Email Author Shaila Dewan

1998 Stories by Shaila Dewan

• Hedonist Theater

  published December 17, 1998

  It looks really good. It looks really good. It looks really good. Would that it were not my job to come up with something more than that to... More >>

• Shelf Life

  published December 3, 1998

  Many artists have been interested in the objects they find in everyday life; as surrealist writer Andre Breton put it, objects contain "the... More >>

• Home Despots

  published November 19, 1998

  When I was a student at Rice University, an architecture major designed a house which had a frieze of words going around the high-ceilinged living... More >>

• Edifice Complex

  published November 19, 1998

  I've always been amused by Bob Lanier's story that he started the Houston Image Group because he discovered, while on a trip out of town, that... More >>

• Under Siege

  published November 12, 1998

  For most politicians, the scene would be a breeze-through photo op: "Mayor teaches local children how to read." But Cipriano Romero, the mayor of... More >>

• What's So Great About Painting

  published October 29, 1998

  History is not only not over, it has reawakened after fever dreams of history. --Peter Schjeldahl Sometime around 1950, Franz Kline was... More >>

• Ballroom Brawls

  published October 29, 1998

  A bad boxing match either ends too quickly or, like a midlist porno movie, stretches on into tedious monotony. It's hard to hit it somewhere... More >>

• The Overlooked Abstractionist

  published October 8, 1998

  Artist Lynn Randolph makes it her business to be furious, always, about something, and the night of Dorothy Hood's opening at the Lawndale Art &... More >>

• Meet the Aztec Love God

  published October 1, 1998

  When Tony Diaz was in fifth grade, he helped his father buy a car. One Saturday after the chores were done, they went to see a man in their... More >>

• Street Smarts

  published October 1, 1998

  In his mind, Nicolas Kanellos is still the same radical who did street theater to publicize the agenda of the civil-rights movement in the '60s... More >>

• Shop Art

  published August 13, 1998

  The third and final exhibit at LAX Gallery, May I Help You?, by artist John Williams, can be viewed as a thumbnail sketch of one of the art... More >>

• Bugs to Beauty

  published July 30, 1998

  In William T. Vollman's epic 1987 novel Ye Bright and Risen Angels, the author posits a clandestine revolution by the world's population of... More >>

• How to Site a Nuclear Waste Dump -- for Just $50 Million

  published July 23, 1998

  1) Ignore scientific consultants. In 1983, The Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Authority hired Los Angeles-based engineering... More >>

• Trench Warfare

  published July 23, 1998

  In the stark, wild west landscape of the Trans-Pecos region, a rancher and a baker kick up dust in the bottom of a trench 32 feet deep, 210 feet... More >>

• Traveling Waste

  published July 23, 1998

  Transportation considerations were not paramount in the search for a dump site. The major generators of nuclear waste in Texas are concentrated in... More >>

• Art Is Dead. Let's Have a Drink.

  published June 11, 1998

  A frequent visitor to Texas, Dave Hickey is one of those art critics whose essays achieve the elusive: They make art fun for the non-artist. He... More >>

• The A-List Buddhist

  published June 11, 1998

  "Oh, hon-ee!" It is the morning of the "Ancient Wisdom for the 21st Century" seminar, and Gail Gross has just sighted another one of her... More >>

• Poindexter's Barbecue

  published June 4, 1998

  As smoke from south of the border first dimmed Houston's summer skies earlier this month, another fire altogether raged over the desert peaks of... More >>

• (Pay)checks and (Im)balances

  published May 21, 1998

  Under the heading "Who Does HISD Really Value as Employees?" the Houston Federation of Teachers' April newsletter printed a list of what the... More >>

• Why Johnny Might Someday Be Able to Read

  published May 14, 1998

  Pediatric neurologist Eldo Bergman is not a teacher, but he has a great deal to say about teaching reading. As a medical scientist, he sees... More >>

• Building Interest

  published May 7, 1998

  The little red lapel pin that got me into the "Art and Architecture" symposium in Marfa, Texas, two weekends ago turned out to be a very hot item.... More >>

• Road Work

  published April 23, 1998

  Jennifer McKay, organizer of this year's Bank United Art Car Parade Powered by Pennzoil, was right on the money when she cautioned the Press last... More >>

• Art Car Macho

  published April 16, 1998

  Mike Scranton is skinnier, and sometimes dirtier, than the stray dogs that scavenge around his warehouse. The steel toes of his work boots shine... More >>

• A History of Houston's Testosterone-Fueled Art

  published April 16, 1998

  1986 Beyond Thunderdome Urban Animals founder Scott Prescott's Ghetto Blaster didn't have an engine, but it did have a... More >>

• Power to the Principal

  published April 2, 1998

  Warner Ervin, the principal of Madison High School, was patrolling the halls when he spotted a stray student. Three years before, the burly Ervin... More >>