Clik here to view.
The Great Cajun Turtle Heist
One day in the late summer or early fall, likely during the administration of Governor Pa Ferguson in the 1910s, an alligator snapping turtle hatchling poked his head out of the rubbery eggshell that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
These Texas Garages Turn Classic Cars Into Electric Hot Rods
Kevin Emr was bouncing from company to company as a product development engineer in Dallas when he got a call about a dream job he didn’t know he wanted. He had been a car enthusiast for as long as he...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How Texan Are You? Find Out on A Ranch Getaway
The lariat sliced the air overhead as I circled my wrist counterclockwise, giving the wide loop momentum before I released it from my hand. A few feet away was a roping dummy, a small black calf made...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Galveston’s Port Chaplain Is a Godsend to Weary Ship Workers
Jeff Willard, who is 61, lives in Galveston. Since 2021 he has been the port chaplain at the Galveston Seafarers Center, a nondenominational ministry that serves those who work at sea.I’ve been working...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Deep—Very, Very, Very Deep—in the Heart of Texas
Just west of Interstate 35, in the region where the flat Texas coastal plain ends and the rolling Hill Country begins, ancient history rules us still. It was here, 20 million years ago, that the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Go Underground: Seven Texas Caves to Explore
Although most of the state’s nearly seven thousand known caves are on private property, Texas does boast many popular cave systems that are easily accessible and open to the public, including these...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mickey Guyton Is Still Finding Her Way in the Country Music Industry
In the early nineties Mickey Guyton was a young girl living in the small town of Crawford, a short walk from George W. and Laura Bush’s ranch. One summer evening, she attended a Texas Rangers game,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Meanwhile, in Texas: Maybe This Alligator Just Wanted Some Girl Scout Cookies?
A Girl Scout troop swimming at Huntsville State Park narrowly escaped an encounter with a roughly fourteen-foot alligator that they later nicknamed Karen. A Colleyville restaurant rolled out a $39...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Beware the Toxic Trait of the Eastern Newt
Latin Name: Notophthalmus viridescensSize: About three to five inches long (adult)Habitat: Ponds and damp forest floors in East Texas“Eye of newt and toe of frog,” chant three witches in Shakespeare’s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Meet Aguachile, Ceviche’s Hotter Cousin
Aguachile can be a refreshing dish, but its invigorating effect comes at a price. “Chile water,” as it translates in English, typically consists of raw shrimp and sliced red onions that pickle slightly...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Heroes Among Us
In the late sixties a self-made CEO was troubled by the plight of American POWs in North Vietnam, so he chartered a plane, packed it with medicine, mail, and meals, and tried to have it delivered to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Providing Shelter, Job Training, and Community for Those in Need
On a hot September afternoon, 57-year-old Bebe Reyna walks down a treeless street at the Esperanza Community, a seven-acre site near Austin’s airport that provides temporary shelter for people...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Powerful Introduction to Nature for Kids Who Rarely See It
In the brackish water of a canal in Port Isabel, about 25 miles northwest of Brownsville, are roughly two dozen kids, aged seven to seventeen, cooling off. They splash. They laugh. A few of the older...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Great Moments, Great Texans
A Frisco family sent hundreds of teddy bears to Uvalde studentsA year after the mass shooting at Robb Elementary that killed nineteen children and two teachers, Jason Hanna; his husband, Joe Riggs; and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Eight Texans Who Are Taking On Some of Our Biggest Challenges
Helping Underprivileged Job Seekers Look Great on LinkedIn For disadvantaged, ambitious twentysomethings, the path to landing bigger jobs can be intimidating—and unexpectedly expensive. This trio...
View ArticleClik here to view.
If Nothing Else, Coach
The most prized piece of art in my house is a pencil-on-paper drawing of an oblong soccer ball underneath the message “BEST COCH EVER.” The artist is one of the seven-year-olds I’ve coached as a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lots of Help Is Available for At-Risk Students, but Few Know How to Get It
A professor once told me a parable about chess. “After we play, where do the king and the pawn end up?” he asked. And I was like, “Well, they both end up in the box.” And he said, “That’s exactly...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Sand Dunes of South Padre Island Have a Mind of Their Own
On South Padre Island, change happens not just seasonally—from the crowded summer to the quiet winter—but every day, right under your feet. As you drive north through the resort town on State Park Road...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Texanist: What Would Happen if We Stopped Hunting Deer?
Q: Hunters in Texas kill a lot of white-tailed deer each year. What would happen if they didn’t kill any at all?K. McKay, AustinA: While the Texanist has been a trapper of raccoons, a shooter of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Massacre That Turned Texas Into the Most Gun-Friendly State in America
For roughly ten minutes at a Luby’s Cafeteria in Killeen, a man moved from patron to patron, shooting them at close range with a Glock 17 and a Ruger P89. As police closed in, he turned one of his guns...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Nina Berenato’s Statement Pieces Really Do Say a Lot
It’s hard to know what makes more of a splash in a photo: the jewelry by Austin-based designer Nina Berenato or the women who wear it. The Lioness Mask or Beyoncé. The XL Sewing Needle Earring or Megan...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Seafood at Josephine’s Gulf Coast Tradition Is Off the Hook
By any measure, Lucas McKinney had a fantastic thing going. Last summer, the 29-year-old Mississippi-born chef, a veteran of Houston’s prestigious Underbelly Hospitality group, landed a seasonal job...
View ArticleClik here to view.
From the Editor: The Good News
In my teens, I heard a radio commentator explain why our airwaves and periodicals are so filled with stories of failure and tragedy. News, he observed, is that which is unusual. In the United States,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Four Reasons December Will Be a Great Month in Texas Culture
filmThe Iron ClawProduced by A24 for release on December 22 In the early eighties, the greatest show on earth was staged inside a corrugated-tin coliseum in Dallas, where a rowdy audience of almost...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Roar of the Crowd: December 2023
It’s Texas, Not TanyaAs a Texas music historian of more than fifty years, I was looking forward to the piece on Tanya Tucker by Emily McCullar [“The Outlaw,” October 2023]. But McCullar’s big bone of...
View Article