Field Goal
Paul Quinn College turns a football field into a farm to end a food desert.
The football games ended years ago at Paul Quinn College. The Tigers’ purple jerseys were packed away, marking the conclusion of a tradition that dated back almost a century. In 2006, the football program was…
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We're Not Gonna Take It
Texas' starving school districts lawyer up for (another) epic battle for survival
All is not well in Texas schools. After billions in cuts and tens of thousands of teachers laid off, students now cram into overcrowded classrooms across the state. Field trips are canceled, and lunch is…
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Occupy Houston’s Second Act
The movement takes its next phase to a new neighborhood.
Behind a chain-link fence in Houston’s Fourth Ward, on the ground floor of a ramshackle duplex, revolution is fomenting.
Scott Gregory, a 25-year-old substitute teacher, gestures to two pairs of sneakers by the front door…
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by Texas Observer Staff
on 01.19.12
The Texas Observer staff recounts our favorite Perry "oops" moments in this slideshow. Click here to view it.
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by Paul Sweeney
on 01.12.12
I like Alec Baldwin, I honestly do.
He’s a skilled, accomplished actor, someone who truly inhabits a role. If you haven’t seen his lacerating salesman’s speech (“It takes brass balls to sell real estate”) in…
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Did Death Row Inmate Linda Carty Get a Fair Trial?
Sympathizers argue her British citizenship means the British consulate should have been informed of her arrest. It wasn't.
Trafalgar Square, just a stone’s throw from the very center of the British capital, is an expanse of paved sidewalk, pretty fountains and, most notably, five statues. The central statue is of Admiral Lord Nelson,…
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Babysteps
Can Texas’ new approach to prisoners with newborns help keep families together?
When Isabel Saucedo arrived at Texas’ BAMBI unit on a recent October morning, it was clear this wasn’t going to be a typical prison experience. She was quickly surrounded by four women holding babies. They…
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Crumbling Under Corruption
Mexico's bus line operators targeted by organized crime
In Juarez, the Holguin brothers built their city bus line with hard work and persistence. By 2008 they had 20 drivers and two dozen buses delivering factory workers to maquiladoras across the city. Their business…
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by Eileen Smith
on 01.08.12
Voters were treated to not one but two Republican presidential debates in roughly 10 hours—one on Saturday night, the other on Sunday morning. In both debates, Rick Perry was relegated to the far end of…
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Observer Reports
Jill Magid's Failed States
On Jan. 21, 2010, Jill Magid witnessed Fausto Cardenas firing a handgun into the air on the Capitol steps. Magid then spent 18 months following Cardenas' case; culminating in Failed States. Currently on display at Austin's Arthouse, Failed States explores the media's representation of terrorism and includes this montage of interviews with Magid.