Kam Franklin Goes Solo
The accomplished Houston musician, known as lead singer for The Suffers, draws on surprising sources of inspiration and puts “the message into the music” in her new album, "Land of the Neon Sun."
Profile
Austin’s Willy Baltazar Is a Man of Many Masks
From Veracruz to Texas, he keeps a centuries-old tradition alive.
‘Make Resistance Sexy’
In Houston, actor Kendrick Sampson seeks to make a party out of political engagement.
A Texas Writer Tackles a Subject ‘Beckoning in the Shadows His Entire Life’
Stephen Harrigan explores his own Catholic boyhood in Texas—and the prophecy left behind by a Portuguese prophet girl—in a compelling new book.
She Fled Mexico as a Child. Now, She Teaches Migrant Kids in Tamaulipas.
“When I see a mom with her child trying to cross, it's like I see myself in her.”
A Houston Storyteller Finds the Humor in Hard Knocks
Bayou City comic Ali Siddiq turns street life and incarceration into laughs, while challenging stereotypes and provoking the occasional tear.
Taking Prison to Court: Fighting for the Right to Sleep
Michael Garrett sued the Texas Department of Criminal Justice more than a decade ago, and he’s working from inside to keep the case alive.
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A Paris to Marfa March for Reproductive Rights
A West Texas teenager says she’s only begun to fight for access to livesaving care.
A Watchdog in the Water Wars
Flooding and bureaucracy drove Mary Kelleher to run for a spot on a powerful North Texas river agency board.
The Texas Observer Lives!
After a terrifying near-death experience, we live to muckrake another day.