Fault lines in the land of opportunity
Communities
Posted inMay 15, 2006: The Immigrant's Trail
Hope
After 16 years in the shadows, two sisters win legal residency
Posted inMay 15, 2006: The Immigrant's Trail
Repo Manic
“An ordinary person spends his life avoiding tense situations. A repo man spends his life getting into tense situations.” — Repo Man, 1984 At 5 foot 9 inches tall, Gary Autry doesn’t cut a towering figure, but his broad shoulders and bulk give the 42-year-old former high school linebacker a commanding presence. He wears a […]
Posted inMay 15, 2006: The Immigrant's Trail
Heard around the West
THE WEST What makes Mormon crickets run? More than just the lust for protein and salt. The insects hustle because they’re afraid they’ll be gobbled up by the cannibalistic cousins trotting behind them, reports the Reno Gazette-Journal. Researchers from the United States, England and Australia who studied cricket migration in southern Idaho found that the […]
Posted inWotr
War protesters never die, they just keep on protesting
The third anniversary of America’s invasion of Iraq was March 19, so I joined a small group of people who met in Riverside Park in Salida, Colo., to state our disagreement with the war. It was a cold and cloudy day, appropriate for the occasion. There were the usual homemade signs. I wore my Army […]
Posted inMay 1, 2006: Magic Valley Uprising
Magic Valley Uprising
How an Idaho citizens’ coalition gunned down a dirty power plant — and what it means for the West
Posted inMay 1, 2006: Magic Valley Uprising
Ingredients: History, preservatives
Preserving Western History is “the first college reader to address public history in the American West.” “Public history,” explains the introduction, means history presented outside classrooms. All of us consume public history, by visiting parks, watching TV shows and reading magazines. Behind the scenes, even the most basic presentation of history can involve slicing, dicing, […]
Posted inMay 1, 2006: Magic Valley Uprising
Meet Idaho’s Revolutionaries
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Magic Valley Uprising.” Father Hugh Feiss Father Hugh Feiss is one of the 15 Benedictine monks who have vowed to spend their lives at the Monastery of the Ascension, about five miles from the butte where Sempra wanted to build its coal plant. He […]
Posted inMay 1, 2006: Magic Valley Uprising
Heard around the West
MONTANA Every year, as many as 700 deer collide with cars in Montana’s Ravalli County — so many that the roadsides reek to high heaven. It’s a big problem, made worse by the fact that growing populations of both deer and people have reduced the number of places where deer carcasses can be “discreetly dumped,” […]
Posted inWotr
We’re Tiger Woods, not Paris Hilton
“We decided not to be Invisible anymore,” read one headline when those floods of people turned out in cities around the country, from Washington, D.C., and Denver to Salt Lake City, Reno, Phoenix and Salem. For more than 60 years, Hispanic immigrants have been a deliberately created, out-of-sight-out-of-mind, disposable, low-wage work force. Hispanics work for […]
Posted inWotr
What I learned as a self-appointed immigration agent
Like millions of others, he was going to overstay his visa and remain in the country illegally. Months earlier, my sister had returned to Arizona from her studies in Colombia with a boyfriend in tow. Though our parents were very conservative, she was their only daughter, and they agreed to sponsor his entry into the […]
Posted inApril 17, 2006: The War on Wildfire
Legend of the Eagleman
Legend of the Eagleman Wayne Parrish 364 pages, softcover: $18.95. Morro Press, 2006. Based on an Indian legend warning against gambling and greed, this suspenseful and engaging novel blends tribal history, water disputes, illegal land swaps, and political corruption. Matt Dillon, Indian sculptor and special agent for the Arizona Gaming Commission, goes undercover to investigate […]
Posted inApril 17, 2006: The War on Wildfire
Mute, riven, blessed
All over the West, white roadside crosses and spontaneous, humble shrines mark the holy sites where the souls of human beings have left this world.
Posted inApril 17, 2006: The War on Wildfire
Heard around the West
CALIFORNIA What a surprise for two off-roaders in the California Desert, who ventured farther off-road than was good for them. Driving a Suzuki Samurai in a restricted area managed by the Bureau of Land Management, they blasted over a ridge and plunged 30 feet straight down an abandoned mineshaft. “I can still hear that scraping […]
Posted inApril 17, 2006: The War on Wildfire
Eco-terrorism and the Trial of the Century
In case you hadn’t noticed, 12 young people (average age 33) have been charged with arson and conspiracy to commit arson in several Western states. The 83-page indictment was handed down by a federal grand jury in Oregon, and it must be important because the story made the front page of the Western edition of […]
Posted inWotr
A new civil rights movement is born in America
I became a part of American history March 25, when I took to the streets of San Jose, Calif., along with 15,000 other people, most of them young. We marched to protest the anti-immigrant proposals welling out of the Congress, but more importantly, we walked to honor our parents who came to this country as […]
Posted inWotr
The trailers of Montezuma County
It’s like a soap opera romance, this ongoing affection of mine for the old-style single or double-wide mobile homes, more commonly known as trailers. To me, their appeal is strongest when I’m driving a gravel county road, and out in a field I see one, perched like an alien spacecraft on a few open acres. […]
Posted inApril 3, 2006: Land of Disenchantment
Land of Disenchantment
A native New Mexican digs for the roots of a tragic epidemic
Posted inApril 3, 2006: Land of Disenchantment
No clear victory for property-rights activists
A recent Oregon court ruling has bolstered a Westwide effort to force local governments to compensate landowners who lose property value to land-use regulations. But celebrations may be premature. On Feb. 21, the Oregon Supreme Court upheld Measure 37, which was originally passed by the state’s voters in November 2004, but declared unconstitutional by a […]
Posted inApril 3, 2006: Land of Disenchantment
Casinos coming to Navajo Nation
After resisting the Indian-gaming trend for decades, the Navajo Nation now plans to build up to six casinos within its borders beginning this year. Twice, in 1994 and 1997, tribal members voted against gambling initiatives. Critics expressed concerns that state gaming compacts might undermine tribal sovereignty and that casinos would encourage social ills such as […]