Texas Monthly articles from April 2009

Texas Monthly archives from April 2009

On the cheap.(TexasMonthly.com)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Patricia Sharpe narrates a slide show of images of some of her favorite inexpensive dishes and where to find them.

Blog on.(TexasMonthly.com)
April 1, 2009... Follow the Texas Legislature on Burkablog, politics with attitude on In the Pink, and fashion and style on the new Closet Case.

On the road.(TexasMonthly.com)
April 1, 2009... Check out our new travel section. It's got travel videos, slide shows, feature stories, and quickie guides to cool streets.

Social hour.(TexasMonthly.com)
April 1, 2009... Subscribe to TEXAS MONTHLY updates on Facebook, follow food and politics on Twitter, and watch the Texanist and Texas Monthly Talks videos on YouTube.

Flashback.(TexasMonthly.com)
April 1, 2009... Topical stories from past issues: Felix Gillette on gambling in South Texas in "Little Las Vegas" (February 2005), Gary Cartwright on the lack of reverence for the Alamo's battleground in "You Aren't Here" (November 2008), Joe Nick Patoski on...

Heads talking.(TexasMonthly.com)
April 1, 2009... Full episodes from the seventh season of Texas Monthly Talks are now available online. Eran Smith interviews newsmakers and celebrities, including Carl Hiaasen, Toro Kite, and Joe Straus.

The Texanist unleashed.(TexasMonthly.com)
April 1, 2009... Watch our brilliant advice columnist bring his wisdom to the street, getting your take on the tough questions, such as whether one must attend the annual family bluebonnet photo outing.

The manual 2.0.(TexasMonthly.com)
April 1, 2009... Watch expert storm chasers follow a tornado.

Manic suppression; voter ID is a terrible idea: bad for democracy and mean-spirited to boot. Let's hope it doesn't become law in Texas.(Behind the Lines)
April 1, 2009... The most contentious, most partisan issue in Texas politics at the moment isn't the economy, as sluggish as it seems to be. Nor is it whether the state should accept federal stimulus funds--although the debate produced the memorable comment, by...

Low blow.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2009... The only thing sadder than your choice of Kay Bailey Hutchison for the February cover is knowing that there are plenty of idiots in Texas who will vote for either her or Mr. Big Hair. Don Hathaway FORT WORTH

Incident report.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2009... As an SMU alum and a DEA special agent, I read the article regarding the death of Jake Stiles with great interest ["An Isolated Incident," February 2009]. The kid made his own mistakes, and no one else-not his parents, frat brothers, or the SMU...

Pride and prejudice.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2009... Thank you, Oscar Casares, for the perfect accounting of what it means to be biracial in America today ["Indivisible Man," February 2009]. My preteen daughter, of Mexican and German descent, looks European and has a Hispanic last name. Recently...

A taste of Texas.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2009... Shame on the Texanist! The poor woman in the February issue who is bereft of chili con queso in Alexandria, Virginia, doesn't deserve his scorn; she's simply crying out for help. My suggestion is that, through the magic of the Internet, TEXAS...

Mail to the chief.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2009... Number one, did you ever consider that President Bush might not want a complimentary copy of your magazine [Editor's Letter, "Subscription Accomplished," February 2009]? Number two, and most important, the president is a private citizen now,...

No depression.(Editor's Letter)
April 1, 2009... According to T. S. Eliot and a now annual chorus of newspaper columnists, weathermen, bloggers, marketing departments, six o'clock news anchors, drive-time deejays, adolescent poets, and tax-mad accountants, April is the cruelest month. This...

Running hot.(In the Chute)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] EVERY APRIL, DAREDEVILS FROM all corners of the country convene on a deserted stretch of West Texas highway to indulge in their drug of choice: pure, unadulterated speed. The Big Bend Open Road Race, a 118-mile test...

Soccer city.(In the Chute)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] LONG BEFORE DAVID BECKHAM became a professional soccer player--let alone an international sports deity--he traveled to Texas to compete in one of the most prestigious youth soccer tournaments in the world, the Dallas...

Island passage.(In the Chute)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] AS IMMIGRATION-RELATED BILLS continue to pile up at the Lege, a new exhibit aims to re-create the experiences of our forebears. "Forgotten Gateway: Coming to America Through Galveston Island," now on view at the Bob...

Texasmonthly.com.(In the Chute)
April 1, 2009... Go to TEXASMONTHLY.COM for more than 170 other April, events, including... FeatherFest Spring migration brings more than two hundred winged species to Galveston. 4/2-4/5, galvestonfeatherfest.com Mesquite Championship Rodeo ...

Real estate.(The Horse's Mouth: EVERYTHING I COULD EVER TELL YOU ABOUT ...)(Interview)
April 1, 2009... NAME: Ebby Halliday AGE: 98 HOME: Dallas QUALIFICATIONS: Founded Ebby Halliday Realtors in 1945 / Agency ranked number one in volume among independent residential firms in Texas / First woman to be named Texas Realtor of the Year/Profiled in...

Sister Maria P. Sanchez, 62, nun.(The Working Life: STORIES FROM THE 9 TO 5)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] I grew up in San Juan, in the Rio Grande Valley. We were a migrant family. I was twelve years old when I went into the fields. We used to travel to Moorhead, Minnesota, for the summer months to work in the sugar beet...

The Texanist: offering fine advice since 2007.
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Q: Every year at wildflower time my wife, whom I love dearly, insists that I come with her and the kids for the annual bluebonnet portrait. I usually protest a little but inevitably end up out there on the side of...

Chasing a tornado.(The Manual: WHAT EVERY TEXAN SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ...)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE RATIONALE Texas arguably Mother Nature's favorite dance floor: More twisters touch down here annually than in any other state (132 on average). As a result, storm chasers consider the Panhandle and Red River...

Tyson Cole's kitchen cabinet.(Object Lesson: WHAT YOU'LL FIND IN ...)
April 1, 2009... Tyson Cole shook up the food world six years ago when he introduced his modern take on Japanese cuisine at his chic South Austin restaurant, Uchi. A second location is due early next year, in North Austin, and at the end of 2010 he'll take a...

Alameda Street, Corpus Christi.(Street Smarts: A QUICKIE GUIDE TO ...)
April 1, 2009... Chic boutiques, gourmet fare, and art-house flicks in the Sparkling City by the Sea [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 1. MUSE If you rip pages out of fashion magazines with obsessive zeal, you'll appreciate the massive inspiration board at...

Supergroups are best viewed with a healthy dose of skepticism.(Previews+Reviews: Music: JEFF MCCORD ON THE MONTH'S NEW RELEASES)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Supergroups are best viewed with a healthy dose of skepticism. Nearly all, from Blind Faith to Little Village to the New York Yankees, are cynically conceived: They're groups in name only; they reek of artifice. Yet...

While many folksingers drape their work in mysticism, Austin's Danny Schmidt is first and foremost a storyteller.(Previews+Reviews: Music: JEFF MCCORD ON THE MONTH'S NEW RELEASES)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] While many folksingers drape their work in mysticism, Austin's DANNY SCHMIDT is first and foremost a storyteller. He employs allegory, but more often than not his tales are just what they appear to be. The ten new...

Like many "best of" compilations, the Buddy Holly double-disc Down the Line: Rarities and the Holly triple-disc Memorial Collection (both Geffen/Decca) possess an air of unreality.(Previews+Reviews: Music: JEFF MCCORD ON THE MONTH'S NEW RELEASES)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Like many "best of" compilations, the BUDDY HOLLY double-disc DOWN THE LINE: RARITIES and the Holly triple-disc MEMORIAL COLLECTION (both Geffen/Decca) possess an air of unreality. Listen to a select body of an...

Hector Saldana.(Previews+Reviews: Music: JEFF MCCORD ON THE MONTH'S NEW RELEASES)
April 1, 2009... In the early seventies, Hector Saldana founded San Antonio's Krayolas, whose British Invasion/ Tex-Mex rock and roll made them a regional phenom through the early eighties. A 2007 singles compilation, Best Riffs Only, led the band to re-form;...

Paulette Jiles's the Color of Lightning.(Previews+Reviews: Books: MIKE SHEA ON THE MONTH'S NEW RELEASES)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Stick a thumb into any page of PAULETTE JILES'S THE COLOR OF LIGHTNING and you'll pull out a fine prose plum. The San Antonio author has trademarked an offhand lyricism, and she displays it amply in this intelligent...

Jeff Guinn's Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde.(Previews+Reviews: Books: MIKE SHEA ON THE MONTH'S NEW RELEASES)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] JEFF GUINN'S GO DOWN TOGETHER: THE TRUE, UNTOLD STORY OF BONNIE AND CLYDE is an entertaining, meticulously researched biography that gleans fact from the rabies that grew up around this Depression-era outlaw duo....

Rupert Isaacson.(Previews+Reviews: Books: MIKE SHEA ON THE MONTH'S NEW RELEASES)
April 1, 2009... After their two-year-old son, Rowan, was diagnosed with autism in 2004, the author and his wife, Kristin, struggled with the challenge of finding effective treatment for an incontinent, uncommunicative child given to intractable tantrums. THE...

Action heroes; the best emerging Texas filmmakers of 2009.(Hollywood, TX: CHRISTOPHER KELLY ON OUR STATE OF ENTERTAINMENT)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] No single style or sensibility drives our third annual look at up-and-coming Texas filmmakers, in which we profile practitioners of both no-budget indies and multimillion-dollar Hollywood popcorn fare and praise both...

Catherine Hardwicke.(Texas Monthly Talks: EVAN SMITH SITS DOWN WITH ...)
April 1, 2009... Could you ever have imagined when you first saw the script for Twilight that it would earn $70 million in its first weekend--the highest-grossing opening by a female director in history? Could you have imagined that it was a phenomenon in the...

Cold case: did induced hypothermia save the life--and art--of tejano legend Emilio Navaira?
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] One year ago, at about five a.m. on Easter Sunday, a 26,000-pound bus crashed at high speed into a wedge-shaped traffic barrier near the intersection of Loop 610 and Highway 59, in the Houston suburb of Bellaire. On...

Capitol affairs: what Nadine Eckhardt learned about love and work from her marriages to a novelist and a congressman.
April 1, 2009... I don't know which bodes worse, marrying a politician or marrying a writer. As much as the willingness of some people to wed writers in spite of our quirks and our inflated egos is of great comfort to me personally, the fact is we share with...

How to eat well in hard times; start by tearing out thee following list of my 25 favorite dishes under ten bucks, from chicken potpie in Dallas to Vietnamese crepes in San Antonio. And remember, your stomach doesn't know what a downturn is.
April 1, 2009... When times are tough, dining out is one of the first pleasures we curtail. Sadly, if it's not eliminated entirely, it's scaled back to include nothing more exciting than chain pizzas, fast-food tacos, bad burgers, buckets o' fried poultry...

Hello my names is regular Joe: how a (somewhat) moderate Republican (almost) no one had ever heard of became the most powerful politician in Texas (maybe).
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] On the morning of January 2, state representative Joe Straus III, of San Antonio, was a little-known member of the Texas House who had not yet served two full terms. Many of his fellow members hardly knew him; few...

Ghosts of war: more than 250 years of history are hidden at battlefields across the state, waiting to be discovered. I made it my mission to visit the places--both famous and forgotten--where blood wan shed and lives were lost in the creation of Texas and with apologies to my old teachers, I learned more than I ever did in the classroom.
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] GOD LOVE HER, PEGGY BAYLESS GOTA LOT OF it wrong. So did many of the people who taught Texas history to our seventh-graders over the generations. Miss Bayless's shortcomings were exposed recently during a three-month...

Across the line.
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE SWINGERS CLUB On August 11, 2004, readers of the Mineola Monitor, a weekly newspaper that serves much of Wood County, in East Texas, sat down to a familiar front page." Area...

La Condesa: Austin.(PAT'S PICK)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] PARTY LIKE IT'S 2006! Or 2007! Or any year before the Great Recession started to eat our poor, pitiful economy's lunch. Without an apparent care in the world, La Condesa has sashayed into Austin's Second Street...

Cava: Dallas.(NEW + NOTEWORTHY)
April 1, 2009... Taking its name from the Spanish sparkling wine, Cava has moved into Le Rendezvous' old space, bringing with it a varied multinational menu. Amid an atmosphere of understated elegance, diners can enjoy a number of Mediterranean-oriented dishes,...

Benjy's on Washington: Houston.(NEW + NOTEWORTHY)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This stylish place is one of the newest additions to Washington Avenue, which is fast becoming Houston's "eat street." If you don't find something you fancy at one end of the road, just keep driving. Although we've...

The filter: dining: our favorite restaurants, bistros, cafes, and joints.(Interview)
April 1, 2009... Amarillo BLUE FRONT CAFE (Update) Tucked in the corner of a parking lot off Route 66 is a downtown diner where most customers are on a first-name basis with the staff. For early eaters, the French toast hot off the...

Hack like me; I got my start churning out crappy stories for the likes of True Confessions. Ah, those were the days.
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] I was recently on a panel discussing what many consider an oxymoron: the future of publishing. We had some laughs about being in the buggy whip business, and then all of us, authors and audience members alike, patted...