Essays
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My short tenure with a blind pigeon
Laura Pritchett reluctantly – and guiltily – agrees to take care of a blind pigeon for her mother.
by Laura Pritchett, Jan 21, 2008 -
Field notes from the front steps
From the front porch of her house in Montana, Kim Todd studies bees and marvels at the world.
by Kim Todd, Nov 26, 2007 -
A former Hot Shot looks at the West’s wildfires
Lincoln Bramwell looks back on years of firefighting and concludes that it’s just not a good idea for people to keep building houses in forests.
by Lincoln Bramwell, Nov 26, 2007 -
Bury it standing
When his old canoe shows signs of aging, Alan Kesselheim decides to bury it upright in his yard, a contemporary totem pole.
by Alan Kesselheim, Nov 12, 2007 -
The Sunflower State says a historic no to coal
Allen Best applauds Kansas for denying permits to two proposed coal-fired power plants because of concerns about greenhouse gases.
by Allen Best, Nov 12, 2007 -
Even four-footed employees deserve to retire
Susan Ives tells the story of Edith Ann, a faithful horse that narrowly escaped euthanasia when the Park Service decided she was too old and gimpy to be of further use.
by Susan Ives, Nov 12, 2007 -
Six Good Places
David Oates ranges from the Sierra Nevada to Aix-en-Provence as he considers the particular qualities that make a place worth living in.
by David Oates, Oct 29, 2007 -
In Large and Sunlit Land
Peter Chilson ponders the parallel fates of two lovely and ravaged lands: The Southwest desert in America and the West Coast of Africa.
by Peter Chilson, Oct 29, 2007 -
RV Nation
On a Western road trip, Evelyn Spence ponders the peculiar names – and increasing numbers – of gigantic RVs.
by Evelyn Spence, Oct 15, 2007 -
Nothing out there can be a very good thing
Julianne Couch surveys the vastness of Wyoming’s Adobe Town badlands and hopes that oil and gas drilling does not invade its beautiful emptiness.
by Julianne Couch, Oct 15, 2007 -
This dog believes
An undergrown Australian shepherd mix named Pika offers advice on living in the moment despite frightening and challenging times
by Michelle Nijhuis, Nov 27, 2006 -
A Proud Member of PAOBHA
Today’s rural West with its monster homes and Hummers sorely needs a group like PAOBHA, People Against Ostentatious and Boorish Housing
by Laura Pritchett, Nov 13, 2006 -
A decade of difficult questions
Outgoing High Country News editor Greg Hanscom muses on the stories and issues the paper has covered in the 10 years he’s been with it
by Greg Hanscom, Nov 13, 2006 -
Just another giddyup
The New Mexico Gay Rodeo Association’s Zia Rodeo brings out all kinds of cowboys and cowgirls
by Laura Paskus, Oct 30, 2006 -
What we love will save us
We are all, too much of the time, captives of the wreck and the mistake. Can’t take our eyes off it, can’t stop thinking about it, can’t stop picking that scab. We slide into our merely negative identity — defined by what we refuse...
by David Oates, Oct 16, 2006 -
Our Green Mountain
A writer recalls the adventures he had had in Quincy, Calif., 20 years ago, when he was the youthful editor of a small-town independent paper called the Green Mountain Gazette
by Jaime O'Neill, Oct 02, 2006 -
The memory of mountains
The author remembers a long-ago hike up Pikes Pike with her mother, who later died having no memory of that hike, or of her daughter.
by Diane Sylvain, Sep 18, 2006 -
Ashes
A woman and her son say their final goodbyes to a friend who committed suicide.
by Kathleen Dean, Sep 17, 2007 -
Gunning with the in-laws
Jonathan Thompson learns to love guns – and to fear them even more than he did before.
by Jonathan Thompson, Sep 03, 2007 -
Are tomorrow’s ghost towns sprouting today?
Alan Kesselheim wonders if rising gas prices and global warming will one day turn our sprawling suburbs into empty ghost towns.
by Alan Kesselheim, Sep 03, 2007
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