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Roar of the Crowd: Ortho BrosRebukedAs a Texas Monthly fan and an Orthodox Christian, I was doubly disappointed by “Rise of the ‘Ortho Bros’ ” [April 2024]. The article portrays Reverend John Whiteford as some kind of protofascist, in part because he doesn’t agree that all Confederate statues should be ripped down and destroyed. To parlay this idea into part of the article’s subtitle, that his followers are “interested in the Confederacy,” is deeply misleading. The article also treats transplanted conservatives like incoming artillery rounds. There is nothing interesting about this type of journalism, which, rather than engaging political and religious issues on their merits, simply relies on Pavlovian responses from the readers. Christina Helms, Milan, ItalyLet’s make sure I have this straight. The Reverend John Whiteford, hiding behind an impressive cross…

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Lauren Larson at Atlasta Home Sanctuary, in Ennis, for her reporting on the May 2023 cover story.She was an avid reader from an early age, and though she grew up in Seattle and Baltimore, Lauren Larson especially loved the New Yorker magazine and all the fascinating subcultures its writers would explore, from orchid thieves in Florida to students at fancy prep schools along one stretch of Madison Avenue in Manhattan. When it came time to attend college, Lauren considered majoring in anthropology. But she learned that the discipline would require her to focus on one community for years at a time. She instead chose journalism. “This way I can immerse myself in a subject for maybe one fiscal quarter,” she says, “and then move on to the next thing that seizes my attention.”I first encountered Lauren’s writing about five years ago,…

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Taylor Hall Jr. at the Diamond L Ranch arena, outside Houston, in 1978.“I didn’t know there were Black cowboys.”I was standing in a darkroom, and my friend, the new lab monitor, was hovering over my shoulder. He had just caught sight of the faint tracings of a ghostly image of a bronc rider emerging from the print I was swishing through a bath of photo-developing solution.He could perhaps have been forgiven for his ignorance. This was 1978, back in the day when the general public believed that the job description for cowboys began with “Must wear big hat and boots” and ended with “Only whites need apply.”It was exhilarating to have the photographic proof that this impression was deeply mistaken. Unfortunately for me, an impoverished recent journalism graduate from the University of Texas at Austin, that proof…

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Q&A on Houston DerechoA powerful windstorm known as a derecho ripped through southeast Texas on Thursday evening, killing eight Houstonians and knocking out power for close to a million customers in Harris County. (As of Monday afternoon, around 200,000 were still without electricity.) With winds gusting up to 75 miles per hour in places, the storm shattered skyscraper windows, toppled trees and fences, and left a trail of destruction in its wake. Not since the 2021 winter storm has Houston seen such devastation. And unlike 2017’s Hurricane Harvey, which made landfall near Rockport, nearly two hundred miles south, the derecho struck almost without warning. Few meteorologists recognized the warning signs until right before the storm hit, giving residents little time to seek shelter. To understand why the derecho took…

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caddo mounds state historic siteOn April 13, 2019, a tornado touched down directly on Caddo Mounds State Historic Site, in Alto, about thirty miles west of Nacogdoches. The storm chewed up cars, trees, and most of the modern, human-made structures on the site. The titular mounds—three large, sloping ceremonial earthworks at least a thousand years old—were unscathed, but the human toll was another story. One passerby died, one survivor became paraplegic, and several others were seriously injured. After the tornado came, everything changed. To some, it seemed like nature had demanded it.That day in 2019 had been the annual planned observance of Caddo Culture Day, when dozens of Caddo members traveled from Arkansas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma to East Texas to celebrate with traditional song and dance on the sacred…

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route 67 volkswagen letter fromNot an hour outside of Texarkana, Jerry starts to sputter. The 1965 Volkswagen Type 2, colloquially known as a microbus, has long been the workhorse among Gary Alexander’s Volkswagens, which currently number 21. Jerry is the vehicle Alexander chooses for annual camping excursions to Big Bend National Park and for road trips from Arkansas to New Mexico. But Jerry, at 59 years old, is also something of a Frankenstein’s monster, patinaed sage and patched together from whatever parts Alexander can source. And today, at the start of a group trek that will extend hundreds of miles across Texas, one of those parts is going haywire. “We’ve got a generator light on up here. Smelling rubber,” Alexander crackles over his CB radio to the caravan of roughly twenty…

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Weed-Explainer-Texas-Cannabis-cannabinoids-THCAcross the state, on storefronts and in bodegas and convenience stores, Texans are increasingly spotting products—vape juice, gummies, and even beverages—purporting to contain THC. These are not to be confused with the also-proliferating number of edibles and drinks containing CBD—the quaint cannabinoid meant to engender feelings of relaxation. These THC product labels tout true, mind-altering effects. The robust selection can leave the average Texas shopper to ask: Did grass suddenly become legal in this state, leaving a great big chunk of us unaware? No, “marijuana,” as defined by recent legislation, is illegal for recreational use in the state of Texas, even though medical use was legalized in 2015.  Still, Texans are consuming legal cannabinoid products, including THC, and getting kinda high in the process. In fact, cannabis…

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Does Dallas’s Banking Boom Portend Another 80s-Style Crash?Some two thousand members of the North Texas business elite once gathered for a black-tie gala to celebrate the grand opening of a banking giant’s new headquarters. InterFirst Corporation was moving to the newly built InterFirst Plaza, a seventy-two–story skyscraper that remains the tallest building in Dallas nearly forty years later. As partygoers feasted on shrimp high above downtown, a city councilwoman flipped on a set of lights that bathed the outline of the building in neon green.That September 1985 event demonstrated the heights that the city’s finance industry had scaled over the previous few decades. Area bankers had grown prosperous by lending to the oil and gas and real estate industries, and Dallas was home to three of the country’s twenty-five largest financial institutions.…

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Tacos FronteraWhen you’re ordering at Tacos Frontera, the bursts of flame from the grill behind the cashier are distracting. But, at the same time, the fire sparks anticipation for the Tijuana-style tacos served by husband and wife Erik Leal and Maribel Rangel at their small operation in far west Houston.Tacos Frontera is easy to miss in its beige shopping center, but keep an eye out for the black and white sign with the taqueria’s name and specialty. Once inside, the aforementioned fire welcomes you, as does the red-and-white color scheme. There is also colorful hand-painted signage, much of it done by the owners, but they did shell out for a professional to create the large corrugated-metal “Bienvenidos” sign that wraps around the kitchen.This DIY mom-and-pop ethos…

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The Agrihood Boom, Where Farm Meets SuburbiaAt Harvest Green, a master-planned community forty minutes west of downtown Houston, homebuyers can pose as farmers, sticking their faces through holes cut into a peep board painted with a cartoonish agricultural scene. The display sits outside the community center, adorned with dried wheat, galvanized milk jugs, and a chalkboard that welcomes you to “The Farmhouse.” Beyond are rustic windmills, decorative silos, and a sculpture of a carrot that, if real, would smash records at the county fair. Even the street signs read like ingredients on a farm-to-table menu: Bright Butternut, Rich Radish, Saucy Sage.But agrarian life isn’t just a cutesy theme. Harvest Green is home to the Village Farm, where four full-time workers produced 30,000 pounds of USDA-certified organic produce last year. That makes…

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