Organizing events is not one of my strong points; it’s work enough to organize words. Nonetheless, for most of the past 14 years, I’ve been more or less in charge of Anza Day in Poncha Springs, Colorado. Actually, it’s such a small event that it should be called “Anza Two Hours,” but it still takes […]
Ed Quillen
Posted inAugust 11, 2008: Trouble in (Private) Paradise
Of populists and political fusion
The last time the Democratic Party held its national convention in Denver was exactly a century ago, in 1908. That was also the first time the Democrats convened west of Kansas City. The presidential nominee that year was no novelty, though; for the third time, William Jennings Bryan, once known as “the boy orator of […]
Posted inWotr
What Westerners would love to ask the candidates
For a Westerner, this year’s presidential campaign has been both exciting and disappointing. There was excitement when Sen. Barack Obama and the entire Clinton family fought for support in Wyoming; who could ever have imagined that Democratic presidential candidates would be battling for delegates in a state that no Democrat has carried in 44 years? […]
Posted inGoat
Learning from tourists
My idea of a perfect vacation is one that does not involve my driving a car, and I managed that on a couple of earlier trips to Oregon with planes, trains, and my daughters’ cars — one lives in Eugene and the other lives in Bend. This time around, starting nearly a fortnight ago, I […]
Posted inJuly 21, 2008: A fractured party
The debate that won’t happen
For a Westerner, this year’s presidential campaign has been both exciting and disappointing. There was excitement when Sen. Barack Obama and the entire Clinton family were stumping in Wyoming; who could ever have imagined that Democratic presidential candidates would be battling for convention delegates in a state that no Democrat has carried in 44 years? […]
Posted inGoat
One way to look at $4 gas
I just endured the most expensive tank of gas I’ve ever bought in my life, and the next one certainly won’t be any cheaper. Like most Americans, I’m not fond of paying $4 a gallon for gasoline. But while I was watching the pump numbers climb at astonishing rate, and remembering the days of my […]
Posted inGoat
Of vocabulary and the Fourth
Many small towns promote an “Old-fashioned Fourth of July celebration,” and mine is no exception, starting with an afternoon parade and concluding with fireworks after dusk. Judging by old newspapers and the memories of old-timers, we miss several “old-fashioned” aspects of the celebration: modern kids don’t enjoy much access to potent fireworks like silver salutes […]
Posted inArticles
Who you calling terrorist?
The Cold War was hot when I was growing up in the 1950s and ‘60s. It affected our domestic discourse because politicians so often sought to discredit their opponents as “Communist sympathizers” or “comsymps,” people “soft on Communism,” “just a little bit pink” or outright “pinkos.” Something as basic as the integration of public facilities […]
Posted inJune 9, 2008: Why the West needs Mythic Cowboys
The latest trend in name-calling
The Cold War was actually rather heated when I was growing up in the 1950s and ’60s. America was more or less “at war” with the Communists as a matter of foreign policy. It affected our domestic discourse because politicians so often sought to discredit their opponents as “Communist sympathizers” or “comsymps” — “soft on […]
Posted inApril 28, 2008: Pillaging the Past
Cold dead fingers
About a decade ago, while waiting at the town stoplight, I read the bumper stickers on the Jeep Cherokee in front of me. Two were familiar: “The West wasn’t won with a registered gun” and “When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.” But the other one was new: “MY PRESIDENT IS CHARLTON HESTON.” […]
Posted inMarch 31, 2008: My Crazy Brother
Wyoming’s day in the spin
Talk about surprising: The Democratic presidential candidates actually paid some attention to Wyoming. With only 522,830 residents, according to last summer’s Census Bureau estimate, Wyoming has the smallest population of all 50 states. Furthermore, no Democratic presidential candidate has carried the Equality State in 44 years, not since the Lyndon B. Johnson landslide of 1964, […]
Posted inMarch 3, 2008: The People of the Sea
We’re in a land of Lincoln
The bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth isn’t until Feb. 12, 2009, but we could easily spend the next year considering how our 16th president defined the American West. Lincoln, who was born in Kentucky, never traveled west of his adopted state of Illinois. Yet he, and the Republican Party he helped found, took a deep […]
Posted inArticles
The Year of Ignorance about the West
This was supposed to be “the year of the West” in national politics. States that had been reliably Republican were suddenly competitive. Two Westerners — Arizona Sen. John McCain, a Republican, and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat — were credible candidates for the presidency. The Democrats are holding their national convention in Denver […]
Posted inWotr
The West remains a mysterious region
This was supposed to be “the year of the West” in national politics. States that had been reliably Republican were suddenly competitive. Two Westerners — Arizona Sen. John McCain, a Republican, and, until he dropped out, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat — were credible candidates for the presidency. The Democrats will hold their […]
Posted inWotr
Sometimes the priceless really is priceless
Most of us have seen those credit-card ads that go something like “Fishing license, $40. Fly casting gear, $480. Reeling in a rainbow trout in the wilderness under a 14,000-foot peak: Priceless.” But dollar signs can be associated with these “priceless” activities. Let’s start with the rainbow trout. Rainbows are native to the West Coast, […]
Posted inWotr
How to be alone with a lot of other people
Since I live in Chaffee County, Colo., home to an even-dozen 14,000-foot peaks, I’m used to encountering what we call “peak-baggers” — people bent on climbing all 54 “Fourteeners” in Colorado — often in the shortest time possible. In recent years, the baggers have become so numerous that old trails have to be rebuilt or […]
Posted inWotr
The devil made us do it
A recent proposal to change the name of Devils Tower National Monument has fallen through, but even if it had succeeded, Old Nick would have kept a prominent place in the landscape of the West. In Wyoming, monument supervisor Lisa Eckert had suggested adding the name “Bear Lodge” to the site. That came at the […]
Posted inMay 2, 2005: The Great Energy Divide
The devil made us do it
A recent proposal to change the name of Devils Tower National Monument has fallen through. But even if it had succeeded, Old Nick would have kept a prominent place in the landscape of the West. Monument Supervisor Lisa Eckert had suggested adding the name “Bear Lodge” to the site. That came at the request of […]
Posted inWotr
Surprise! Colorado’s senate race focused on the issues
In Colorado, we just endured the most expensive U.S. Senate campaign in our state’s history, with about $15 million spent to determine who would replace retiring Republican Ben Campbell, who was first elected as a Democrat in 1992. He changed parties in 1995, and easily won re-election as a Republican in 1998. There was more […]
Posted inWotr
Why the West gets mostly ignored in an election year
The other night we were channel-surfing and hit upon the Miss America pageant. “What year did women get the vote in the United States?” a contestant was asked. The answer, according to the pageant judges, was 1920, when the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. The correct answer is a little more complicated. […]