Some of the Dead Are Still Breathing: Living in the FutureCharles Bowden243 pages, hardcover, $24.Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. But as a desert man, I can only say yes to rain. — Charles Bowden Mulling over decades spent reporting on everything from border crimes to environmental destruction to post-Katrina New Orleans, journalist Charles Bowden declares an […]
Communities
Posted inNovember 9, 2009: Roadless-less
For farmers, small is beautiful
Deeply Rooted: Unconventional Farmers in the Age of AgribusinessLisa M. Hamilton309 pages, hardcover: $25.Counterpoint, 2009. Few of the authors behind the recent glut of information on — and the impassioned opinions about — our modern food system have done the obvious: Spend time with farmers. But in her new book, Deeply Rooted: Unconventional Farmers in […]
Posted inNovember 9, 2009: Roadless-less
How big should we be?
In late September, the board of directors of High Country News descended on HCN’s hometown of Paonia to pass a new budget, look over a new three-year strategic plan and enjoy western Colorado’s beautiful fall weather. At the meeting, a lively discussion broke out over how many subscribers our print magazine should gain in the […]
Posted inNovember 9, 2009: Roadless-less
Mesquite Pancake Recipe
Note: this article is a sidebar to another article in this issue, “Return of the pod man.” Tucson volunteer group Desert Harvesters holds an annual mesquite-harvest event every November, providing locals with a hammer mill to grind pods accompanied by a mesquite pancake breakfast. DRY MIX:2 c. mesquite flour2 c. whole-wheat pastry flour1 tbsp. baking […]
Posted inRange
Reader Photo: Ice on Hall Mountain
This week’s HCN Reader photo looks like a magical sunrise in a winter fairyland. Although much of the West remains cloaked in the fall-to-winter transition, bits of winter peek through here – we thought this image offered a nice preview of what’s to come. Add your photo to our reader pool on Flickr – we […]
Posted inWotr
On the road in lonely Wyoming
Here’s a typical Wyoming story: One night last week, I was heading down a lonely highway, driving the 100 miles from town to home. I had seen the dentist, bought cement so that we could repair our cattle-working pens, gone to the grocery store and checked on a friend who had just moved from her […]
Posted inGoat
Coming soon to MTV: The Oilfield Blowouts
Don’t ask me how I found this. Okay, go ahead and ask: I was actually hard at work researching a story and, during one of those long, winding, fruitless trips down Google lane, I stumbled upon this. It was at roughneckcity.com, which is such a cool site that I’m hesitant to share it with all […]
Posted inRange
A Halloween Horror
This is my first Halloween as a dad. As the October days have waned, I’ve grown increasingly excited to check out the nearby Halloween costume store to find a perfect trick-or-treat outfit for my new baby girl. The other day, with permission from baby’s mama, we finally went. The ghoulish masks, wicked wigs, and gory […]
Posted inWotr
Polygamy tours? Why not?
Just spitting distance across the Utah border in Arizona, the very rural and remote Colorado City is home to rigid fundamentalists who think the Mormon Church sold out when it abandoned polygamy 119 years ago. The high walls surrounding houses with multiple front doors and “no trespassing” signs clearly signal “outsiders not welcome.” The dress […]
Posted inRange
Reader Photo – Basque Dancers
This week’s reader photo seemed to all-too-perfectly match the theme of the latest issue of High Country News, which focuses on “cultural collisions” and those bringing new traditions to the West. While our recent reporting highlights cultures new to the West, this image, from the Trailing of the Sheep festival in Idaho, shows cultures that […]
Posted inOctober 26, 2009: The newest Westerners
My father’s political career
The family also wins and loses.
Posted inWotr
Whose sovereignty is it?
In late September, Joe Shirley Jr., president of the Navajo Nation sent out a provocative press release charging that “environmental activists and organizations are among the greatest threat to tribal sovereignty.” Shirley made his attack while joining northern Arizona’s Hopi tribal council in “unwelcoming” conservation groups from those tribes’ lands, which sprawl across portions of […]
Posted inGoat
Eco-pawprints
Has it come to this already? Time to Eat the Dog: The real guide to sustainable living is the name of a new book written by two Victoria University professors, Brenda and Robert Vale. The couple — both architects who specialize in sustainable living — have computed the carbon emissions created by pets, taking into […]
Posted inNovember 23, 2009: After the Floods
Avalanche education for all
Janet Kellam tackles an “urban” snow problem
Posted inOctober 26, 2009: The newest Westerners
Conservation for the adrenaline crowd
Can the Red Bull generation go green?
Posted inOctober 26, 2009: The newest Westerners
Refugees unsettle the West
Meatpacking, Ramadan and other cultural collisions in Colorado
Posted inOctober 26, 2009: The newest Westerners
Our national parks: Another idea
In 1912, James Bryce, the British ambassador to the United States, proclaimed that the national parks are “America’s best idea.” Others have called the parks “America’s best places.” But if the parks are our “best” places, what about all those other places where we live and work and go about our daily rounds? Don’t they […]
Posted inOctober 26, 2009: The newest Westerners
Buddy, can ya spare a subscription?
An HCN subscriber who owns an energy corporation in California got in touch with us earlier this summer. He wanted to do more than renew his subscription, he said — he wanted to send seven-month gift subscriptions anonymously to 20 former readers who had not renewed because of personal hardship (job losses, etc.). A huge, […]
Posted inOctober 26, 2009: The newest Westerners
Still riding the edge
Riding the Edge of an Era: Growing Up Cowboy on the Outlaw TrailDiana Allen Kouris254 pages, softcover: $17.95.High Plains Press, 2009. Diana Allen Kouris grew up on a ranch, riding horseback with her siblings in untamed country surrounded by the ghosts of Indians, mountain men and outlaws. “It could have been a hard way of […]
Posted inOctober 26, 2009: The newest Westerners
A hard-fought immigration victory
Russia to Seattle