The Stand Up Desk
May 17, 2023
How Texas Monthly Went Hollywood
Meet our executive producer Megan Creydt, who’s shepherding dozens of the magazine’s stories to the silver screen.
By Dan Goodgame![Dan Goodgame's Profile Photo]()
The Stand Up Desk
The Stand Up Desk
May 17, 2023
Roar of the Crowd: June 2023
Reader letters published in our June 2023 issue.
The Stand Up Desk
April 12, 2023
Behind the Scenes of Our Lively New Hotel Package
Meet Texas Monthly executive editor (and travel and lifestyle guru) Kathy Blackwell.
By Dan Goodgame![Dan Goodgame's Profile Photo]()
The Stand Up Desk
April 12, 2023
Roar of the Crowd: May 2023
Reader letters published in our May 2023 issue.
The Stand Up Desk
March 29, 2023
March 2023 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn?
You’ve had all month to read the latest issue of Texas Monthly. Take this monthly quiz and we’ll tell you how you stack up at the end.And if you got this quiz from a friend: Hello! We hope you enjoy it. If you do: become a subscriber today, and we’ll send
The Stand Up Desk
March 15, 2023
Roar of the Crowd: April 2023
Reader letters published in our April 2023 issue.
The Stand Up Desk
March 15, 2023
The Creative Whiz Behind Our Award-Winning Photography
Meet Texas Monthly’s photo editor, Claire Hogan.
By Dan Goodgame![Dan Goodgame's Profile Photo]()
The Stand Up Desk
February 28, 2023
February 2023 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn?
You’ve had all month to read the latest issue of Texas Monthly. Take this monthly quiz and we’ll tell you how you stack up at the end.And if you got this quiz from a friend: Hello! We hope you enjoy it. If you do: become a subscriber today, and we’ll send
The Stand Up Desk
February 15, 2023
Roar of the Crowd: March 2023
Reader letters published in our March 2023 issue.
The Stand Up Desk
February 15, 2023
Meet the Writer Behind Our March Cover Story
Mimi Swartz’s latest epic is a must-read tale of a decades-long attempt to sabotage Texas’s public schools.
By Dan Goodgame![Dan Goodgame's Profile Photo]()
The Stand Up Desk
January 30, 2023
January 2023 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn?
You’ve had all month to read the latest issue of Texas Monthly. Take this monthly quiz and we’ll tell you how you stack up at the end.And if you got this quiz from a friend: Hello! We hope you enjoy it. If you do: become a subscriber today, and we’ll send
The Stand Up Desk
January 27, 2023
An Author Believed Elon Musk Would Benefit Brownsville. Not Anymore.
National Book Award finalist Domingo Martinez was optimistic about Musk and SpaceX in 2016. Now, he says, “it feels like we sold our souls.”
The Stand Up Desk
January 26, 2023
An Unforgettable Texas Tale of Envy, Embezzlement, and Fruitcake
The writer of an oddball 2016 crime story recalls emailing with an accountant who skimmed $17 million from Corsicana’s Collin Street Bakery.
By Katy Vine![Katy Vine's Profile Photo]()
The Stand Up Desk
January 25, 2023
The True-Crime Classic That Inspired HBO Max’s Forthcoming ‘Love & Death’
In reporting how Candy Montgomery came to murder her lover’s wife, the authors recall trying to capture a “time and place in Texas history.”
By Katy Vine![Katy Vine's Profile Photo]()
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Texas Icons
January 17, 2023
How to Keep a Great Magazine Going
When I started writing for Texas Monthly in 1973, I didn’t expect it to last very long. But it’s still here, five decades later.
Texas Icons
January 17, 2023
The Birth of Texas Monthly Is a Very Texan Story
On the occasion of our fiftieth anniversary, we reflect on how far we’ve come—and where we’re headed.
By Dan Goodgame![Dan Goodgame's Profile Photo]()
Texas Icons
January 17, 2023
How to Create a Great Magazine Out of Thin Air
Fifty years ago, Texas Monthly was little more than an idea dreamt up by a local lawyer with minimal experience in journalism. Then it was an actual thing. How did that happen?
The Stand Up Desk
January 12, 2023
Three Decades Later, It’s Still Unclear What Killed Tommy Earl Haynes
The career criminal was found dead after a two-day manhunt in East Texas. A writer recalls reporting on the circumstances of Haynes’s death.
The Stand Up Desk
December 20, 2022
Once Upon a Time, “Southwestern Cuisine” Was a Movement
A writer remembers how a chance conversation at a food festival led to her classic 2014 oral history on Southwestern cuisine.
The Stand Up Desk
December 14, 2022
The Making of Our New Podcast, ‘White Hats’
Meet the folks behind our latest audio project, which grapples with the complicated legacy of the Texas Rangers.
By Dan Goodgame![Dan Goodgame's Profile Photo]()
The Stand Up Desk
December 14, 2022
Roar of the Crowd: January 2023
Reader letters published in our January 2023 issue.
Music
December 13, 2022
A George Strait Song Was the First Music I Played for My Son. Here’s Why.
The author of a 2014 Texas Monthly profile of King George explains why it was among the few stories in his career that made him cry while writing.
By John Spong![John Spong's Profile Photo]()
The Stand Up Desk
November 28, 2022
November 2022 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn?
You’ve had all month to read the latest issue of Texas Monthly. How much can you remember?
The Stand Up Desk
November 28, 2022
The Writer Behind an Enduring Portrait of West Texas Life
Sterry Butcher on the path that led her to move to Marfa and find God “in the details” while writing about rural Texas.
The Stand Up Desk
November 21, 2022
The Exoneration of Anthony Graves Still Resonates
Pamela Colloff reflects on her 2010 story about the shoddy police work and prosecutorial misconduct that put an innocent man on death row.
By Katy Vine![Katy Vine's Profile Photo]()
The Stand Up Desk
November 17, 2022
From the Editor: Meet Our Award-Winning Creative Director
Go behind the scenes with the inventive force shaping our photography and design.
By Dan Goodgame![Dan Goodgame's Profile Photo]()
Sports
November 16, 2022
Most Sports Figures Were “Paranoid Assholes” to This Writer. Mike Leach was “Fabulous.”
Author S. C. Gwynne calls his 2009 profile of the pirate-obsessed former Texas Tech coach part of the “golden era” of his journalism career.
The Stand Up Desk
November 16, 2022
Roar of the Crowd: December 2022
Reader letters published in our December 2022 issue.
Film & TV
November 11, 2022
In 1974, “Texas” was the Dirtiest Word in ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’
John Bloom, a.k.a. Joe Bob Briggs, discusses his 2004 opus on the making of the slasher classic and the New York bias against a Texas original.
By Dan Solomon![Dan Solomon's Profile Photo]()
White Hats
November 10, 2022
Announcing Our New Podcast, ‘White Hats’
Coming November 15, a tale of the Texas Rangers . . . and a battle for the soul of Texas.
The Stand Up Desk
October 31, 2022
October 2022 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn?
You’ve had all month to read the latest issue of Texas Monthly. How much can you remember?
The Stand Up Desk
October 25, 2022
Skip Hollandsworth Recalls “the Most Moving Story of My Career”
The Texas Monthly writer reflects on the run-down home that led him to write “Still Life,” about John McClamrock, the boy who could not move.
The Stand Up Desk
October 19, 2022
From the Editor: Top Chefs
Meet the editors and writers behind our award-winning food coverage.
By Dan Goodgame![Dan Goodgame's Profile Photo]()
The Stand Up Desk
October 19, 2022
Roar of the Crowd: November 2022
Reader letters published in our November 2022 issue.
The Stand Up Desk
October 13, 2022
A Writer’s Close Call While Reporting on the Ciudad Juárez Femicides
A man approached Cecilia Ballí and asked, “Are you looking for work?” It shook her—and helped her grasp the danger in early-aughts Juárez.
By Michael Hall![Michael Hall's Profile Photo]()
Being Texan
October 8, 2022
This 1981 Photo Essay Captured Why Being an Aggie Is Not at All Funny
Will Van Overbeek's images, with words by Oscar-winning screenwriter and Texas A&M alum and proud Aggie Al Reinert, were "good bull."
Politics & Policy
October 5, 2022
The Editor’s Suggestion That Led to Kinky Friedman Running for Governor
The musician, author, and columnist needed an idea. Texas Monthly’s then–editor in chief said, “Make something up.” The rest is history.
By John Spong![John Spong's Profile Photo]()
News
September 29, 2022
How Enron Foretold Our Greedy, Disastrous Present
When Texas Monthly covered Enron's fall in 2001, we wondered if the company was an outlier or the new normal. There's no longer any question.
By Mimi Swartz![Mimi Swartz's Profile Photo]()
The Stand Up Desk
September 26, 2022
September 2022 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn?
You’ve had all month to read the latest issue of Texas Monthly. Take this monthly quiz and we’ll tell you how you stack up at the end.And if you got this quiz from a friend: Hello! We hope you enjoy it. If you do: become a subscriber today, and we’ll send
News & Politics
September 23, 2022
Bearing Witness at Texas’s First Execution by Lethal Injection
In 1982, Dick J. Reavis chronicled the first government-led lethal injection in world history—and the last moments of Charlie Brooks's life.
Music
September 15, 2022
The Poker Game That Inspired an Opus on the Life of DJ Screw
Twenty-two years ago, a Texas Monthly writer heard about a Houston DJ whose slowed-down mixes had become the sound of the city.
By Michael Hall![Michael Hall's Profile Photo]()
The Stand Up Desk
September 14, 2022
From the Editor: Writer on the Roam
For Texas Monthly’s latest cover story, our correspondent set out to capture the state’s plenitude of roadside quirks.
By Dan Goodgame![Dan Goodgame's Profile Photo]()
The Stand Up Desk
September 14, 2022
Roar of the Crowd: October 2022
Reader letters published in our October 2022 issue.
Politics & Policy
September 5, 2022
The Ballí Saga on Padre Island Reminds Us That the Little Man Can Win
Cecilia Ballí recalls reporting on her family’s legal victory over the lawyer who swindled the Ballís out of lucrative land rights on Padre Island.
By Michael Hall![Michael Hall's Profile Photo]()
True Crime
August 29, 2022
Out of All the Skip Hollandsworth Crime Stories, ‘Bernie’ Takes the Cake
The writer looks back on his 1998 reporting on an unforgettable murder plot that inspired the 2011 Richard Linklater film ‘Bernie.’
The Stand Up Desk
August 22, 2022
The Texas Barbecue Quest That Started It All
Patricia Sharpe recalls the smoked meats and mileage that went into Texas Monthly’s first-ever Top 50 barbecue list in May 1997.
The Stand Up Desk
August 17, 2022
From the Editor: “Sparkle Plenty,” Chronicler of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders
Sarah Hepola’s cover story expertly examines the fifty-year history of the famous NFL cheerleading squad.
By Dan Goodgame![Dan Goodgame's Profile Photo]()
Film & TV
August 17, 2022
Laura Wilson Photographed Her Sons Like Hollywood Never Could
Her 1996 photo essay captured the joy and vitality of Andrew, Luke, and Owen Wilson's charmed youth in Dallas.
The Stand Up Desk
August 17, 2022
Roar of the Crowd: September 2022
Reader letters published in our September 2022 issue.
Politics & Policy
August 8, 2022
The Houston Doctor Who Foretold America’s Health Care Woes in 1995
When a family doctor spoke out about insurance companies ruining his practice, few expected his appeal would still resonate 27 years later.
By Mimi Swartz![Mimi Swartz's Profile Photo]()