Nino Muñoz/Netflix

Austin Monthly Magazine • 12/30/2021

Queer Eye's Big Austin Takeover

Hope has always been the group’s unofficial sixth member, the rouge painted onto the cheeks of every guest who walks through the Fab Five’s headquarters. That feeling runs deeper this season, pulsing in the background like a heartbeat. Perhaps it’s a natural consequence of collectively surviving such a harrowing year. Or maybe the Fab Five’s presence is exactly what Austin required to help awaken it from its pandemic-induced slumber.

NASA

Houstonia Magazine • 11/15/2021

NASA’s New Space Program Is a Step Towards Diversity

Cheers rippled through the crowd in September of 1962 as Pres. John F. Kennedy’s now indelible words echoed across Rice Stadium: “We choose to go to the moon.” Fifty-nine years later and 30 miles away, Johnson Space Center prepares for the next era in U.S. space exploration—one that will have Houston, and its fame as the Most Diverse City in the World, at its very core.

ALLISON MICHAEL ORENSTEIN

Houstonia Magazine • 11/15/2021

10 Pre-Pandemic Minutes with Audra McDonald

Back at the turn of the decade, when our poor, unjaded souls still believed the return of the Roaring ’20s was in sight, we interviewed Broadway living legend and cinematic leading lady Audra McDonald ahead of her then-headlining performance at Theatre Under the Stars 2020 Gala. The soiree, like basically everything else, was swallowed into the black hole that became the last 18 months of our lives. (A true shame since McDonald believes so deeply in arts fundraising. “As long as we have the art

Amy Kinkead/Houstonia

Houstonia Magazine • 11/15/2021

What's Happening During This Year's Texas Legislative Session?

In case you hadn’t heard, Texas is the new battle ground in the fight for voting rights. Our state legislature is considering 49 new bills that would add significant hurdles to the voting process—a tall feat given we’re already the most difficult state to cast a ballot in. “It’s not a badge of honor to say that Texas is leading that race,” says Thomas Buser-Clancy, senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas. With Harris County’s record-smashing 2020 voter turnout, ma

Dave Adamson

Austin Monthly Magazine • 10/29/2021

The UT-Texas A&M Thanksgiving Rivalry, Revisited

With the Horns heading to the SEC, college football’s third longest rivalry could soon be renewed. We look back on some of the craziest moments both on and off the gridiron.

Annie Ray/Austin Monthly

Austin Monthly Magazine • 10/23/2021

Twitter's Evil MoPac Shares Secrets From Life Behind the Keyboard

During a frustrating patch of roadside construction in 2016, a parody account rose from the asphalt of Twitter to soothe Austin’s burgeoning traffic woes. @EvilMopacATX has since become a local juggernaut of cultural commentary—dishing hilarious, 280-character takes on McConaughey, capital city newcomers, and favorite punching bag Westlake to more than 26,000 followers daily. Through it all, the account’s creator has remained a mystery. Now, they share secrets of life behind the keyboard.

Sam Island/Austin Monthly

Austin Monthly Magazine • 10/20/2021

Unprecedented Price Increases Have Renters Rethinking Their Place in the City

A confluence of events has led to these historic rental prices, which Austin Apartment Association Executive Vice President Emily Blair says have increased an average of 15 percent from 2020 rates.

06/18/2021

Freedom on the Strand

Juneteenth, the oldest nationally commemorated celebration of emancipation in the U.S., has deep roots in Galveston and this site in particular—here, in a former office building and warehouse, a document was signed that helped free enslaved Texans once and for all.

Amy Kinkead/Houstonia

Houstonia Magazine • 05/21/2021

J.J. Watt Is Back in Houston ... Sort of

A lot of things happen each week in Houston. Sometimes they’re newsy, sometimes ... well, it’s Houston. We’ve collected some of the most interesting gems of the last seven days for your internet perusal. It’s Very Houston News.

Houstonia Magazine • 02/08/2021

The Ultimate Guide to Houston's Public Art

The Bayou City’s had a public art boom in the last 20 years, and it’s easy to see why.

Nick Anderson, for Washington Post Writers Group

Houstonia Magazine • 02/02/2021

Nick Anderson’s Second Act

Anderson was the very last of the Lone Star State’s once formidable cadre of staff editorial cartoonists. His abrupt pink slipping marked the end of an era, and left Anderson himself adrift. The Pulitzer Prize winner’s dream job, spending his days drawing sharply observed cartoons poking fun, pointing out failings, and puncturing hubris on all sides of the political arena in local, state, and national politics, was gone.

Houstonia Magazine • 12/16/2020

World Going Loco for Tio Choko

It was the pelvic thrust felt round the world. Or at least across the internet. When local comedian Choko posted a video mashup of his mustachioed Tio Choko signature “cowboy thrust” and Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams on social media, he had no idea he was starting a hip-shaking phenomenon.

Houstonia Magazine • 12/14/2020

55 Movies to Watch While You're Stuck at Home This Holiday Season

We might not all be ho-ho-home for the holidays this year, but that doesn't mean we have to while away the hours completely devoid of holiday tidings of comfort, joy, family drama, explosions, meaningful life lessons, and the good full-body cackles that come with seasonal viewings of Yuletide favorites.

Jeff Fitlow/Houstonia

Houstonia Magazine • 11/30/2020

Handmade in Houston

From the simple and elegant to the unique and unexpected, there’s a hand-crafted option for everyone on your list, each with its own intriguing story. It’s going to be your best gift-giving year ever.

Houstonia Magazine • 11/23/2020

Secrets of Museums

WALK THROUGH THE DOORS OF ANY MUSEUM, and you’re entering a veritable treasure trove of latent stories from far-off places just waiting to be explored. But with much of their prominent display space devoted to specifically curated exhibitions focusing on a particular time, place, or subject, few museums have the ability to show off all the wonders they possess.

Houstonia Magazine • 11/09/2020

TUTS's George Strait-Inspired Show Is No Fool-Hearted Memory

The coronavirus is just the latest obstacle in Pure Country’s rambling road to the stage. It all began with North Texas native Rex McGee, the screenwriter of the 1992 musical western of that name, which featured George Strait as a disillusioned country star who leaves success behind to rediscover the tune of his soul. After parts of his script got left on the cutting room floor, McGee began to wonder if there weren’t a better medium to tell his story. For more than 15 years he worked on a stage version of Pure Country, even scoring a Broadway-bound workshop around 2008—the same sort of opportunity that helped catapult Hamilton into a national cultural phenomenon—though the show fizzled long before getting anywhere near the stage.

Houstonia Magazine • 10/13/2020

Get to Know Some of Houston’s Most Dynamic Politicians

A look at how life in the Bayou City has shaped some of our most intriguing elected officials.

Houstonia Magazine • 08/28/2020

We're Living in Traumatic Times Thanks to Coronavirus, So Don’t Be So Hard on Yourself

If there’s one word to describe the general mood these days, tense might be an apt choice. We've been stuck inside for weeks on end as a pandemic far greater than we could have imagined ravages our world, taxing our hospital systems, and wreaks havoc our global economy. On top of that, there's no clear end in sight. "We handle things much better when we know that there's an expectation of relief and right now, we don't know," says Dr. Ben Weinstein, chair of psychiatry at Houston Methodist. " No

Houstonia Magazine • 08/26/2020

A Centennial of Suffrage: Celebrating 100 Years of the 19th Amendment

As we celebrate the 19th Amendment’s certification 100 years ago, on August 26, 1920, and prepare to exercise the civic duty it guaranteed us all later this fall, Houstonia’s taking a look back at the journey of those brave women who helped make the Bayou City one of the major ignition points in Texas’s fight for equal suffrage.

Houstonia Magazine • 06/25/2020

Six Feet of Houston

If you’re unsure what six feet of distance translates to in the Bayou City, may we present the measurements we’re using to keep away—as we do down here—from all y’all?