Back from the outback
Jim Stiles, the West’s curmudgeon-in-chief (“All the news that causes fits” is his motto), is back in southern Utah’s sandstone country — Australia, alas, did not work out. Stiles’ quirky Canyon Country Zephyr is back, too, though 
the actual paper and ink are gone and you can only read the bimonthly (now with color illustrations and photography) online at canyoncountryzephyr.com. The usual suspects are online, too, including John DuPuy, Herb Ringer, Martin Murie and the late Ed Abbey, plus letters from argumentative readers and others who tend to support Stiles’ latest hobbyhorse about the New West, which might be summed up as “the super-rich make really rotten environmental stewards.” Stiles calls his Vol. 1, No. 1 issue the Planet Earth Edition, and, in true obstreperous fashion, he includes a quote from Al Swearingen, the foul-mouthed hero of the wonderful but now defunct TV series, Deadwood: “Pain, the damage don’t end the world. Or despair. Or beatings. The world ends when you’re dead. Until then, you’ve got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man. And give some back.”
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