A vision of food empowerment
Essays
Posted inDecember 7, 2009: Dueling Claims
Birders without borders
Border SongsJim Lynch291 pages, hardcover: $25.95.Knopf, 2009. “In war, truth is the first casualty.” It’s a quote attributed to the Greek playwright Aeschylus from the fifth century B.C., back when wars were wars, fought on actual battlefields by men in helmets who wielded swords and spears. Novelist Jim Lynch understands this adage, and he also […]
Posted inNovember 23, 2009: After the Floods
How wild is a managed wolf?
Another wolf made the news last month: SW266M received capital punishment in Wyoming for the crime of eating woolly domestic mammals. His “name” means he was the 266th male wolf captured and tagged in southwestern Montana. His record yielded the further information that he was born in May 2007 on the east side of the […]
Posted inNovember 9, 2009: Roadless-less
The kindness of hunters
I despise guns. If a Winchester appears in a movie, I gnaw my fingernails, heart galloping. Firearms show a lack of imagination, I think; they slant the playing field, and sometimes threaten to tip the whole thing over. Recently, a student of mine penned a lyrical essay on the spirituality of hunting. I gave him […]
Posted inOctober 26, 2009: The newest Westerners
My father’s political career
The family also wins and loses.
Posted inOctober 26, 2009: The newest Westerners
Our national parks: Another idea
In 1912, James Bryce, the British ambassador to the United States, proclaimed that the national parks are “America’s best idea.” Others have called the parks “America’s best places.” But if the parks are our “best” places, what about all those other places where we live and work and go about our daily rounds? Don’t they […]
Posted inOctober 26, 2009: The newest Westerners
Socialism and the West
This region was built on government subsidies and aid
Posted inOctober 12, 2009: Silenced Springs?
A guide to the past — and the future
A 1930s Montana guidebook contains lessons for today
Posted inSeptember 14, 2009: Home
The sky is a crowded attic
An interview with novelist Andrew Sean Greer
Posted inSeptember 14, 2009: Home
Coming home to the cosmos
A wandering meteor-chaser puts down roots
Posted inJuly 27, 2009: The Most Cooked-Up Catch
The bare bones of life
The Southwest reminds one writer of Mars
Posted inJuly 20, 2009: Thinking Outside the Timber Box
A tenderfoot in Taos
An exhausted mother. A lively baby. A compassionate drunkard.
Posted inJune 15, 2009: Let's Get Small
The other Trail of Tears
Selling Your Father’s Bones: America’s 140-Year War Against the Nez Perce TribeBrian Schofield 368 pages, hardcover: $26.00.Simon & Schuster, 2009. A white 30-something British guy might not seem like the obvious source to turn to for a definitive history of the persecution and flight of the Nez Perce — one of the most complex, tragic […]
Posted inWotr
Army targets southeastern Colorado rangelands
Ranchers feel under siege from site expansion
Posted inWotr
Bring on the chickens
There is nothing funnier than a hen running. She clucks so seriously, leaning so far forward, wings spread out, moving that wide load on quick, skinny legs. I know chickens are getting trendy these days, but the main reason I keep yard chickens is for the laughs. My daughter was a colicky baby, and for […]