Texas Monthly articles from October 2006

Texas Monthly archives from October 2006

The year of living dangerously: Houston's Katrina hangover.
October 1, 2006... Just about a year ago, I was driving along the edge of one of Houston's nicest neighborhoods when I noticed a young black woman on foot taking in the sights. It was near sunset, and the sky was a radiant mix of pink, gold, white, and blue,...

Crime, seen.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2006... I was mesmerized by "96 Minutes" [August 2006]. My husband, Jim, was one of the people who offered his deer rifle to an officer, on the second story of the University United Methodist Church. He ran across the Drag, went into the building, and...

Reyes of hope.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2006... I wish to God we had more people (young and old) like Raul Reyes in government--local, state, and national ["The Old College Try," August 2006]. Is he an idealist? Sounds like it. Is he a dreamer? Absolutely. Will his dreams come true? Probably...

War stories.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2006... I thoroughly enjoyed the article by Michael Ennis ["My Father's War," August 2006] comparing the war in Iraq with World War II. I agree with all of his points, especially that we need a Manhattan Project for the "war on terror," which would end...

A few good men.(Roar of the Crowd)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2006... I just finished reading "Coming Home" [Reporter, "A Soldier's Story," August 2006]. Tears came to my eyes. In the Korean War all my buddies were killed; those not killed were captured, taken into China, tortured, and murdered. I'm 79 and have...

Dear John.
October 1, 2006... He described his letter to me as "an inquiry from the fringe of things," a turn of phrase every bit as elegant as I would have expected from its author. He informed me that, at 86, he didn't write much anymore, at least not for public...

Topic A: you can go home again: it's time to welcome back the Dixie Chicks.(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Put your "Not Ready to Make Nice" T-shirt back in the closet: The Dixie Chicks aren't coming to Texas in September or October after all. Something about poor ticket sales and sourpuss radio stations refusing to give the trio airtime. Thanks to...

Traveling the back roads.(The Horse's Mouth: EVERYTHING I COULD EVER TELL YOU ABOUT ...)(Bob Phillips)(Biography)
October 1, 2006... NAME: Bob Phillips AGE: 55 HOMETOWN: Dallas QUALIFICATIONS: Host of the travel show Texas Country Reporter since October 1972 / Author of 52 Offbeat Texas Stops and 52 More Offbeat Texas Stops / Former spokesman for Dairy Queen * There...

Queens of the Court: the future of the Big 12, the effects of Title IX, and the hope for a rebound in the WNBA.(Jody Conradt, Kristy Curry and Kim Mulkey)(Women's National Basketball Association)(Interview)
October 1, 2006... PANELISTS: JODY CONRADT Head coach at the University of Texas at Austin KRISTY CURRY Head coach at Texas Tech University KIM MULKEY Head coach at Baylor University Hollister: So I was watchingSportsCenter last...

Have you seen "Barnyard".(Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch: Part III: STORIES FROM SOUTH TEXAS)(Fictional work)
October 1, 2006... My husband, David, and I took our kids to see it at the movie theater a few weeks ago. It's animated, and one of the main characters is a bull named Ben; he has a son, named Otis. But as you're watching, you notice this: Both of them have...

Congregation Emanu El: Houston / July 29, 2006.
October 1, 2006... Some Bible classes opt for a bird's-eye view, resting content with extracting the main facts and dominant lessons from the text at hand. Others prefer the worm's-eye approach, working dutifully through each individual verse. At Houston's...

Under my skin.(Minister of Health: JIM ATKINS CURE WHAT AILS US)(Morgellons disease)
October 1, 2006... Listen to a nightmare: You wake up one day and notice some reddish spots on your body; they itch a bit, sting a little. You think you've been bitten by bedbugs or something. But the next day, the spots are oozing. Now you reach for the...

William Wayne Justice.(Cojones: A TIP OF THE HAT TO RISK-TAKING, BARRIER-BREAKING, ESTABLISHMENT-TWEAKING TEXANS)
October 1, 2006... "So," I asked 86-year-old federal judge William Wayne Justice in the weight room at Austin's downtown YMCA, "did you consciously set out to become known as the most hated man in Texas?" The judge, who comes to the gym twice a week and was...

Fries with that? Richard Linklater serves up some attitude in his best movie yet.(Hollywood, TX: CHRISTOPHER ON OUR STATE OF ENTERTAINMENT)(Fast Food Nation)(Movie review)
October 1, 2006... Among the most biting and bitter moments in a movie chockfull of them is a scene that comes early on in Richard Linklater's Fast Food Nation, a fictionalized adaptation of Erie Schlosser's nonfiction best-seller about our national obsession...

Sound Grammar.
October 1, 2006... Living in an age where the "genius" label is as common as pocket change leaves a breathtakingly original artist like Fort Worth's ORNETTE COLEMAN out in the critical cold. Coleman calls his music-marked by brittle melody, propulsive rhythms,...

Texas Thunder Soul.(Sound recording review)
October 1, 2006... High school band albums, which proliferate in every community that has a music program, are usually so tedious that even the parents who buy them can't bear to listen. On awful recordings packed with bad tunings and missed cues, the student...

Meadow.(Sound recording review)
October 1, 2006... His air is somber, his words obtuse, and his arrangements formless, yet there's something irresistible about the nomadic malcontent RICHARD BUCKNER. Buckner sings as though he's trying to explain something to you without being overheard; his...

Dewey Redman (1931-2006).(Obituary)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... I met Dewey Redman in Fort Worth on a gray day in 2000. He was cleaning out the home of his recently deceased mother, and he welcomed our interview as an excuse for a much-needed break. The iconic saxophonist, who passed away on September 2 at...

The Road.(Book review)
October 1, 2006... First there were explosions, then the world seemed to be on fire, and now there is just the man and the boy hiding in a sheltered wood--father and son, left to travel alone after the boy's mother opened her wrists in despair. Such is the face...

Goodnight Texas.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 1, 2006... The citizens of WILLIAM J. COBB'S GOODNIGHT, TEXAS know hard times have reached their Gulf fishing town. The rising sea is flooding homes. Shrimp boats return to pert empty; their owners give up and leave them docked. A humongous stuffed zebra...

Mark Zupan.(GIMP: When Life Deals You a Crappy Hand, You Can Fold -or You Can Play)(Brief article)(Book review)
October 1, 2006... The Oscar-nominated documentary Murderball introduced audiences to this worldclass athlete and his sport: quad rugby, played in wheelchairs at a headlong pace. Gimp: When Life Deals You a Crappy Hand, You Can Fold--or You Can Play (with...

Father figures.(fashion designers )
October 1, 2006... When Dad's dressed everyone from Giant's James Dean and Urban Cowboy's John Travolta to White House ranch hand George H. W. Bush, what's a son with fashion in his DNA to do? Design for you and me. Manuel Cuevas Sr., a custom tailor and...

Sundance Square, Fort Worth: where cowboys and hipsters do mix.(Street Smarts: A QUICKIE GUIDE TO ...)
October 1, 2006... 1 Locals have been happily feasting on stacked chicken enchiladas and tenderloin tamales, among other fine Western dishes, at REATA for ten years now; repeat diners know not to pass up the dessert tacos with caramelized bananas and chocolate...

James Baker.(Texas Monthly Talks: EVAN SMITH SITS DOWN WITH ...)(Interview)
October 1, 2006... "Talking to people is not appeasement if you know what you're doing and you're a good, hard-nosed negotiator. There ought to be nothing wrong with diplomacy." President Bush asked you back in April to advise him on Iraq. Well, he...

All shook up: the tectonic plates of Texas politics are once again in motion, an early sign of earthquakes to come. Republicans and Democrats, don't say we didn't warn you.
October 1, 2006... Of course we're all going to wake up on November 8 to discover that Rick Perry will be our governor for another four years. But the incumbent was polling at 35 percent in late summer, and unless he uncorks a big homestretch sprint against...

Why Juan can't read: all across Texas, bilingual education programs are failing to teach English to Hispanic children. A promising "dual language" approach delivers much better results.
October 1, 2006... Two years ago, more than eight out often seventh- and eighth-graders with limited English skills failed the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test. Ninth- and tenth-graders did even worse. These depressing results occurred despite...

Take a hike: presenting the Top Ten trails across the state--plus Twenty more great routes--covering everything from the Chisos Mountains to the Big Thicket. So grab your backpack, your boots, and your sense of adventure and ...(City overview)(Directory)
October 1, 2006... WITH THE SUMMER HEAT DIMINISHING, IT'S TIME to get outdoors again. To help you translate your good intentions into action, I've put together a list of thirty hikes. Each offers something special, whether it's a comfortable stroll through shady...

Free Richard LaFuente! Did the kid from Plainview really drive his El Camino over Eddie Peltier on a North Dakota Indian reservation in 19837 Nobody on the rez thinks so, and neither will you. So why is he still in federal prison?
October 1, 2006... THE KILLING OF EDDIE PELTIER There were about a dozen drunk Indians in the mob that beat Eddie Peltier half to death and then ran him over. The men, mostly in their twenties, had been drinking beer and smoking pot at an all-night party...

Dell freezes over: the unthinkable has happened: the once impregnable computer behemoth has shown itself to be just another company--susceptible to the kinds of competitive pressures, stock-price plunges, and morale problems from which it was once immune. (To say nothing of laptops flambe.) Now what? Not surprisingly, a reboot is under way.(Company overview)
October 1, 2006... LAST YEAR MY WIFE AND I BOUGHT A BRAND-NEW Dell computer. It was a handsome machine, sleek and gunmetal gray, with a swiveling screen and a set of speakers. Unlike our previous computer, it worked without wires, miraculously conversing with a...

Amazing Graciela: for more than three decades, Graciela Iturbide has captured the people and places of her native Mexico on film, in this exclusive excerpt from the first comprehensive survey of her career, she reveals the power and insight of her work--and takes her place among the world's great photographers.
October 1, 2006... If you try to reason your way through the art of Graciela Iturbide, you will miss the point. Look upon her soulful portrait of a young Zapotec Indian dressed in her finest or at one of her unearthly snapshots of circling birds, and you'll...

Great guns: I was ten years old when I got my first rifle, a Winchester Model 06 pump .22. Since then, I've owned countless pistols, shotguns, and other firearms. And whether used for hunting or gathering dust, each one tells a story.
October 1, 2006... I am not a member of the National Rifle Association, nor do I collect rare firearms, attend gun shows, or subscribe to gun magazines. I am not, in other words, a "gun nut" and, in fact, can sympathize to a degree with the views of those who...

Urban Bistro: Dallas.(chef and restaurateur Avner Samuel )
October 1, 2006... TALK ABOUT YOUR FIFTEEN minutes of fame. Dallas chef and restaurateur Avner Samuel has certainly had his: Avner's on McKinney, Yellow, Okeanos, Bistro A, Bistro K, not to mention stints at the Mansion on Turtle Creek and the Pyramid Room, back...

New + noteworthy: a bowl of red in Dallas; sky-high dining in San Antonio.(Restaurant review)
October 1, 2006... Austin BLUE STAR CAFETERIA A cafeteria it's not, although this retro-trendy, instantly popular west side cafe touches some of the same bases. Eddie Bernal, owner of 34th Street Cafe, and chef Lorie Lawler have kicked comfort food up a...

The filter: dining.(restaurants )
October 1, 2006... POLICIES AND DEFINITIONS The Filter: Dining 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 list and are...

The filter: events: where to go, what to do, who to see.
October 1, 2006... JORDAN'S PICK Art Museum Of South Texas Corpus Christi LET'S BE BRUTALLY HONest: Corpus Christi's art scene flies well below the radar, if it leaves the ground at all. Cutting-edge installations or high-profile exhibitions? Any...

Going private: when public school started to "borrow" Teen Boy's brain cells, it was time to do the unthinkable.
October 1, 2006... If you made a list of People Least Likely to Send Their Children Private School, I wouldn't be at the very tippy top since and Che would have those spots sewn up. But I would be close. I grew up believing that private school--unless it was...