How competitive Tetris players approach an unwinnable game This article was first published in The Magazine , Issue 7. Competitors in the 2012 Classic Tetris World Championship warm up before their Round of 16 matches. Photo © 2012 Chris Higgins. “Three, two, one, GO!” I yell, and Ben Mullen and Bo…

I. The last last meal granted to a prisoner in the state of Texas went to LawrenceRussell Brewer, who requested two chicken fried steaks, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, alarge bowl of fried okra, a pound of barbecue, three fajitas, a cheese omelet with groundbeef, tomatoes, onions, and jalapenos,…

Justin Metz PLUS: The Petition to Save the Post Office Now AND: The American Post Office's Painted History Published in the February 2013 issue The letter is mailed from Gold Hill, Oregon. The eleven hundred residents of this lingering gold-rush town, mostly mechanics and carpenters and retail…

Here's a little fantasy for you to ponder: what if one of our senior foreign policy officials accidentally swallowed some sodium pentothal (aka "truth serum") before some public hearing or press conference, and started speaking the truth about one of those issues where prevarication, political…

In the mid-1980s, journalist Joel Sappell and a colleague began a five-year examination of the Church of Scientology that would ultimately produce a 24-article series. It would also change Sappell’s life in ways both mystifying  and unnerving. Decades later the onetime investigative reporter…

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. For public distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, contact ccasey@texasmonthly.com for reprint information and fees. PRINT THIS | CLOSE THIS January 2013 I.The Hawks Preteen football players are usually described by other…

Blackballed Tom Scocca One late-winter evening in 1987, I had the misfortune of witnessing American mythology in action. My high school was hosting a basketball playoff game against another school from our county. I wouldn't call it a rival school; we had too little in common to be rivals. The…

Our noses were practically touching the wall. Tall, white, and seamless, it was the only thing standing between us and the president of the United States. “Stay right there,” a White House aide told me, my wife, and three children. “The president will be with you in a minute.” Suddenly, the wall…