If you ask me, HCN did a damn fine job covering the unreported, uniquely Western stories coming out of the Democratic convention in Denver. So what could we do for an encore? Well, one of your fearless correspondents jumped on a Greyhound bus to get the inside scoop on the other convention — the convention of the party […]
Guerilla blogging the RNC
Posted inAugust 25, 2008: Hot Wheels
The old man and the stream
With my students and another teacher, I climb up from the suspension bridge across the Black Canyon, along switchbacks that wind through phlox-matted slopes. Crisp arnica leaves curl in the roasting sun. Several times we teachers stop for breathers, while the students wait impatiently, scarcely showing any discomfort. The trail descends briefly into a ravine, […]
Posted inAugust 25, 2008: Hot Wheels
An unforgettable journey
So Brave, Young, and HandsomeLeif Enger285 pages, hardcover: $24.Atlantic Monthly Press, 2008. So Brave, Young, and Handsome, Leif Enger’s second novel, takes the reader on an action-packed journey across the West. In 1915, outlaw Glendon Hale, now a boat-builder who has been hiding out in a small Minnesota town for two decades, befriends Monte Becket, […]
Posted inAugust 25, 2008: Hot Wheels
Portrait of a threatened land
Travels in the Greater Yellowstone Jack Turner 288 pages, hardcover, $25.95. Thomas Dunne Books, 2008. Jack Turner’s Travels in the Greater Yellowstone chronicles both the subtle and radical changes that he’s seen in the place he’s called home for over three decades. Turner, author of several books on ecology and mountaineering, has watched this extraordinary […]
Posted inAugust 25, 2008: Hot Wheels
Dear friends
FROM FRANCE, NEW YORK AND CALIFORNIASummer visiting season is in full swing. Ned Ames and Jane Sokolow, both of New York City, stopped by after visiting some friends in Hotchkiss, just down the road. They were on their way back to New York from their Fort Union Ranch in Watrous, N.M., which has been in […]
Posted inDnc 08
Environmental swing voters? Nah.
New Mexico is shaping up to be one of the most interesting battleground states in the West this year. The presidential polls are starting to look good for Obama, and Representative Tom Udall, a member of the West’s most famous environmentalist family, has a good chance of taking the Senate seat currently held by the legendarily […]
Posted inDnc 08
Video: Coalition rallies for peace
On Wednesday evening, a coalition of peace groups organized a march in an effort to elevate the voices of anti-war veterans.
Posted inDnc 08
Obama takes second best
Obama’s speech last night at Invesco stadium was, hands down, one of the best I have ever heard. It was a night for the history books, even if the Republicans did their best to distract us from that fact with their left-field nomination of Sarah Palin. But Obama’s speech was only the second best of […]
Posted inAugust 25, 2008: Hot Wheels
Dust on the rocks
Last summer, Constance Silver spent a week examining the world-renowned rock art in Utah’s Nine Mile Canyon, a two-hour drive south of Salt Lake City. Tucked into the rugged Tavaputs Plateau, the place contains upwards of 10,000 images, painted and pecked onto sandstone walls. Many of them are visible from the curving, roughly graded road. […]
Posted inDnc 08
A view of Obama from the West
“It was magical.” That’s how Tillie Herrera Brummell, a diminutive woman with salt and pepper hair and round spectacles, described the closing extravaganza of the Democratic National Convention. Brummell, a native New Mexican who currently lives in Mountainair, sat with her son, Daniel, on a bus taking Convention-goers from the event back into town. She […]
Posted inDnc 08
Stegner at the DNC?
It’s not that often that Wallace Stegner’s words are woven into a political speech before an audience of 75,000 (plus all those folks watching on television). But during the blockbuster, Super Bowl-esque spectacle that closed out the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Rep. Mark Udall — a candidate for Senate here in Colorado — did just […]
Posted inWotr
The less you have, the less you have to lose
The other day a friend of mine made a comment that has been rolling around in my head ever since. “You know,” he told me, “you’re pretty recession-proof.” I didn’t know how to respond. I was taken aback at first. I’d never thought of myself that way, but I guess I know what he means. […]
Posted inDnc 08
Rocking the Native vote
Health care, tribal sovereignty, education, economic development and criminal justice. These are some of the most critical issues with which Native Americans are currently wrestling, and there’s a lot on the line in the 2008 election. This was the message at Wednesday’s “Native Nations United for Change Policy Discussion.” “We’ve suffered through a long, cold […]
Posted inDnc 08
A seat at the policy table
When we came in the door, a greeter saw our press passes and grasped my hand for longer than is customary. “We need you,” she said. “We need you.” This unusually personal reception was perhaps apt — it soon became evident that the underlying theme of the event was the invisibility of Native Americans on […]
Posted inDnc 08
Johnny Five and the bomb squad
After a long day of meetings and protest-following, a police officer informed us that the road to our car was closed. A half a block away, we found a small group of re-routed pedestrians staring across the street — enchanted by an odd little robot that was inspecting a “suspicious package.” The wheeled machine, which […]
Posted inDnc 08
Protest makes waves
There was plenty of hype leading up to the Convention about the potential for big protests. Recreate 68 planned some serious, mischievous action, as did DNC Disruption 08 and other groups. As of Wednesday evening, most of that had fizzled. Protests were generally small and — except for one that snaked down the 16th Street […]
Posted inDnc 08
I fish, I hunt, I vote … Democrat?
The National Wildlife Federation hosted a reception at the posh Curtis hotel in downtown Denver on Wednesday. They called it, I Hunt, I Fish, I Vote Conservation. The whole shindig had a decidedly less liberal feel to it than other DNC events. After all, these were hunters, anglers and the like, who, as Bob Carpenter, […]
Posted inDnc 08
Freegin’, part 2
Yesterday, Andrea and I tried out Freewheelin — a free bike sharing service that helped us traverse downtown. No bus fare, no carbon emissions and no aching feet. We just signed up, selected a bike and rode to our hearts’ content. Faster transportation = more reporting. We also scored free DNC t-shirts, a fanny-pack (!), […]
Posted inWotr
Not even the privileged can deter a porcupine
When folks build homes (or mansions) next to wilderness, they are often shocked to learn that the wilderness is, in fact, wild. Critters they once thought of as cute and charming are suddenly villainous and voracious, devouring flower beds, tunneling under irrigation systems, even munching onpricey trees dropped into the landscape by crane. And one […]
Posted inDnc 08
Schweitzer on Bloggers, energy and guns
“I wake up at 4 o’clock every morning and read all the blogs,” said Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, surrounded by reporters at the Big Tent Denver on Wednesday morning. “It’s good to see what bloggers look like. And it ain’t a pretty sight.” Though that comment drew a few groans, Schweitzer’s visit to new media […]