Texas Monthly articles from December 2005

Texas Monthly archives from December 2005

The Kid from Amarillo: this month's code to access stories online: Amarillo.(TexasMonthly.com)
December 1, 2005... Contributing photographer Wyatt McSpadden talks about open spaces, Amarillo as an oasis, and where he's from now. Plus More stories behind the stories: editor Evan Smith on interviewing Willie Nelson; writer-at-large Jan Reid on...

Where I'm of that's right, I'm not from Texas. But I want Texas to want me anyway.(Behind the LINES)
December 1, 2005... DURING THE LAST week of June in 2000, sometime between the announcement that I would take over as the editor of TEXAS MONTHLY and the day I actually stepped into the job, I received a "Yankee, Go Home" letter from Dick J. Reavis. Dick, some of...

Rah deal.(Roar of the CROWD)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2005... Great article about the cheerleading debate ["Flipping Out," October 2005]. All I can say is this: It's funny that the legislators mention "more of our young girls getting pregnant in middle and high school, dropping out of school, having...

Wheel of fortune.(Roar of the CROWD)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2005... Bravo! You did a superb job of capturing the flavor of both the town and the era, as well as the impact of the accident, in "Wheel in the Sky" [October 2005]. When I finished reading it, I somehow felt more at peace with it all than I ever...

Ring leaders.(Roar of the CROWD)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2005... I greatly enjoyed your article on the Von Erich family ["Six Brothers," October 2005]. I have many fond memories of growing up in Denton in the eighties and playing "Von Erichs" with my friends. Many arguments and scuffles resulted from...

Around the state.(Calendar)
December 1, 2005... It's list-checking time again up at the North Pole, so if you've been more naughty than nice this year, some friendly advice: Head straight to Columbus. You can plead your case directly--and ad nauseam--at the MARY ELIZABETH HOPKINS SANTA CLAUS...

Sweet charity: an extended war, more terrorist attacks, freakish acts of nature, and now the bird flu: If there's ever been a need for good cheer, this is the year. Reindeer sweaters and eggnog aside, here are some practical ways to spread the love this season.(COMING ATTRACTIONS: The month in giving.)
December 1, 2005... 1 Skip the office politics and be a not-so-secret Santa to those whose squeals of delight are more rewarding than your co-workers'. Help build and deliver shiny new bikes to Houston-area kids with Elves and More, which will distribute more...

Y'all come back: every high school has a homecoming. But in the West Texas town of Spur, the beloved yearly reitual is more accurately described as an invasion.(LETTER FROM SPUR)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2005... A FEW YEARS BACK, Beverly and Bill Watson, both of whom graduated from high school in the tiny West Texas town of Spur in the mid-fifties, found themselves faced with an agonizing dilemma. Bill's elderly mother, a lifelong Spur resident, had...

GM: celebrating fifty years of Texas Heritage.(GM Trucks for Texas)
December 1, 2005... To commemorate its fifty-year legacy in Texas, General Motors has launched its Trucks for Texas campaign. Artists from Austin, Dallas, Houston, McAllen, and San Antonio Transformed GM trucks into works of art that embody the Texas spirit and...

Start here.(STATE of the Art)
December 1, 2005... Stone Phillips, co-anchor of Dateline NBC, Texas City, 1955-1965 I remember living in the house during Hurricane Carla and evacuating to the family farm in Waxahachie. When we returned, we found the roofblown off and the wood floors...

Bob Schieffer: growing up in Fort Worth during World War II meant going to school in shifts, rationing gas, and always pulling together.(WHERE I'M FROM)
December 1, 2005... I WAS BORN IN 1937 in Austin, where my father worked at the Becker Lumber Company, down on Congress Avenue where the Radisson Hotel now stands. But when I was five years old, World War II was on, and he got a new job helping to build the...

Kirbyjon Caldwell: everything I ever needed to know about business I learned while working at Caldwell's, my father's clothing shop in the Fifth Ward of Houston.(WHERE I'M FROM)
December 1, 2005... OFTENTIMES PEOPLE MAKE a big to-do about my MBA, for which I am very grateful, but the truth of the matter is that my real MBA came from the University of Fifth Ward, while working in my dad's clothing store. I grew up in Kashmere Gardens, a...

Ethan Hawke: visiting my dad in Fort Worth when I was growing up meant listening to Willie Nelson, shooting guns, and forgetting about my life in New Jersey.(WHERE I'M FROM)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2005... TEXAS HAS ALWAYS had this kind of mythology to me because I had to leave it when I was very young. Both of the novels I've written center on Texas in some way, and somewhere in my brain--and I wish I could articulate this better--the place is...

Lynn Wyatt: my friends in Houston believed that because my family owned Sakowitz, I could have whatever I wanted. That couldn't have been further from the truth.(WHERE I'M FROM)
December 1, 2005... I'M A TEXAN THROUGH and through. I grew up in Houston in a place that is now no longer, on North MacGregor Drive. The house itself was a beautiful white Colonial that sat way back off the street, so it had a lovely approach to it. It was on...

Tish Hinojosa: there were thirteen children being raised in our family's San Antonio home. Still, Mom always found extra room for newly arrived immigrants trying to get on their feet.(WHERE I'M FROM)
December 1, 2005... MY ENTIRE CHILDHOOD took place in the heart of San Antonio. We lived near downtown, in the King William neighborhood, and I went to school smack in the middle of the city. Our family's church, St. Mary's, was downtown also, and my very first...

Richard Linklater: Huntsville had Old Sparky and the top football team in the state, while Houston offered the latest movies and the symphony. I got the best of both places.(WHERE I'M FROM)
December 1, 2005... GROWING UP, I HAD the best of two worlds. My parents split up when I was seven, so I lived with my mom in Huntsville grades four through eleven, and then I finished my senior year at Bellaire High School, in Houston, where my dad lived. The two...

Lupe Valdez: as the daughter of migrant workers from South Texas, I was taught to value education, choose my friends wisely, and stay on the right side of the law.(WHERE I'M FROM)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2005... WHEN I WAS VERY YOUNG, UP UNTIL I was seven or eight years old, my parents were migrant workers. We lived in San Antonio, but we traveled all over, following the crops. My dad built a trailer that we would attach to the back of the car, and all...

Willie Nelson: the 72-year-old singer on growing up in Abbott, playing in public for the first time, what he listens to on the bus, and why he doesn't hate the music business.(Texas Monthly Talks)
December 1, 2005... Could there have been a Willie Nelson without an Abbott? I doubt it. I've always felt like Abbott was a special place. It was the perfect place for me to grow up because it was a small town and because everybody knew everybody. Everybody there...

Me of little faith: sometimes it seemed as if all we ever did in Wichita Falls was go to church--twice on Sundays and once on Wednesdays. But even though Church of Christ upbringing never really somehow mother and eventually found common ground.(WHERE I'M FROM)
December 1, 2005... I WAS AFRAID THE THIN AND DRENCHED COTTON GOWN would cling to my bony haunches as the preacher led me up the steps of the baptistery. In the faith of my upbringing, the Church of Christ, baptism was the most important moment for me: If I upheld...

Army Brat: with a father in the military, the question was never where we were from but where we were going next.(WHERE I'M FROM)
December 1, 2005... FOR VARIOUS GOOD REASONS, I've always hated the question "Where are you from?" My first two replies are usually "Everywhere," which is clearly false, and then "Nowhere," which has some truth to it. A third answer, the one I always end up...

Embarrassment of riches: attending Westlake high meant never having to apologize for being wealthy or successful. And if other towns hated us, it surely wasn't our fault.(WHERE I'M FROM)
December 1, 2005... BY DEFINITION, high school kids are idiots. If you've but one lonely, honest bone in all of your body, you'll admit that there was no other time in life when the disparity was greater between what you thought you knew and what you actually did...

Flatlander: I live in Austin now, but it was the eccentric characters, rumbling thunderclouds, and infinite horizon of Amarillo that made me fall in love with photography thirty years ago.(WHERE I'M FROM)
December 1, 2005... I've always had the feeling that Amarillo was more kin to the farm communities up through the Great Plains than any other town in Texas. The city sits lonely at the top of the state, surrounded by crops, cattle, and sky. For me, Amarillo and...

Midnight in the Garden of Memory: I grew up in a San Antonio that had a collective allegiance to the notion that time could be stopped and that things should never change. Now that know better, it is hard to go back.(WHERE I'M FROM)
December 1, 2005... FOR MANY YEARS, colleagues suggested that I was missing a bet by ignoring San Antonio as a subject for my work. It's ripe for the Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil treatment, they would say, but I couldn't see it. John Berendt's...

Christmas in Brownsville: it wasn't often that I made it home, so when my friend Victor invited me over to help his family make tamales from scratch, I said yes. Soon I was staring into the eyes of a 120-pound pig.(WHERE I'M FROM)
December 1, 2005... WERE ON OUR THIRD BEER when the pig finally showed up that morning. Someone had built a fire in the back, and we were all standing by the pit, trying to wake up and get warm at the same time. The burning wood seemed to be the only real light in...

The lost city: fifty years after I left Arlington, the quaint place I grew up in has been overrun by soulless neighborhoods, gridlocked streets, and a jumble of amusement parks and stadiums. This is progress?(WHERE I'M FROM)
December 1, 2005... THERE WAS A TIME I could find my way around Arlington blindfolded. It was my home from first grade until the day I left for college, and its streets, alleys, buildings, and people remain burned in my memory. Downtown was a cozy little...

I of the storm: living in Galveston meant having a personal relationship with the Gulf--and with the many hurricanes that changed the course of the city's history. To say nothing of my own.(WHERE I'M FROM)
December 1, 2005... THERE'S A PLACE ON the highway into Galveston where the sea stakes its claim to the land, where firm ground yields to a dense coastal marsh that spreads out untenanted on both sides of the road, and I know I'm home. Although the island city...

The dinning guide.(Directory)
December 1, 2005... December RESTAURANTS, CAFES, BISTROS, JOINTS Pat's Pick: Cafe San Miguel Funny thing about Mexican restaurants in Texas. The newer they are, the more authentic they are. Case in point: Bright and cheery Cafe San Miguel, which recently...

O Christmas tea.(SEASON'S EATINGS: timely treats for your culinary calendar)(afternoon tea)(Directory)
December 1, 2005... You've already inaugurated Phase I of your Kids' Christmas Culture Course--you took the little darlings to see The Nutcracker: Now it's time for Phase II: Introduce them to afternoon tea. True, a taste for Earl Grey mid bone-china teapots may...

Forecast: new ideas that sparkle.(promotion)
December 1, 2005... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: NEIMAN MARCUS Natura Bisse Diamond lee-Lift, $140 Exclusively at Neiman Marcus 800-944-9888, neimanmarcus.com BAG'N BAGGAGE Lodis Passport Cases in gold, silver, or bronze, $38 available nationwide,...

Gorgeous gems.(NEW NEXT)
December 1, 2005... Exclusively available from Bachendorf's, this sapphire-and-diamond necklace sparkles with 1.66 carats of sapphires and 4 carats of diamonds. The earrings are a must. with two oval sapphires totaling more than 3 carats. >972-392-9900 or...

Zap the problem.(NEW NEXT)
December 1, 2005... Start the new year out with clear skin. Eliminate acne wit just three 90-second treatments from Caliderma's Zeno, a handheld device clinically proven to be effective on acne pimples. Order online from CaliDerma and have it delivered to your...

Go now: ski Taos.(NEW NEXT)
December 1, 2005... Now is the time to book a ski trip to Taos Ski Valley in New Mexico. To celebrate its fiftieth anniversary, every week in January is "$50 Ski Week." Get six days of lessons, video analysis, evening tech talks, and more for just $50 (regularly...

Scent-sational.(NEW NEXT)
December 1, 2005... Scrumptious soy candles from Calamity Jane's Trading Co. in Boerne make the ideal gift. Relish the scent of Vanilla Mocha, Biscotti Toscani, Coffee Granita, Lemoncello, and many more. Scents of the season like Pumpkin Spice are now available....

Ornaments to treasure.(NEW NEXT)
December 1, 2005... The 2005 Austin glass ornament is made exclusively for Breed & Co. Each mouth-blown, hand-painted ornament is crated by Polish artisans who decorate the creations with the Texas flag and Austin landmarks. Individually gift boxed. >88-269-6679...

Tough truck.(NEW NEXT)
December 1, 2005... Ford's 2006 F-150 is tough. It can tow an incredible 9,900 pounds, can handle 3,060 pounds of payload, * and is riding on one of the strongest frames around. Get behind the wheel and you'll see why it's the Most Awarded Truck **--including the...

Jewels to love.(NEW NEXT)
December 1, 2005... Hand-carved, one-of-a-kind fourteen-karat-gold agate-leaf pendant and earrings with multicolored sapphire dewdrops are available at Rewards in Austin. Many leaves in the collection feature diamond stems or dewdrops. >800-292-195 or...

For him.(NEW NEXT)
December 1, 2005... armani code: the style of Armani, the power of scent. This seductive fragrance for men is the perfect holiday gift for the man in your life. Visit the armani code fragrance display at the Houston Galleria on Saturday, December 17, for a...

Fashion for the season.(NEW NEXT)
December 1, 2005... The season's must-have bags must sparkle. Gold and silver drawstring pouches available at Foley's. >foleys.com [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Sleek timepiece.(NEW NEXT)
December 1, 2005... A sportive interpretation of the classic Museum Watch, the SL from Movado artfully integrates the iconic dial's signature dot motif into the overall design. This watch curves beautifully to fit the wrist. >8884-MOVADO or movado.com ...

Mass appeal: what I learned--about him and myself--at Catholic school in Harlingen.(WHERE I'M FROM)
December 1, 2005... I WENT TO CATHOLIC SCHOOL because my parents didn't want to burn in hell for all eternity. The burn-in-hell option hadn't been on the table while we lived in Japan on Yokota Air Base, since there were no Catholic schools. But once the United...