Late last week my mom texted me, “Only the good die young.” Then, “Oscar Wyatt.” The 101-year-old oil tycoon was primarily famous for turning an $800 loan in 1955 into a pipeline company that became the Coastal Corporation — a national energy conglomerate that earned him billions. He passed away in Houston last week “peacefully […]
Tag: Texana
Posted inTV & Film
Richard Linklater’s Indie Classic ‘Slacker’ Is a Time Capsule of a Bygone Austin
Texas hasn’t gotten its due as a major piece in the complex puzzle of American art. We’re here to rectify that. Every three weeks, H. Drew Blackburn will conduct a thoroughly scientific analysis of the 254 integral (one for every county) books, movies, tv shows, albums, podcasts, songs, and magazine articles — you name it […]
Posted inTexana
The True Legacy of Black Cowboys
Texas hasn’t gotten its due as a major piece in the complex puzzle of American art. We’re here to rectify that. Every three weeks, H. Drew Blackburn will conduct a thoroughly scientific analysis of the 254 integral (one for every county) books, movies, tv shows, albums, podcasts, songs, and magazine articles — you name it […]
Posted inEditor's Letter
Best of The Barbed Wire 2024: Video Games, Peyote Gardens, and Millennial Revolutions
In the four months since we launched, we have (hopefully!) made you laugh and think with clever and hard stories. In 2024, over 123 working days, our small team of three full-time editors published approximately 252 stories under 29 bylines — short and long; silly and serious; essays, features, and exclusives. The majesty, absurdity, diversity, […]
Posted inTexana
The Most Delicious Winter Beverage Is Hot Dr. Pepper & Lemon
My dad, now 70, grew up working on farms and in oil patches in South Texas, where the only true choice of tonic during a scorching day was a crisp, cold Dr Pepper from the service station. “They had ice crusted on the edges,” he says. “But you don’t drink cold drinks in the winter.” […]
Posted inCulture
How to Find the Perfect Pair of Cowboy Boots
Whether you were born and raised here or you just touched down yesterday, it’s a fact that every Texan should have a good pair of cowboy boots. Finding the right ones, though, can be a bit of a challenge. The sheer number of customizations can be overwhelming, and every factor, from the leather to the […]
Posted inInvestigations
Who Owns the Dead? Inside a Texas Family’s Fight to Honor Its Ancestors
EXCLUSIVE For most of her life, Lulu Francois believed her family history was a mystery lost to time. That changed when, during a Christmas gathering seven years ago, an aunt revealed she sometimes visited a small, unkempt cemetery in Comal County. There, migrants of Mexican descent are buried on a German ranch — including Francois’ […]
Posted inTexana
An Ode to an Ode: Memories of the Texas Pledge
We all grew up pledging allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the Republic, for which it stands… you know the rest. But here in Texas, we go one step further and recite our own pledge, which routinely surprises outsiders. “Did you know that the Lone Star State has its […]
Posted inCulture
Will the Real Dr Pepper Please Stand Up?
You might not love Dr Pepper, but — if you live in Texas — you have to respect it. Sure, it’s not Coke or Pepsi, but it’s ours. (And not to brag, but Dr Pepper passed Pepsi last year to become the number two soda brand in the U.S.) For Texans, we’re honor-bound to stan […]
Posted inOpinion
Are You There, Texas? It’s Me, Olivia.
Welcome to The Barbed Wire. If you’re reading this and live in Texas — or used to live in Texas or care about Texas — you’re in the right place. Here’s what we’re offering: We would like to make you laugh and tell you hard stories. We want to inform, to engage, and to help you […]