Texas Monthly articles from August 2007

Texas Monthly archives from August 2007

School for scandal: too often, Texas Southern University lives down to its reputation. But for a community in need, failure is not an option--or shouldn't be.(Behind the Lines)
August 1, 2007... Texas Southern University, its supporters frequently say, was created to fail. That it has succeeded all too well in this mission is one of the saddest stories in Texas. Now in its sixtieth year, it has hardly known a time when its fiscal...

Coast guardians.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2007... I was thrilled to see Lucinda Wierenga and the "Amazin' Walter" McDonald's sand castle on the cover. I'm glad to see that TEXAS MONTHLY is still looking for and honoring our more interesting citizens. We are what make Texas so great. S....

And the beat goes on.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2007... It has been many years since I played French horn and even many more years since I was involved in All-State, yet Cecilia Balli's words played like a concerto before my eyes ["Sounds Like Teen Spirit," June 2007]. How true that not all high...

Tats all, folks.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2007... My son also declared me "cool" when I got my tattoo this year. Coming from a fourteen-year-old, that is pretty good. Like Antonya Nelson, I have a "happy marriage" and "truly remarkable children" ["Inimitable Ink," June 2007]. I also now have...

Taking aim at the lone gunman.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2007... If Bill Paxton is angry that 75 percent of U.S. citizens polled believe the U.S. government was somehow culpable in the assassination of John F. Kennedy, then he needs to get over it, because (a) we live in a democracy, and (b) there are...

Does this column make my butt look big?(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2007... As a long time exerciser, I feel like Sarah Bird is a kindred spirit ["No Ifs, Abs, or Butts," June 2007]. I've experienced all the quirky things described in her article: Hanging Gardens upper arms, Mistress JoJo, the Flabbo Nazi, Kilgore...

King for a day.(Editor's Letter)(Editorial)
August 1, 2007... This month's cover story is one for the history books--in two ways. First, because executive editor Sam Gwynne's report on the myth, majesty, and future of the King Ranch ("The Next Frontier," page 110) is as sweeping as the ranch itself, and...

Topic A: left behind: the Texas Education Agency fails to make the grade.(Reporter)
August 1, 2007... As the new school year nears, the turmoil and intrigue at the Texas Education Agency that led to the resignation of commissioner Shirley Neeley raises questions about the TEA's ability to provide support and oversight to the state's public...

Singing gospel.(The Horse's Mouth: EVERYTHING I COULD EVER TELL YOU ABOUT ...)(Yolanda Adams)(Interview)
August 1, 2007... NAME: Yolanda Adams AGE: 45 HOMETOWN: Houston QUALIFICATIONS: Four-time Grammy Award winner/Has recorded twelve albums and is often hailed as the "first lady of modern gospel" / Host of the Yolanda Adams Morning Show With Brother Larry Jones on...

State of flux: is Hillary a drag? Can anyone cream Cornyn? And other unsettled questions about 2008.(FAQ: PAUL BURKA ON THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY)
August 1, 2007... How is the presidential race going to affect Texas? It's easier to say how it won't. The Republican ticket will not be topped by a popular George W. Bush, as it was in 1994 and 1998 (when he ran for governor) and 2000 and 2004 (when he ran...

Sterry Butcher, 39: small-town newspaper reporter: Butcher, born in San Marcos and raised in Fort Worth, has spent most of the past fourteen years as a reporter at the Big Bend Sentinel, a weekly newspaper in Marfa with a readership of three thousand.(The Working Life: STORIES FROM THE 9 TO 5)
August 1, 2007... I moved to Mafia from Austin in 1993. At the time, Marfa had two gas stations, two restaurants, two bars, one grocery store, a post office, two cops, and an art museum. And I thought, "Wow, there's everything you need here and nothing more....

Adat Chaverim: Plano / April 27, 2007.(Faith Bases: WILLIAM MARTIN REVIEWS OUR PLACES OF WORSHIP)
August 1, 2007... Denomination REFORM JUDAISM Rabbi JORDAN PARR Address 6300A INDEPENDENCE PARKWAY Phone 972-491-5917 On the Internet ADATCHAVERIM.ORG Shabbat Services FRIDAYS AT 7:30 P.M. Like much in Plano, Adat Chaverim is...

Do sweat it.(Minister of Health: JIM ATKINSON CURES WHAT AILS US)
August 1, 2007... I can't find an authority to back me up on this, but I'd be willing to wager that Texas will produce more human perspiration than any other state this summer, because we have not only a large population--literally, more sweaters--but more...

Please stop directing: an open letter to Ethan Hawke.(Hollywood, TX: CHRISTOPHER KELLY ON OUR STATE OF ENTERTAINMENT)(The Hottest State)(Movie review)
August 1, 2007... Dear Ethan, Before I say anything else, let me first say that I think the world of you: You're the greatest actor I've had the pleasure of growing up with. You first caught my teenage eye in Dead Poets Society (1989), when you brought a...

Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-1970.(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the fabled Summer of Love, and the four-CD LOVE IS THE SONG WE SING: SAN FRANCISCO NUGGETS 1965-1970 (Rhino) commemorates the occasion with a thrilling showcase of the Bay Area sounds that defined a...

Twilight on Sometimes Island.
August 1, 2007... The members of Austin's LI'L CAP'N TRAVIS are an unlikely bunch: With multiple writers and singers in place of a front man and a bevy of backing musicians, this is a real band--and they've been that way from the beginning. They aren't...

New Moon.(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Before "Miss Misery" took the Duncanville-raised singer ELLIOTT SMITH from indie cult to mainstream pop status, Smith fronted a band called Heatmiser, one of a hundred acts looking to be the next Nirvana. With his fragile voice and persona,...

James Cotton.(Interview)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... The blues harmonica giant, who is now 72, reunited with his former boss Muddy Waters in 1977 for the Grammy-winning Hard Again, which was spearheaded and produced by Beaumont's Johnny Winter. After the success of the album, the three went on...

What gives?(Book review)
August 1, 2007... "I think/i am going to die tonight./and something inside me/looks forward to it./and something inside me/is twisting my intestines around,/trying to make letters out of them,/ trying to spell the word/NO." When sixteen-year-old CHELSEA MARIE...

Michael Erard.(Interview)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... The Austin journalist and linguistics expert ponders the nature of speech imperfections and what verbal gaffes reveal, or don't, in Um... Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean. What qualifies as a "verbal blunder"? It...

Serial thrillers: our PIs return.(Crosshairs)(private investigators)(Brief article)(Book review)
August 1, 2007... In a case of coincidental plot devices, two of Texas's favorite fictional gumshoes recently swore off the detecting business because of an unfortunate tendency to call clown death on their nearest and dearest. But quitting the private-eye...

Westheimer Road, Houston: the socialite's sector.(Street Smarts: QUICKIE GUIDE TO ...)(Directory)
August 1, 2007... [1] What's a better hostess gift than a dozen cloudlike peonies? How about a UT Longhorn topiary? A Tiger Woods in Asian ivy? RIVER OAKS PLANT HOUSE has all this and more and for generations has maintained a special place in the hearts of...

Branding: how to identify the herd.(The Manual: WHAT EVERY TEXAN SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ...)
August 1, 2007... THE RATIONALE Why make a lasting impression on your cattle? To fend off cattle rustlers, whose pilfering of literal cash cows is hardly a defunct business (ranchers in the Southwest lost $6.2 million in livestock in 2005). "Think of...

Jody Conradt.(Texas Monthly Talks: EVAN SMITH SITS DOWN WITH ...)(Interview)
August 1, 2007... First off, Coach, I'd like you to end the mystery about why you decided to step down after 31 years as the University of Texas at Austin's women's basketball coach. Some people have speculated that you were pushed, even though you've said it...

Centered: what the new silent majority means for Texas--and the rest of the nation.
August 1, 2007... It hardly needs to be noted that the last time our country voted for a president, Texas was at the center of things. We not only provided the victorious incumbent and Karl Rove's smashmouth political playbook, but we also witnessed what was...

Leppert Colony: can the new mayor of America's ninth-largest city put the pieces back together?(Letter From Dallas)(Interview)
August 1, 2007... The first time t he words "mayor" and "Tom Leppert" were uttered in the same breath was in an interview in the business section of the Dallas Morning News. It was in August 2006, and the occasion was Leppert's retirement as the CEO of the...

The next frontier.(Company overview)
August 1, 2007... The state's (and maybe the world's) most famous 825,000 acres would seem to be on a collision course with the twenty-first century, when giant spreads are routinely chopped up, there's no money to be made in cattle, and the younger generation...

The elephant in the room: Ron Paul's rivals for the Republican presidential nomination say his opposition to the Iraq war makes him a traitor to his party. He says it makes him the only genuine Republican in the race.
August 1, 2007... "Caution" was the watchword in the first hour of the second Republican party presidential primary debate, held on the campus of the University of South Carolina in mid-May. The first debate, held a few weeks earlier in California, had already...

Faces of forgiveness: a prison ministry in East Texas tries to rehabilitate criminals and heal victims by doing something inventive: bringing them together.
August 1, 2007... LOSING A CHILD IS UNBEARABLE; losing four children in one night is the hell that Bob and Kathy Connell had to live through in 1997, when a drunk driver hit their kids' car head-on. "Some one could have dug a fifth hole in the ground for me, and...

The woman on top: a few things in life are certain--turkeys will be carved every fall, taxes will be due every spring, and Sandra Brown will publish a new best-seller every summer. With more than 70 million books in print, she is the most successful author in Texas. And (pant, pant, moan, sigh) the steamiest.(Interview)
August 1, 2007... AS I WALKED INTO HER OFFICE, SHE rose elegantly from behind her desk. In heels, she was nearly six feet tall, her body slender but curvy. Her reddish hair with blond highlights was perfectly tousled, and her lean face contained both...

Splits ville!(Comic)(Cartoon)
August 1, 2007... MEET EARLE LILLY, ONE OF THE TOUGHEST AND MOST ENDURING DIVORCE LAWYERS IN HOUSTON, GOING STRONG SINCE THE SIXTIES. HE AND HIS LONGTIME BUSINESS PARTNER ROBERT PIRO RECENTLY SPLIT, SO NOW LILLY HAS A NEW FIRM. I'VE GOT HALF THE CITY'S...

Reef: Houston.(PAT'S PICK)(Restaurant review)
August 1, 2007... WHERE ARE WE, MIAMI? The Bahamas? The shimmering blues and aquatic greens say "seaside." So do the shell light fixtures and the wavy-textured back wall, which reminds me of a David Hockney swimming pool. All that's needed are a few coconut...

Monarch: Houston.(NEW + NOTEWORTHY)(Restaurant review)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Given Hotel ZaZa's innuendo-laden marketing scheme--the Web site features doe-eyed women, stalwart men, and social anthropologist Mae West's pithy quote "Too much of a good thing can be wonderful"-you halfway expect the restaurant to be serving...

Sangria Tapas y Bar: Dallas.(NEW + NOTEWORTHY)
August 1, 2007... By now, most people have stumbled across the fact that the word "tapa" means "lid" or "cover" in Spain and that it originally referred to apiece of bread placed on top of a glass of sherry in order to keep onmipresent flies from committing...

The Filter: Dining.(Restaurant review)
August 1, 2007... POLICIES AND DEFINITIONS The Filter: Dining is a service to our readers. The magazine accepts no advertising or other consideration in exchange fur a listing. Reviews are written by resident critics in the cities that we list and are...

"Lucy's Legacy": Houston.(JORDAN'S PICK)
August 1, 2007... ONE OF THE MOST Controversial figures of our time is coming to town. Notoriously elusive, this woman of a certain age rarely makes public appearances, so you can be sure that when she arrives in Houston this month there will be no lack of...

Long live the king.(The Filter: Events: WHERE TO GO, WHAT TO DO, WHO TO SEE)(Elvis Presley)
August 1, 2007... AUSTIN, LOS FRESNOS It's been thirty years since Elvis left the proverbial building, but demand for the King has never waned. (His estate still pulls in some $42 million a year, according to Forbes, which makes him the second-wealthiest dead...

All that Jazz.(The Filter: Events: WHERE TO GO, WHAT TO DO, WHO TO SEE)
August 1, 2007... HOUSTON A scat cat can find any number of beboppin' events around Texas, but this month the hot spot is in the Bayou City. The Houston International Jazz Festival has been around since 1991, it's just the right size (not too big, not too...

Gone with the wind.(The Filter: Events: WHERE TO GO, WHAT TO DO, WHO TO SEE)(World Hang Gliding Championships in Big Spring, Texas)
August 1, 2007... BIG SPRING Skydivers seem down-right levelheaded when compared with hang gliders: It's one thing to free-fall for a few minutes and score a quick high; it's quite another to stay aloft thousands of feet in the air for hours at a time as you...

Best in Show.(The Filter: Events: WHERE TO GO, WHAT TO DO, WHO TO SEE)(Magnolia at the Modern Film series)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... FORT WORTH It's hard to imagine that many--if any--of today's cinematic offerings will be held up as artistically significant masterpieces in fifty years' time. (Though there's something to be said for mindlessly entertaining blockbusters, who...

Out there.(The Filter: Events: WHERE TO GO, WHAT TO DO, WHO TO SEE)(Nexus Texas)
August 1, 2007... HOUSTON The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston can be forgiven if its latest exhibit seems less than precisely defined. "Nexus Texas," opening this month, is (very) broadly described as "new work by a group of artists living and working in the...

Symphonic salute.(The Filter: Events: WHERE TO GO, WHAT TO DO, WHO TO SEE)(Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra performs Gustav Mahler's works)
August 1, 2007... FORT WORTH Among a symphony orchestra's responsibilities, one is foremost: its artistic-even moral-obligation to stay true to a composer's intentions. It is this commitment to capture even the most nuanced aspects of a work that ultimately...

The triptych to bountiful: I saw nary a planarian--nor a single baking soda volcano--at this year's state science fair. Instead, there was ... inspiration.
August 1, 2007... Can any two words strike more fear into a parent's heart than these: "science fair"? First of all, what happened to truth in advertising? Fair? What's fair about the science fair? If your dad is Mr. Wizard, it's on to regionals. If not......