Not the Galveston We Know

Your efforts to attract hip, young readers sadly missed the mark with the piece on Galveston [“Back to the Island,” June 2023]. Sarah Hepola’s point seems to be that poor, old Galveston maybe has some new stuff that somebody might want to go see if they have nothing better to do. She highlights a few new attractions by putting down what had been there previously, indicating that while there may be a little bit of good new food, the old food is bad, perhaps only to be enjoyed by “dowdy middle-aged couples.” Shame on you for running such an insulting piece. 
Dee Carter, Kingwood 

I was looking forward to reading a rare positive piece on Galveston but found myself disappointed. I am certainly biased. I grew up thirty minutes from the island, spent a summer working as a docent at Moody Mansion, took my honeymoon cruise out of Galveston, have stayed at almost every major hotel on the island, and volunteered for Hurricane Ike clean-up. I still make regular trips back and could spend years exploring, with a new treasure down any side street.  

It’s my personal South Texas–coast opinion that having a Dallas author write this article was a mistake. The Galvez was glamorous long before “a Dallas hotelier was restoring the once fabled Hotel Galvez to its Jazz Age glory.” (I’ve stayed and enjoyed the spa many times). And Galveston has never been a Houston suburb. 

The author certainly captured the grit of the island, but this piece read like an out-of-town correspondent rented an Airbnb, interviewed a few locals, slapped a story together, and hightailed it back to Dallas. 
Laura Gasvoda Wright, Oklahoma City 

A Story Bigger Than Politics

It’s been a minute since I read an article in Texas Monthly that didn’t somehow find a way to end up being political. That changed with your story about the Uvalde school shooting, “Amor Eterno” [June 2023]. What a great job staying focused instead of fighting for or against gun control. I was thrilled to learn about Kimberly Mata-Rubio and her family, and Skip Hollandsworth told her story without telling me how I should think. Kudos to him for writing something worth reading and remembering.  
David Mills, Rogers, Arkansas

Beg Your Pardon?

Regarding Christopher Hooks’s column about the killing of a Black Lives Matter protester, in your June 2023 issue [“One Angry Man”], I think that Governor Abbott spoke for plenty of Texans when he said he would approve a pardon for Daniel Perry after Perry’s murder conviction. Perry claimed to have reacted to a gun raised toward him during a tense and potentially violent situation. Hooks seems to suggest that Abbott’s position was influenced by a segment on Tucker Carlson’s show. Texas law is strongly pro-self-defense, and contrary to what Hooks wrote, Abbott certainly did not require Carlson to decide that matter.
Jim Levy, El Paso

This article originally appeared in the August 2023 issue of Texas Monthly. Subscribe today.