Kirk Crawford, of nearby Crawford, dropped by during a hike of the Continental Divide Trail. He had one message to share: STOP. As in Stop Trashing Our Planet, Start Telling Our Politicians, and Start Thinking Of Peace. Good thoughts, Kirk. Judy Muller, an associate journalism professor at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, […]
Communities
Posted inSeptember 9, 2008: Reclaiming the low country
The street hierarchy
“She’s got legs / She knows how to use them.”
Posted inWotr
Female farmworkers are the most vulnerable
Under a scorching heat, a group of farmworkers harvests melons from a vast field near Huron, Calif. There is only one woman among the dozen or so workers; she leans into the task, her arms outstretched, her body itself a tool. The bandana around her face and her baggy long-sleeved T-shirt offer a thin protection […]
Posted inSeptember 9, 2008: Reclaiming the low country
A Western primer
The Rocky Mountain Land Library asked a panel of Western writers a simple question: What books would you recommend to the next president? What does the next administration need to know about the American West? Our respondents were both generous and inspired with their suggestions. Although I’m sure they would all agree with author Rick […]
Posted inSeptember 9, 2008: Reclaiming the low country
Population conversation
Paul Larmer states that solutions to the West’s tough problems won’t be easy (HCN, 6/9/08). True, but we’d do well to focus on one problem whose solution would do so much to alleviate all the others: population growth, mentioned so often in passing, but concentrated on and acted on so rarely. We remain bemused and […]
Posted inWotr
Longing for the way it never was
When I was a child and stayed with my grandparents in their house at the top of a cactus-studded hill, I cherry-picked their library, which ran floor to ceiling along the entrance hall. I figured Grandpa was the one who read Zane Grey — half a dozen of Grey’s exotic titles were lined up together […]
Posted inWotr
A town’s downtown is the new (old) way to live
The sun rises over the mountains and floods my room with light. I lie in bed and listen to the cooing of conspiring pigeons on the roof. I’ve lately moved from Cody, Wyo., to Salmon, Idaho. Cody, like other towns surrounding Yellowstone National Park, has become an expensive place to live, especially for a freelance […]
Posted inAugust 25, 2008: Hot Wheels
The old man and the stream
With my students and another teacher, I climb up from the suspension bridge across the Black Canyon, along switchbacks that wind through phlox-matted slopes. Crisp arnica leaves curl in the roasting sun. Several times we teachers stop for breathers, while the students wait impatiently, scarcely showing any discomfort. The trail descends briefly into a ravine, […]
Posted inAugust 25, 2008: Hot Wheels
An unforgettable journey
So Brave, Young, and HandsomeLeif Enger285 pages, hardcover: $24.Atlantic Monthly Press, 2008. So Brave, Young, and Handsome, Leif Enger’s second novel, takes the reader on an action-packed journey across the West. In 1915, outlaw Glendon Hale, now a boat-builder who has been hiding out in a small Minnesota town for two decades, befriends Monte Becket, […]
Posted inWotr
The less you have, the less you have to lose
The other day a friend of mine made a comment that has been rolling around in my head ever since. “You know,” he told me, “you’re pretty recession-proof.” I didn’t know how to respond. I was taken aback at first. I’d never thought of myself that way, but I guess I know what he means. […]
Posted inAugust 25, 2008: Hot Wheels
On a wing and a pledge
I very much appreciated Eric Wagner’s adept account of the Butterfly Big Year on which I am embarked (HCN, 8/04/08). There was, however, one vital omission, no doubt due to space. I would greatly appreciate your noting that the Big Year is being conducted as a Butterfly-a-thon to benefit the habitat conservation programs of the […]
Posted inGoat
Smoke Trails
Have you noticed? Each year with the coming of fire season comes also a slew of guest commentaries and editorials in western newspapers promoting the idea that the current fire, smoke and destruction are the result of environmentalists’ lawsuits which have locked up the forests resulting in a build up of brush and tees that […]
Posted inGoat
Celebrating local history
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 […]
Posted inAugust 11, 2008: Trouble in (Private) Paradise
Downtown an old – and new – way to live
The sun rises over the mountains and floods my room with light. I lie in bed and listen to the cooing of conspiring pigeons on the roof. I’ve lately moved from Cody, Wyo., to Salmon, Idaho. Cody, like other towns surrounding Yellowstone National Park, has become an expensive place to live, especially for a freelance […]
Posted inAugust 11, 2008: Trouble in (Private) Paradise
Under the asphalt a rumor thrives
This summer, with the crack of Indy’s bullwhip still echoing through theatres, it’s natural to indulge in a little romanticism about buried treasure. Even when — or especially when — said treasure lies below a worn-out asphalt parking lot in downtown Grand Junction, Colo., within easy reach of jackhammer and trackhoe. The booty in question […]
Posted inWotr
My dad and the quail he loved
Theirs is the call heard in the background of every Grade B western ever filmed, no matter the supposed location of the good guy vs. bad guy confrontation. It’s still a surprise to me, though, when I hear the California quail below my house on a blustery day that passes for spring in Montana. The […]
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 inWotr
Death to cheeseburgers? Maybe not
If you’re concerned about the effect your food choices have on the environment, you might want to reconsider cheeseburgers. A recent study shows that beef and milk products are the world’s most polluting foods, thanks to the greenhouse gases released by cows. Meanwhile, in what has to be awkward news for locavores, the study, reported […]