Issues Archive - The Texas Observer

January / February 2025

November / December 2024

September / October 2024

July / August 2024

May / June 2024

March / April 2024

The cover of the January/February 2024 issue of Texas Observer magazine shows a stylized photo of a Latinxs woman shooting video on her smartphone as she holds it out the window of her car. Headline: La Gordiloca, Laredo’s citizen-journalist provocateur goes head-to-head with police in court, by Jason Buch. Other headlines: The Observer at 70, A longtime leader looks back at our best work, by Eva Ruth Moravec. The Lost Promise of Refuge Ranch, A treatment center for survivors of sex trafficking fails to meet its mission, by WIllow Higgins. Memorializing Juneteenth, A museum honoring the news of slavery’s end is in the works in Fort Worth, by James Russell. A Texas symbol reads “since 1954”.

January / February 2024

The cover of the November/December 2023 issue of Texas Observer magazine features an illustration of a shadowy "puppeteer"-type figure, using marionette strings to control protesters outside of a public school. The top headline is "The Radical Right's K-12 Takeover: Conservative consultants and PACS are turning Texas school board races into partisan battlegrounds, by Steven Monacellt." Other headlines: Safety Off by Michelle Pitcher, Deadly Toll Rod by Josephine Lee, and A&M's Liberal Purge by Gabriel Arana.

November / December 2023

The September/October 2023 issue of the Texas Observer features an illustration of a female-presenting person fearfully peeking over a windowsill at the "party house" across the street, a short-term rental with a raging crowd dancing, fighting, drinking, and dealing with the cops. The top story is "All the Scary Houses: Neighborhoods fight the giant companies pushing the short-term rental tidal wave". Other top stories include "Queens Defiant," "The Last Texan to Die in Afghanistan," and "Toppling Statues."

September / October 2023

The cover of the July/August issue depicts a cartoon wall made of paperwork, with a caricature of Greg Abbott at the top, adding more with a trowel. Migrants walk fearfully at the base of the paper "wall." Headline: Abbott's Border Wall Boondoggle by Justin Miller. Other headlines include "The Shape of Water to Come," "Sparse Justice in Texas," and "Deborah Mouton: Building Bridges with Her Words.”

July / August 2023

May / June 2023

The cover for the March/April 2023 issue of Texas Observer magazine shows an illustration of a young white child, wearing oversized "battle rattle" including an armored vest covered in buttons like "All Guns Matter" and "I Heart Capitalism", and an "America First" helmet so big it coveres their eyes. In their hands is a massive assault rifle. The cover story is "Christian Nationalists Are Coming For Your Kids" by Josephine Lee. Other headlines include "OB-GYNs: Overworked, Under Thread, Moving Out", "Clarence Brandley: Death Before Justice", "A Symphony Dies, A Philharmonic is Born", "Where the Bodies Lie" and "A Pageant for Golden Age".

March / April 2023