Every February, the contributions of black Americans are recognized during Black History Month. Since I’m black and work for the Bureau of Land Management, a mostly white federal agency, I appreciate that. But I also have a complaint: Why has its observance become so predictable? By now, I am sure that everybody knows that black […]
Communities
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Running the gantlet of Homeland Security
Albuquerque’s international airport, dubbed The Sunport, ranks as one of the smaller and friendlier airports around. That’s important for Westerners like me. Since traveling became an uncertain business, being met by “our” people behind the counter, in shops and at the gate, goes a long way to ease nervousness for infrequent flyers. This is particularly […]
Posted inJanuary 21, 2008: An energy oasis in the political desert
Heard Around the West
CALIFORNIA Snap your fans for the late Beverly Allen, a petite woman just over 5 feet tall who became a high-kicking, feather-bedecked showgirl at the age of 80 with the Fabulous Palm Springs Follies. This is a group you have to be at least 55 years old to join, and Allen, reports the Los Angeles […]
Posted inJanuary 21, 2008: An energy oasis in the political desert
New West, Next West
The New West is one of the easiest default settings for contemporary American fiction. Start with a dissolute or desperate main character and throw him down in an urbanized, or, better still, suburbanized landscape. Add a little Western scenery – mountains and rivers, just out of reach – but focus on the housing developments and […]
Posted inJanuary 21, 2008: An energy oasis in the political desert
Misplaced Jurisdiction
Justice in Indian Country needs an overhaul
Posted inJanuary 21, 2008: An energy oasis in the political desert
Tackling Utah’s trash
NAME Issa Hamud AGE 48 HOME LIFE Married, eight kids. DRIVES 2004 Ford F-150. HOBBY Four-wheeling with friends. NEXT PROJECT Hamud hopes to build an Environmental Education Center on the site of the current landfill once it closes. It will feature a glass wall exposing a cross section of the landfill to its 30-foot depths, […]
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The day the view died
The view of the War Memorial Stadium, seen by westbound drivers barreling down Interstate 80 just east of Laramie, Wyo., died of obstruction in August 2007. The view was 57 years old. It had long been lauded by both newcomers and old timers as the thing that could raise goose bumps as travelers whooshed down […]
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Bigfoot, you’re invited to breakfast
A few years before the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington, I worked on a timber-cruising crew near that mountain. We stayed in a barn-like lodge and ate at a nearby diner. During breakfast one morning, Harry R. Truman, who owned Harmony Falls Lodge on Spirit Lake, came in. He was wearing an […]
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When you care enough to flush the very best
“Over here,” the salesman said, understanding my wife’s question perfectly, “you can see a top-of-the-line system.” We were in the middle of Remodeling Hell. I had had no idea there were so many decisions that could be made: kitchen cabinets, appliances, countertops, sink, faucets, floors. Wall colors, trim, furniture, accents. Window sizes and trim. Bathroom […]
Posted inDecember 24, 2007: Last chance for the Lobo
No ordinary stroll
One of the most beautiful books of 2007, The Walk, by William deBuys, tells of life, death, crisis and love in northern New Mexico. It’s a poetic book, to be sure, but one that’s entirely down-to-earth. Sometimes, when writers recount their experiences farming or working the land, it’s hard not to see them as dilettantes, […]
Posted inDecember 24, 2007: Last chance for the Lobo
Selling empanadas, building a community
Can you recall that time in your life when you first encountered the world on your own, when your eagerness fought with your shyness, and friends and books and music and movies seemed vital sources not just of amusement but of new, remarkable, and attainable lives? If you can’t, The Empanada Brotherhood, the 11th novel […]
Posted inDecember 24, 2007: Last chance for the Lobo
Boodog roasting on an open fire
How to cook a marmot, Spokane’s tastiest resident.
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Slow down, you drive too fast
Just for grins, let’s talk about lowering the speed limit on our interstate highways – say, to 65 mph on roads where it’s now 75 mph, and where most people drive 80 mph. Go ahead, roll your eyes. We’ve done this before, and I’ll admit it that it wasn’t much fun. That was in 1974, […]
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In the presence of stones
The stones were assembled in a loose circle of five, each as huge as a beach house, verdant layers of moss covering them like furs draped from kings’ shoulders. I’d come through the forest quickly, following the meandering logic of a deer trail. When I rounded the a sharp corner, rising from the dry gully […]
Posted inDecember 24, 2007: Last chance for the Lobo
Heard Around the West
NEVADA Five years ago, Douglas Hoffman and his wife, Debbie, bought a house in an upscale retirement community outside of Las Vegas. The spectacular neon lights of the Strip at night were what passed for a view, and the just-planted trees were small. But as Sun City Anthem in Henderson grew to 7,000 homes, the […]
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You, too, can overcome cynicism at Christmas
Trolling the Web recently, I found Rick Banyan’s site for “kinder, gentler” cynics. I hoped he’d help me get through this season of jingles and fears that we’re not buying enough stuff to make Christmas profitable for retailers. Banyan says sarcastically that we “emerge from the holidays 10 pounds heavier and several hundred dollars lighter.” […]
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For sustainability, a city beats the country
In 2006, my husband and I moved to a little town in New Mexico called Socorro where he was starting his Ph.D. program. Socorro means help in Spanish. We should have known we were in trouble, but how hard could it be to find an energy-efficient house and a sensible way to live? I was […]
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How to feel abundant at Christmas
In recent weeks I repeatedly found myself shopping for gifts and stocking stuffers. More than once I roamed the aisles of discount stores that specialize in out-of-fashion, out-of-date, not-quite top-shelf merchandise. You know, not the Salvation Army, but definitely not Target. I was not alone. The stores were crammed with shoppers looking for bedroom slippers, […]
Posted inDecember 10, 2007: Rebels with a Lost Cause
The hidden history of a sneeze
In 1966, a severely asthmatic child named Gregg Mitman was one of an estimated 12.6 million allergy sufferers in the United States. Today, allergic asthma and hay fever affect more than 50 million Americans – roughly 20 percent of the population. In Breathing Space, Mitman, now a medical historian, traces the causes and effects of […]
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A deadly Western myth rides toward the sunset
I can see it like it was yesterday: Rugged cowboys in dusters on horseback in a downpour, punching cattle panicked into a stampede by lightning. The theme from the movie “The Magnificent Seven” blared from the background. Finally, the herd calmed, and we saw the cowboys sitting around the campfire smoking cigarettes as the sun […]