Texas Monthly articles from March 2003

Texas Monthly archives from March 2003

Mr. Speaker: Tom Craddick has the job he's always coveted--but does anyone outside the capitol care? (Behind the Lines).(Biography)
March 1, 2003... "IT WAS KIND OF LIKE I DIDN'T EXIST," Tom Craddick told me when I asked him what it was like to come to the House of Representatives as a 25-year-old Republican from Midland in 1969. He was isolated from his colleagues by age ("I bet the...

Land of hope. (Roar of the Crowd).
March 1, 2003... THE POOREST PLACE IN AMERICA turns out to be the richest in hopes and dreams ["Bottom's Up," January 2003]. For these people, how bad must it have been where they came from for them to settle in Cameron Park? I think that sometimes we forget...

Write stuff. (Roar of the Crowd).
March 1, 2003... I REMEMBER AS A CHILD GOING through a scrapbook of my mother's when I came across some old, yellowed newspaper clippings covering the death of President Kennedy ["A Ride for Mrs. Oswald," January 2003]. Some of those clippings were the work of...

The idealists. (Roar of the Crowd).(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2003... I ENJOYED THE PIECE BY GARY CARTwright [Gary Cartwright's Texas: "The Idealist," January 2003. But I disagree with the statement "Warren was the last and one of the best of his breed--a trial lawyer before the term was transformed into an...

Divine clarity. (Roar of the Crowd).
March 1, 2003... JAN JARBOE RUSSELL'S "JUNG AT Heart" reminds Texas' Christians that churches must demand rigorous self-examination and criticism and that Texas Baptists in particular have a past full of all manner of sins poorly obscured by religiosity...

Taxing advice. (Roar of the Crowd).
March 1, 2003... ALTHOUGH A REPUBLICAN, I LIKED Patti Burka's advice--offered as if from the late Democratic political guru George Christian--to the now all Republican leadership of state government [Behind the Lines: "By George," January 2003]. However, one of...

Around the state: a selective guide to amusements and events.
March 1, 2003... March 2003 SUNDAY MONDAY 2 3 We confess: "St. "The History of Peter and the Vati- Japanese Photog- can: The Legacy of raphy" opened the Popes," an ex- ...

A great weekend.(goings on in Dallas, Texas, March 21-23, 2003)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... THREE-DAY PASS This month the "most promising weekend" award belongs to Dallas March 21 through 23. On Friday, stop by the sixteenth annual Dallas Video Festival, which, over the course of the weekend, will premiere playwright Octavio Solis'...

Straight talk. (around the state).(musician and producer Daniel Lanois)(Interview)
March 1, 2003... HIGH FIDELITY Daniel Lanois was born in Hull, Quebec, Canada, in 1951 to French-speaking and musical parents. In addition to being an acclaimed solo artist, he is one of the top record producers in the business, working on albums with U2, Peter...

Lectures. (Houston).(Calendar)
March 1, 2003... POLITICAL PARTY Ready for a break from television news-talk shows? This month, instead of tuning in to Face the Nation, you can get out and listen face-to-face--without interruptions from the talking heads--to several distinguished public...

Weather. (Houston & San Antonio).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... CLIMATE CONTROL In other parts of the world, March may enter as a lion and exit as a lamb, Here, the weather can be lamb-gentle in Dallas and positively leonine in Lubbock--all on the same day. To the uninitiated--and especially children--the...

Facing the music: there's no question that record producer Michael Morales--Dan's brother--tried to blackmail the Tony Sanchez campaign. But was he really acting alone? (Reporter: the state of our state).
March 1, 2003... "HI, I'M MR. SMITH. WENDEL Smith calling again," said the calm voice leaving a voice-mail message at the Austin campaign headquarters of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tony Sanchez. It was early October 2002, and the man had been calling...

Talking tuna: between them, Jerry Jones and Bill Parcells have five Super Bowl rings, two giant egos, and one flat-lining franchise. Will their relationship revive the Cowboys? (Conference Call).(Panel Discussion)
March 1, 2003... PARTICIPANTS: Senior executive editor Paul Burka Senior editor and longtime Cowboys reporter Gary Cartwright Nationally syndicated columnist and former Cowboys reporter Skip Bayless Burka: Let's get right to the point:...

A time to drill? Last year the feds went toe-to-toe with environmentalists over allowing natural-gas drilling on Padre Island, but neither side has scored a knockout. Here's what to expect in the next few rounds. (FAQ).
March 1, 2003... So who threw the first punch in this fight? The Bush administration. A year ago, citing the growing demand for natural gas and the need for the U.S. to become less dependent on foreign energy supplies, the Department of the Interior approved a...

Lines in the sand: you won't find Jack Jackson's controversial illustrated history of the Alamo at the Alamo gift shop--but the Austin artist isn't ready to surrender or retreat. (Texas).
March 1, 2003... THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS having mercifully expired, let me get something off my chest. Back in the sixties, when the great cultural wars were flaring up, I wrote for awhile under the nom de plume M. D. Shafter. It was away to confound the...

Brands that I love: in my pantry, products "made in Texas"--from imperial pure cane sugar to falfurrias butter--have always had pride of place. (on Texana).
March 1, 2003... THE NEWS THAT IMPERIAL SUGAR CLOSED ITS TEXAS refinery in December would have turned my sweetheart of a grandmother into a real sourpuss. When I was growing up, Mimi gave me many bits of useful advice: "Bait your own hook," for example, and...

Back to the future: what has kept tiny Fayetteville alive and authentic when other Texas towns have died or surrendered to tourism? The answer lies in its past. (on Travel).(Column)
March 1, 2003... TIRED OF SPRING GETAWAYS ON THE COAST, WHERE the sea air is thick with teenage pheromones? For something completely different, head inland to the gently rolling hills an hour and a half east of Austin, an area I once called home but fled the...

Prodigal son: left-wing folk singer Woody Guthrie honed his trade in Pampa, but 67 years later, the town is just beginning to welcome him back home. (on Music).
March 1, 2003... MY FRIEND AND FORMER EMPLOYER RUSS BARNARD, who published Country Music magazine in New York for more than two decades, hails from the Panhandle town of Pampa. About a year after entering Yale University, in 1956, he joined the burgeoning...

Genius: he's the wizard of the west wing, the most powerful political consultant ever, the maker of presidents, the destroyer of democrats. But how did Karl Rove get that way? Take a little luck, a lot of skill, a few dirty tricks, and a quarter-century of hardball Texas politics, and it all adds up to. (Cover Story).
March 1, 2003... IN THE SUMMER OF 1989 a legislator named Terral Smith received a phone call at his Austin office from a young political operative named Karl Rove. The two men knew each other casually: Both were Republicans with rising political ambitions....

The Alamo should never have happened: generations of Texas schoolchildren have been taught that the battle at the center of the Texas revolution was our finest hour. Maybe so--but it was also a military mistake of mythic proportions.(Transcript)
March 1, 2003... ON THE MARCH OF HUMAN FOLLY, soldiers haven't exactly owned the road, but they've often commanded the right of way. No soldier dies in vain, if only because when soldiers fall, their surviving superiors, kin, and compatriots proclaim them...

Chasing shadows: in his first book of photographs, James Evans captures the essence of Big Bend--not just its epic landscapes, but the maverick souls who make West Texas one of the last truly unique places on earth.
March 1, 2003... Watching Big Bend Photographer James Evans hoist his tripod onto his shoulder and traipse off into the desert one Monday in December, with gray sweatpants tucked into his boots, the hood of his kelly-green sweatshirt pulled over his head, and a...

Bard of the border: Oscar Casares is Texas' most intriguing young storyteller, whose tales of his native Brownsville describe a place where Latinos have moved from the margins to the mainstream.
March 1, 2003... Lincoln Park is gone. Disappeared. We are rolling along in Oscar Casares' maroon Toyota Tacoma, searching for the place where a decent portion of his teenage days was spent shooting hoops, flirting with girls, and picking fights now and then....

Where to eat now.
March 1, 2003... What is the best restaurant in Texas right this minute? I fell in love the first time I ate at Le Reve. Not with my date, mind you. I was smitten with the little San Antonio restaurant itself--the chic, understated room, the hawk-like intensity...

Restaurant guide: a selective guide to food and drink. (March 2003).
March 1, 2003... Austin Asti Trattoria 408 E. 43rd (512-451-1218). With service as smart as the decor, this Hyde Park standby was packed on a recent lunchtime outing. The first-rate food should probably be credited as well. Penne pasta with artichokes,...

Pat's pick.(Cafe Modern at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... EDIBLE ART I had braced myself for crowds the Sunday I visited the new Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. But, no--I breezed through the galleries, only to come to an abrupt halt outside Cafe Modern, the museum's spacious, sunlight-filled...

What's in store.(Hamilton Rousseau's store, Ifs Ands & Butts)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... BOTTOMS UP it's a good thing no one ever convinced Hamilton Rousseau that soft drinks would ruin his appetite, rot his teeth, and nuke his health, Otherwise, the cigar-chomping owner of Ifs Ands & Butts might be selling insurance or cell phones...

On the road.(Cajun-style restaurants in southeast Texas)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... THIS BUG'S FOR YOU Thanks to plenty of rain last summer, Cajun country should be crawling with crawfish this year. The good news for Texans is that we don't have to go all the way to Louisiana to get our fix of mudbugs. There are plenty of...

Oaf of office: seventeen years after my last foray into politics, I'm thinking of running for something again. Say a prayer for me--and yourselves. (The Last Roundup).
March 1, 2003... AT THE WHITE HOUSE RECENTLY, AS I WAS advising the president on Iraq, I thought I heard him mention putting me in charge of the National Park Service. It's about time he appointed a real cowboy, I said to myself as I adjusted my fanny pack. I...

Point of view.(Texas)
March 1, 2003... Big Bend National Park holds within its vast boundaries soaring mountains, miles of rivers, and several hot springs. It reveals to visitors that West Texas is certainly not limited in its scenery. The best spot to view the magnificent...

The ultimate hill country tour: a guide to the quaint towns, scenic views, back roads, and other stops along the way.(Texas)
March 1, 2003... SOME SAY it is the hills, rising out of the flatlands as Texas' gateway to the west, that make the Hill Country special. Others are drawn to the oaks, the pastoral fields, the artesian springs from which rivers flow past limestone bluffs, the...

Aaaaaaiiiiieeeee! Take a wild ride on some of Texas' best roller coasters.
March 1, 2003... Scream! and keep screaming till it stops--that's the way to have the most fun on a roller coaster. You have to become one with it, and the way you do that is by "orchestrating" its every, rattle, turn, and downward swoop. Well, that's my theory...

Drive, we said.(Texas)
March 1, 2003... TEXANS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN HIGHLY SUSCEPTIBLE TO THE CALL OF THE OPEN ROAD, AND NOWADAYS THAT CALL IS STRONGER THAN EVER. NOT ONLY DO CAR TRIPS CELEBRATE INDEPENDENCE, THEY ALSO EMBRACE THE ZEN-LIKE NOTION THAT THE JOURNEY ITSELF, NOT THE...

Texas tees.(golf resorts)(Directory)
March 1, 2003... From Ben Hogan to Ben Crenshaw, Byron Nelson to Tom Kite, Texas has produced more than its share of championship golfers. Here the traditions and the love of the game run deep, a wide variety of courses rank among the best in the country, and...

This place is a zoo: go wild at Texas' top ten zoos.(Directory)
March 1, 2003... Safari cancelled? Then get your exotic-animal fix by discovering a zoo. Our team of cub reporters roamed the state to find Texas' top ten zoos, from Fort Worth's nationally renowned attraction to the tiny one in Victoria that's devoted to...

Texas classics.(Ben Hogan)(Brief Article)(Biography)
March 1, 2003... When it comes to Texas legends of golf, there's one name that stands above the rest. Ben Hogan, born in 1912 southwest of Fort Worth in Dublin, became famous for his tireless practicing and ruthless accuracy. Introduced to golf at age fifteen...