Clearing Land and Psychological Thickets
By Edward H. Garcia These nice spring days, my wife and I often go back to the thicket near our house before supper for an hour or so of clearing. Our place is thick with oaks, pines, sassafras, cedars, the occasional hickory and maple and lots and lots of vines. We...
James Surls’ Expressionist Sculptures
By Tom Geddie As a child growing up in East Texas, James Surls spent a lot of time making things. He didn’t call it art; it was just stuff he made because he was passionate about it. As an adult, he’s been called "one of the most important sculptors working in America...
The Care and Feeding of Your Old Person
By Edward H. Garcia Demographers tell us that old folks are the fastest growing segment of the population, so if you don’t have one of your own now, you probably will in the next few years. If you haven’t been around old people or have avoided them because they creep...
East Texas Helped Jennings Make It
By Tom Geddie Think of Eric Clapton’s song "Tears in Heaven." Think of Steve Winwood’s "Higher Love" and "Valerie." Or Dionne Warwick’s "I’ll Never Love This Way Again," Barry Manilow’s "Looks Like We Made It," and Whitney Houston’s "Didn’t We Almost Have It All." And...
I’ll Never Forget What’s His Name
By Edward H. Garcia I’ve recently turned 70, so naturally I’m concerned with memory problems. I find that names and abstract nouns have started dropping out of my brain at an alarming rate. I am telling my wife about the pilot for a tv show I’ve seen. I want to tell...
Musgraves: Country Music Future
By Tom Geddie Is Kacey Musgraves, the Golden girl from the Upper East Side of Texas, the next big thing in country music? Golden, in this case, is where Musgraves grew up, near Mineola in Wood County. Here is what Jody Rosen wrote for Slate: "Until last week, I’d...
Notes From The Other Side of 70
By Edward H. Garcia I know it’s not necessary, but is there really anything wrong with looking at the tube of toothpaste you’re squeezing in the morning and thinking, "Someday — and it could be any da — I will squeeze a toothpaste tube for the last time"? And the...
Atlanta Native’s Aviation Dreams Live On
By Alia Pappas The year is 1925. Imagine the wind is at an easy three knots. Above the dusty runway, there is little cloud cover. Visibility is high. Conditions for achieving uncommon dreams are optimal. The yoke of the familiar Jenny airplane is comfortably well-worn...
Remembering the Battle of the Neches Cherokee Chief Bowles, Other Victims
By Shea Gilchrist Down some winding backroads that push into remote country is a place that goes by many names to many different people. Stories are told of a mysterious air that lingers, the presence of others, and even the hum of hand-beaten drums. This land is...
Geezer Voice, Geezer Walk
By Edward H. Garcia You get to my age and you start worrying about decrepitude. That’s not the same as getting older—which is inevitable, and it’s not the same as looking older, which in spite of Ginger Roger’s best efforts, is also inevitable. But I’m hoping that...
Sissy Spacek Takes Quitman Roots to Hollywood Fame and an Ordinary Life in the Hills of Virginia
Sissy Spacek’s memoir, My Extraordinary Ordinary Life premiers this month. It’s divided into four sections: Texas, New York, California, and Virginia. Texas, as in Quitman, Texas, is the biggest section, perhaps because in Sissy’s words, "All the things that are most...
Flying Fish Gallery Presents Art Cornucopia
By Tom Geddie At first glance, the colorful clutter of arts and crafts in the Flying Fish Gallery might seem kinda overwhelming. It’s a visual flood of sorts: pottery and paintings, jewelry and fabrics, plants and photography, sculpture and other constructions, and...
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.