An Indigenous writer reclaims her relationship with fire in the landscape of her ancestors.
Essays
Posted inNovember 1, 2021: The Radioactive Waste Next Door
The hidden fires
Keeping honest about what we burn and why.
Posted inOctober 1, 2021: In The Graces of Grasses
The time of the Indigenous critic has arrived
Now that the industry is finally greenlighting Indigenous films and TV, Indigenous critics ought to lead the conversation.
Posted inOctober 1, 2021: In The Graces of Grasses
How wildlife sightings create community
What we share and what we keep quiet in small mountain towns.
Posted inSeptember 1, 2021: Where Wolves May Tread
A new Conservation Corps for the climate
What it means to contribute to the future of a place.
Posted inAugust 1, 2021: A Mega-Dairy Comes to the Desert
Is there really freedom in the outdoors?
After a year indoors, a writer remembers the joy — and pressures — of a childhood spent in Utah.
Posted inMarch 1, 2021: The Rough Road Ahead
In Nogales, joy endures
The Borderlands may be militarized, but for writer Alberto Ríos, it’s still home.
Posted inFebruary 1, 2021: End of the Line
The lessons on storytelling that William Kittredge taught
The beloved teacher and writer was preoccupied with the particular.
Posted inJanuary 1, 2021: No Place Like Home
Through wildland firefighting, finding a space to heal
A grieving daughter encounters solace in an unexpected place.
Posted inDecember 1, 2020: A Community Divided
How an intimate burial can make death human-sized
In burying a stranger, a writer learns that dying can be as small and personal as life.
Posted inNovember 1, 2020: When the Smoke Clears
Hunting for myself in the high Montana sagebrush
A hunter celebrates a new vision of queerness and rural culture.
Posted inOctober 1, 2020: Democracy's Frayed Western Front
COVID-era lessons from homeschool
Don’t be terrified. Be ready.
Posted inOctober 1, 2020: Democracy's Frayed Western Front
When home is next to an oil refinery
All I knew about Wilmington, California, was poverty, so I long hid my connection to it.
Posted inSeptember 1, 2020: The Next West
Now that you’ve gone West, young man
Toward unlearning Manifest Destiny.
Posted inSeptember 1, 2020: The Next West
The physics of connection and solitude
In the middle of a pandemic, a lifetime of lessons from a parent.
Posted inSeptember 1, 2020: The Next West
Rudolfo Anaya defined the West like no one else
The writer showed us magic, mystery and where Manifest Destiny failed.
Posted inAugust 1, 2020: Infectious Ideologies
Am I an invasive species?
How COVID-19 and ‘murder hornets’ compelled a writer to rethink invasions.
Posted inMay 1, 2020: Lives on Lockdown
During the pandemic, how do you ethically get outdoors?
Sheltering responsibly doesn’t mean you have to stay inside.
Posted inMarch 16, 2020: Wiring the Wild
The wildness is in me, too
People were excluded from the wild, historically, and in today’s rapidly digitizing West.
Posted inMarch 16, 2020: Wiring the Wild
Overcoming winter’s alienation
I long felt shut out of the season. Snowshoeing changed that.