Culture
Writer Rick Bass Fights for 20 Grizzly Bears
The author’s new collection of essays is a Texas naturalist’s scrapbook of the Lone Star State. It’s also a deep look at the natural world.
Rick Bass wants us to appreciate the beautiful things in nature and do our best not to squander them. The 63-year-old Tex-pat has long been known as a gifted na...Read More
‘Luz at Midnight’ Reimagines Blackouts, Polar Vortexes, and Environmental Justice in San Antonio
A recent novel offers a South Texas story for organizers, scholars, poets, and lovers.
In the not-too-distant future, San Antonio is scrambling to go carbon neutral. They’re turning refineries into apartments and closing coal plants to build mix...Read More
Lady Bird Johnson Was About More Than Wildflowers
Using audio diary recordings, new book Hiding in Plain Sight brings the former first lady out of LBJ’s shadow.
Nearly 14 years after her death, Claudia Alta “Lady Bird” Taylor Johnson’s legacy, to most who know anything about her at all, has been boiled down to...Read More
Captivity Narrative
"News of the World" unsuccessfully tries to redeem the Western at its most harmful.
A version of this story ran in the March/April 2021 issue. More than most Westerns, News of the World is about things which no longer are. Where most entries o...Read More
Strangest State: A Mysterious Monolith and a Fat Cat
The latest from far-flung Texas.
From the March/April 2021 issue. LUBBOCK // A Lubbock family awoke early one morning to the sound of an alarm, triggered when a window in their spare bedroom ...Read More
What Does “Build Back Better” Look Like for Live Music?
Black musicians were already struggling for resources and recognition before the pandemic. Now, they’re organizing and championing lasting reform in the live music industry.
In March 2020, after South by Southwest was canceled for the first time in its 35-year history, musicians in Texas began a challenging time. But none more so th...Read More
‘Truly Texas Mexican’ Bites Off More Than It Can Chew
A new food documentary fails to recognize the complexities of Indigenous identity in Texas.
From the March/April 2021 issue. Adán Medrano’s new documentary, Truly Texas Mexican, begins with a disclaimer: “This film may make you uncomfortable and...Read More
Textile Artist Diedrick Brackens Recasts Symbols of Life and Death in Texas
In his return to Texas, the artist from Mexia uses animals, silhouette, and texture in his latest installation at the Blanton Museum of Art.
From the March/April 2021 issue. In Diedrick Brackens’ large-scale weavings, Texas is omnipresent. At times, the state is a place of rest and sanctuary; at ...Read More
On Daily Life in County Line, A Former Freedmen’s Colony
Beatrice Upshaw’s memoir A Biscuit For Your Shoe seeks to preserve the history and heritage of one of East Texas’ first freedmen’s colonies.
A long time ago, or so it seems, I went to County Line for the first time and met the Upshaw family. County Line, also known as the Upshaw Community, is in nort...Read More