
The Stand Up Desk
November 20, 2019
From the Editor, December 2019: Boots on the Ground
On bee stings and boots—both cowboy and combat.
The Stand Up Desk
September 18, 2019
From the Editor, October 2019
On the battle over Texas history, a serial killer in Laredo, and more in our October issue.
The Stand Up Desk
August 20, 2019
From the Editor, September 2019
On honky-tonks, a collaboration with the Texas Tribune, and more in our September issue.
The Stand Up Desk
January 20, 2013
Behind the Lines
TALK OF CHANGE AND REFORM has been in the air since the Sharpstown scandals more than perhaps at any time in our state’s history. Such talk is welcome, and, as most of us apparently felt in the last elections, mandatory. One imagines that talk of reform came as uncomfortably, but
The Stand Up Desk
April 30, 1974
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
Politics & Policy
March 31, 1974
Behind the Lines
We Texans have always seemed to drive more, and farther, and for perhaps stranger reasons, than just about anyone else. Young people in the bleak and monotonous landscapes of West and North Texas grew up accustomed to endless, aimless rides around the countryside and to regular trips into the cities
The Stand Up Desk
February 28, 1974
Behind the Lines
Writing about Larry L. King is a difficult task that leaves me feeling like some sweating country jeweler stooped over a fine stone trying to fashion an appropriate setting out of tin. Some good writers have craft; others have soul and spirit. Larry has what great writers have: he has
The Stand Up Desk
January 1, 1974
Behind the Lines
INMATES OF THE TEXAS DEPARTMENT of Corrections have made 181 new desks for about $34 a desk. Rockford Furniture Associates of Austin has fashioned matching chairs for $180 a chair. A new electronic voting board has been installed for $33,500 ($200 more than the total cost for the chairs). These
The Stand Up Desk
December 1, 1973
Behind the Lines
GOOD REPORTING SOMETIMES INVOLVES RISKS. Most people see the world outside their immediate vision through the eyes of the media, and much of the world contains people and situations that are unpleasant, distasteful, and downright dangerous. Wars fit in this category. So do murders. Becoming intimately involved in either can
The Stand Up Desk
November 1, 1973
Behind the Lines
SENIOR EDITOR GRIFFIN SMITH JR.’s comprehensive study of the great law firms of Houston (page 53) ranks among the most important writing ever printed by this or any other Texas publication. It goes to the heart of a group of institutions whose influence upon our state is incalculable, and whose
The Stand Up Desk
September 30, 1973
Behind the Lines
ALL OF US ARE GOING to have to stop Arthur Temple if he decides to move the headquarters of Time, Inc., to Diboll. We don’t care if Diboll is a nicer place to work than Manhattan, Arthur, you should have thought of that before you went ahead with the deal.The
The Stand Up Desk
August 31, 1973
Behind the Lines
RARELY DOES A WRITER PARTICIPATE as a major actor in the events he reports, although from time to time writers of more ego than effectiveness posture as characters injected into the dramas they cover, much as coloring is injected into an apple to make it red. Last spring Griffin Smith,
The Stand Up Desk
July 31, 1973
Behind the Lines
MANY OF THE ARTICLES IN this issue are, in one way or another, about crime. It seems we have opened Pandora’s box. Returning from lunch one day we found that the offices next to ours had been burglarized. The next afternoon we got a call from Al Reinert, who has
The Stand Up Desk
June 30, 1973
Behind the Lines
TWO MONTHS AGO IN OUR story “Sex and Politics” we took an affectionate, if irreverent, look at a side of our political traditions that is as old as politics itself, but which has rarely been discussed in public. This month we wrap up the latest session of the Texas Legislature
The Stand Up Desk
May 31, 1973
Behind The Lines
THIS ISSUE TELLS OUR READERS how to enjoy Texas in the summer. That we could so easily be urging Texans to enjoy summer is a testimony to how summers have changed. It wasn’t so long ago that a Texas summer was as inhospitable to normal human existence as a 40-inch
The Stand Up Desk
April 1, 1973
Behind the Lines
WE TEXANS TALK A LOT about how big we are, and how we are getting bigger. This is all right, since it is true. We are the only state with more than one of the ten largest cities in the country. In fact, we have three—Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.For