Texas Monthly articles from December 2008

Texas Monthly archives from December 2008

Two-party animal: why the Democrats' resurgence is good for everyone--even the GOP.(Behind the Lines)
December 1, 2008... In the closing days of the presidential campaign, I heard John McCain make an argument for his candidacy that I found appealing. Democrats were in control of the U.S. House of Representatives, he warned, and were within reach of a...

Dazed and confused.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2008... I know it's easy to get wrapped up in Matthew McConaughey's dreamy eyes and pearly whites, but another cover story for this guy ["Dude!" October 2008]?What did he do this time, make another bad movie? Look, as a fellow Texan on the West Coast,...

Board games.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2008... I was intrigued when I saw the article on the State Board of Education, seeing that I'm a sixth-grade science department chair in Houston ["How Well Do You Know Your State Board of Education?" October 2008]. I thought staging the article as a...

Bad Rapp.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2008... I could not believe Anne Rapp's comment in "Everybody Must Get Stoned" about Oliver Stone's World Trade Center [October 2008]. Calling it "the baby with the disability" is offensive on so many levels, and I was truly stunned that someone would...

Hive talkin'.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2008... Dan Winters's honeybee pictures are works of art ["Flying Away," October 2008]! My husband was beginning to learn beekeeping from his father at about the same time Dan became interested in bees. This was his lifelong profession until he died,...

Law in disorder.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2008... As the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Pecos Division and the only one to reside in Pecos, I know that Nate Blakeslee nailed it in his article on Randy Reynolds and the weird world that is law enforcement in the Pecos Valley ["The...

Cross purposes.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2008... I read "Access Denied" and found it another in a series of gut-wrenching articles about how life on the last frontier is changing forever [October 2008]. The decision to tear down the Candelaria footbridge or prohibit border crossing at Lajitas...

In with the new.(Editor's Letter)
December 1, 2008... Let me say a few words about the modern world, the last on the subject--or any subject--that I expect to be writing in this space in the foreseeable future. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] For nearly 36 years, the editor Of TEXAS MONTHLY had...

The show goes on.(In the Chute)(Texas Ballet Theater)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE ONLY THING MORE unbelievable than a fat man shimmying down a chimney might be a December without The Nutcracker. For years, families have relied on Tchaikovsky's two-act fairy tale to distract them from long...

Artful pranksters.(In the Chute)(Michael Galbreth and Jack Massing's 'The Art Guys: Cloud Cuckoo Land')(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IF YOU'VE EVER looked askance at Marcel Duchamp's Fountain sculpture, a urinal he signed simply "R. Mutt," or seen Damien Hirst's The Abyss, an arrangement of cigarette butts that recently sold for just under $3.2...

The illusionist.(In the Chute)(Take Your Time: Olafur Eliasson)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IN ART, AS IN LIFE, you can't please everybody. If critics like a particular work, the crowds don't get it; when the masses are engaged, the culturati deem the piece too commercial. Which makes it all the more...

Neiman Marcus Adolphus children's parade.(Reporter)
December 1, 2008... Santa wends his way through downtown Dallas. 12/6, childrensparade.com

Dickens on the strand.(Reporter)
December 1, 2008... Not even Ike could keep this Victorian fest from celebrating its thirty-fifth anniversary. 12/6 & 12/7, dickensonthestrand.org

Celebrate San Antonio.(Reporter)
December 1, 2008... Ring in the New Year in historic La Villita with music and fireworks. 12/31, saparksfoundation.org

Hill Country Christmas lighting trail.(Reporter)
December 1, 2008... Eleven towns are aglow with holiday spirit. Thru 1/4, tex-fest.com

Our economy.(The Horse's Mouth: EVERYTHING I COULD EVER TELL YOU ABOUT)(Richard Fisher, president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas)(Interview)
December 1, 2008... NAME: Richard Fisher AGE: 59 HOME: Dallas QUALIFICATIONS: President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas 2008 voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee Assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury during the Carter...

Bowl-O-Rama: five cities. Ten teams. Endless debate. Let the games begin.(The Cheap Seats: JASON COHEN POPS OFF ABOUT SPORTS)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Remember the Alamo Bowl? By all means I will... once I figure out whether the game is on a Wednesday, Saturday, or Monday and whether its kickoff is in the afternoon or evening. Of all the teenage, made-for-cable,...

Anthony Mack, 54: letter carrier.(The Working Life: STORIES FROM THE 9 TO 5)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] To be honest with you, I never believed in my wildest dreams that I'd b e a letter carrier. I served in the U.S. Army; later, I had a job with the city doing street maintenance. But when I needed a good-paying job...

This is for wheel: it's time I found a greener ride.(Green Guinea Pig: CAN JIM ATKINSON MAKE A DIFFERENCE?)(Viewpoint essay)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] When I decided to go green about this time last year, my goal was to see how much an average guy could reduce his carbon footprint--that new cultural holy grail that has replaced reducing your cholesterol--without...

The Texanist: offering fine advice since 2007.
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Q: I have finally had it with the disgusting appearance of my husband's feet and his nasty toes, I insisted that he begin getting regular pedicures. He responded with a chuckle and said that a man could not do such a...

Marley and him: the rehabilitation of Owen Wilson continues.(Hollywood, TX: CHRISTOPHER KELLY ON OUR STATE OF ENTERTAINMENT)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In all the media coverage of Owen Wilson's reported suicide attempt, in August 2007--the doleful images of Luke Wilson fighting his way through the paparazzi's popping flashbulbs to visit his brother in the hospital,...

The Soul of Rock and Roll.
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE SOUL OF ROCK AND ROLL (Monument/ Orbison/Legacy) marks the first comprehensive collection of ROY ORBISON'S career, and hearing the Vernon native's work in sequence over four CDs is eye-opening. His operatic High...

Hommage a Nesuhi.
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In 1955 Nesuhi Ertegun joined his brother, Ahmet, and producer Jerry Wexler at Atlantic Records to form one of the greatest triumvirates the music business has ever seen. Ahmet and Wexler were already known for their...

Bruce Robison & Kelly Willis.(Previews+Reviews: Music: JEFF MCCORD ON THE MONTH'S RELEASES)(Interview)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Austin's favorite musical couple have separate careers: He's just released The New World, and after recording Translated From Love, in 2007, she's now taking a hiatus to focus on their four children. Yet they join forces every year to play a...

Mission: Black List #1.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Before his 2003 deployment to Iraq, Army staff sergeant and San Antonio resident ERIC MADDOX was a military interrogator with virtually no field experience in his area of expertise. MISSION: BLACK LIST #1, written...

The Messenger.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Ghosts, cemetery dogs, and immortals populate THE MESSENGER, a supernatural thriller from mystery writer JAN BURKE, a Houston native best known for her award-winning series starring flesh-and-blood reporter Irene...

Jeff Guinn.(Previews+Reviews: Books: MIKE SHEA ON THE MONTH'S NEW RELEASES)(The Christmas Chronicles)(Interview)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... At 735 pages, The Christmas Chronicles might inspire a deeply felt ho-ho-ho-hum from the Santa-averse. But don't shun these three newly compiled "as told to" Yule novels from the Fort Worth author (The Autobiography of Santa Claus, How Mrs....

Downtown Boerne: watch your back, Fredericksburg.(Street Smarts: A QUICK GUIDE TO ...)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Most modern toy stores bombard customers with a cacophony of electronic beeping and whirring, but at MILK AND HONEY, you'll be greeted with the tranquillity of imagination at work. In addition to cribs (outfitted...

Twin Wells: chapter twelve: the box.(Texquisite Corpse: A STORY IN TWELVE PARTS AND TWELVE VOICES)(Short story)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Clay Baldwin had seen dead people before, but never had he seen one come back to life, much less two. Sitting in the sheriff's cruiser in front of the Odessa bank, staring at a pistol in the hand of supposedly dead...

Mark Seliger.(Texas Monthly Talks: EVAN SMITH SITS DOWN WITH ...)(Interview)
December 1, 2008... This is a really busy time for you. In addition to shooting for various glossy magazines, you have a new book out that's a retrospective of your last twenty years as a photographer. And you have a record out! You're a true multiplatform guy....

The unusual suspects: did Austin anarchists torch the Governor's Mansion?(Letter From Austin)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Texas's biggest whodunit began in the early-morning hours of Sunday, June 8, in downtown Austin, when several passersby noticed that the porch of the Governor's Mansion was in flames. "The entire front of the...

Grass Roots: after my father died I made a decision that would have greatly disturbed him: I hired somebody to do my yard work.
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] It was a game I played when I was little and wasn't allowed to be outside while my father was working in the yard. I remember watching him from the front window and then following him from window to window inside our...

The 40 best small-town cafes in Texas.(Directory)(Cover story)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] We sent 39 people * on a five-month odyssey to find the FINEST PURVEYORS of chicken-fried steak, mashed potatoes burgers and fries, onion rings, pork chops, cornbread, fresh doughnuts, and hot apple pie. After 24,000...

The Republic of Chad: eight years ago this month, all eyes were laser-focused on Florida, where a recount of votes in the presidential race would determine George W. Bush's fate--and the nation's. for the many Texans who endured endless days and sleepless nights on their candidate's behalf, the memories are still fresh. and yes, the victory is still sweet.
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] THERE HAD BEEN CLOSE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS BEFORE--in 1960 John F. Kennedy beat Richard Nixon by fewer than 120,000 votes--but in 2000 Texas governor George W. Bush did something that no one had done since the...

The fugitive: she was convicted at age eighteen of armed robbery and broke out of a Georgia prison five times before escaping for good in July 1974. She made a new life for herself as a loving wife and a caring nurse in east Texas, where no one--not even her husband--knew her dark secret or the terrifying experiences that had made her run.
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ON A MILD NOVEMBER AFTERNOON IN 2007, TWO DARK SUVS WITH TINTED WINDOWS SLIPPED INTO FRANKSTON, A SMALL TOWN IN EAST TEXAS. INSIDE THE VEHICLES WERE FOUR U.S. MARSHALS DRESSED IN CIVILIAN CLOTHES WITH HANDGUNS...

He saw the light: over the past four decades, photographer Wyman Meinzer has become the reigning authority on our state's breathtaking sunrises, crackling lightning storms, and glowing summer dusks. In these seven photos from his new book, he demonstrates once more his uncanny ability to capture the majesty of the Texas horizon.
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A few years after a Texas Tech professor lent him his first 35mm camera, Wyman Meinzer had an epiphany. A rancher's son, he was living in a half dugout in West Texas studying coyotes and working as a predator hunter...

Before and after: what happens when an immigration raid tears a family apart?
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] I. RAID There was a man--call him Max, the name he went by at work, or Pancho, as he was known to his family and friends, or Francisco Garcia-Rodriguez, the name recorded on his birth certificate, or Sealed...

Textile: Houston.(PAT'S PICK)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IT'S NOT JUST ME--restaurant names are getting weirder. To wit: Wink, Latitude 28002', t'afia, N9NE, rise no0l, Seventeen Seventeen, and *17. But chef and restaurateur Scott Tycer is the winner in the quantity...

Tresca: San Antonio.(NEW + NOTEWORTHY)(Restaurant review)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Contemporary Italian fare takes a flirty turn with Dan Ward's new amore, Tresca (his third, after Piatti and Luca). Outdoors in the pleasant courtyard, blessedly shielded from traffic, our tete-a-tete seemed almost Florentine, especially when...

Sala: Dallas.(NEW + NOTEWORTHY)(Restaurant review)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Most everything has a spicy kick at Sala, the fun new place in the former location of Amuse, where chef-owner Doug Brown (in a previous life he headed up Landmark, in the Melrose Hotel) has turned his talents to...

The filter: dining: our favorite restaurants, bistros, cafes, and joints.(Company overview)
December 1, 2008... Amarillo CATTLE EXCHANGE Located in the historic Moody Building in Canadian, the Cattle Exchange is just as popular as it was in 1910, when cattle buyers and weary travelers would stop in for a good meal. And if you go on a Sunday,...

The goodbye boy: my new life as an empty nester (emphasis on "empty").
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The last place I expected to have a full-blown existential crisis was in the middle of the sing-along version of Mamma Mia! I mean, how seriously is anyone supposed to take a movie in which Meryl Streep, dressed in...