March 1996 Issue
Features
Major Barbara
Barbara Jordan saw herself not as a black politician but as a politician who happened to be black—and that was one of the things that made her great.
Where the Wild Things Are
One of the country’s top photographers traveled around his home state to capture these stunning portraits of exotic animals on display.
The Jones Gang
You know the real reason Texas Stadium has no roof? So Jerry Jones can get his head inside. (Or, how the Cowboys owner’s ego makes it hard to root for America’s Team.)

The Horse Killers
The shocking and sad story of the East Texas kids who beat a horse to death just for the thrill of it.
Columns
The Mod Squad
Long mocked for making unrecognizable pieces of junk, Texas Modernists strike back in a superb exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Pale by Comparison
“Michael Jackson’s disease” sounds like a punch line, but the pigment-robbing skin disorder is no joke. Just ask Dallas County commissioner John Wiley Price.
Walser Across Texas
Beloved by bubbas and the Butthole Surfers alike, 350-pound yodeler Don Walser is country’s current cross-generational king of cool.
Tough Nuts to Crack
Marketing the Texas pecan like the California raisin seems to make good business sense. So why do small Texas growers think it’s a shell game?
Reporter
Cyd Charisse
I had my first dancing lesson in Amarillo with Constance Ferguson. Constance had been out in California studying ballet with Theodore Kosloff, one of Pavlova’s partners, but she came back to Amarillo and wanted to open a dancing school. Up on the very top floor of a great old hotel
Colum McCann
Some words are worth a thousand pictures; such is the case with the image-rich writing of Colum McCann, whose first novel, Songdogs (Metropolitan Books, $22.50), has won praise from both The New Yorker and the New York Times. A native of Ireland, the 31-year-old credits Texas with jump-starting his career.
Shoot a Basketball
With high school basketball playoffs just around the bend, our thoughts turned to the mechanics of the game—and so we called head boys coach Robert Hughes of Dunbar High School in Fort Worth, whose lifetime record of 1,082-192 makes him the fourth-winningest coach in the country. A two-time All-American at
Steady Shawn
Austin singer-songwriter Shawn Colvin is at Cedar Creek studios this month completing a new album, to be released by Columbia Records as early as this summer. Some songs will be produced by John Leventhal, who did Colvin’s Steady On, and others by Malcolm Burn, who has worked with the Neville
Big Bend, R.I.P.?
Air pollution from Mexico has descended on Big Bend big time and while officials on both sides of the border dither, our last unspoiled frontier is slipping away.
Web
Shrimp, Lobster, and Crab Cheesecake
Cheesecake1/2 pound cooked Maine lobster 1/2 pound lump crabmeat 1/2 pound cooked jumbo shrimp 1 pound mascarpone cheese 2 pounds cream cheese 5 eggs 1 1/4 cups flour 1/2 bunch scallions, diced Kosher salt and white pepper to tastePreheat oven to 250 degrees.Cut cream cheese into smallish chunks. Allow both
Miscellany
State Fare
At Joey’s (4217 Oak Lawn) in Dallas, the concept of cheesecake has undergone a paradigm shift: Restaurateur Joey Vallone’s version is (1) not sweet and (2) not a dessert. To create this savory variation on a theme, chef Michael Wahl blends cream cheese with mascarpone, then folds in jumbo shrimp
Current Affair
Why electricity is a supercharged political issue. Plus: Who cares about the Democrats running for U.S. Senate?