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The Ghosts of Jefferson

This East Texas tourist town calls itself “the most haunted town in Texas,” but its whitewashed ghost stories elide a complex racial history.

Texas Observer · Oct 28, 2019

‘El Paso Will Never Heal’: Three Months Later, the Border Town Still Reels

El Pasoans share the deep and expansive trauma that the Walmart massacre has inflicted, and they’re urging lawmakers to take action.

Texas Observer · Oct 25, 2019

Author William Lopez on How Immigration Raids Inflict Long-Lasting Trauma

“There are 364 other days in the year when people’s lives are shaped by the possibility of deportation or a raid.”

Texas Observer · Oct 24, 2019

Author Saeed Jones on Empathy, the Power of Memoir, and Growing up Gay in North Texas

“My mission has always been to help people understand that we are never alone in the world.”

Texas Observer · Oct 22, 2019

A Bold New Memoir Struggles to Reconcile Faith and Feminism

Cameron Dezen Hammon’s memoir asks how many ways there are to be a Christian woman—and explores the sexism deeply embedded in evangelical churches.

Texas Observer · Oct 21, 2019

Will Dan Patrick’s Bare-Minimum Effort for Gun Control Go Anywhere?

By supporting expanded background checks for private sales between strangers, Patrick has quickly become a conservative non grata.

Texas Observer · Oct 21, 2019

‘Ghosts of Sugar Land’ Tracks a Texan’s Path to ISIS

In this contemplative, vulnerable new documentary, a group of friends try to understand why their former classmate embraced radical Islam.

Texas Observer · Oct 18, 2019

The World’s Briscoe Cain Problem

The far-right Texas lawmaker and other political trolls are holding us hostage to the idea that the world is more chaotic, unfixable, and stupid than it is.

Texas Observer · Oct 17, 2019

Janis Joplin’s Inimitable Voice

An authoritative new biography explores what drove the iconic Texan singer.

Texas Observer · Oct 17, 2019

Sergio Troncoso’s New Book Is a Beautiful Meditation on the Borderlands

“A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant’s Son” reminds readers that the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, so frequently flattened and stereotyped, are as personal as they are political.

Texas Observer · Oct 16, 2019