Browse Primary Sources
"Scarecrow Cops" - Dick J. Reavis - Texas Monthly
". . .Early in February I went to Houston to test hiring and training practices in the private security industry, by applying for security guard jobs under paper-thin pretenses. My objective was simple: to get employment offers from companies across the industry. Over the course of three weeks I applied for work at eleven companies, always telling the sort of lies that a felon might tell. . ."
Texas Monthly 1982-05-01
"The Truth About Carnivals" - Dick J. Reavis - Texas Monthly
". . .Gambling, the heart of carnival games, is the invisible force that brings game owners and some agents together with marks, or patrons, on the midway. Counting on plain luck, marks come to the carnival to beat the games. Carnies live off the notion. . ."
Texas Monthly 1981-11-01
"11 Hours to Monterrey" - Dick J. Reavis - Dallas Observer
"We open our eyes. 'We need money for the bridge. Are you going to kick in?' the van driver is telling us. 'Everybody needs to give me $15,' says Don D, a thin, light-skinned man in his 50s. With a drooping mustache, faded jeans, and pointy-toed boots, he looks every bit the part of an aging vaquero. But in truth, he's a camionete operator riding herd over six passengers who are risking an illegal border crossing as part of a cheap ride from Dallas into Mexico. The money he's asking for isn't for the fare, tolls, or even gas. It's bribe money for the Mexican customs inspectors. Nearly everyone on the bus is bringing household good and appliances that, they believe, are subject to import taxes. If the taxes aren't paid, those belongings become contraband when they enter Mexico. . ."
Dallas Observer 1993-06-24
"I Was a Bum" - Dick J. Reavis - Texas Monthly
". . .By six o'clock I'm back out on the sidewalk. The doors close at seven for the worship service, and in order to sleep at the mission, you've got to attend. Between supper and salvation time, the men smoke a few cigarettes and go around the corners of the building in two and threes to take last minute swigs from their bottles. If Brother Bob or other mission mean catch them, they'll be turned away at the door. . ."
Texas Monthly 1978-05-01
"A Season in Hell" - Dick J. Reavis - Texas Monthly
". . .Police power at Rusk has shifted from the attendants to sociopathic inmates, who spend most of their time looking for opportunities to maul other patients. . ."
Texas Monthly 1978-10-01
"Bottled Dreams" - Dick J. Reavis - Dallas Observer
". . .It was mid-October, and I was spending my days at the main library, eyes peeled for a story to write while my mobility returned. My colleagues and editors has gone through ethical spasms about the need for me to tell the winos that I was reporting on the, but all of that was beside the point. Nobody had asked if I might be doing a job, and when I told people that I was a journalist in real life, they thought I was just telling a wino tale. I had become one of the crowd, because I looked the part. . ."
Dallas Observer 1992-12-17
"A Dirty Job" - Dick J. Reavis - Dallas Observer
". . .Big Boy believed the company might treat the crew as working men deserve - fairly and with dignity. He didn't know that in today's workplace, that's as much a fairy tale as the lifetime job is. . ."
Dallas Observer 1993-07-15