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The Culture|
January 21, 2013

I Shall Never Surrender or Retreat . . .

. . . from teaching my fifteen-year-old daughter about her Texas roots. So when I realized I was failing to accomplish this most sacred of duties, I did what any well-meaning parent would do: loaded her (and her friends, of course) into the car and hit the road.

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Border & Immigration|
January 20, 2013

A Q&A With David Dorado Romo

Not everyone can claim to be related to a certified saint, but David Dorado Romo can. The author and El Paso native traveled to a tiny town in the Mexican state of Jalisco to learn more about his father’s second cousin, Santo Toribio Romo, and discovered some interesting things about

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Mimi Swartz|
January 20, 2013

Meet the Parent

In the year since my mother died, I’ve learned a lot of things—like how to spend time with my dad.

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John Phillip Santos|
January 20, 2013

Two Burials

Today my grandfather is buried in a family plot in Laredo. But to understand who he was and what his family was like, you have to know the story of his first burial, seventy miles away and nearly twenty years earlier.

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Politics & Policy|
January 20, 2013

The Good Wife

Is she a “saccharine phony”? A closet liberal? A foot soldier—or a rebel—in the culture wars? The truth about Laura Bush is that her ambiguity makes her a model first lady: a blank screen upon which the public can project its own ideas about womanhood.

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Feature|
January 20, 2013

The Man Who Wasn’t There

Every family has its myths. Some are intended to reveal, and some are intended to conceal, and sometimes the intentions can get confused. The problem with myth, however, is that it can overpower history. That’s what happened in the case of my father, who died when I was four. Only

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Texas History|
August 15, 2012

The Children of Texas

I was never certain how to explain the importance of the state to my three daughters. Now that I have two grandsons—named Mason and Travis, no less—I’ve realized something that I should have known all along. 

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Prudence Mackintosh|
April 30, 2012

Dear Jane

My mother-in-law knew how to sew, keep an immaculate house, and dress stylishly. In short, she was nothing like the unpolished young woman who married her son. Perhaps that’s why we loved each other so much.

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Rick Bass|
January 1, 2011

Stuck Truck

The mud was deep and wet and cold and there was nothing to do but dig. And dig. And dig.

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Rick Bass|
August 31, 2010

Fish Story

One more trip—would it be the last?—to Toledo Bend Reservoir with my dad.

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Politics & Policy|
January 1, 2010

Conversation with a Texas Tea Party Patriot—My Dad

About halfway between our cities of residence, Houston and Austin respectively, my dad and I meet in a little restaurant named Schobels. They mostly serve chicken-fried items and other southern dishes. The waitresses, high school girls who wear too much makeup and never seem to remember the beer selection, call

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Web Exclusive|
January 1, 2010

Toy Story

From a Magic Garden crystal kit to a plastic replica of R2D2, the diverse offerings at three toy stores in Austin are right on—for any age.

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Mimi Swartz|
January 1, 2010

What She Wore

On the day my mother died, I found myself in the place that, more than any other, had defined our relationship: her closet.

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Web Exclusive|
September 30, 2009

Parent Trap

I’ve read more articles on overscheduled children than I care to count, and I like to think that I’m very in tune with trying to balance school, free play, and scheduled activities. But am I?

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Sports|
May 1, 2009

Still Life

A violent tackle in a high school football game paralyzed John McClamrock for life. His mother made sure it was a life worth living.

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Feature|
March 31, 2008

Child’s Play Directory

Urban Adventures• Tower of the Americas San Antonio 600 Hemisfair Plaza Way, 210-207-8615 or toweroftheamericas.com• Cowtown Cattlepen Maze Fort Worth 145 E. Exchange Ave., 817-624-6666 or cowtowncattlepenmaze.com• Bat Watching Austin and Houston Austin: Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge at Lady Bird Lake. Houston: Waugh Drive

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Antonya Nelson|
March 1, 2008

The Easier Life

My Mexican housekeeper’s son had the troubles of many American teens. If only I could have helped him more.

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Feature|
December 1, 2005

Christmas in Brownsville

My father, who had grown up on a farm, used to talk about his family’s killing a pig for the tamales, but this was back in the twenties.

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Kevin Von Erich poses in a swimsuit standing in the water.
Sports|
September 30, 2005

Six Brothers

The tragedy of the Von Erichs—the state’s first family of pro wrestling—is well known not just to fans of the sport but to the many groupies who oohed and aahed at the matinee-idol athletes over the years. Still, you haven’t really heard the story until it’s told by the sole

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Black and white headshot of Beyonce.
Music|
April 1, 2004

It’s a Family Affair

For all her talent and poise, Beyoncé didn’t become the biggest star in the world without help. And she got plenty of it from the people who know her best.

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Texas History|
January 1, 2001

Return to Padre

For years my relatives have claimed that they were robbed of oil and gas royalties on Padre Island. Last May a Brownsville jury agreed, vindicating—for now—the family’s proud heritage and proving that, sometimes, the little guy does win.

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Books|
September 30, 1997

Dan Rather

MY MATERNAL GRANDMOTHER, Grandma Page, was up at three-thirty or four o’clock in the morning to bake and churn and get ready for the cotton fields on our family farm in Bloomington. At night, after all the cooking and sewing, there was energy left for her reading. “Come, Danny, I’ll

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Being Texan|
September 30, 1996

Home on the Range

All over Texas, small ranchers are giving up and moving to the city. But the Stoner family of Uvalde is as determined as ever to hold on to its land—and its way of life.

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Being Texan|
June 30, 1996

Stone Phillips

MY EIGHT-YEAR-OLD SON is named after a town in Texas. His given name was Daniel Streeter Phillips. When he was born, my wife, Debra, and I broke out the map of Texas and our finger kind of stopped at Streeter. It was actually going to be his middle name, but

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