To the Lighthouse, on a Kayak
A bottlenose dolphin has surfaced no more than six feet from my boat, its shiny dorsal fin catching the morning light.
You can see all my Texas Monthly articles here.
Texas Monthly
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Rule One of Wind Turbine Repair Work: Don’t Leave Your Phone at the Top
A Big Spring wind turbine technician says the views three hundred feet above West Texas are magnificent—just watch out for the flying ants.
How to Attract the Charming Hummingbird Moth to Your Yard
Hint: leave those leaves alone!
Stopping to Smell the Moonflower, One of Texas’s Most Tenacious (and Poisonous) Plants
Unfazed by extreme weather, this dangerous beauty blooms only at night.
In This North Texas Town, It’s Always Shark Week
The small city of Sherman, which lies far from the coast, is a fossil hunter’s paradise.
Hikers Are Dying on Texas Trails in Severe Heat
Recent tragedies in Big Bend and Palo Duro Canyon are a reminder to “respect the desert,” says one ranger.
The Fight for Fertility Preservation for Cancer Patients in Texas
Twelve states require that insurers pay for egg and sperm freezing before cancer treatment. Attempts to add Texas to the list have failed twice, but now lawmakers are trying again.
Empire, Wide and Glorious
As we celebrate one hundred years of our state parks, they are more popular than ever. But our booming population is overwhelming the state’s scarce public lands. What will the next century hold for Texas’s “best idea”?
Where to Watch Thousands of Sandhill Cranes Storm the Texas Skies
Each winter, a wildlife sanctuary near the Panhandle hosts one of the world’s largest gatherings of these beautiful birds.
It’s Okay to Fear the Robot Dogs Coming to UT
Scientists are unleashing the computerized canines on the Austin campus to study how humans interact with them.
Though New to Some Tea Drinkers, Yaupon Is Steeped in History
More than a thousand years after Indigenous Texans began brewing yaupon, the tea—and its aggressive holly plant—is everywhere.
Why Scientists Keep Discovering Strange New Wasps on the Rice University Campus
Remarkably, this isn’t the first new insect species that Scott Egan and his team have found—and not even the first that lives on the Rice campus.
Texas Observer
See all my Texas Observer stories here.
The Internet Broke Democracy. To Fix It, Design for Human Rights.
"What we’re seeing with the major platforms right now is a scrambled attempt to rebuild the plane while the plane is being flown."
How the San Antonio Police Are Rethinking Mental Health
A new documentary on policing in San Antonio makes a simple suggestion: Instead of arresting mentally ill people, listen to them.
Mr. Reynolds' Opus
Walk into composer Graham Reynolds’ East Austin studio, and the first thing you’ll notice, perhaps surprisingly, is the books.
The Time-Traveler's Guide to the Lower Pecos
Hidden away on private land in Southwest Texas is some of the oldest and best-preserved prehistoric rock art in the world. The Rock Art Rendezvous offers a rare glimpse.
Ride Like a Girl
Women riders take the reins in the macho world of charrería.
Plight at the Museum
The best Texas history museum you’ve never heard of is staring down a financial crisis. Will it survive?
Sunk Costs
Back-to-back record flooding along the Brazos River has forced people in Richmond to make an excruciating choice: Stay or go?
Two Houston Archives Gather Harvey Memories for Historians of the Future
They’re a time capsule of the destruction wrought by the deadliest storm to hit Texas since 1919.
Fearless and Funny, Molly Ivins Comes to Life in ‘Raise Hell’
If only she were around today.
'Seadrift' Dredges Up a Little Known—and Deeply Disturbing—Texas Story
An electrifying new documentary captures a forgotten conflict in the sleepy coastal community of Seadrift.
The Ghosts of Abandoned Texas Buildings Rise Up in an Eerie New Photo Book
“Lost, Texas” features starkly beautiful photos of once-thriving rural Texas towns.
'Another Book, Another Month, Another Day Closer to You'
Some 65,600 mothers are incarcerated nationwide, a 131-percent increase since 1991.
The Alcalde
See all my Alcalde stories here.
View from the Top
“When the Space Station would fly over Texas, Jack would look up and wave and say, ‘Hi, Mommy.’”
A Cure for Clara
In 2014, the average orphan drug cost $118,820 per patient per year. That means families’ campaigning may not end even once they’ve found and funded the cure.
The Precursors
UT's first black undergraduates tell their stories.
Through the Unthinkable
Palliative care is often confused with hospice—a narrower subtype of palliative care focused on the end of life—but increasingly, it isn’t only for people who have a terminal prognosis.
A Classroom at the Edge of the World
"If you don't know what you're doing in Svalbard, Svalbard will kill you."
The Alcalde: 40 Acres Field Guide | Multimedia Feature
UT is an urban university in the heart of the city, yet the campus and its environs teem with fascinating plants and animals—from tropical parakeets to the world's weirdest cactus.
Star Power
The one thing Neil deGrasse Tyson doesn't like to talk about is his time at the University of Texas.
Minds on Fire
What happens when disadvantaged adults learn to read Shakespeare and debate philosophy? How the Free Minds Project is changing lives through the humanities
Freelance
So You Have a Million-Dollar Idea. Now What?
Austin has more new startups per capita than any other U.S. city, including the Silicon Valley area. What’s up for debate is whether local investors have enough money to support them.
On the Nose
Even as Texans quietly mastered great but obscure wines like garnacha and mourvèdre, the world didn’t seem to notice.