Dear friends

by Jodi Peterson

Senior editor Ray Ring has won the prestigious 2008 Sidney Hillman journalism award in the magazine reporting category for his cover story "Disposable Workers of the Oil and Gas Fields,"April 2, 2007. Since 1950, the foundation has recognized "journalists, writers and public figures whose work promotes social and economic justice."Past winners of the award include such well-known writers as Katherine Boo (The New Yorker), Tracy Kidder (The Atlantic Monthly), Charles Bowden (Harper's Magazine), Carl Sagan (Foreign Affairs), and Robert Penn Warren (Life Magazine).

THANK YOU, SOPRIS SURFERS

Many thanks to our local Internet provider, Sopris Surfers, for donating high-speed Internet service to the HCN intern house. Now our interns can do their late-night data-gathering and story-writing at home, where no one can see them sweat, instead of burning the midnight oil in the dubious comfort of the office.

AND SPEAKING OF SURFING ...

Don't forget to visit our Web site, hcn.org, where you'll find not only the contents of the magazine, but also online-only news stories and features, more Writers on the Range essays, blogs, extra photos and occasionally a multimedia piece. You'll also have access to the High Country News archives, containing more than 15 years of news and analysis of Western issues.

WELCOME, MANDELA LOU

HCN contributor Nathaniel Hoffman and his wife, Tara, had a baby girl, Mandela Lou, on April 23. "As she emerged, pink and tranquil,"wrote the blissful parents from their home in Boise, Idaho, "flowers and trees blossomed across town, birds sang and an epoch of freedom and peace inched across the globe. May she be correct and patient like Nelson Mandela, judicious and decisive like her late great-grandfather Lou Starikov and full of joy and wisdom like her big sister Petra."Warm congratulations to the Hoffman family.

LOOKING FOR SOME GREAT READING?

Check out Camas, a literary magazine published by students in the University of Montana's Environmental Studies Graduate Program. The journal comes out twice a year; it contains fiction, nonfiction, photos and poetry that "encourage a dialogue on environmental and cultural issues in the West (and) celebrate the people who work, study, write, and live here ..."Along with pieces from students and emerging writers, it publishes work from established Western authors such as Rick Bass, David James Duncan, Ellen Meloy, Bill McKibben and Kim Todd. Subscriptions are just $15 a year; for more information see www.umt.edu/camas/about.html.

CORRECTIONS

In our April 14 story "The leasing protest game,"Nicole Rosmarino should have been described as a policy analyst, not an attorney, for WildEarth Guardians. In our April 28 story "Remembering our atomic past,"Michele Gerber's first name was misspelled" Michelle. We regret the errors. © High Country News