President George Bush, reputed to create pet names for just about everybody, has one for environmentalists: They are “green, green lima beans,” according to New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd. If you’re one of those green beans, you might think twice about getting a divorce. A new study in the journal Nature says splitting the […]
Communities
Posted inFebruary 17, 2003: Wyoming at a crossroads
On the road with Cactus Ed
One day early in the 1970s, Ed Abbey and I were cruising along a southern Utah highway in a forest-green Chevy that had rolled off the assembly line some 20 years before. Ed had given a friend $100 for it in the spring and we were both pleased that it was still running now, early […]
Posted inWotr
Why the growth apologists are wrong
There are two arguments defending sprawl in the West that never seem to end, and I hope I can convince you that both are flawed. The first argument is that current residents must not try to “shut the door” on growth because they have no right to deny others what they enjoy. Forget for a […]
Posted inFebruary 3, 2003: The death of the Super Hopper
Dummy up and deal
(Card) dealers are reminded many times … that they are on the bottom of the food chain, where they have to feel fortunate to gather up the crumbs that fall off the table. On the other hand, where else can a person without a high school diploma earn forty to a hundred thousand a year […]
Posted inWotr
Dreams for sale in Leadville, Colorado
The latest team of economic-development consultants to visit Leadville, Colo., recently presented its cure for this former mining town’s chronic economic ills. According to these experts, Leadville could create jobs, attract new businesses and people and rebuild its tax base by constructing an industrial park and expanding its local airport to handle 737-type jets. My […]
Posted inWotr
Come in, Krispy Kreme
Idaho may have gained the dubious distinction of leading the West in regressive economic innovations. In the small town of Blackfoot, local police will soon show off the first of their three new police cruisers, all free to the taxpayer. Well, not exactly free. The patrol cars will cost a buck, and there is a […]
Posted inFebruary 3, 2003: The death of the Super Hopper
Light and love in Wyoming
Before I can review Mark Spragg’s new novel, The Fruit of Stone, I need to perform an exorcism — of a New York Times book review by a guy named Jonathan Miles, whose credentials include Books Columnist for Men’s Journal (one of those magazines that show men how to spend an hour in a fitness […]
Posted inFebruary 3, 2003: The death of the Super Hopper
Heard Around the West
“Maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad if he recycled the newspapers,” deadpans the San Jose Mercury News. But Tom Bates, candidate for mayor of Berkeley, Calif., was so angry when the Daily Californian endorsed his opponent that he threw 1,000 copies of the free newspaper into the trash. Almost as embarrassing as being caught […]
Posted inFebruary 3, 2003: The death of the Super Hopper
Living on the sharp edge of diversity
Blake told us about the killings when we returned from vacation. As we pulled away from Denver International Airport’s glowing tent terminal, he said, “There was a shooting in Rifle. Four people got killed at the City Market. It looks like the guy was going after Mexicans.” I glanced at Anjula, my wife. She stared […]
Posted inFebruary 3, 2003: The death of the Super Hopper
Project mixes suburbs with nature preserve
Albuquerque’s Mesa del Sol will be the Southwest’s largest ‘green development’
Posted inFebruary 3, 2003: The death of the Super Hopper
The son of immigrants has a change of heart
It is an urban legend, but I believe it. A traveling salesman wrote to a hotel, complaining that he’d been bitten by bedbugs. He got a lengthy letter of apology back, saying that bedbugs had never been seen on the premises or even within blocks of the hotel. Inside the envelope, he also found a […]
Posted inWotr
Lewis and Clark: Their footprints are gone
Not long ago I was assigned a story for an outdoor magazine. The idea was to find a small portion of the Lewis and Clark trail that remains relatively unchanged since their storied journey, to go there and immerse myself for a couple of days, following their footsteps, and report on the experience. No problem, […]
Posted inJanuary 20, 2003: A breath of fresh air
Virus attacks in the Grand Canyon
The outbreak of Norwalk virus on cruise ships grabbed national headlines last fall, but few have heard of the virus’s untimely arrival on rubber rafts in the depths of the Grand Canyon. Last summer, Norwalk infected at least 130 Grand Canyon recreationists, who spent their river trips vomiting and running for the groover (that’s river-speak […]
Posted inWotr
The bedbug letter, as it applies to overpopulation
It is an urban legend, but I believe it. A travelling salesman complained to a hotel that he’d been bitten by bedbugs. He got a lengthy apology back saying that bedbugs had never been seen on the premises or even within blocks of the hotel. Inside the envelope he also found a note: “Send the […]
Posted inWotr
The origin of names
As a child, I was fascinated by surnames. Was someone named King descended from royalty? How did Carl come to have so many sons? Then I moved to a small town, where the issue is not so theoretical. Among my friends, for example, are Dave and Sue The Writers and Tom The Guy Who Does […]
Posted inJanuary 20, 2003: A breath of fresh air
Tug-of-war continues over ancient bones
Kennewick Man case undermines federal authority to decide who gets to dig
Posted inJanuary 20, 2003: A breath of fresh air
One law, two bodies, two different decisions
Note: in the print edition of this issue, this article appears as a sidebar to another news article, “Tug-of-war continues over ancient bones.” Four years after the controversy over “Kennewick Man” first surfaced, the Bureau of Land Management in Nevada decided the fate of another ancient skeleton. In 1940, archaeologists found “Spirit Cave Man,” near […]
Posted inJanuary 20, 2003: A breath of fresh air
A winter drive into oblivion
Sometimes it can’t be helped, that long drive across the West, rolling the odometer like a slot machine that promises to pay off with just one more spin. The gas gauge hovers around half and it looks like you’ll get there without stopping again in the middle of who knows where. Home is all you […]
Posted inJanuary 20, 2003: A breath of fresh air
Heard Around the West
How do you distinguish between those “good” animals — native species — and the bad actors that stomp on the locals and conquer their turf? Animal rightists don’t like to make those distinctions, arguing that all animals deserve our respect. Just off the coast of California, there’s been a dispute about what to do on […]
Posted inJanuary 20, 2003: A breath of fresh air
High tea in the wilderness and a toast to thelight
Solstice means “sun standing still.” Today is the darkest day, but tonight the moon will be full. Temperatures hover below freezing, and a skiff of snow hints at winter, although the colors are end-of-fall browns: brown bunchgrass, brown pine, elderly ponderosas. In western Montana, we are living the driest December on record, drier than the […]