Texas Monthly articles from July 2003

Texas Monthly archives from July 2003

Altered state: the joys of Oklahoma tourism aside, what we learned this legislative session is that Texas politics will never be the same again. (Behind The Lines).
July 1, 2003... EVERY LEGISLATIVE SESSION IS DIFFERENT; every legislative session is the same. I have seen... oh, my goodness, can it really be twenty of them? T.S. Eliot's Prufrock measured out his life with coffee spoons. I count mine in points of order and...

Holy smoke! (Roar Of The Crowd).
July 1, 2003... IN YOUR LIST OF THE TOP FIFTY barbecue joints, you left out the ladies at the New Zion Missionary Baptist Church Barbecue in Huntsville ["Pit Stops," May 2003]. LISA WILLIAMSON Tuscola ... Queen's Bar-B-Que in Galveston. ...

Keep out. (Roar Of The Crowd).
July 1, 2003... HOW SERIOUS ms MIKE TOOMEY about the statement "... if they want to get government more involved in people's lives or businesses' lives, I'm going to tell the governor, in my opinion, he ought to veto it" ["The Enforcer," May 2003]? Do the...

Lost in song. (Roar Of The Crowd).
July 1, 2003... I BELIEVE I'VE READ THE FINEST story in my ten years with Texas Monthly The saga of the Goree Girls ["O Sister, Where Art Thou?" May 2003] distills more Texas history and culture into one article than I think I've ever seen. Perhaps the most...

New math. (Roar Of The Crowd).
July 1, 2003... LET ME SEE. PAUL BURKA SAYS that because Rick Perry is delivering on his campaign promise of building a budget without a tax increase he hasn't "figured it out" and that David Dewhurst is the "person... ready with an answer for any problem"...

Around the state: a selective guide to amusements and events.
July 1, 2003... A SELECTIVE GUIDE TO AMUSEMENTS AND EVENTS SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY 1 2 The Houston The Miss Texas ...

The last Maverick: when Maury Maverick, Jr., died last January, Texas lost a legendary liberal, an eccentric curmudgeon who was a tireless champion of the downtrodden--and I lost a friend. (Letter from San Antonio).
July 1, 2003... LAST JANUARY, AS MAURY MAVERICK, JR., the legendary Texas liberal, lay dying of kidney failure in a San Antonio hospital, a small group of us--including his wife, Julia--stood near his bed, listening to his raspy, labored breathing. He was 82...

Map quest: why is everyone making such a fuss about redistricting? (FAQ).
July 1, 2003... What exactly is congressional redistricting? The U.S. Constitution states that "representatives... shall be apportioned among the several states... according to their respective numbers." It could well have added, "This activity shall be the...

J.J. Sedelmaier Productions, Inc. presents ... "3rd Bong" and how an NFL star became a (cough, cough) political activist ... (In Other News ...).
July 1, 2003... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Q. TODAY YOU'RE THE PRESIDENT OF THE TEXAS CHAPTER OF THE NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR THE REFORM OF MARIJUANA LAWS, BUT YOU STARTED SMOKING WAY BACK IN HIGH SCHOOL. HOW OFTEN WOULD YOU SMOKE? A. INTERMITTENTLY. I'D...

Weather a scandal: admit you're human. Stay productive. Pray a lot. And never let anyone tell you when it's time to quit. (How To ...).
July 1, 2003... I KNEW THAT I HAD A PERSONAL problem--I was having a meaningful relationship with a woman who was not my wife--and I knew that I had to deal with it, which is why I chose not to run again for mayor of San Antonio. I couldn't go through a...

Sell a candidate: unpackage him. Show his heart, his soul, his humanity. And throw away the script--along with the leather jacket. (How To ...).
July 1, 2003... THE CONVENTIONAL WISDOM about political media consulting is that it's our job to create something that isn't there--to package candidates. A lot of consultants do that. I would argue that the successful ones do just the opposite. I think the...

Sound smart on TV: don't worry too much about what they're going to ask you. Have a good quip at the ready. And act like you know what you're talking about. (How To ...).
July 1, 2003... UNTIL 1999 I HAD DONE ALMOST NO TELEVISION. I was a print reporter covering the state-house. Then the NBC affiliate in Dallas got me a gig on Meet the Press after George W. Bush's announcement that he was running for president. My first...

Write a speech: know the person you're writing for. Throw in some humor and personal anecdotes. And leave Aristotle out of it. (How To ...).
July 1, 2003... THE THREE BASIC RULES FOR ANY speech are: Start with a laugh, put the meat in the middle, and wave the flag at the end. Most important is to have a rapport with your audience. You can do it several ways. First, speak deliberately. I once had a...

Be a political spouse: stay behind the scenes. Avoid controversy. Choose a few issues of your own. And don't expect much of a private life. (How To ...).
July 1, 2003... NOT LONG AFTER WORD LEAKED OUT IN the late fall of 1977 that my husband, Bill, was going to run for governor, the Republican women had a conversation in Brownsville. By this time, Ray Hutchison had already announced he was in the race. Polly...

Be a good loser: separate the defeat from the experience. Don't have any regrets. Get back to work. And keep your options open. (How To ...).
July 1, 2003... WE WENT TO OUR HOTEL ON ELECTION night to await the outcome of the governor's race. We kept hoping, obviously, and praying for the best, but, you know, it didn't happen. After I spoke to my supporters, my wife, Tani, and I went up to the room...

FLFW will see you now: that would be George H. W. Bush, Former Leader of the Free World. But, sorry, he doesn't give extended interviews about his post-presidential life, his relationship with his sons, and rascally antagonists like the Dixie Chicks and Martin Sheen. Okay, just this once. (Cover Story).
July 1, 2003... THE FOYER OF GEORGE H.W. BUSH'S OFFICE IN THE MEMORIAL neighborhood of Houston is perfectly round, but if you squint really hard, it can look... oval. The geometric fantasy is supported by the presence of official-looking artifacts,...

The best & the worst legislators 2003.
July 1, 2003... THINK OF THE SEVENTY-EIGHTH Texas Legislature as an adolescent phenomenon. Republicans, giddy about their new driving privileges, leaped behind the wheel and careened down the road, hitting a few curbs and cats along the way. Democrats, their...

State bar: a short walk from the Capitol, down a few limestone steps, one of those mythic places where the wheels of government are greased. Buy you a drink, Senator?
July 1, 2003... THE LIMESTONE STEPS leading to the Cloak Room, a bar in the basement of Austin's 117-year-old Goodman Building, descend from a spot barely thirty paces from the west lawn of the state capitol building. They are marked only by a small sign...

Crosses to bear: at the planned parenthood clinic in Bryan, questions of faith, conscience, biology, and politics collide every day on the front lines of the new war over abortion.
July 1, 2003... SHE SAT with her arms wrapped tightly around herself, answering the nurse's questions. The nurse knew only the facts stated in the medical record: The patient was twenty years old, African American, a single parent. Carefully, the nurse...

25 stories about Bob Bullock: in which the late lieutenant governor screams, twists arms, threatens, fires, and otherwise wields power in ways we wouldn't dare talk about when he was alive but admire enormously to this day. And it was always--always--for the good of Texas.
July 1, 2003... IT'S BEEN FOUR YEARS since former lieutenant governor Bob Bullock drew his last breath at his home in West Austin at the age of 69, when the body he wrecked with cigarettes and alcohol finally succumbed to lung cancer and congestive heart...

Restaurant guide: a selective guide to food and drink.(Directory)
July 1, 2003... July 2003 Policies and Definitions The Restaurant Guide is a service to our readers. The magazine accepts no advertising or other consideration in exchange for a listing. Reviews are written by resident critics in the cities that we...

Best cellar. (Pat's Pick).
July 1, 2003... A lair for urban animals, Houston's Cava Bistro feels like wine cellar in a city where basements are as rare as igloos. The place has been open less than three months, but its rustic rock arches look hundreds of years old. By the light of...

American pie. (Season's Eatings).
July 1, 2003... We hold this Truth to be self-evident: that no Fourth of July celebration is complete without the consumption of vast quantities of fried chicken, potato salad, cherry pie, and such. If you don't have a time-honored family recipe for cherry...

Water world. (On The Road).
July 1, 2003... Take to the water the Texas way this summer--in a tube on a river. If you want sustenance afterward, check out these three favorites of ours, The behemoth of Central Texas river restaurants is the 950-seat Gristmill in the historic hamlet of...

Whistlin' Dixie: does anyone care what the Dixie Chicks say? Do they even exist? Are they God? Only Dr. Kevorkian knows for sure. (The Last Roundup).
July 1, 2003... I WAS HAVING A CUP OF COFFEE ONE morning in the hostility suite of the mental hospital when my editor called and suggested I write a column on the Dixie Chicks. I told him that by the time this issue came out, people would be asking, "The Dixie...