Bayou Diaries A column by Bryan Washington

What It Means to Live in Houston

In a city made up of many cities, spread out, like tiny countries, ascribing their influence is a lot like trekking through a tiny country of your own.

Feb 20, 2019
The Case Against Making a City “Beautiful”

On finding beauty in Houston amidst the ugliness, and what the city stands to lose from increasing gentrification.

Dec 17, 2018
Montrose, the Neighborhood That Gave Us Everything

Montrose was unofficially codified as the nexus of queer life in Houston. If you held a map to the wall, I could tell you how we came to be on those streets.

Oct 16, 2018
We Were Prepared for a Storm, But Not Hurricane Harvey

There will be as many different iterations of this storm, and the ones to come, as there are Houstonians. And we have to hear them—they’re what will determine our map for the next one.

Aug 27, 2018
Finding Peace at the Rothko Chapel: What Local Arts Can Teach Us About Our Cities—and Ourselves

In Houston, as with everywhere else, the arts serve as tiny lifeboats—and sometimes, if we’re lucky, we all find ourselves floating together.

Jun 11, 2018
The Rodeo Is a Holdover from Texas Lore, and Part of the Changing Story Houston Tells About Itself

If traditions like the rodeo can accommodate Houston’s diversity, whole new traditions will be formed—leaving us with something even better.

May 23, 2018
Finding Holiness Beyond Houston’s Scores of Sacred Spaces

We’d made a connection across tables, generations, tongues, our own tiny blip of transcendence. Holiness in the noodle bar.

Apr 24, 2018
What an American City Sounds Like

It’s a space where language is manipulated and contorted and pulled and borrowed. It sounds like everywhere and anywhere else.

Apr 09, 2018
In Houston’s Diverse Culinary Landscape, Who Cooks, Who Eats, and Who Gets to Stay?

On a fast-growing city, food as culture, and why you can’t talk about Houston’s cuisine without talking about race.

Feb 20, 2018
We Go to the Park to Go Somewhere Else: On Houston’s Green Havens

You’re in the city, but you aren’t. You don’t have to spend any money. No one’s asking about your documentation. You don’t have to do much at all except for exist, and open your eyes.

Feb 07, 2018
On Houston’s Roadways, We’re All Connected

There’s a motif in Texas that your car is a part of yourself—it’s a coming of age. Where you learn what you’re made of.

Jan 23, 2018
Houston and Its Diverse Hubs Made Me Who I Am

It’s a sturdy sort of empathy, the kind that makes things happen—whether it’s after the loss of a sports team, or before three hours of traffic, or when the waters are rising.

Jan 10, 2018