Texas Monthly articles from March 2002

Texas Monthly archives from March 2002

Spare the message: in the rush to Judge Enron executives, it's tempting to fault what they preached as well as what they practiced. But bad behavior shouldn't be mistaken for bad ideas. (Behind the Lines).
March 1, 2002... EVERYBODY HATES ENRON: THE politicians, the media, the employees, the shareholders. That Enron deserves its public shunning few--including me--would dispute. Yet in our collective eagerness to exact vengeance against the wrongdoers, we run the...

Ain't they a pair? (Roar of the Crowd).(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2002... THE JANUARY 2002 COVER IS AN ABSOLUTE classic! It beats Ann Richards in the white leather and on the Harley by a mile. DICK PHILLIPS Buda BEING A FAN OF BOTH THE KINKSTER and Willie Nelson, I want to know how I can obtain a copy of the...

And the winner is ... (Roar of the Crowd).(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2002... KEN LAY EARNED MY VOTE FOR BUM Steer of the Year simply because the other candidates were so boring--a repeat performance of the 2000 presidential election [The 2002 Bum Steer Awards, January 2002]. Face it: Anna Nicole Smith is only...

Send in the clown. (Roar of the Crowd).(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2002... I USUALLY PICK UP MAD MAGAZINE WHEN I want humor, but this time I picked up Texas Monthly--The Humor Issue. I found all the humor I wanted when I read about those Texas rodeo clowns ["My Short Unhappy Life as a Rodeo Clown," January 2002]....

Keep your day job. (Roar of the Crowd).(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2002... IF WILLIE NELSON CAN'T COME UP WITH any better clean jokes than the ones in your January issue, tell him to stick to his singing and forget the "humor" ["Punchline Willie," January 2002]. I got a grin out of only one: the duck-and-grape bit....

Funny lady. (Roar of the Crowd).(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2002... I THOROUGHLY ENJOYED THE TEXAS jokes compiled by Anne Dingus ["Yee-ha!," January 2002]. As a small child, I remember one of the books on my parents' shelves was entitled I Give You Texas, by Boyce House, which, as I recall, had jokes and...

War's no picnic. (Roar of the Crowd).(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2002... WHILE VISITING MY FAMILY FOR THE holidays, I came across "War Fare," by Patricia Sharpe [Food, January 2002]. Let Ms. Sharpe know that the key to surviving prolonged exposure to MRE's is drinking water--and lots of it. After a few weeks in the...

Analyze this. (Roar of the Crowd).(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2002... ANOTHER GREAT PIECE BY MIMI SWARTZ [Behind the Lines: "The Perfect Storm," January 2002]! I have been a subscriber to Texas Monthly off and on for a number of years. Ms. Swartz and her timely articles sprinkled with the wit, wisdom, and insight...

River dunce. (Roar of the Crowd).(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2002... JOE NICK PATOSKI'S ARTICLE ON THE GUADALUPE River [The Great Outdoors: "Guad Is Great," December 2001] showed the other side of the season for river use, and as a business owner on the Guadalupe, I appreciate the information presented. One item...

A selective guide to amusements and events. (Around The State).
March 1, 2002... AROUND THE state SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY 3 4 5 6 Shine up your Spanish- Proof, David Watch your biggest belt ...

Picture this: a hip, art-loving city like Austin can't find a permanent home for its museum? Sad but true--but after two decades of big talk, it may finally get one. (The State Of Our State).
March 1, 2002... SURPRISES ABOUND AT THE Austin Museum of Art--some pleasant, others not. A recent exhibition by the long-struggling and still homeless museum, called "The Road to Aztlan: Art From a Mythic Homeland," ranks among the pleasant ones. The...

We remember Stanley Marcus: the state's arbiter of good taste, he sold the best of everything--and social assurance--to insecure Texans. (Texas Monthly reporter).
March 1, 2002... WHEN I WAS ABOUT TWELVE, my mother took me on a pilgrimage to Neiman Marcus. This was in the pre-Southwest Airlines days, so we must have driven the five or so hours to Dallas from San Antonio and stayed overnight in a downtown hotel. We ate...

A few words with ... Jamie Foxx: the funnyman from Terrell scores a knockout with Ali--but keeps his sense of humor. (Texas Monthly reporter).(Brief Article)(Interview)
March 1, 2002... Until recently Jamie Foxx was probably happy to be best known for the hit comedy series In Living Color and The Jamie Foxx Show rather than for his film work. Indeed, movies like 1997's Booty Call and 1998's The Players Club tested the...

The Craddickal right: Republican bigwigs have lined up to make Tom Craddick the first GOP Speaker since 1873. His critics say he is too partisan--but is it too late to stop him?
March 1, 2002... IN THE BLOODY AFTERMATH OF THE 2000 ELECTION contest, bruised from allegations of a stolen election, President-elect George W. Bush badly needed to reassure a fractured nation that he would lead with fairness and integrity. His solution? He...

Grand old flags: now is the time to salute the banners, tattered and touching, that have inspired us since the Texas Revolution.(exhibit Texas Flags, 1836-1945; book Texas Flags)
March 1, 2002... THIS PROMISES TO BE A BANNER YEAR FOR Texas flag buffs. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston has assembled an unprecedented exhibit of 32 Texas flags--from a tattered one that survived the Battle of San Jacinto to the huge ensign that flew over the...

The franchise: if you thought Mark Cuban was just a spoiled rich kid who couldn't turn the Dallas Mavericks into winners, it's time to eat your words (hold the sprinkles).(basketball team owner)
March 1, 2002... NEVER IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD HAD SO MANY people been united by the promise of free Dilly Bars. As the crowd outside the Dairy Queen in Coppell that January afternoon snaked from the front door, through the parking lot, and down a side...

Big bend 2002: whether you're a first-time visitor or a frequent one, here's the latest scoop on how to drive the back roads, run the Rio Grande, and discover secret hikes you won't find on the map, plus other ways to get the most out of your trip to Texas' greatest treasure.(Cover Story)
March 1, 2002... DEEP IN A FAR SOUTHWESTERN corner of Texas, where the wild things outnumber the people and the Rio Grande makes a grand detour around exquisitely rugged terrain, lies Big Bend National Park. Encompassing more than 800,000 acres--1,250 square...

So what's the truth about Dan Morales and tobacco? He says he took on entrenched corporate interests against impossible odds and won a $17 billion settlement for the state of Texas. His critics say he needlessly paid hefty fees to greedy trial lawyers and then tried to cut one of his pals in on the action. Now the question is whether his hopes of being governor have gone up in smoke.
March 1, 2002... "Dime con quien andas, y te dire quien eres" is commonly translated simply as, "You are who your friends are." But in describing a Democratic primary in which two Mexican American candidates are running for governor, the literal translation of...

Kid gloves: growing up in Wichita Falls. I was a skinny kid with buckteeth and an inconveniently feminine first name. So I did what I could to work out the anger and fear in my head: I learned how to box. But not very well.
March 1, 2002... THE COURAGE OF A BOY CHILD in Texas is equated with his balls. It's a crude metaphor, but it declines to go away. Male Texans are supposed to be rough, tough, and ready for whatever comes down the pike. In the 1830's the makers of this myth...

The day Treva Throneberry disappeared: in the mid-eighties the cheerful high school student vanished. After more than a decade had passed, her friends and family in her tiny North Texas hometown of Electra had no idea where she was--or if she was dead or alive. They certainly didn't know that almost two thousand miles away her fate was kept secret by a teenage girl named Brianna Stewart.
March 1, 2002... Electra, Texas--1985 SHE WAS A PRETTY GIRL, THIN, WITH A SPRAY OF PALE FRECKLES across her face and light brown hair that curled just above her shoulders. The librarian at the high school called her "a quiet-type person," the kind of...

Bill Broyles, as ever, at war: his screenplays for Apollo 13 and Cast Away have made him hot in Hollywood, but the Austin writer still does battle each day with an array of old demons: his memories of Vietnam, the failures that accompany his successes, and everyone's expectations of him--especially his own.
March 1, 2002... Early in his hit movie, Cast Away, screenwriter Bill Broyles has Tom Hank's character deliver to his Federal Express employees in Moscow's a lecture on the intrinsic value of time. We live or die by the clock, Chuck warns his people. A few...

Swamped! Port Arthur has more to offer than refineries, oil rigs, and that awful smell. It's the gateway to boundless boggy adventures.
March 1, 2002... NO ONE HAS EVER ACCUSED THE CITY OF PORT Arthur of being cute or mistaken it for a vacation paradise. It is home to one of the largest oil refinery and petrochemical complexes on earth, a place where rusting inventories of offshore oil rigs are...

Hooked: Decatur's Matt Clark died in 1998 at the age of 31--but his quirky novel about a legendary bogeyman should ensure his immortality.(publishing of 'Hook Man Speaks')
March 1, 2002... IN EARLY 1998 IN BATON Rouge, Louisiana, young authors Michael Griffith and Josh Russell were asked by their close friend Matt Clark, the coordinator of Louisiana State University's graduate writing program, to take custody of his literary...

Restaurant guide: a selective guide to food and drink March 2002.(Directory)
March 1, 2002... Austin Alborz 3300 W. Anderson Ln (512-420-2222). The interior of this lovely Persian restaurant features Middle Eastern art, a perfect backdrop for our exotic kashk-o-bademjan, an appetizer of baked eggplant with walnuts, mint, and garlic...

Unfair game: whether they're bagging bambies or killing quail, hunters have always been a mystery to me. Now it's time to put them in my sights. (The Last Roundup).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... SINCE I'VE FORGOTTEN THE FIRST HALF OF MY LIFE, it's rather difficult for me to remember my childhood, but I do recall going hunting at the wise old age of seven for the first and last time. One night my four-year-old brother, Roger, and I went...

Point of view.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Containing a rich diversity indicative of the State of Texas, Big Thicket: National Preserve brings together the biological resources from the eastern hardwoods to the Gulf coastal plains, from the midwest prairies to the southern swamps and...

San Antonio traditions: San Antonio is a city of so many great traditions that one of great value often goes unnoticed. I'm not referring to the Spanish missions, to the city's rich Hispanic and Anglo histories, or even to the Alamo. I'm thinking of San Antonio, historic city of Texas golf.
March 1, 2002... NOT FAR FROM DOWNTOWN, BRACKENRIDGE PARK GOLF COURSE IS THE OLDEST EIGHTEEN-HOLE MUNICIPAL GOLF COURSE IN AMERICA. OPENED IN 1915. BRACKENRIDGE HAS SPENT MUCH OF ITS 85 YEARS AS THE NUMBER, ONE PUBLIC GOLF COURSE IN TEXAS. TWENTY-ONE TEXAS...

On the waterfront: how do you spend the summer? We've got two words for you: "get wet." We've traveled the state to find spots where the urge to submerge is irresistible. Some of our picks are outrageously popular, where weekend crowds are packed flipper to float. Others are relatively undiscovered treasures that you might end up sharing with no one but a great heron. So, dive in!(Directory)
March 1, 2002... main streams Grab a tube and ride one of these rivers. Compiled by Jennifer Olsen Comal River, New Braunfels (830-620-6262). A spirited ride down "the chute"--a concrete, S-shaped slide down Stinky Falls--launches you into the calm,...

Calendar of events.
March 1, 2002... MARCH Mar. 1-10. San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo. San Angelo. 915-653-7785, 915-653-5622 for tickets, www.sanangelorodeo.com. Mar. 9 - Apr. 14. Dallas Blooms at the Dallas Aboretum and Botanical Garden. Dallas. 214-327-8263....

Golf & fishing: a marriage made in South Padre.
March 1, 2002... Other than their shared abilities to ruin a marriage, any connections between golf and fishing are hard to fathom. You could say that golf has its own lure, or that the two sports often share the same beach. And seasoned anglers claim the...

State and national parks in Texas.(Directory)
March 1, 2002... The listings below are only a small sampling of what the Lone Star State has to offer. For more information, visit www.TravelTex.com. PANHANDLE PLAINS Caprock Canyons State Park and Trailway, P.O. Box 204, Quitaque 79255. (806)...

Outdoor Texas.
March 1, 2002... People who love the great outdoors find themselves immeasurably pleased to be in such a naturally rich state. Lovers of big-game hunting and deep-sea fishing are as pampered in the Lone Star State as people who yearn for a hike in the forest or...

Texas classics.(Enchanted Rock,State Natural Area)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... North of Fredericksburg, between Gillespie and Llano Counties, you will find a huge pink granite exfoliation dome known as Enchanted Rock. Rising 425 feet above the ground, 1,825 feet above sea level, and covering 640 acres, it is one of the...