Culture
Loon Star State: Unemployment Benefits
Short Story Contest Finalist: ‘Only Animals’
Short Story Contest finalist Chelsea Sutton's story explores what happens when the preconceived boxes humans put ourselves into are no longer enough....Read More
Baylor Fans Must Face the Music After Rice Band’s Halftime Show
A former Owl band member's advice for outraged Baylor fans: Don't like being called out on rape culture? Don't support it.
A former Owl band member's advice for outraged Baylor fans: Don't like being called on rape culture? Don't support it — and be bold enough to talk about it....Read More
Short Story Contest Finalist: ‘Lee Harvey in His Element’
"Perhaps if somebody had taught [Oswald] to play guitar at an early age things'd be different," says Fernando Flores, whose short story imagines things just so....Read More
All the Wrong Moves
In her first book, Jessica Luther challenges the college sports establishment to hold athletes accountable when they commit rape, sexual assault and domestic violence.
Luther challenges the billion-dollar college sports establishment to hold athletes accountable when they commit rape, sexual assault and domestic violence....Read More
Vaya con Dios, Juan Gabriel
Mexico's most versatile singer and composer leaves behind a global legacy.
Gregg Barrio remembers Juan Gabriel, whose "hardscrabble life is the stuff of telenovelas," and who died August 28 while on tour in California....Read More
Short Story Contest Finalist: ‘Melanie Lewis Plays Dominoes’
In the Observer's first 2016 short story finalist, a young Texas woman wonders if she's as full of 'blackness and soot' as her father and his brothers....Read More
The Big Picture: Painting White Supremacy
San Antonio painter Vincent Valdez unveils a monumental work on the persistence of white supremacy in America.
San Antonio painter Vincent Valdez unveils a monumental work on the persistence of white supremacy in America....Read More
Signs of God
How a mayor’s campaign to keep a Jesus sign brought discord to a God-fearing East Texas town.
How a mayor’s campaign to keep a Jesus sign brought discord to a God-fearing East Texas town....Read More
In ‘Houston on the Move,’ the Bayou City Wakes Up
A pictorial history of Houston as it transformed, over and over again, between the 1930s and the 1990s.
A new book provides a pictorial history of Houston as it transformed, over and over again, between the 1930s and the 1990s....Read More