March/April 2019

The Texas Observer

Observing Texas since 1954

The Texas Observer2 min read
Dialogue
As a worker for the state, it was really refreshing to see someone call it what it is, antiquated and far-right reaching (“Expecting Care,” December|January issue). I can’t tell you how sad it is to watch foster girls struggle, but with a baby it’s j
The Texas Observer2 min read
Trumped-Up Incentives
ONCE A CROWN JEWEL OF BLACK HOUSTON, THE THIRD Ward is no longer affordable for many longtime homeowners and tenants. High-end townhomes have subsumed many parts of the historically African-American neighborhood just east of downtown. From 2000 to 20
The Texas Observer2 min readPolitics
Cold Comfort in Amarillo
WHEN AMARILLO TEMPERATURES DIP INTO THE TEENS, like they did in early January, 36-year-old Dominic Baldivia simply turns up the heat in his two-bedroom duplex near downtown. But a few months ago, staying warm in the Panhandle nights was considerably
The Texas Observer1 min readCrime & Violence
Say What now?
In hopes of protecting their religious right to discriminate against the LGBTQ community, Texas conservatives have turned to a perplexing new message this legislative session: #BanTheBible. The hashtag, pushed nonstop by Jonathan Saenz, president of
The Texas Observer2 min read
Keeping Plastic at Bay in Calhoun County
ONCE A WEEK, DIANE WILSON LAUNCHES HER KAYAK ON Cox Creek, a brackish stream near Point Comfort that feeds Cox and Lavaca bays, and paddles for four to five hours looking for white, grain-size plastic bits called nurdles. Used in industry as raw mate
The Texas Observer2 min read
Religious Rite
IT’S BEEN YEARS SINCE DR. KAREN SWENSON STOPPED DOING miscarriage management at Seton, a Catholic hospital in Austin. That’s because of Seton’s longtime but largely unknown policy mandating the burial of fetal remains after miscarriages. Swenson, an
The Texas Observer3 min read
Fringe Factor
TITLE/ORGANIZATION Board member, Direct Action Texas; chief of staff for Texas Congressman Lance Gooden THE CAUSE Exposing voter fraud NOTABLE ACCOMPLISHMENT Initiating “the largest election fraud case that Texas has ever seen” ALLIES Ken Paxton; Emp
The Texas Observer3 min readAmerican Government
Winning Isn’t Enough. The Next President Needs to be a Doer.
THE NEXT PRESIDENT WILL HAVE A LOT TO DO. EACH AND EVERY executive agency, down to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, will need a deep cleaning. Unidentified fluids will have to be expunged from the carpet in Scott Pruitt’s soundpro
The Texas Observer2 min readAmerican Government
Walled Off
TRUMP WON’T GET HIS BEAUTIFUL MEXICAN-funded concrete wall from sea to sea. The president’s attempt to hold the federal government hostage for his arbitrary demand of $5.7 billion has failed. For these reasons, Democrats and the broader resistance ar
The Texas Observer5 min read
Mass Resistance
ON A FOGGY FEBRUARY MORNING, JUST SOUTH OF THE border town of Mission, the parking lot behind the La Lomita chapel is full. It’s the eighth week of a novena — a nine-week period of prayer — and parishioners have packed the 120-year-old sandstone chur
The Texas Observer15 min readEarth Sciences
Dammed To Fail
Maria Campos wasn’t going to wait till the dam behind her house burst and washed away her home and her family. It was August 26, 2017, a Saturday, and Hurricane Harvey had parked itself over southeast Texas, unleashing biblical amounts of rain. Ivanh
The Texas Observer13 min readMedical
LIFE and LIMB
Daniel Zamora still remembers the smell. At first he didn’t realize anything was wrong. A small blister appeared on his left pinky toe where his sneaker rubbed against his skin. He had developed blisters before, but this one wouldn’t go away. First t
The Texas Observer8 min readAgriculture
Home Economics
Idling pickups and rattling trailers punctuate what would otherwise be a quiet country night. It’s now that a small army of Mexican and Guatemalan laborers load into trailers, driving on gravel roads until they reach the potato furrows of Larsen Farm
The Texas Observer8 min read
At Home In The World
As a young kid growing up betweenTexas and India, Prince Varughese Thomas was at first blissfully unaware that he was perceived as an outsider in Dallas-area public schools. “As a child, you don’t think of yourself as outside of anything, until thing
The Texas Observer4 min read
Swamp City Serenade
LOT: STORIES by Bryan Washington RIVERHEAD BOOKS $25; 240 PAGES THE WONDER OF HOUSTON CAN SOMETIMES BE DIFFICULT TO explain to those not born and bred in the Bayou City. Yes, it is indeed sprawling, as so many have said pejoratively through the years
The Texas Observer4 min read
Rats From a Sinking Ship
IN 1938, E.A. MCILHENNY — LOUISIANA NATuralist, businessman and scion of the Tabasco hot sauce fortune — decided to give the fur business a gift. McIlhenny had been farming nutria, a large, semi-aquatic South American rodent. After ending up with mor
The Texas Observer10 min read
Ghosts Of The Baker Hotel
“THOSE OF YOU THAT DON’T believe, I’m glad you’re on this tour,” Angela Morgan tells a crowd of about 150 ghost-seekers one Saturday night a couple of weekends before Halloween. “Because as long as you’re taking photos, at the very least you’re going

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