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They Left Behind Hundreds have died anonymously crossing the Also border in South Texas. The things they carried SANDRA CISNEROS on her beloved house may help researchers unlock their identities. WENDY DAVIS on her past and future NOVEMBER | 2015 THE THINGS They Left Behind PHOTO ESSAY BY JEN REEL IN THIS ISSUE ON THE COVER: PHOTOS BY JEN REEL LEFT: Wendy Davis in her Austin condominium PHOTO BY JEN REEL 10THE INTERVIEW Wendy Davis’ mea culpa by Christopher Hooks THE THINGS RECKONING THE WAITING THEY LEFT WITH ROSIE GAME BEHIND What the 1977 death With a dearth of services OBSERVER 18 Clothes and jewelry 12 of a young McAllen 24 for the intellectually ONLINE found in unmarked graves may woman says about today’s disabled, Texans like Betty For our extended help give names to the nameless. anti-abortion laws. Calderon end up on the streets. Photo essay by Jen Reel by Alexa Garcia-Ditta by John Savage interview with Wendy Davis, including her REGULARS 07 GREATER STATE 36 BOOK EXCERPT 43 THE GRIMES SCENE take on the Texas 01 DIALOGUE From the Bottom, Up Sandra Cisneros What’s Your legislature and 02 POLITICAL by Ronnie Dugger On Her Problem, Man? Governor Greg INTELLIGENCE San Antonio House by Andrea Grimes Abbott, visit 06 STATE OF TEXAS 30 CULTURE texasobserver.org 08 STRANGEST STATE An Artist 38 POSTCARDS 44 LEFT HOOKS 09 EDITORIAL Interprets Violence Epitaph for The Gutting 09 BEN SARGENT’S by Michael Agresta an Alligator of Medicaid LOON STAR STATE by Asher Elbein by Christopher Hooks 34 FILM U.S. Fuel in a 42 POEM 45 EYE ON TEXAS Mexican Conflagration “How Far You by Guillermo Hernandez by Josh Rosenblatt Are From Me” by Eloísa Pérez-Lozano THE TEXAS OBSERVER (ISSN 0040-4519/USPS 541300), entire contents copyrighted © 2015, is published monthly (12 issues per year) by the Texas Democracy Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit foundation, 307 W. 7th St., Austin TX, 78701. Telephone (512)477-0746, fax (512)474-1175, toll free (800)939-6620. Email observer@ texasobserver. org. Periodicals Postage paid in Austin, TX, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER Send address changes to: The Texas Observer, 307 W. 7th St., Austin TX 78701. Subscriptions: 1 yr $35, 2 yr $60, 3 yr $85. Students $20. Foreign, add $13 to domestic price. Back issues $5. Airmail, foreign, group, and bulk rates on request. Microfilm available from University Microfilms Intl., 300 N Zeeb Rd, Ann Arbor MI 48106. INDEXES The Texas Observer is indexed in Access: The Supplementary Index to Periodicals; Texas Index; and, for the years 1954 through 1981, The Texas Observer Index. INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING is supported in part by a grant from the Open Society Institute. BOOKS & THE CULTURE is funded in part by the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division and by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts. A JOURNAL OF FREE VOICES since 1954 OBSERVER VOLUME 107, NO. 10 DIALOGUE FOUNDING EDITOR Ronnie Dugger Defend the Defenseless EDITOR Forrest Wilder MANAGING EDITOR Nancy Nusser Kudos on the excellent story by Emily DePrang about the debacle that is the indi- DIGITAL EDITOR Andrea Grimes MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Jen Reel gent defense system in Harris County. (“Poor Judgment,” October issue) As she STAFF WRITERS Melissa del Bosque, Alexa notes, the real losers are the poor people who are denied their Sixth Amendment Garcia-Ditta, Christopher Hooks, Patrick Michels rights to effective counsel simply because they cannot afford a lawyer on their own. ART DIRECTOR Chad Tomlinson A recent bipartisan report from our organization shows that one way to improve POETRY EDITOR Naomi Shihab Nye STAFF CARTOONIST Ben Sargent fairness and due process in our criminal justice system is to provide indigent defen- COPY EDITOR David Duhr CONTRIBUTING WRITERS dants with an effective attorney at initial bail hearings. Without representation at Michael Agresta, Lou Dubose, Saul Elbein, Alex Hannaford, a pretrial release hearing, all too often poor defendants remain needlessly locked Steven G. Kellman, Robert Leleux, James McWilliams, Bill in jail at great cost to themselves, their families and society as a whole. The guiding Minutaglio, Priscila Mosqueda, Rachel Pearson, Robyn Ross hand of counsel is the most assured way to prevent innocent people from pleading CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Alan Pogue, Matt Wright-Steel guilty to crimes they did not commit simply to gain their freedom. INTERNS Virginia E. Sloan Samantha Cortez, Hannah McBride, Xander Peters, P r e s i d e n t , t h e C onstitution P r oj e C t Jacob Sanchez, Elizabeth Stauber PUBLISHER Emily Williams one toPiC not addressed in your artiCle, “Poor homemade drones, planes, rockets and other “it OFFICE MANAGER/BOOKKEEPER Judgment,” that would help the system immediate- looks too much like a bomb” projects. In my class, Mandy Estepp ly is prosecutorial discretion. From the cop on the he’d be asked to write two essays about building his MEMBERSHIP MANAGER street to the prosecutor in the courtroom, whether clock in order to help him understand voice and au- Jacqueline Galvan or not to arrest, charge or prosecute a suspect is an dience: one for the engineering teacher and one for AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT MANAGER enormous power the state has, and nobody is talk- the layperson, like me, an English teacher. Oh, and Michael Schrantz ing about its more effective use! Caseloads could be my colleagues and I would love for him to come syn- BUSINESS ASSOCIATE Beth Bond cut, records could stay clean, and money could be chronize all the clocks in our school! TEXAS DEMOCRACY saved if law enforcement resources were concen- Mary F. Ciccone-Cook FOUNDATION BOARD Cade Bernsen, Carlton Carl, trated on more serious crimes. If a kid’s got a joint t u kw i l a , w a s h i n gt o n Bob Frump, Melissa Jones, and a clean record and isn’t causing anybody any Susan Longley, Vince LoVoi, problems, wouldn’t it be better to let him slide with Jim Marston, Mary Nell a warning instead of rolling him into this gristmill? Damn Hypocrites Mathis, Heather Paffe, Ronald sn t it ironiC that all these Pro life legisla Rapoport, Peter Ravella, If a defendant is hearing voices and having hallu- i ’ “ - ” - Katie Smith, Greg Wooldridge, cinations and gets into a fight with the cops, does tors beat the war drum against Planned Parenthood Ronnie Dugger (emeritus) that person belong in therapeutic drug court or and women’s reproductive rights while at the same OUR MISSION mental health, mental retardation (MHMR) ser- time maintaining the highest execution rate in the We will serve no group or party vices? Why isn’t anyone talking about this? country? (“Texas Bans Medicaid Funds for Planned but will hew hard to the truth Eddie Cortes Parenthood,” October 19, texasobserver.org) as we find it and the right as we see it. We are dedicated h o u s t o n Natasha Bitter to the whole truth, to human P o s t e d o n fa C e b o o k values above all interests, to the rights of humankind as the Welcome, Ahmed! foundation of democracy. We will take orders from none but a homemade CloCk? (“teen CloCkmaker arrested our own conscience, and never in One of Texas’ Most Punitive School Districts,” will we overlook or misrepresent September 17, texasobserver.org) That’s what we the truth to serve the interests call a class project here at my school, Raisbeck Avia- of the powerful or cater to the tion High School, an aerospace-themed, STEM col- ignoble in the human spirit. Sound Off lege prep school in Tukwila, Washington. Ahmed CONTACT US 307 W. 7th St., Austin, Texas Mohamed would feel right at home with my Chris- [email protected] 78701, (512) 477-0746 tian, Jewish, Muslim and atheist students and their or comment on facebook.com/texasobserver and texasobserver.org NOVEMBER 2015 THE TEXAS OBSERVER | 1 POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE FAMILY PLANNING Condoms and Care in Brownwood around the CliniC, Coordinator judy guinn is Texas Legislature made deep cuts to the state family known as “The Condom Queen” because of her at- planning program. Midway limped along on a volun- tention-getting bouquets of condoms on popsicle teer basis for months until federal funding kicked in. sticks. Nurse Kay Wadsworth makes her high school Now, the clinic is almost entirely paid for by Title X, a patients promise to come see her before they head federal family planning program. off to college. Director Carole Parker knows almost Title X has been a frequent target of Republican everyone who walks through her door. lawmakers because some of the funding reaches Together, they are the three-woman show that Planned Parenthood health centers. In 2013, the feds operates Midway Family Planning in Brownwood, rerouted the money to providers including Midway Kay Wadsworth, Judy Guinn and Carole Parker run the about 80 miles southeast of Abilene. Since 1991 the after the Legislature booted Planned Parenthood Midway Family Planning clinic clinic has provided contraception, STD testing and from the program. Under Title X, more Texans are located in Brownwood’s public housing projects. For many Pap smears from a building in Brownwood’s public receiving planning services and the number of pro- poor, uninsured and homeless housing projects, an unusual setting that puts the viders has increased. patients, the clinic is their only option for medical care. services amid some of the town’s poorest residents. But Parker and her team don’t have time for politics. PHOTO BY ALEXA GARCIA-DITTA But Midway almost shut down in late 2012 after the For their patients, who are often uninsured, homeless, 2 | THE TEXAS OBSERVER WWW.TEXASOBSERVER.ORG POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE TRIVIATEXAS parentless or just struggling to get by, Midway Family According to Texas Department of Transportation In a tremendous Planning is the only place nearby that offers free records, LPM holds nearly $2.5 million worth of con- victory for the Lone reproductive health services.
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