Our annual reader surveys have been trickling in, and as always, they’re chock-full of thoughtful criticism, enthusiastic encouragement, and suggestions for widening — or narrowing — our field of view. Here’s a sampling of what’s on your mind. One of the things we appreciated is that HCN is apolitical. I found Tom Zoellner’s “Extreme Arizona” […]
Communities
Posted inMay 14, 2012: The sediment dumps of L.A.
HCNers go to journalism conferences
High Country News‘ hometown of Paonia, Colo., has great food, great people, great access to mountains, rivers and deserts, and a great climate. What it doesn’t have, beyond our little office, is much in the way of opportunities for journalistic cross-pollination or training. So we were thrilled when HCN online editor Stephanie Paige Ogburn won […]
Posted inMay 14, 2012: The sediment dumps of L.A.
The least — and most — American of places: A review of Rez Life
Rez Life: An Indian’s Journey Through Reservation LifeDavid Treuer368 pages, hardcover: $26.Atlantic Monthly Press, 2012. Accomplished novelist David Treuer turns to nonfiction in his latest book, which combines elements of his own life on “the rez” with a historical look at North American Indian life over the past several hundred years. Since “most people will […]
Posted inWotr
The teenagers we’re not helping
This winter, events in two Western states gave supporters of same-sex marriage reason to cheer. First, on Feb. 7, the 9th Circuit Court ruled that California Proposition Eight, the 2008 voter-approved ban on gay marriage, violates the U.S. Constitution. The court said the ban’s only purpose was “to lessen the status and human dignity of […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Library-loving geese intimidate kids
COLORADOCanada geese may not enjoy reading, but one pair has definitely become territorial about the Harmony Library on the campus of Front Range Community College in Fort Collins, Colo. When library patrons try to enter or exit the main door, the 10-to-14-pound geese hiss and flap their wings — an “intimidating” experience for little kids […]
Posted inRange
Strip mining kitty litter
So there’s this enduring stereotype about English teachers. We like cats. In my experience, it’s mostly true – among my colleagues (the nice ones anyway), a reliable conversation topic is always the latest amusing cat story/photo. There are other stereotypes also: yes, we do Tweet in complete sentences. But for the purposes of this post, […]
Posted inWotr
Micah True, born to run
It was less than two years ago that I first met the near-mythical Micah True, also known as “Caballo Blanco,” Spanish for White Horse, and the central character of the bestselling book, Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World has Never Seen. He recently made headlines when he was […]
Posted inApril 30, 2012: A Mexican rancher struggles to shift from cattle to conservation
Imaginary journeys on a rowing machine
I don’t mind exercise. Really, I don’t. But I’ve always preferred to do it while accomplishing something else: going to work, talking to a friend, running an errand. At the very least, I like to huff and puff outdoors, away from the computer and incipient carpal-tunnel syndrome. Going to a gym? It’s always seemed a […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Making roads out of toilets
NEW MEXICOIt’s hard to know whether the calf appreciated its ride in the backseat of the car; maybe it got to poke its head out the window and flap its tongue in the wind, in classic Fido fashion. But the animal must have looked noticeably larger than even a very large dog, because a deputy […]
Posted inApril 30, 2012: A Mexican rancher struggles to shift from cattle to conservation
A literary organization tackles California gang violence
When Colleen Bailey became head of the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, Calif., a few years ago, she asked locals what they wanted from the organization. The response surprised her: “Solve our gang problem, please.” But it also made sense. The Center is highly visible and can muster significant resources. And Salinas, despite its proud […]
Posted inRange
Rants from the Hill: The silence of desert greetings
“Rants from the Hill” are Michael Branch’s monthly musings on life in the high country of Nevada’s western Great Basin desert.Rants from the Hill is now a podcast too! Listen to an audio performance of this essay, here. You can also subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or through Feedburner for use in another podcast reader. […]
Posted inArticles
Rantcast: The silence of desert greetings
In May’s Rantcast, also available in written form at our community blog, the Range, Mike wonders why he and his fellow desert dwellers tend to be so laconic. He recounts three different interactions he has had with others living in the desert; each of which casts a light onto the nature of those who choose […]
Posted inApril 30, 2012: A Mexican rancher struggles to shift from cattle to conservation
Common ground in a fractured land
I arrived in Teton County, Idaho, as a regional bank president the week after the development moratorium was put in place back in 2007 (HCN, 3/5/12, “The Zombies of Teton County”). I rode the “real estate wave” in from Telluride, Colo., where I had also been a bank president. For me, conspicuous development and wealth […]
Posted inApril 30, 2012: A Mexican rancher struggles to shift from cattle to conservation
Doc’s Legacy
Ed Marston’s essay, “Goodbye, Doc,” in the April 16, 2012, issue particularly resonated with me. As co-editor with my partner, Mark Schiller, of northern New Mexico’s journal of environmental and social justice, La Jicarita News, I’ve contributed articles, butted heads with editors, and written letters of complaint to High Country News over the years. We […]
Posted inApril 30, 2012: A Mexican rancher struggles to shift from cattle to conservation
New telling of a geologic saga: A review of Rough-Hewn Land
Rough-Hewn Land: A Geologic Journey from California to the Rocky MountainsKeith Heyer Meldahl320 pages, hardcover: $34.95.University of California Press, 2011. Landscapes tell stories, and Western North America has no shortage of geological sagas in the making. Keith Heyer Meldahl offers a fresh account of this gripping Earth epic in Rough-Hewn Land: A Geologic Journey from […]
Posted inApril 30, 2012: A Mexican rancher struggles to shift from cattle to conservation
Visitors, books and brand-new babies
The unseasonably warm weather we endured this March, which melted much of Colorado’s snowpack, had a bright side: It brought an early flood of visitors. Emily Guerin and Marie Sears stopped in after their backpacking holiday was thwarted by the weather. The college friends are bound for new challenges. Marie will enter medical school this […]
Posted inWotr
A final hats off to rancher Doc Hatfield
Doc Hatfield died March 20 at his home in Sisters, Ore., just after his 74th birthday, soon after his and his wife Connie’s 49th anniversary, and an extraordinarily long three years after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, which usually kills within a year of diagnosis. Many Westerners may not have heard of them, but the […]
Posted inApril 16, 2012: The Other Bakken Boom
Librotraficantes smuggle controversial books to Arizona
Outside Casa Ramirez, a Houston, Texas, cultural center, a group of friends feasted giddily on pan dulce and café. It was the morning of March 12, a Monday. Nothing about the assembly seemed subversive. Yet 28 of them would soon cram a commuter bus with boxes of prohibited books and drive toward Tucson, Ariz., calling […]
Posted inGoat
Downsized cleanup plan for Idaho Superfund site
The mines of Silver Valley, Idaho, east of Coeur d’Alene Lake were once the richest silver producers in the world. The valley’s flush days, however, are long gone. In 1981, thousands of miners lost their jobs when the sinking price of silver forced the mines to close (a few have since reopened). Two years later, […]