Thanks to our Advertisers
Thanks to our Sponsors
The editor of “The Texas Monthly” on what made him a journalist; how he learned to cover the Lone Star State; the last shot of “The Searchers”; and the terrible sadness of pulled pork
What magazines are you reading? What I like best is good, voice-driven long-form journalism, so I read all the magazines that still publish it, though like everyone else, I usually start with the shorter fare because, like everyone else, I have no time. It’s a familiar list: New Yorker, Harper’s, The Atlantic, Times Magazine, Esquire, GQ, New York. The New York Review of Books usually has three stories I end up reading and four stories I enjoy pretending that I’m going to read until the next issue arrives. The Texas Observer is a must-read for anyone hoping to understand the politics of this state, and lately I’ve been enjoying Texas Gardener too, though there’s only so much you can do when it’s 105 degrees.
What piece have you read recently that you thought belonged in Texas Monthly? Luke Dittrich’s excellent story for Esquire about cartel hitmen on the border (or his equally excellent piece a couple years back on the “To Catch a Predator” suicide in Terrell, Texas). A version of the Times piece last December on Jamarkus McFarland, a hotly-pursued high school football player from Lufkin. The Times mag’s photos of FLDS brides. Almost anything Larry McMurtry writes for the New York Review. Being the editor of a magazine about a specific place is a double-edged sword: It’s easier to know what to write about, but more obvious when someone gets the drop on you.
What are you watching on TV? Sports. Jon Stewart. My wife is addicted to House Hunters, and I always rain down ridicule on her and then end up sitting on the edge of the couch for half an hour wondering if they’re going to pick the affordable duplex or the house with the yard that’s a stretch. (They always used to go for the stretch; not so much anymore.) I have a two-and-a-half-year-old, so frankly I watch more Thomas the Tank Engine than I would care to admit. But you can actually pick up good management secrets from Sir Topham Hatt, who has the unenviable job of supervising an entire railroad of emotional/mischievous tank engines. He’s a model of benevolent dictatorship.
Which websites do you visit every day? All the major Texas newspapers. New York Times, Politico, Slate, The Awl, NPR, Facebook. But I have very little patience for online reading. A story that I’d read in its entirety in the actual paper, I just skim online. Or I’ll look at the headline and nothing else. I wouldn’t say I even truly read online; I look at things and register that they are there. This is one of the things that gives me faith in the future of magazines: I can “read” online all morning and it’s perfectly enjoyable but does nothing whatsoever to satiate my appetite for long-form journalism and big, beautiful photography.
What are you listening to on your iPod? Have your listening habits changed since you moved to Texas? The Gourds, Animal Collective, Willie Nelson, especially that incredible run of albums in the ’70s. There’s a lot to learn from Phases and Stages. Just the sound of his voice is reason enough to live in Texas—it’s one of the most distinctive instruments of the 20th century. I’ve always listened to a lot of old-time country music (Louvin Brothers, Stanley Brothers, Carter Family, that sort of thing), but when I moved to Texas ten years ago I started listening to more new country. The music scene here is also good for discovering local bands, like this great indie rock group from Denton called Midlake, or these freaks from Austin called the Strange Boys.
What are your favorite books about journalism? There’s a long and disjointed list, but the crucial entries are the two books that made me want to be a journalist: Studs Terkel’s Working and Joseph Mitchell’s Up in the Old Hotel.
What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve gotten since you moved to Texas? I moved to Texas in 1998, to a tiny little town in the far west corner of the state called Marfa. I had a job working as a reporter on the weekly paper there, and the very first day I got an email from an old editor of mine that just said, in all caps: “FORMALISM WILL SAVE YOUR ASS.”
Texas Monthly won the National Magazine Award for General Excellence this year—the fourth time the magazine has won the award for General Excellence. What are you going to do to keep the streak going? We plan to just be more generally excellent. The devil is always in the details.
Beef or pork barbecue? Dallas or Fort Worth? South by Southwest or honky-tonk? “Red River” or “The Searchers”? Beef (those who consider pulled pork to be in the same league as barbecued brisket are sadly confused); Fort Worth (but only because of a dear friend who’s from there); honky-tonk (such as the Broken Spoke, in Austin); The Searchers (for that incredible last shot of John Wayne standing in the doorway of the house, unable/unwilling to come inside; I have a picture of that shot cut out of a newspaper taped to the side of a file cabinet in my house. It’s a great little visual essay about American men.)
When do you get to call yourself a Texan? Starting with the fifth generation.
