Essay

Jun 23, 2020 — By Doyin Oyeniyi

After living most of my life in Texas, I finally gave Willie Nelson a serious listen and learned a few things about my Nigerian mom.

Feb 23, 2017 — By John Spong

Spoon is my favorite band. Spoon has a new album out. It is my favorite Spoon album. That is all.

Nov 21, 2016 — By Emily McCullar

She died twenty years ago, when I was ten. Yet even as the distance grows, I've found a way to keep her close.

Aug 24, 2016 — By Oscar Casares

When I needed a new home office, I thought I’d save money by hiring a draftsman. I got what I paid for—and more.

Jun 22, 2016 — By Donley Watt

Life along the Pedernales was everything one could hope for—until it wasn’t.

Dec 23, 2015 — By Manuel Luiz Martinez

After my father abandoned us I had to grow up fast. And when the chance for payback came, I took it.

Aug 13, 2015 — By Sukhada Tatke

The heretical choice to not own a vehicle in a city that worships the automobile.

Jul 31, 2015 — By Jason Stanford

When my wife, Sonia Van Meter, was chosen as one of the Mars One finalists, I realized that my potential loss was humanity’s gain.

May 13, 2015 — By Thomas McNeely

When I was nine years old, I struggled to make a super 8 movie as my life unspooled around me. 

May 8, 2015 — By Mimi Swartz

For the first time in its history, Blue Bell is in a right sticky mess.

Apr 20, 2015 — By John Spong

How my wife and I got more than we bargained for on a trip to Boquillas.

Apr 10, 2015 — By Domingo Martinez

How a trip to South Padre Island, a grand theft auto, and an English folk singer forever changed my life’s course.

Mar 23, 2015 — By Texas Monthly and Dave Hickey

It rhymes with “sexist” and “Lexus.”

Mar 19, 2015 — By John Nova Lomax

Beset by high-end interior Mexican, mid-range fajita-and-’rita chains, budget taquerias, and taco trucks—and whatever Torchy’s is—Houston’s old-school Tex-Mex is fading away.

Mar 18, 2015 — By Sergio Troncoso

Returning to El Paso and finding that you can’t go home again. Or maybe you can.

Jan 20, 2015 — By Sterry Butcher

Why we will always worship the ground we walk on.

Jan 14, 2015 — By W.K. Stratton

Growing up in my family, there were things you just didn’t talk about. Like feelings. Or sex. Or dying from AIDS.

Oct 13, 2014 — By Donley Watt

I thought being a landman in the Eagle Ford Shale would help replenish my bank account. I quickly got more than I bargained for.

Jun 5, 2014 — By Sterry Butcher

How one feline (and then a couple more, and then another) conquered both our hearts and our mice.

Apr 21, 2014 — By Glen E. Lich

A man marks his territory.

Apr 8, 2014 — By Christine Granados

As a teenager I thought a quick paint job would help my family blend in to our white suburban neighborhood. Now I'm glad it wasn't that simple.

Mar 4, 2014 — By Sterry Butcher

The lonely, calloused, plaster-caked ballad of the do-it-yourself renovator.

Feb 11, 2014 — By Mimi Swartz

Woodland Heights may not be the fanciest neighborhood in Houston, or the quietest, or the coolest (and it can be a little full of itself), but it’s mine.

Feb 11, 2014 — By Oscar Casares

Growing up at Charro Days.

Jan 14, 2014 — By Mimi Swartz

If you have kids, being a caregiver to an elderly parent may feel a bit familiar.

Dec 6, 2013 — By Mimi Swartz

The lessons of a family heirloom.

Nov 12, 2013 — By Patricia Sharpe

How eating cornbread and beans taught me who I was—and who we are as Texans.

May 13, 2013 — By Mimi Swartz

As my son graduates from college, I’m learning to say goodbye to him—again.

Sep 30, 2006 — By John Graves

In my 86 years I’ve come into the possession of an assortment of firearms: a Colt .32-caliber semiautomatic pistol that my grandfather bought at a hardware store in Cuero; a Remington Model 870 pump, 20-gauge shotgun that my Aggie uncle-by-marriage used to shoot birds; the Winchester Model 06 pump .22 rifle I got on my tenth birthday; and many others. And each one has a story.