Living As If
By Edward H. Garcia When my grandmother reached her sixties, she stopped buying nice shoes. By nice, I mean (and she would have meant) something at a department store. Instead, she bought her shoes at Pay-less and discount stores. She explained that she wasn’t going...
Matthew McConaughey — A Long Way from Dazed and Confused
By Elizabeth Branca Longview High School’s "Most Handsome" senior of 1988 is probably not the first accolade that comes to Matthew McConaughey’s mind when he reflects on his accomplishments over the past 25 years or so — a list that includes a long line of hit movies...
Geriatric Jeopardy
By Edward Garcia We hear a lot of talk about the aging of the American population and how it will bankrupt the Social Security System and Medicare, but not enough is said about the opportunities an aging population offers. One untapped gold mine for the mature...
This is a 71 Year Old Male
By Edward H. Garcia I have before me the report describing an upper GI endoscopy I recently underwent. It’s quite informative and even entertaining. It is narrated in surprisingly human terms. It turns out I was coughing throughout the procedure which made it "more...
Things Artisanal
By Edward H. Garcia The other day I picked up some "artisanal" lettuce at WalMart. It was a little assortment of different kinds of lettuce packed tightly in a clear plastic cube. Naturally, it cost a little more than plain, non-artisanal lettuce. The lettuce...
Becoming a Tiger Landscaper is Not for Everyone
By Edward H. Garcia I’ve never been much of a lawn man. Even in North Dallas, where lawn is king, ours was the one that was pale green from a lack of fertilizer in the summer and the one with the unraked leaves in the fall. So it was a relief when we moved to our...
Black Beauty Ranch Recognized as America’s Largest Animal Sanctuary
By Tom Geddie The Free Dictionary defines "sanctuary" as both a sacred place, as a place of refuge or asylum, and as a reserved area where animals, especially wild animals, are protected from hunting or molestation. It is a word often heard in discussions at the...
Ceremony Attracts Descendants
By Tom Geddie As people gather in the woods between Tyler and Edom July 13 to remember one of the most horrific days in the history of East Texas, the crowd will include descendents of the Cherokee leader slaughtered, along with much of his family and 800 other native...
Man Vs. Machine
By Edward H. Garcia When I was a kid, there were people around--not necessarily in my family--who could fix every machine they owned. No doubt that had been truer in earlier generations, but even in, say, 1950, most machines were fixable. When one broke down, your...
Ceremony Attracts Descendants
As people gather in the woods between Tyler and Edom July 13 to remember one of the most horrific days in the history of East Texas, the crowd will include descendants of the Cherokee leader slaughtered, along with much of his family and 800 other native Americans....
Kyser Capo Strikes a Winning Chord
What is that thing seen holding down strings on guitars played by the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Vince Gill, Dwight Yoakam, Patti Griffin, Bruce Robison, Kelly Willis, and thousands of other musicians around the world? It’s a capo, most likely a Kyser capo that’s...
Cliburn Defined by Big, Small Moments
By Tom Geddie Some people’s lives are defined by a single big moment, or at least it seems that way. For Van Cliburn, the biggest moment was back in 1958 when, as a 23-year-old East Texan at the height of the Cold War, he played Tchaikovsky’s "Piano Concerto No. 1"...
Coming Summer 2025
County Line Magazine archives are going to The Portal to Texas History, a gateway to rare, historical, and primary source materials from or about Texas. Look for the County Line issues there soon.